Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Board-certified family physician with over 25 years experience in nutritional medicine

The Nutritarian Diet

Through his medical practice, as well as his New York Times best-selling books and PBS specials, Dr. Fuhrman has helped thousands of people lose weight permanently and reverse chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and chronic pain syndromes, including migraines, using a nutrient-dense, plant-rich eating style that he calls the Nutritarian diet. Dr. Fuhrman is the President of the Nutritional Research Foundation, and is a frequent guest on The Dr. Oz Show, for which he serves on the medical advisory board.

An internationally recognized expert on nutrition and natural healing, Dr. Fuhrman is also a health and fitness enthusiast, whose athletic background gives him a keen insight into the importance of diet and physical exercise. Before graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. Fuhrman was a world-class figure skater who placed third in the 1976 World Professional Pairs Skating Championship.
Dr. Fuhrman devotes his life to nutritional research, staying up-to-date on the thousands of articles published in scientific journals, and working with nutritional researchers around the world. His expertise includes 25 years of experience caring for more than 10,000 patients with serious medical conditions and in most cases facilitating their recovery via nutritional methods. His books have no preconceived philosophy, agenda or bias; they are an uncompromising assessment that offers the gold standard of nutritional excellence to foster the greatest potential for disease prevention, reversal and extending human lifespan.

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Show Highlights:

-Food is more powerful than drugs. Reversing disease through the nutrition of G-BOMBS – Greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries, seeds.

-Multi-factorial causes of heart disease, including both excessive fat and excessive carbohydrates and sugar. Everything plays a role.

-It’s not what we believe, it’s what studies show. Study showed people eating high amount of animal products have 4 times the rate of disease of those eating high amount of plant products.

-Studies with soft end points – e.g. measuring cholesterol, bp, weight after a year, not as reputable as studies with hard end points – e.g. rates of cancer, death, stroke after long-term study.

-He says it doesn’t matter if the study is done on GMO, grain fed beef vs. grass-fed beef, skim vs. full-fat milk. It’s the excessive amount of protein concentration that cause poor study outcomes.

-Nurses Health Study show women who ate more beans had a lower rate of breast cancer. Framingham Study showed eating more nuts and seeds led to less disease.

-Disease is caused by excessive hormones produced by our own body, such as IGF-1 and insulin and angiogenesis promotors, which are created in response to eating higher amounts of animal products.

-Eat a little bit of raw onion in your diet. Our bodies create organosulfide compounds as we chew them well, which are protective against disease. Chewing onions and garlic creates alliinase, chewing green cruciferous vegetables creates myrosinase, both are enzymes.

-Alliinase and myrosinase are both anti-cancer compounds that are destroyed by heat. To retain anti-cancer property when cooking, first blend or finely chop raw onion and greenies to activate the enzymes, then pour the slurry in to the hot ingredients and heat only briefly.

-Beneficial effect of eating beans due to their fiber content, glycemic effects, and resistant starch. These encourage a healthy microbiome and cause a growth of biofilm of the villa, which causes glucose to be absorbed slower. Second meal effect.

-Even the liquid from canned beans is healthful. Dry beans are the most economical.

-AGEs– (advanced glycation end products) form on protein moieties and are caused by cooking carbohydrates. Eating a cheeseburger, mixing carbs with animal protein, is a more dangerous combo.

-Ketogenic diets theoretically may be better than SAD, but are missing phytonutrients and fiber. We get the most longevity and cognitive health from diets high in phytochemicals and antioxidants. Low fat not good though, because we need beneficial fats from whole nuts and seeds. But avoid processed oils from nuts.

-Listener on dialysis needs to consult with a dietician to adapt this diet to her needs.

-Avoiding dementia. Brain doesn’t have it’s own antioxidant network, it needs a constant exposure to antioxidants. Eat foods with antioxidants such as blueberries on a daily basis. Supplement EPA/DHA if not eating fish.

-Dr. Fuhrman supervised Joe Cross’s juice diet, but he didn’t advocate the 60 day juice fast. Juicing can be an adjunct to changing one’s diet. For long term health, combine with Fuhrman’s nutritarian diet. Keep glycemic content of juices low.

-With plant foods, you don’t have to have complete protein in the same meal. The body takes time to combine proteins in foods such as beans and rice into complete proteins.

-Microwaving – okay to heat or warm foods. Don’t fry in oil.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman M.D. suggesting vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds be at the heart of a healthy diet, May 2, 2017