Eat These 5 Things Daily

While all plant foods are superfoods, there are a few who deserve special praise and daily servings.

Oct 04, 2025

All plants are superfoods. That’s the first thing.
The second thing is, the wider the variety of plants we ingest, the healthier we’ll be.

So all plant foods are great. However, a few are so good for us we consider them essential on a daily basis.

This is where you can begin to fine tune your menu, and to optimize it for peak health. We do that by ensuring that we get the following into our bellies every single day.

Turmeric

**The herb, NOT the supplement. The supplements are too condensed and can cause toxicity.*

I begin with this super herb turmeric. It is from the root of the curcuma longa, a flowering plant in the ginger family.

Turmeric is cancer prevention agent on three levels:

It’s a carcinogen blocker, which protects your cells from harmful carcinogens.
It’s an anti-oxidant, which prevents free-radicals that can often damage cells and start cancer developing.
It’s an antiproliferant, meaning it prevents spread.

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon a day is recommended. Just sprinkle it in whatever savory or spicy dish you’re making. ALWAYS ADD BLACK PEPPER to activate the peak benefits of turmeric.

Dr. Michael Greger on Turmeric

The Cruciferous Group, and the Leafy Greens Group

Six servings per day can remove existing plaque from coronary arteries

If you’re over 17 on a standard American diet, you already have plaque in your coronary arteries.

Plaque forms in our arteries when we ingest fat. Animal fats are the worst culprits, of course, but there are plant-based saturated fats too, like avocados. Since we’ve already sworn of oils (we have, yes?) and processed fake foods, we shouldn’t be adding anymore plaque to our arteries. If our cholesterol isn’t under control, plaque is still forming.

Statins can lower cholesterol, which keeps new plaque from forming, but there’s only one thing that can clear out the plaque that’s already there. Leafy greens and cruciferous veggies create bubbles of Nitric Oxide in our bloodstreams, and that stuff heals and repairs the lining of our arteries and reduces plaque that hasn’t yet calcified.

They say me you can never get rid of plaque that has already calcified, but a very wise medico told me it can erode away like the Grand Canyon did. Just get your heart rate up regularly and wear that shit down.

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, renowned cardiac surgeon and former head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, has seen patients reduce coronary plaque on his regimen of six servings from this food group every day and not one drop of oil. For heart patients, he takes them off nuts, avocado, and peanut butter, as well. And it works.

Add greens to every stew, soup, goulash, casserole, and chili you make.
Snack on raw broccoli and cauliflower with a nice hummus dip.
Roast broccoli & cauliflower with carrots and drizzle with balsamic
Split Brussels sprouts in half, roast covered until tender, then uncover until slightly browned. Stir in Korean barbecue sauce
Make cabbage salad, with shredded cabbage, carrots, onions, and a little pineapple for sweetness, and a splash of good balsamic.

Green Leafies & Cruciferous Veggies List

1 serving = 1 cup raw, or 1/2 cup cooked - always get some balsamic vinegar into contact with the veggies at some point in the process.

Spinach, Swiss chard, kale, turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, beet greens, beets, arugula, bok choy, brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, broccolini, kohlrabi, turnip, wasabi, and similar.

Here’s a great YouTube program I love, by Jane and Ann Esselstyn, wife and daughter of the above mentioned pioneer doctor. He comes in at the halfway point to explain further about why these foods are so good for you.

This is their “Greens Day” episode. Dr. Esselstyn, in his 90s now, comes in halfway.

Berries

For antioxidants, for sweetness, for anti-inflammatory effects, few things beat berries. They keep inflammatory genes from expressing or “turning on.” They decrease inflammatory markers in the blood.

Here’s Dr. Greger on the benefits of berries.

I want to add a bit of knowledge I stumbled upon recently in my studies. Bananas can block the antioxidant benefits of berries if eaten together, and this is true of any fruit or vegetable that tends to brown when exposed to air, like a potato for example.

Remember, this is the whole berry. Not wine or juice or jelly or preserves or what have you. Actual berries.

Beans

Black beans, white beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, cranberry beans, garbanzo beans aka chick peas, black eyed peas, lentils, all legumes—and there are many!

Beans are a huge source of protein, packed with fiber, loaded with vitamins. They lower cholesterol, regulate insulin blood sugar, improve bowel movements, boost energy, and they are super filling and keep you feeling fuller longer. They reduce your risk for some cancers, heart disease, fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, and more.

Here’s a great video on the many benefits of beans and legumes from Bestie Health

Flaxseed

As a seed, it’s a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals, and fiber which reduces cholesterol. It’s excellent for digestion, good for your heart, reduces type 2 diabetes, reduces cancer risk, and might even slow aging.

Here’s Dr. Greger on the benefits of flaxseed on patients with high blood pressure, the highest risk factor for death in the world.

Whole Grains

There is no shortage of protein in the standard American diet. Most get too much. What nobody gets enough of is fiber, and that’s where our whole grains come in. Whole grains are not, as a rule, white. White flour is a refined grain, not a whole grain. White rice, same thing. Brown rice is whole. White rice has parts stripped away.

Grains include oats (oatmeal,) rice (there are a dozen rices that are whole grain,) pearled or hulled barley, quinoa, corn, whole grain pastas, whole grain breads that do not contain oil such as Ezekiel breads and some varieties of Dave’s Killer Breads. Whole grain flours.

Grains do the important job of filling us up and providing us with fiber. They’re packed with protein, as well. We don’t think about grains as being protein powerhouses, but whole grains definitely are.

Whole grains are extremely heart healthy. They have all the good clean complex carbs we need, and all the fiber we need, reducing the risk of cancer, and just making the body run properly. They have no cholesterol and very little saturated fat.

My favorite flour is this whole grain, gluten free flour blend from Forks Over Knives.

Here’s Dr. Neal Bernard of the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, to tell us more.

In addition to the veggies and fruits listed here, you want multiple servings of other types of fruits and veggies every single day. Remember, the wider the variety, the healthier you’ll be.

Eat plenty of root vegetables, like potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, as these are the foods that fill you up. Sweet potatoes are nutrition powerhouses all on their own.

Season your meals with a wide range of herbs and spices, too. We try to eat at least 20 different kinds of plants, including herbs and spices, every day. But the recommendation is to get 20 different varieties per week.

Nuts are optional. Consider them with care if your goal is reversing coronary artery disease. Maybe skip.

Drink plenty of water. However, formulas about how much to drink based on your weight really aren’t accurate, as we’re all different. The key to knowing how much to drink is to pay attention to the color of your urine. It should be clear to very pale yellow. Darker yellow means you're not drinking enough.

I find the best way to ensure I drink plenty of water is to keep a water bottle by my side all day long, and to refill it when it gets low.

Okay hope this was helpful!

Try to incorporate all five every day and see how you feel!

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