(upbeat music)

- What kills more people than smoking?

(laughs)

Believe it or not it's thestandard American diet.

So what's the healthy wayto eat for 2020 and beyond?

Lorie Johnson has the answer.

(whoosh)

- [Lorie] As a young boy, Michael Greger

saw how food can be medicine.

His 65-year old grandmotherfaced death from heart disease.

Then she adopted a plant baseddiet and lived to age 96.

Now, as a physician, DrGreger cites numerous studies

that back-up his grandma's choice

for helping others fightAmerica's number one killer.

- Not only can heart diseasebe prevented and arrested,

with a plant-based diet,

it's the only diet ever,proven to reverse heart disease

in the majority of patients.

Opening up arteries withoutdrugs, without surgery.

Every 37 seconds someone inAmerica dies from heart disease.

Cardiologists like Dr Deepak Talreja

urge their patients to makechanges before it's too late.

- We try to push people towards

as optimal a diet as theycan really stick with.

- [Lorie] In short, herecommends eating more plants,

fewer animals.

- Some people are very committed

and they'll fall into a program

where they do 100 percent the right thing.

Some people can't do that,

but if they can do the right thing

70 or 80 percent of thetime that moves them closer

to getting where they'reeither gonna get more committed

or at least get somebenefits from that diet.

- [Lorie] And it's not just heart disease.

Studies show a plant-based diet

can prevent other leading causesof death including cancer.

Case in point, Loma Linda, California,

the American city with themost centenarians per capita.

Also home to the highest concentration

of Seventh Day Adventists,

a denomination whichadvocates a plant-based diet.

- Adventists have approximatelythe same proportion

that people who die of cancer,heart disease or stroke.

But the age that they getdiagnosed is much later.

- As the name suggests,a plant-based diet,

contains mostly foodsthat grow from the ground.

Also, whole foods, ones that are as close

to their original state as possible.

Plant-based diets offer varying options.

Vegan is 100% plant food.

Vegetarian includes eggs and dairy.

And for those who just can't do without,

Pescatarian allows seafood.

And you may have neverheard of Flexitarian,

but it includes some meat and poultry.

For the last 15 years,dietician Julieanna Hever,

has been teaching people how to switch

to a more plant-based diet,

which she says can reverse Type 2 Diabetes

and high blood pressure.

- It reduces obesity and extra weight.

It reduces medication requirements.

I love to say decreasing your medication,

results are normal.

My clients get off their medications.

- [Lorie] She admitsthere's a learning curve.

- I liken it to learning a new language.

Anything, when you'retransitioning to something major,

like the way you've eaten your whole life,

you just have to learn a few new words,

a few new ingredients,

tie them together in somesentences and paragraphs

and some recipes,

and then if you keep doingit over and over again

you become fluent.

- [Lorie] Dr Greger saysif he can get his patients

to try it for three weeks,they're usually hooked.

- They're going to sleep so much better,

their digestion's better,their periods less painful,

they have more energy.

And in fact, some peoplesay Oh, I felt fine, Doc,

but then I didn't realizeI had chronic indigestion.

I just thought it was normalto feel like this after a meal.

But no, you don't know howgood you're going to feel

until you give it a try.

- [Lorie] Dr Gregerrecommends consuming certain

plant-based foods and beverages each day.

Like berries, leafy greens, legumes,

a tablespoon of ground flax seed,

a quarter teaspoon of tumeric,

mushrooms, green tea, and more.

So while many of us enjoyeating the old standards,

increasing evidence shows ahealthier and wiser choice

involves eating more unprocessed foods

from the ground up.

- The Bible says, Beloved, Iwish that you would prosper

and be in health even as you so prosper.

Lorie is here with some arrayof delightful vegetable soup.

- That's right, nowthis is your soup recipe

and it's 100% plant-based.

- [Pat] That's right.

- I did bring a pictureof all the ingredients

before I made this soup over the weekend,

there are lots of them.

And you see that there'skale and peas and cabbage,

tomatoes, we've got a littlebit of potatoes in there

and if you want the recipefor Pat's vegetable soup

go to our website CBNnews.com.

- I just was in the kitchen

and I just startedhorse packing that thing

and I said well let's try a little,

give me a pack of frozen spinach,

give me some kale we chopped that up,

but the big thing is, I was inthere with a chopping knife,

you gotta chop the potatoes fine,

so many onions, you put the onions in,

you've got celery,

I have about 20 differentkinds of vegetables

and it's really delicious isn't it?

- It is delicious.

It's the combination and like you say,

the flavor sort of marinate.

You put it on the stove

for any where from like about 4-hours.

And it's just fantastic.

Now this is my soup,this is the squash soup

that I've been making for years

and everybody loves it.

In fact, when my son was at college,

he called me from insidea grocery store, he said,

mom how do you make thatsquash soup you always make.

(Pat laughs)

So it is very healthy,totally plant-based,

here are the ingredients on your screen.

- [Pat] Well how's it taste, sample that.

- [Lorie] Please feel free to have some.

Turmeric, we know that'sextremely healthy.

And especially combined with a fat,

which in this case, coconutoil, one of my favorite fats

and black pepper makesturmeric absorb into your body.

- What's this on top of the this.

- Those are pepitas which isa fancy name for pumpkin seeds

and I roasted those a little bit.

Do you like it?

- I love it it's delicious.

- Now here's another and thisdoesn't take very long to make

and again, the recipe for the squash soup

is on our website CBNNews.com.

Here's an old favoritebut never disappoints.

- [Pat] Wow.

- Roasted vegetables and canI tell you how easy this is?

I just chopped up thesevarious vegetables,

threw 'em on a pan with some avocado oil,

which is really a greatoil for high heat, on 425.

And I've got in here,broccoli, sweet potatoes,

red pepper, cauliflower,and here's a fork,

or if you wanna eat withyour fingers that's fine

this is your show. (laughs)

- Fingers are fine with me.

- And again you can mix upthe different vegetables,

you want the cruciferous vegetables,

the broccoli, thecauliflower, brussles sprouts,

are especially good butthese health experts

that I interviewed said,

really try to mix up and you know,

put some variety in the differentplant-based foods you eat.

- That's very good.

- Don't eat the same ones everyday.

Now this, is a really great crowd pleaser.

These are dates, stuffedwith almond butter,

sprinkled with cinnamon,which is extremely healthy,

and you can see I put it ona special valentines plate

because Pat, you're married,don't forget Valentines day

is in three days (laughs) andso this is a nice alternative

to those really sweet, unhealthy treats

that people often do on Valentines day.

- Dates, all in there thatyou got, what's in it?

- Almond butter.

- Almond butter.

- And then sprinkled with cinnamon,

which cinnamon is really good for you.

- Sweet, nice, it's very good.

- And then again, anotheralternative to sweets, to candy,

these are frozen grapes.

- Wow.

- And so when you'rehaving a sugar craving

and you open the freezer andyou're thinking about ice cream

go for the frozen grapes instead

because they're frozenso it gives you something

to chew on for awhile.

- We use the frozen blueberries,

I get them and they're very nice,

but these are delicious.

- They're great andthey're a great substitute

for real sugar, for candy.

- So you don't put insugar you just freeze 'em.

- No sir, just plain ole grapes.

I brought them at the grocerystore and froze 'em flat.

- I recommend Pat's Minestrone.

I tell you, I labored overthe last part of this stuff

and it's very good.

I had about 20 different vegetables

and I just kinda kept throwing it in,

mixing it up and thenhaving made this stuff

I said let's make a recipe of it

and I didn't go the other route.

- It is so delicious and can I just say,

people I interviewed forthis particular segment,

they say yes in a perfect worldwe would like our patients

to eat 100% plant-base but a lot of folks

just don't wanna do that.

And so you can add somemeat to these things,

a little bit of chicken,maybe some salmon,

or some grass-fed beef, and they say,

what you should keep in mindif you really want to eat meat

and still try to be plant-based,

think of meat as a condiment,

something small on the side.

And if you make most of yourplate vegetables or fruits,

then you can buy healthier types of meat.

The grass-fed beef which a lot people say

oh it's too expensive but ifyou're only eating a little,

you can afford it.

Same thing with the chicken,

you wanna get the kind of chicken

that has no antibiotics ever

that's the key word, ever.

- So is that the free-range or what?

- It's so confusing when yougo into the poultry section

in the grocery store, thereare so many different choices.

Look for no antibiotics ever.

Ideally, pasture raisedchicken, is the best,

but that's a little bit hardto find and quite expensive.

No antibiotics ever is okay.

- I worked on the farm wherethe chickens just ran around

in the barnyard andscratched and got their stuff

and then when we wantedto take the chicken

we threw some grain for them.

- Yeah that's the best way.

- That's the good kind of chicken.

- That is, that's the best way.

- But they shoot thesethings full of antibiotics.

- Too often.- It's terrible.

- Too often but not everybody

so look for the no antibiotics ever

and when it comes to seafood,

try to get the wild caughtas oppose to farm raised.

That's a little bithealthier these experts say.

- They load the antibiotics into the fish

and those salmon, don't theyhave antibiotics in them?

- Yes, in many cases.

And so the wild caught and you can buy

fairly inexpensive wild caught fish.

- You can get drug resistance

from eating all those antibiotics?

- Yes and a lot of our healthexperts are saying that

it does a real numberon your gut bacteria too

so be careful when you're buyingmeat and fish and poultry.

- Those things can actuallykill the gut bacteria

that's keeping you healthy.

- A lot of the folks I've interviewed,

the gut experts say yes, be wary.

So when you're thinking aboutgoing to a plant-based diet

a lot of folks are like ohno I don't know what to do,

there are couple ofcookbooks that we have,

the two experts I interviewedin the story that we just saw,

each one of them has a cookbook,

Julieanna Hever's, don'tyou love that title?

"How Not to Die" (laughs)that says it all,

and the other one is "TheHealthspan Solution",

both cookbooks, fantastic.

All the plant-basedrecipe's you can handle.

- Well you'll love my minestrone

and the recipe I think is on CBN.com?

- It is indeed.

- You got pictures,

are there pictures ofme and Terry making it?

- If you search on Google,which is what I did.

I searched on Google,'cause I wanted your recipe,

"Pat Robertson's Vegetable Soup"

and up came a video ofyou and Terry making it

in the CBN kitchen afew years ago (laughs)

and it is such a funny video,watching the two of you,

in the kitchen together.

- Well we had fun, Ihad a red apron I think.

- Yeah, you were justthrowing stuff in the pot

and that's what's so great about cooking

is that you don't have to be precise.

- That's right, well Ididn't write the recipe yet,

I made it up then I said let'sput that on a piece of paper.

I like this idea, your frozengrapes, they're delicious.

- They really are andthey're especially good

for folks like me who getthese intense sugar cravings

and that satisfies the sugarcravings without eating.

- These are even better.

Lorie you are a wonderand ladies and gentlemen

we want you to behealthy and be in health.

Beloved, I pray that you will prosper

and be in health evenas your soul prospers

and this is the way, plant-based.

All that fat beef iscausing heart disease,

high blood pressure, indigestion,and all the other stuff.

Including obesity.

- It's part of our culture as well.

I mean this is how we grew up,

I use to eat beef fivedays a week growing up.

You know there's meatloaf,steak, hamburgers,

just a different form of red meat.

So this is actually quite a shift

for folks who grew up eating meat,

that was the centerpieceof the meal, every night.

- Or a big steak, I meanyou can't fake steak,

that's the advertising, I understand.

This is much better, try it.

It's not fanatical (chuckles)it's really good stuff.

Okay, Lorie thank you so much.