Dr. Joel Fuhrman is a renowned family physician and New York Times bestselling author who has been advocating for the health benefits of a vegan diet for over 30 years. He is best known for creating the Nutritarian diet, a type of whole foods plant-based diet. This way of eating can increase longevity, resulting in sustainable weight loss and reverse heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. 

How his interest in nutritional science and veganism began

He became interested in nutritional science due to his father having kidney disease and being overweight, which reduced his quality of life.The whole family began to cut down on animal products and transition to a whole food plant-based diet alongside his father. 

This experience early in life fostered a strong interest in nutrition. When he later decided to go to medical school, his intention all along was to specialize in nutrition and use his medical degree as an asset to create a practice founded upon nutritional science.

Dr. Fuhrman’s commitment to nutritional science despite a lack of support in medical school

Once in medical school, he learned that while his superiors agreed with the premise of a whole food plant based diet, they dismissed it as unviable. They thought that there was little point in advocating for it in medicine because many people don’t want to hear it. 

Yet Dr. Fuhrman was determined that the public should have informed consent to choose the trajectory of their own lives. He believed that it doesn’t matter whether 1% or 80% of patients actually follow the recommendation. Regardless, he thought, it is the responsibility of the medical profession to make the public aware of the benefits of going plant-based and the risks of failing to do so. 

Holding strong to his convictions proved favorable for Dr. Fuhrman. His passion led him to rise in the ranks to Chairperson of the Nutritional Education dept, to secure a seat on the Admissions Committee, and to be requested as the Keynote Speaker at his 25-year reunion. 

The Nutritarian Food Guide Pyramid versus USDA MyPlate 

Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutritarian Food Guide Pyramid centers the low-calorie, nutrient-dense foods that scientific studies have shown to have the most consistent benefits to health and longevity. Veggies are the base, rather than grains. Starches and fats come primarily from vegetables and beans; fats come from nuts and seeds; and sweets come from fruit. The Nutritarian diet also avoids snacks between meals, fruit juice and processed foods

In contrast, the USDA’s MyPlate guidelines recommend people consume the vast majority of calories from grains and animal products. This is because the USDA’s dietary guidelines are swayed by conflicting interests. Firstly, the USDA’s role is to promote the consumption of domestic agriculture. Secondly, special interest groups lobby the USDA, the Department of Health and Human Services and Congress to support the financial interests of the animal agriculture industry.

Consumers are better informed by trusting nonprofit, academic sources of nutrition information, such as NutritionFacts.org, the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine, and the work of vegan doctors like Dr. Fuhrman.

How eating a micronutrient-rich diet supports longevity 

Dr. Fuhrman shares that a whole food plant based diet is “the most proven methodology to slow aging and extend lifespan.” He argues that with an optimal diet, humans should be living to 97-107. 

Colorful plant foods – and especially greens – are packed with micronutrients, like phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. These substances arm the body to fight cancer, mutations, sickness and aging. He is known for the idea of the “Health Equation: Health = Nutrients/Calories.” This equation posits that we can determine the healthfulness of a food by its ratio of nutrients to calories.

The problem with animal products, sugar, white flour, and oils

But animal products, white flour, sugar, and oils lack these properties. Instead of fortifying your body against these conditions, they flood the body with excess calories. Because they lack these micronutrients, this creates inflammation and craving for more.

Besides lacking essential micronutrients, these foods all enter the bloodstream with a sudden flood of calories. This causes the brain to desire this caloric rush. It can create an addiction to consuming huge caloric loads in order to feel full.

In contrast, on a nutritarian diet, you consume fats in less concentrated sources, from nuts and seeds. Doing so avoids revving up fat storage hormones and allows the body more time to selectively choose what to hold onto and what to dispose of. 

The idea of detoxification

While a whole food plant-based diet rich in micronutrients is supported by a vast amount of scientific literature, Dr. Fuhrman also promotes a separate idea of detoxification. This particular idea is a type of alternative medicine that some have criticized as pseudoscientific. Some scientists and dietetic organizations have criticized this concept for lacking scientific basis and evidence. 

He states that when we don’t eat healthfully, our bodies build up excess toxins and metabolic waste products, such as free radicals, urea, uric acid, and ammonia. In addition, we are exposed to exogenous waste products from the environment like plastics, heavy metals, molds, and other toxins. Not following a Nutritarian diet, he says, can result in negative health impacts from the build up of these toxins. 

For longevity and health, humans should eat a diet high in plant protein, prioritize nuts and seeds, and avoid processed oils

Dr. Fuhrman asserts that the more animal protein you have in your diet, the more premature death you are likely to have. Likewise, the more plant-forward your diet is, the longer you are likely to live. 

Many different high quality, large-scale studies around the world have found that the more plant protein humans have in their diet, the longer they are likely to live. A diet high in plant protein centers green vegetables, beans, grains, nuts and seeds. Nuts and seeds are so important to extending lifespan, promoting heart health and absorbing anticancer phytochemicals that flexitarians eating nuts and seeds are likely to live longer than those on a low-fat diet without nuts and seeds. 

Why we should eliminate processed oils but prioritize nuts and seeds

Dr. Fuhrman recommends eliminating oils but not nuts and seeds. Eating a walnut causes a totally different physiological response as compared to consuming walnut oil. This is because oil is an appetite stimulant and the body stores it as fat immediately. In contrast, the body absorbs calories from nuts slowly and preserves only what it needs. 

The body can choose what to burn for energy and dispose of what it doesn’t need. Oil and sugar calories aren’t normal calories, they’re immediately stored as fat. 

Why the original Nutritarian guidelines allowed for a small amount of animal products, white flours, processed foods, sugar and oils but now exclude them entirely

Originally, Dr. Fuhrman’s early 2004 Nutritarian Food Pyramid allowed for 10% of calories to come from animal products, oils and processed foods. But, he never felt that was optimal, as even one serving of meat a week results in significantly increased risk of heart attacks. Rather, it was a compromise in an effort to be realistic about people’s eating patterns.

But, he no longer advocates for allowing any animal products, oils or processed foods at all. This is because, over the last 20 years, he has seen that people dabbling in a little bit of these foods only fuels their desire for more. It merely increases the likelihood of quitting all together. 

He has found that people experience decision fatigue if they have to make a decision every time they’re faced with temptation. But if people instead make a firm decision, it makes sticking with the guidelines easier and less stressful. Eventually, people no longer even desire those foods anymore.  

Dr. Fuhrman’s residential program Eat to Live Retreat

Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat to Live Retreat in San Diego offers participants programming for a minimum of 30 days and up to 2-4 months. Here he and his team teach people how to retrain their taste buds, get rid of addictive behaviors, become more active and establish healthy habits. 

The program offers nutritionists, chefs, exercise training, a one thousand acre park with hiking trails, a pickleball court, great atmosphere, and even reparative joint work. In addition, the group setting offers community and accountability from others on the same journey. Dr. Fuhrman reports that he finds it fulfilling to help people get off their medications and end their heart disease, asthma, headaches and other health conditions. 

Dr. Fuhrman’s advice on intermittent fasting

Dr. Fuhrman also advises people generally not to eat for 4-5 hours before going to bed (known as “Time Restricted Eating”) to allow for time to digest. He states that the body gets the most benefit from sleep and is best able to heal and detoxify (again, a contested idea of alternative medicine) if it is not digesting a big meal. 

He also states that fasting can be used to help people with conditions like asthma or lupus as a tool to help wean off medications. He does not, however, recommend intermittent fasting for people who are overweight food addicts. This is because this behavior can lead people to become more obsessed with food and can turn into another yo-yo diet. 

Scientific support for whole-food plant-based diets like the Nutritarian diet

Despite some criticism of particular claims like detoxification, Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutritarian diet is a type of evidence-based whole-food plant-based diet. This dietary pattern has overwhelming scientific support for promoting health and longevity and fighting chronic diseases like heart disease and cancers. 

Support comes from The World Health Organization, The American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine, NutritionFacts.org, The China Study, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses in multiple academic journals (including the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the European Journal of Epidemiology, the International Journal of Epidemiology, and the Journal of Geriatric Cardiology, among others). 

Recently, articles in scientific journals from 2021 and 2022 have supported the efficacy of a Nutritarian diet specifically.

Dr. Fuhrman currently serves as the Director of Research for the Nutritional Research Foundation. To learn more about the Nutritarian diet and how it can improve your life in his book, popular book Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss, or at drfurhman.com.

What better gift to give yourself and your loved one this Valentine’s Day than adopting a heart healthy whole-food plant-based diet!

Author Bio:

Colleen Kane is a vegan activist, blogger, public speaker and occupational therapist. She writes about the power of veganism to promote social justice, health justice and climate justice on her blog, Veganspired. You can connect with her on LinkedIn for guest blogging and speaking requests.