It is not merely consuming too much fat that causes diseases. It is not merely eating empty-calorie foods or the high consumption of animal foods, such as milk, cheese, butter, meat, and chicken that causes premature deaths in America. It is also what we are missing in our diets by not eating enough plant foods. Why are plant foods so protective and essential for human health?
Let's compare the nutrient density of meat to the nutrient density of green vegetables to illustrate this important point.
|Broccoli||Sirloin Steak||Romaine Lettuce||Kale|
|Protein||11.2 gm||5.4 gm||7.5 gm||11 gm|
|Calcium||322 mg||2.4 mg||374 mg||470 mg|
|Iron||3.5 mg||.7 mg||7.7 mg||5.8 mg|
|Magnesium||74.5 mg||5 mg||60.5 mg||97 mg|
|Fiber||4.7 g||0||4 g||3.4 g|
|Phytochemicals||Very High||0||Very High||Very High|
|Antioxidants||Very High||0||Very High||Very High|
|Folate||257 mcg||3 mcg||969 mcg||60 mcg|
|B2||.71 mg||.04 mg||.45 mg||.32 mg|
|Niacin||2.8 mg||1.1 mg||2.2 mg||2.1 mg|
|Zinc||1.04 mg||1.2 mg||1.2 mg gm||.55 mg|
|Vitamin C||350 mg||0||100 mg||329 mg|
|Vitamin A||7750 IU||24 IU||10,450 IU||23,407 IU|
|Vitamin E||26 IU||0||32 IU||34 IU|
|Weight||307 gm||24 gm||550 gm||266 gm|
|(10.6 oz)||(.84 oz)||(19 oz)||(9.2 oz)|
This table is from the forthcoming revised version of Dr. Fuhrman's book Cholesterol Protection for Life.