Wonder what a Nutrition Researcher who is also an MD fits into
his daily routine? We
can gain insights into how to sustain a healthy lifestyle, by reading about the Daily Dozen Checklist below from Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM.
Post Updated 5/15/2023
Dr. Greger wrote:
"In my book, How Not to Die, I suggest we try to center our diets around whole plant
foods. But, some plants are healthier than others. For example, you can
apparently live extended periods eating practically nothing but white potatoes.
That would, by definition, be a whole-food, plant-based diet—but not a very
healthy one. All plant foods are not created equal.
The more I’ve researched
over the years, the more I’ve come to realize that healthy foods are not
necessarily interchangeable. Some foods and food groups have special nutrients
not found in abundance elsewhere. For example, sulforaphane, the amazing
liver-enzyme detox-boosting compound, is derived nearly exclusively from
cruciferous vegetables. You could eat tons of other kinds of greens and
vegetables on a given day, and get no appreciable
sulforaphane if you didn’t eat something cruciferous.
It’s the same with flax
seeds and the anticancer lignan compounds. Flax may average a hundred times
more lignans than other foods. And mushrooms aren’t even plants at all; they
belong to an entirely different biological classification, and may contain
nutrients (like ergothioneine) not made anywhere in the plant
kingdom. (So technically, maybe I should be referring to a whole-food, plant-
and fungus-based diet, but that just sounds kind of gross.)
It seems like every time
I come home from the medical library buzzing with some exciting new data, my
family rolls their eyes, sighs, and asks, “What can’t we eat now?” Or, they’ll
say, “Wait a second. Why does everything seem to have parsley in it all of a
sudden?” or something! They’re very tolerant.
As the list of foods I
tried to fit into my daily diet grew, I made a checklist, and had it up on a
little dry-erase board on the fridge, and we’d make a game out of ticking off
the boxes. This evolved, into my Daily Dozen: the checklist of all the
things I try to fit into my daily routine.
By beans, I mean
legumes, which also includes split peas, chickpeas, and lentils. You know,
while eating a bowl of pea soup or dipping carrots into hummus may not seem like eating
beans, it certainly counts. We should try to get three servings a day. A
serving is defined as a quarter-cup of hummus or bean dip; a half-cup of cooked
beans, split peas, lentils, tofu, or tempeh; or a full cup of fresh peas or
sprouted lentils. Though peanuts are technically legumes, nutritionally, I’ve
grouped them in the Nuts category, just as I would shunt green beans, snap
peas, and string beans into the Other Vegetables category.
A serving of berries is
a half-cup fresh or frozen, or a quarter-cup of dried. While biologically
speaking, avocados, bananas, and even watermelons are technically berries,
I’m using the colloquial term for any small edible fruit, which is why I
include kumquats and grapes—and raisins, as well as fruits that are typically
thought of as berries, but actually technically aren’t, such as blackberries,
cherries, mulberries, raspberries, and strawberries.
For other fruits, a
serving is a medium-sized fruit, a cup of cut-up fruit, or a quarter-cup of
dried fruit. Again, I’m using the colloquial rather than the botanical
definition; so, I place tomatoes in the Other Vegetables group.
Common cruciferous
vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, collards, cauliflower, and kale. I recommend at least
one serving a day (typically a half-cup), and at least two additional servings
of greens a day, cruciferous or otherwise. Serving sizes for other greens and
vegetables are a cup for raw leafy vegetables, a half-cup for other raw or
cooked non-leafy vegetables, and a quarter-cup for dried mushrooms.
Everyone should try to
incorporate one tablespoon of ground flax seeds into their daily diet, in
addition to a serving of nuts or other seeds. A quarter-cup of nuts is
considered a serving, or two tablespoons of nut or seed butters, including
peanut butter. (Chestnuts and coconuts, though, don’t nutritionally count as
nuts.)
I also recommend
one-quarter teaspoon a day of the spice turmeric, along with any other
(salt-free) herbs and spices you may enjoy.
A serving of whole
grains can be considered a half-cup of hot cereal, such as oatmeal, cooked
whole grains, or so-called “pseudo grains” like amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa,
or a half-cup of cooked pasta or corn kernels; a cup of ready-to-eat (cold)
cereal; one tortilla or slice of bread; half a bagel or English muffin; or
three cups of air-popped popcorn.
The serving size in the
beverage category is one glass (twelve ounces), and the recommended five
glasses a day is in addition to the water you get naturally from the foods in
your diet. I explain my rationale in my video, How Many Glasses of Water Should
We Drink a Day?
Finally, I advise one
daily “serving” of exercise, which can be split up over the day. I recommend
ninety minutes of moderate-intensity activity each day, such as brisk (four
miles per hour) walking or, forty minutes of
vigorous activity (such as jogging or active sports) each day. I explain my
reasoning for that in my video, How Much Should You Exercise?
This may all sound like
a lot of boxes to check, but it’s easy to knock off a bunch at a time. One
simple peanut butter/banana sandwich, and you just checked off four boxes. Or
imagine sitting down to a big salad. Two cups of spinach, a handful of arugula,
a handful of walnuts, a half-cup of chickpeas, a half-cup of red bell pepper,
and a small tomato. You just knocked out seven boxes in one
dish. Sprinkle on your flax, add a handful of goji berries, and enjoy it with a
glass of water and fruit for dessert, and you just wiped out nearly half
your daily check boxes in a single meal! And, then if
you just ate it on your treadmill—just kidding!
Do I check off each
glass of water I drink? No. In fact, I don’t even use the checklist anymore; I
just used it initially as a tool to get me into a routine. You know, whenever I
was sitting down to a meal, I would ask myself, Could I add greens to this? Could I
add beans to this? (I always have an open can of beans in the
fridge.) Can I sprinkle on some flax or pumpkin
seeds, or maybe some dried fruit? The checklist just got me
into the habit of thinking, How can I make this meal even
healthier?
I also found the
checklist helped with grocery shopping. Although I always keep bags of frozen
berries and greens in the freezer, if I’m at the store and want to buy fresh
produce for the week, it helps me figure out, you know, how much kale or
blueberries I need.
The checklist also helps
me picture what a meal might look like. Looking over the checklist, you’ll see
there are three servings each of beans, fruits, and whole grains, and about
twice as many vegetables in total than any other component. So, glancing
at my plate, I can imagine one quarter of it filled with grains, one quarter
with legumes, and a half of the plate filled with vegetables, along with maybe
a side salad, and fruit for dessert. I happen to like one-bowl meals where everything’s
mixed together, but the checklist still helps me to visualize. Instead of a big
bowl of spaghetti with some veggies and lentils on top, I think of a big bowl
of vegetables with some pasta and lentils mixed in. Instead of a big plate of
quinoa with some stir-fried vegetables on top, I picture a meal that’s mostly
veggies—and, oh look! There’s some quinoa and beans in there, too.
But there is no need to
be obsessive about the Daily Dozen. On hectic travel days when I’ve burned
through my snacks, you know, stuck in some airport food court somewhere,
sometimes I’m lucky if I even hit a quarter of my goals. If you eat poorly one
day, just try to eat better the next.
To help track your
progress, volunteers created Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen apps for both iPhone and
Android. You can download and use them both for free; no ads, no cost.
Pick a day to eat the Daily Dozen. Download the free Daily Dozen app on iPhone and Android that features the checklist, as well as valuable tools to help you eat more mindfully. Read The Evidence-Based Eating Guide, The Daily Dozen Meal Planning Guide, and Daily Dozen Digest, and get a free 11-week email series.
Before you go, please take a moment to comment in the space provided below.
Do you include the daily dozen into your eating and lifestyle plan? If not, which things do you think you need to add? 🌿🍅🍇🍏🌱
Are there any foods or lifestyle changes you'd like to make to feel healthier and happier?
Please let me know that too.
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This post has been shared at The Inspire Me Monday Community - Week 315
