Joel Fuhrman

At this point in the history of nutritional science, evidence exists demonstrating that the human immune system can be supercharged to protect our bodies against disease. I will help you understand this new science and put it into action in your kitchen and your life.

Seventy percent of the immune system is located in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and the microflora (the bacterial population) of the GI tract constitute a complex ecosystem that can be viewed as an organ of the body.

This is not alternative medicine; it is progressive medicine, it is good medicine.

Coffee is a drug, not a food.

Most of us should be able to extend our lifespan to surpass ninety-five (good) years of age.

Seeds and nuts are the best high-fat foods.

Medicines cannot drug away the cellular defects that develop in response to improper nutrition throughout life.

A good rule is to avoid anything that is 'white,' such as sugar, white flour, white pasta, white potato, or white rice. Remember this rhyme: 'The whiter the bread, the sooner you’re dead.'

If you don’t address the primary cause—a disease causing diet—just adding more and more medications is futile.

The main principle of this book is that for both optimal health and weight loss, you must consume a diet with a high nutrient-per-calorie ratio.

As a general rule of thumb: the closer we eat foods to their natural state, the healthier the food.

More than 90 percent of my diabetic patients who were on insulin at the time of their first visit got off all insulin within the first month.

Most Americans are not aware that the diet they feed their children guarantees a high cancer probability down the road. They don’t even contemplate that eating fast-food meals may be just as risky (or more so) than letting their children smoke cigarettes.

By my calculations, it is not merely 75 percent of Americans that are overweight, it is more like 85 percent.

Americans currently consume about 42 percent of their calories from fiberless animal foods and another 51 percent from highly processed refined carbohydrates and extracted oils.

The point to be emphasized is that supplements alone cannot offer optimal protection against disease and that you cannot make an unhealthy diet into a healthy one by consuming supplements.

Leafy greens, the most nutrient-rich foods on the planet, were the best predictor of extreme longevity.

You can close the cover of this book and put it away right now as long as you can incorporate this crucial dietary change into your life: consume high levels of fruits, green vegetables, and beans.

Never forget that coronary heart disease and its end result—heart attacks, the number one killer of all American men and women—is almost 100 percent avoidable.

Cancer is much more preventable than treatable.

As long as Americans continue to practice nutritional indifference, they will suffer the consequences. Don’t expect any significant protection from marginal changes.

You have a clear choice. You can live longer and healthier than ever before, or you can do what most modern populations do: eat to create disease and premature death. Since you are reading this book, you have opted to live longer and healthier. “Eat to Live” and you will have achieved the crucial first step.

If we allow ourselves and our children to utilize sugar, white-flour products, and oil to supply the majority of calories, as most American families do, we shall be condemning ourselves to a lifetime of sickness, medical problems, and a premature death.