Rational Recommendations for a Healthy Society

To summarize, general dietary guidelines are suggested here:

1. Eat at least five pieces of fresh fruit a day and a large green salad daily. In
addition, a large serving of dark green or yellow vegetable such as
broccoli, string beans, or kale (which may be steamed or microwaved if
desired) should be eaten daily.

2. Adopt a vegetarian diet, if possible. If you continue to eat animal foods,
limit the quantity to less than 3.5 ounces every other day. This includes
fish, fowl, meat, and low-fat dairy foods. Unprocessed complex
carbohydrates such as baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, and squash
should be a daily staple in your diet.

3. Severely limit or eliminate sweets, except for fresh fruit. Fried, salted,
pickled, and barbecued foods should also be eliminated from your diet.

4. Drink purified or distilled water, not tap water, which contains chlorine.

If you are seriously interested in your health and longevity, the answers are
here for you in this book. But it is pertinent to ask how many people would
voluntarily restrict their diet in order to prolong life or lessen the risk of
disease? Many believe that people would prefer to satisfy their food desires,
rather than live a long life.

When I give presentations on nutrition to hospital staffs or physician groups,
a typical statement I receive from someone in the crowd is, ―I could never get
my patients to do that.‖ This person also is probably thinking, ―I don't want to
eat like that either.‖

My response to these doctors is, regardless of the percentage of individuals
who would be willing to eat a healthy diet; the least a responsible physician
should do is present the option to those who seek advice and treatment about a
significant medical problem. To do less is to sell the patient short. With an
accurate presentation, the number of people willing to make significant changes
might prove surprising.
In my practice I routinely see patients who are desperately seeking a way to
recover their health. It is rare that they aren't willing to make the necessary
changes when they are given the opportunity to get well and avoid a lifetime of
taking drugs to control symptoms.