What Is the Optimal Diet?

What Is the Optimal Diet?

The CHIP program has attempted to take the pioneering lifestyle medicine work of Pritikin and Ornish and spread it out into the community.

Subscribe to Dr. Greger’s free nutrition newsletter at https://www.nutritionfacts.org/subscribe and get a free recipe from his new HOW NOT TO DIE COOKBOOK. (All proceeds Dr. Greger receives from his books, DVDs, and speaking directly support NutritionFacts.org).

This is the first in a 4-video series on CHIP, the Complete Health Improvement Program. Stay tuned for:
• The Weight Loss Program That Got Better with Time (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/The-Weight-Loss-Program-That-Got-Better-with-Time)
• CHIP, the Complete Health Improvement Program (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/chip-the-complete-health-improvement-program)
• A Workplace Wellness Program that Works (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/a-workplace-wellness-program-that-works)

More on the power of lifestyle medicine in videos such as:
• Lifestyle Medicine: Treating the Causes of Disease (https://nutritionfacts.org/video/lifestyle-medicine-treating-the-causes-of-disease/)
• What Diet Should Physician’s Recommend? (https://www.nutritionfacts.org/video/what-diet-should-physicians-recommend/)
• The Actual Benefit of Diet vs. Drugs (https://nutritionfacts.org/video/The-Actual-Benefit-of-Diet-vs-Drugs)
• Why Prevention is Worth a Ton of Cure (https://nutritionfacts.org/video/Why-Prevention-is-Worth-a-Ton-of-Cure)
• How Not to Die from Heart Disease (https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-not-to-die-from-heart-disease)
• How Not to Die from Diabetes (https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-not-to-die-from-diabetes/)

Have a question about this video? Leave it in the comment section at http://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-is-the-optimal-diet and someone on the NutritionFacts.org team will try to answer it.

Want to get a list of links to all the scientific sources used in this video? Click on Sources Cited at http://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-is-the-optimal-diet. You’ll also find a transcript and acknowledgements for the video, my blog and speaking tour schedule, and an easy way to search (by translated language even) through our videos spanning more than 2,000 health topics.

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Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

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50 Comments

  1. seth .m on June 13, 2022 at 11:38 pm

    Thanks to Dr. G and the nutrition facts.org team. After a few videos I went from stomach pains every day to feeling good all the way 😎
    Changed my life



  2. Kenneth Aar on June 13, 2022 at 11:38 pm

    Could you please make a playlist with these videos?



  3. Christopher Sawtell on June 13, 2022 at 11:40 pm

    Dear Dr Greger – Not sure if this is the best of your excellent videos for my comments but as a 1 year Vegan and advocate I was very concerned over YT videos from Daphne Reloaded who after 10 years as a vegan now makes claims about the dangers from most vegan foods – culminating in a recommendation to eat meats, eggs and dairy. This could be believed by many coming from a recent "ex vegan". The second comment is regarding Dr Darren Schmidt. who attended a lecture by you and Dr. McDougall and explained how you both misunderstand the Keto process in preventing lactic acidosis ("Veganism vs. Ketosis and meat eating. Drs. Greger and McDougall."). He also recommends raw and cooked meats. Hope for your usual science/study based refutations of their main arguments. Chris S.



  4. Super terrific on June 13, 2022 at 11:42 pm

    Pritikin and Ornish were not the first at all. Plant based diets go back many many centuries ago. If you read Maimonides texts and older there are many reports. Obvious you don’t do your research well



  5. Cormac O'Sheehan on June 13, 2022 at 11:43 pm

    I was discussing this with some staunch meat eaters, it was actually from another video where Greger starts the video with the story about his grandmother. One of the guys used to work with terminally ill and aging patients as a nurse and was absolutely adamant that there’d be no way someone could go from having such a serious health condition and being wheelchair bound to walking 10 miles a day, in only 3 weeks. I wouldn’t like to see any exaggerations as I know the facts and figures are so strong to advocate for a diet void of animal products anyway and when there is exaggeration, then all other facts can easily lose credibility to the audience. Is there any actual documentation of this rapid recovery anywhere, or may it have been slightly fabricated for the wow affect? Would be awesome if it was true!



  6. Freddie Rodriguez on June 13, 2022 at 11:44 pm

    Will my blood sugar go up starting the whole planet foods diet in the beginning and then level to normal?



  7. André Judá on June 13, 2022 at 11:47 pm

    Doctor, I’m always in doubt about diet, your articles are pretty convincing that vegetable diets are better, that keto diet is better than high carbohydrate diet, but the teachers at my college of physical education continue to show some appreciation in carbohydrates, and further demonstrate articles that do not demonstrate benefits of ketogenic diets



  8. Stephen on June 13, 2022 at 11:47 pm

    You didn’t answer the question……. Clickbait title.



  9. Maria Claudia Campo Escobar on June 13, 2022 at 11:48 pm

    GOOD DAYS DOCTOR, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO ELIMINATE OR DECREASE THE ANTI MPO ANTIBODIES IN THE ORGANISM THROUGH THE MEALS. I APPRECIATE YOUR HELP.
    GOD BLESS YOU



  10. FlintSparked on June 13, 2022 at 11:48 pm

    Does anyone have any good information on how similar insect protien is to other meats? I understand that protien is not at all an issue on a plant based diet, but I have read some interesting information on the unique beneficial bacteria our guts produce when we eat them, and they are a natural, whole food source of b12.

    Just wonder if it causes the blood stream to contain elavated tmao like red meat/eggs



  11. Yankee Paramotor on June 13, 2022 at 11:50 pm

    For a real kick…google some of these ailments that folks died of in 1665 @ 0:15



  12. John Snow on June 13, 2022 at 11:50 pm

    Are you actually trying to sound like this?



  13. David Antos on June 13, 2022 at 11:50 pm

    Does anybody talk about the cancerous PESTICIDES inside regular supermarket vegetables and fruits?
    Arent they dangerous for humans? By eating a plant based diet, you must consume a lot of those chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides)…

    Im tryin to go VEGAN, but this is a topic thats kind of holding me back.



  14. fire7side on June 13, 2022 at 11:52 pm

    I’ve never been one for community activism. I mean, we have unlimited information on dieting and exercise out there. I got overweight and my legs started swelling, so I stopped eating fried potatoes and eggs for breakfast, had a bowl of oatmeal and took a half hour walk. After a couple months it stopped and I lost some weight. I have tried a couple diets and listen to nutritionfacts and arranged my own diet which is inexpensive and healthy. I guess it’s a good idea, but it’s not for me. We’re moving to healthier eating. It just takes a long time to move an entire population.



  15. The Helghast did nothing wrong on June 13, 2022 at 11:53 pm

    This literally said nothing, wtf is the CHIP diet consisting of? Oh ofcourse, you gotta pay upfront before anyone tells you.



  16. You're Right but... on June 13, 2022 at 11:54 pm

    Man…you have to find a way to sign off your videos at the end. It feels like you stop mid paragraph.



  17. Frank Brown on June 13, 2022 at 11:56 pm

    more cherry picking stats possibly. people die from CAD when they live longer than they did in year 1900. Rich people live longer than poor. etc. Gregor is on right track, however, since he titled this Optimal Diet even though he left the topic at the title.



  18. Ryan Standley on June 13, 2022 at 11:59 pm

    What about the fact that human burn fats? Plants are very low in healthy dietary fats thus we have little energy to burn. Makes regular exercise difficult, your trading heart disease for a plethora of others.



  19. I I on June 14, 2022 at 12:00 am

    Please make a video of the perfect diet because i have no idea what to eat/ buy at the grocery store



  20. james on June 14, 2022 at 12:00 am

    Where is this ‘optimal diet’?



  21. johnny fartpants on June 14, 2022 at 12:01 am

    Okinawan Diet.



  22. Паула Донкина on June 14, 2022 at 12:01 am

    What can you tell about vitamin K2 ? We can get it only from the animal products….I am a vegan and I am worried. I have bruises for no reason.



  23. maina donaldson on June 14, 2022 at 12:02 am

    In my ventures into genealogy, and the old diocese death books back into the 19th century I found that many people died of what in German was termed "Wassersucht" (water retention), a tell-tale sign of heart failure. So, the reason for lower heart disease rates in olden times is probably also misdiagnosis.



  24. fcfvv Gvfd on June 14, 2022 at 12:02 am

    Is 1g of vitamin b12 safe?



  25. Ali Ataya on June 14, 2022 at 12:04 am

    I can’t stop watching



  26. CHRISTIANNWO on June 14, 2022 at 12:04 am

    Paleo diet!



  27. Hans Franz on June 14, 2022 at 12:05 am

    where is part 2?



  28. Simon on June 14, 2022 at 12:07 am

    Gluttony ?



  29. Christopher Har V on June 14, 2022 at 12:08 am

    3:30 I hate when nuts & seeds get left out of the foodgroups list of the WFPB diet.



  30. Roland Orlando Pálfy on June 14, 2022 at 12:12 am

    Then what is the optimal diet? Can someone answer pls



  31. Lisa Lightning on June 14, 2022 at 12:12 am

    They—the government—have known this information for all this time?! It’s so unbelievable. Why can’t we all just get together and sue the government for hiding this information from us and being responsible for so much death??



  32. Madison One on June 14, 2022 at 12:13 am

    Drop most dairy except limited Vitamin K2 cheeses, cut out egg yolks. Then eat meat as a condiment not as a staple. Eats lots of vegetables, salads, beans & lentils. Mix & match them with lean cut small portion meats. Add grains to your diet with high soluble fiber. Then get exercise by walking, running & weights. Drink good amount of water



  33. Aines82 on June 14, 2022 at 12:14 am

    I’m having hard time understanding this man’s English. But sounds good.



  34. Jakob W on June 14, 2022 at 12:14 am

    What do you think of the views of Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, who shows that LDL or Cholesterol actually has a PROTECTIVE effect on the heart?



  35. Hasbeth Perez on June 14, 2022 at 12:18 am

    1:37 whoa!!!! Colombia so proud



  36. rossuk123 on June 14, 2022 at 12:18 am

    Keto <3



  37. Flattlander Montgomery on June 14, 2022 at 12:19 am

    But which wfpb diet is the best? Less grains? More fruit? Raw?



  38. shag813 on June 14, 2022 at 12:20 am

    Awesome



  39. Michal Wozniak on June 14, 2022 at 12:21 am

    Optimal diet is sustainable way of eating on which you don’t overeat and become obese. It can vary greatly between individuals.



  40. GG on June 14, 2022 at 12:23 am

    Until you…. PUT IT TO THA TEST!



  41. Shakti Ananda Devi on June 14, 2022 at 12:24 am

    🙌🏽



  42. Gediminas on June 14, 2022 at 12:25 am

    Avoid meat and junk food



  43. OlaB on June 14, 2022 at 12:26 am

    I’m willing to bet $. 1.000.000,= that I know (your) answer to the question without watching…



  44. Vasco Amaral Grilo on June 14, 2022 at 12:26 am

    Great insight, thanks!



  45. james on June 14, 2022 at 12:28 am

    Flaw found. Js I don’t eat animals. Although this is not that. The reason is price of doctors. If you’re poor no one cares why you died. The reason is also medical technology.



  46. newsleak on June 14, 2022 at 12:31 am

    wtf?
    the video doesn’t provide the answer to the question



  47. Pooh Zie on June 14, 2022 at 12:31 am

    Biased study generally designed to push a specific agenda.



  48. Shon on June 14, 2022 at 12:31 am

    I went vegan so I can spent the rest of my life searching for meat substitutes.



  49. Nancy Aureli on June 14, 2022 at 12:33 am

    You just referenced a statement that changed my life by Rene Favaloro. Thank you.



  50. Sean Filips on June 14, 2022 at 12:35 am

    This guys voice..