Foreword
By Suzanne Steinbaum, DO
As a cardiologist I spend a great deal of time discussing the risk factors that lead to heart disease,
including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. And as a result, I also find
myself discussing the benefits of a better diet. We know that a nutrient-poor diet plays the pivotal
role in the development of many medical conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
In fact, when analyzed, a nutrient-poor diet in combination with an unhealthy lifestyle is the major
contributor to overall mortality. Therefore, what you consume plays an enormous role in staying
healthy, looking better and living longer.
At a time when dieting has become an integral part of our consciousness, the number of people
going on diets is at an all-time high; however, the already high rates of obesity continue to increase
rapidly among children and adults. The effects of this are staggering. For the first time in decades,
the life expectancy of Americans is declining. Clearly we are doing something wrong. The dieting
schemes we have accepted as truth are not enabling us to successfully tackle weight and health
issues. There needs to be a new standard of eating, and the concept of the “American diet” needs to
change.
For decades, the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) dietary guidelines have done nothing to
help Americans prevent obesity and diseases directly linked to dietary and lifestyle issues.
Fortunately, things are beginning to change. The 2005 guidelines began promoting the long-
standing concept of “nutrient density,” which describes the quality of foods, and the 2010
guidelines state that “with two-thirds of Americans overweight or living on prescription meds, the
USDA calls on ALL Americans to eat a more nutrient-rich diet.”
The concept of eating nutrient-rich foods is not entirely new, but until recently it has not been fully
explored for the weight-loss and health-seeking communities. Eating foods with high nutrient
content is what truly matters when eating well. This nutrient-rich approach to eating is conclusively
linked to an improvement in health; a natural reduction in weight is an appealing byproduct.
Eating up to 90% or more plant-based nutrient-rich foods is a concrete way of practicing what was
implied in the USDA guidelines. Eating predominantly nutrient-rich foods, while abandoning the
premise of dieting that comes with weight-loss-only programs, is a major step in the improvement
of your lifestyle.
We are living in the time of the nutrient-rich revolution. Armed with knowledge and experience,
anyone who adopts a more plant-based nutrient-rich way of life will reap all the benefits this
healthy style of eating affords.