A founding member and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Michael Greger, MD, is a physician, New York Times bestselling author, and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety, and public health issues. He discussed why we don’t need Big Pharma to keep us feeling young, explaining we already have the tools to help avoid the diseases most commonly encountered in our journeys through life. The most important tool, he explained, is diet. While a good diet and healthy lifestyle can't provide you with immortality, he explained, they can help prevent premature death and years spent in pain, battling chronic disease. "It's not about immortality," he said. "It's really about how to face this chronic deterioration with grace and vitality rather than suffering from the ravages of infirmity and disease."
He told the story of how his grandmother's health scares in his youth inspired the path he is on today. After she was told she would die at age 65, she turned her health around with diet and lived for another 31 years. This led him to develop an interest in nutrition and to pursue medicine. He explained how processed foods, especially processed meats, are contributing to America's shrinking life expectancy. But, he said, even modest changes can make a difference. One change you can make is adding more legumes (beans, peas, chickpeas, etc.), whole grains, and nuts and seeds to your diet, items that Greger said statistics show are lacking in the diets of many Americans. He also touted the benefits of turmeric, not just as a supplement taken in capsule form, but as an ingredient in the preparation of your food. He also recommended leafy greens, as well as berries, red cabbage, or other colorful foods, to add "cyanidin pigments" to your diet, as the elements that give those fruits and vegetables their bright color, he claimed, have also been shown to improve cognitive function, improve eyesight, and decrease inflammation, among other benefits. "Basically real food that grows out of the ground," he explained. "Those are our healthiest choices."
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In the second half, Dr. Geoffrey Simmons, explained his journey from a supporter of evolution to a proponent of intelligent design. Simmons has a B.S. in Zoology, has completed the coursework for a master’s degree in microbiology, and is board-certified in internal medicine and disaster medicine. For 30 years, he was an ardent supporter of Darwinian ideas; however, now he claims the data supporting this theory is scientifically untenable. It was discussions with his wife, a Seventh Day Adventist, which made him begin seriously examining his beliefs about evolution and digging into them. "I also came up with a book, called 'The Neck of the Giraffe,' by an English professor... the late Francis Hitching, and he talked about several issues that were problems with Darwin and his - not with Darwin himself (as a person), but his theory." After that he continued to study and, "finally started agreeing with my wife in many ways." He also discussed epigenetic inheritance, where environmental stresses like starvation in a grandparent's generation can lead to changes in the genetic predilections of their grandchildren.
In the final hour George took calls on open lines, and closed with a clip from December 5, 2016 when guest Elizabeth Greenwood explained how to fake your own death, and how most folks get caught after doing so.
News segment guests: Christian Wilde / Jeff Nelken