Dr. Greger shares the story of his grandmother, who inspired him to go into medicine.
The Story of NutritionFacts.org
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Welcome to NutritionFacts.org, which all started with my grandma. I was just a kid when my grandmother was diagnosed with end-stage heart disease, and sent home to die. She already had so many bypass surgeries; was so scarred up inside; there was nothing more the surgeons could do. Confined in a wheelchair; crushing chest pain; her life was over at age 65.
Then, she heard about this guy, Nathan Pritikin, one of our early lifestyle medicine pioneers, and what happened next is chronicled in Pritikin’s biography. My grandma was one of the “death’s door people.” Like Frances Greger, my grandmother. Arrived in a wheelchair. “Mrs. Greger had heart disease, angina, and claudication; her condition was so bad she could no longer walk without great pain in her chest and legs. Within three weeks [though], she was not only out of her wheelchair…[she] was walking ten miles a day.”
This is a picture of my grandma—at her grandson’s wedding, 15 years after doctors had abandoned her to die. She was given her medical death sentence at age 65—but, thanks to a healthy diet, was able to enjoy another 31 years on this earth until age 96, with her six grandkids, including me.
That’s why I went into medicine.
When Dr. Dean Ornish published his Lifestyle Heart Trial years later, proving, with something called quantitative angiography, that indeed heart disease could be reversed in the majority of patients without drugs, without surgery—just a plant-based diet and other healthy lifestyle behaviors— I assumed this was going to be the game-changer. I mean, my family had seen it with their own eyes. But here it was in black and white, published in one of the most prestigious medical journals.
But, nothing happened, leaving me to wonder. Wait a second. If effectively, the cure to our #1 killer could get lost down some rabbit hole and ignored, what else might there be in the medical literature that could help my patients—but just didn’t have a corporate budget driving its promotion? I made it my life’s mission to find out.
For those of you unfamiliar with my work, every year, I read through every issue of every English-language nutrition journal in the world—so busy folks like you don’t have to.
I then compile all the most interesting, the most groundbreaking, the most practical findings to create new videos and articles every day for my nonprofit site, NutritionFacts.org.
Everything on the website is free. There’s no ads, no corporate sponsorship. It’s strictly non-commercial—I’m not selling anything. I just put it up as a public service, as a labor of love, as a tribute to my grandmother.
I hope I can do for your family what Pritikin did for my family.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Monte, T., & Pritikin, I. (1988). Pritikin, the man who healed America's heart. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press.
- Ornish D, Scherwitz LW, Billings JH, Brown SE, Gould KL, Merritt TA, Sparler S, Armstrong WT, Ports TA, Kirkeeide RL, Hogeboom C, Brand RJ. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease. JAMA. 1998 Dec 16;280(23):2001-7.
Videography courtesy of Grant Peacock
Welcome to NutritionFacts.org, which all started with my grandma. I was just a kid when my grandmother was diagnosed with end-stage heart disease, and sent home to die. She already had so many bypass surgeries; was so scarred up inside; there was nothing more the surgeons could do. Confined in a wheelchair; crushing chest pain; her life was over at age 65.
Then, she heard about this guy, Nathan Pritikin, one of our early lifestyle medicine pioneers, and what happened next is chronicled in Pritikin’s biography. My grandma was one of the “death’s door people.” Like Frances Greger, my grandmother. Arrived in a wheelchair. “Mrs. Greger had heart disease, angina, and claudication; her condition was so bad she could no longer walk without great pain in her chest and legs. Within three weeks [though], she was not only out of her wheelchair…[she] was walking ten miles a day.”
This is a picture of my grandma—at her grandson’s wedding, 15 years after doctors had abandoned her to die. She was given her medical death sentence at age 65—but, thanks to a healthy diet, was able to enjoy another 31 years on this earth until age 96, with her six grandkids, including me.
That’s why I went into medicine.
When Dr. Dean Ornish published his Lifestyle Heart Trial years later, proving, with something called quantitative angiography, that indeed heart disease could be reversed in the majority of patients without drugs, without surgery—just a plant-based diet and other healthy lifestyle behaviors— I assumed this was going to be the game-changer. I mean, my family had seen it with their own eyes. But here it was in black and white, published in one of the most prestigious medical journals.
But, nothing happened, leaving me to wonder. Wait a second. If effectively, the cure to our #1 killer could get lost down some rabbit hole and ignored, what else might there be in the medical literature that could help my patients—but just didn’t have a corporate budget driving its promotion? I made it my life’s mission to find out.
For those of you unfamiliar with my work, every year, I read through every issue of every English-language nutrition journal in the world—so busy folks like you don’t have to.
I then compile all the most interesting, the most groundbreaking, the most practical findings to create new videos and articles every day for my nonprofit site, NutritionFacts.org.
Everything on the website is free. There’s no ads, no corporate sponsorship. It’s strictly non-commercial—I’m not selling anything. I just put it up as a public service, as a labor of love, as a tribute to my grandmother.
I hope I can do for your family what Pritikin did for my family.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Monte, T., & Pritikin, I. (1988). Pritikin, the man who healed America's heart. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press.
- Ornish D, Scherwitz LW, Billings JH, Brown SE, Gould KL, Merritt TA, Sparler S, Armstrong WT, Ports TA, Kirkeeide RL, Hogeboom C, Brand RJ. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease. JAMA. 1998 Dec 16;280(23):2001-7.
Videography courtesy of Grant Peacock
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Title
The Story of NutritionFacts.org
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
This is the first time I’ve ever done a video like this. Many of you asked for me to come up with more basic, introductory videos you can share with those new to both the site, and the whole concept that our food choices can exert tremendous power over our health destiny and longevity.
So with the volunteer help of videographer Grant Peacock, I came up with ten introduction and overview-type videos for both new users to orient themselves, and for long-time users to use to introduce people to the site. Stay tuned for:
- Why You Should Care About Nutrition
- Taking Personal Responsibility for Your Health
- The Philosophy of NutritionFacts.org
- Behind the Scenes at NutritionFacts.org
- How Not to Die from Heart Disease
- How Not to Die from Cancer
- How Not to Die from Diabetes
- How Not to Die from Kidney Disease
- How Not to Die from High Blood Pressure
If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here. Read our important information about translations here.
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