Learn about my 10 takeaways from the 11th annual Food Revolution Summit 2022. In addition, I’ll share what I learned, 3 things that I’ll change and 8 interviews I suggest listening to if you don’t have time for them all.
Register for free 4-day all-access and listen to the Food Revolution Summit 2022!
Watch it all in the below video!
Food Revolution Summit 2022
I’ll start with the main takeaways regardless of whether those were news to me or not.
Then, I’ll dive into new things that I learned during the summit. Take note that I’ve been listening to the summits for the past 3-4 years and have been actively reading and researching the links between health and nutrition for the past 10 years. And I did discover new information!
After that I’ll tell what this summit gave me and the things that I will change from now on.
And finally, if you don’t have the time or patience to listen to all the 25 expert interviews, I’ll let know which 8 of them in my opinion are the most valuable and a definite must-listen! And which in my opinion is the most important for everyone.
10 Takeaways
The numbers that will make you wonder.
First, some numbers that should make you think about things! The US spends 18% of GDP to health care or rather disease management. The US accounts for less than 5% of the world’s population but is responsible for 75% of all global drug company revenues. It’s because 2/3 of all the calories eaten in the US are from ultra-processed foods. This leads to the fact that the US accounts for more than 15% of the world’s known covid deaths.
There is no willpower.
Now, if you think that you should have the willpower to say no to all the junk food, think again! You can’t take your will power and go against the scientifically engineered and precisely targeted junk food ads that are created to turn you into a food addict always wanting for more. Those foods destroy our ability to avoid overeating them. So, there’s no point in blaming yourself for not being able to persist.
Junk food is highly profitable because subsidies are going in the wrong direction.
After that come in the big pharma that is happy to treat the symptoms that are caused by people’s unhealthy diets. And around we go!
Your health is in your hands.
At the same time, heart disease and most other chronic diseases are nearly 100% preventable with diet and lifestyle. Even covid!
From a study: people who followed a plant-based diet had a 75% lower chance of developing moderate to severe covid than did the general public. What’s more is that those who followed low carb high protein diets were 48% more likely to develop moderate to severe covid.
Life-changing initiatives.
Now, let’s talk about what is being done to change the course.
One of the biggest problems in our medical system is that medical schools don’t include almost any nutritional education in their curriculum. It’s because they teach for the final tests and those tests have no nutrition-related questions.
Food Revolution Network together with Bright Line Eating and American College of Lifestyle Medicine, developed a thousand questions that could be used by medical schools in their assessment tests. The first batch of 250 questions was made available in the beginning of 2022. Now they’re campaigning to get all medical schools adapt them into their tests. When most schools have adapted them voluntarily, the next step will be to make them mandatory and required by the national board of medical examiners. This one shift will impact the health of millions of people.
Furthermore, they’re also working on an awesome project called produce prescription. The doctors will be able to prescribe fruits and veggies to their patients and the cost will be covered by the insurance. It is a cost-effective intervention for many chronic diseases. I think this is an awesome initiative!
Healthy eating brings joy!
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be restrictive and it won’t take joy out of your life! On the contrary, whole plant-based foods are delicious and enjoyable, and they extend the healthy years that you live. You can have the healthy experience of aging. You can look forward to it instead of being afraid of it. With modern medicine, we have not prolonged our lives but prolonged our dying.
The best foods for your health.
The foods that got praised the most during the Food Revolution Summit were greens, beans, mushrooms, onions, nuts and seeds, cruciferous veggies, berries, green tea, and surprisingly coffee and cacao.
Soy is not a bad guy!
It’s worth mentioning separately that soy should not be demonised by mainstream media. Science shows that it’s one of the most beneficial foods, especially when it comes to fighting and preventing cancer as well as menopausal problems. Go and listen to Dr. Kristi Funk for more on soy.
Register for free 4-day all-access and listen to the Food Revolution Summit 2022!
Keto is a fad diet!
Next, low carb high protein diets aka keto diets wreak havoc on people’s health when followed long-term. Increases cardiac death, causes inflammation, elevated bad cholesterol, TMAOs and uric acid. Plus, animal products mess up your microbiome.
What we are doing to our planet.
Industrialised agriculture has become one of the most environmentally destructive forces on the planet. We’re trenching our soil with insecticides and herbicides, destroying the forests, eroding the topsoil, draining the aquifers, and torture animals in factory farms. Go and listen to George Monbiot for more information.
Register for free 4-day all-access and listen to the Food Revolution Summit 2022!
What everyone can do!
The most powerful thing that you can do for your health and for the health of our planet is to eat a whole foods plant-based diet. Be a participant, not an exploiter!
New Things That I Learned from Food Revolution Summit 2022
A Covid research.
First, the covid research that I mentioned above was fascinating. Healthcare workers from six countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, USA) with substantial exposure to COVID-19 patients completed a web-based survey from July to September 2020. Those who reported following plant-based diet had 73% lower odds of moderate-to-severe covid severity. And those who reported following low carb high protein diets were 48% more likely to develop moderate to severe covid. [the study]
Download free Immunity Guidebook: Top 6 Superfoods for Immune Health
and register for 4-day all-access for Food Revolution Summit 2022!
Cacao
One of my favourite substances, cacao, got some praises during the Food Revolution Summit as well. For example, those eating dark chocolate have 71% less depression. Yeah! However, don’t confuse processed milk chocolate with raw cacao and dark chocolate.
TMAOs
Have you heard of TMAO (Trimethylamine N-oxide)? It’s kind of a new cholesterol. As it turns out, people with higher levels in their blood may have more than twice the risk of heart attack, stroke, or other serious cardiovascular problems, compared with people who have lower levels. It is concentrated in egg yolks and red meats.
Now, the surprising part! When vegans and vegetarians consume these foods occasionally, their TMAO doesn’t spike.
Download free Heart Health Guidebook: 15 Top Foods for Heart Health
and register for 4-day all-access for Food Revolution Summit 2022!
The truth about bone broth.
Bone broth is praised in some of the communities. Here’s the catch. Animals store the lead in their bones. So, if you drink bone broth, you’re getting concentrated amounts of lead into your body.
Bloating and beans.
Some folks get bloated when consuming beans because of the raffinose content, a type of carbohydrate that’s poorly digested by the body. Bacteria in the large intestine break down raffinose, resulting in gas and bloating. However, it is water soluble. So, soak beans for 2 days, changing the water twice a day. Cook them well and don’t consume the water. If canned, rinse well. Also, you can add lemon juice when soaking beans and cook with seaweed kombu and/or bay leaves.
Sprouts are awesome!
Next, broccoli sprouts were praised by most of the interviewees because of their high concentration of sulforaphane or rather its precursor glucoraphanin that is a real cancer crusher. It’s a funny coincidence that just before the summit launched, I published a blog post and YouTube video about how to grow and use broccoli sprouts. So, make use of it!
A few more words about sprouts. They are delicious and can double the antioxidant levels, triple the vitamin C, and quadruple the level of fibre in plants. Doug Evans opened my eyes about the sprouts’ potential of being the primary source of calories (if needed). He also mentioned the main mistakes people make when sprouting any seeds.
Register for free 4-day all-access and listen to the Food Revolution Summit 2022!
Animal products and unhealthy gut bacteria.
Besides making cancer cells grow and wrecking all kinds of havoc in our bodies, animal products also feed unhealthy gut bacteria.
There is a 2014 study that compared 100% whole food plant-based and 100% carnivorous diets for 5 days. The change was seen in 24-48 hours. The beneficial short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were present in case of plant-based diet. However, no SCFAs were detected on meat diet. Moreover, animal-based diet showed the emergence of antibiotic resistance because of the antibiotic residues in animal meat. Think of it – in only 5 days you can move your gut to better.
Eat this to be 11 years younger.
One study showed that people eating the most greens were cognitively 11 years younger than those who didn’t. Leafy greens are one the most important foods for brain and anti-aging. In this study only half cup cooked or a whole cup raw greens were used.
The best brain supplements.
The best supplements for brain function are Omega 3s, Mg, saffron, and the active form of vitamin B9, folate 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (5-MTHF).
How to prevent Alzheimer’s.
90% of Alzheimer’s cases can be prevented by diet and lifestyle! Imagine having that power! And the 3% that cannot be prevented because of certain genes, can be postponed at least to the age of 80 and beyond.
Simply avoiding saturated fat will cut your Alzheimer’s risk by 50-60%.
Download free Brain Health Guidebook: Top 8 Foods for Your Brain
and register for 4-day all-access of Food Revolution Summit 2022!
High salt diet leads to weight gain?
Now, this is an interesting one from the Food Revolution Summit! Excessive salt aka sodium promotes fat production and fat storage in the body. It’s because elevated sodium is a mark of dehydration to our body. The body converts glucose into fructose and therefore stimulates fat production to then metabolise it and release water. So, high salt diets don’t only cause hypertension!
What’s uric acid?
Elevated uric acid levels don’t only indicate gout, but it also plays a role in metabolic syndrome and is a great risk factor of dementia and cognitive function.
Uric acid is a by-product of protein metabolism. Foods that cause high uric acid levels are animal products, fructose-containing foods as well as alcohol.
Go and listen to David Perlmutter for more on this and what helps reduce uric acid levels and what is the optimal level.
Supplements on whole food plant-based diet.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman touched on supplements on whole food plant-based diet. Besides the usual algae-based EPA and DHA, B12, and D3, he also mentioned zinc and K2 as beneficial additions. He also said that low omega 3’s is like smoking to your health.
Breast cancer facts.
87% of breast cancer is not caused by genes and yet the only thing doctors ask from their breast cancer patients is family history.
Top cancer fighting foods: cruciferous veggies, minimally processed soy, berries, allium, mushrooms. Go and listen to Kristi Funk for crucial information of breast cancer. She has such a fun and entertaining way of presenting science!
Download free Cancer Guidebook: 10 Proven Anticancer Foods and 6 to Avoid
and register for 4-day all-access to listen to the Food Revolution Summit 2022!
Hot flashes science.
Dr. Neal Barnard introduced a fascinating study during his interview. Namely, hot flashes decrease by 85% in just a few weeks when adopting low-fat whole food plant-based diet incorporating ½ cup of cooked soybeans daily.
Plant-based kids.
You don’t have to be afraid of fortified plant foods (milks in particular) and supplements when it comes to feeding plant-based kids. Yes, plants contain plenty of calcium and other minerals and vitamins but very often kids don’t eat big enough quantities to get optimal levels from food.
Also, if your kid eats a generally healthy whole foods diet, it’s OK to serve them white pasta and bread to increase their caloric intake. If they eat very fibrous food all the time, they are likely to feel full too quickly and may not consume enough calories/nutrients.
Get more vital information from Reshma Shah, the co-author of Nourish: The Definitive Plant-Based Nutrition Guide for Families.
Grass fed vs grain fed meat.
You would think that grass fed meat is much better for your health and planet than grain fed, right? As it turns out, in terms of health benefits, there’s only a slight difference.
Furthermore, raising grass fed cows would make the environmental impact even worse as you’d need 30% more cows (as they grow slower) and 270% more land. Listen to George Monbiot and Monica Aggarwal for more.
Register for free 4-day all-access and listen to the Food Revolution Summit 2022!
Random fascinating facts.
Avocados help lose weight at waist.
80% of all the prescriptions would be gone if everyone went whole food plant-based.
Black cumin seeds reduce the risk of covid. Sprinkle ground seeds on your meal.
When deciding which plants to eat, focus on diversity rather than the grams of fibre. or calories. 30 types of plants per week is a good goal.
French fries have added sugars.
If you eat more mushrooms, you have less depression. Fact backed by scientific research.
Food is as addictive as crack cocaine. If you’re addicted to food, you need to go and listen to Susan Pierce Thompson on day 3 of the summit.
Some plant-based meat substitutes have heme-iron in them! Heme iron has shown to be harmful as it triggers oxidative stress. Those substitutes are fine though if you need to bridge your way to whole food plant-based diet.
Did you know that the labels cruelty-free, hormone-free, all-natural etc. on meat packages don’t mean a thing? They’re simply there to diminish consumer guilt. Think about it.
Register for free 4-day all-access and listen to the Food Revolution Summit 2022!
What I’ll Change After the Food Revolution Summit 2022
I’ll start taking zinc and K2 on regular basis. Quite small doses of zinc though. You need to know that if you take therapeutic doses of zinc for a longer period, you should also take copper in the ratio of 15:1 zinc to copper otherwise you may end up with copper deficiency as those two minerals compete with absorption.
I will not freak out if my kid eats white bread and pasta. I will just encourage him to eat his raw veggies first to flatten the blood sugar curves.
I’ll pay more attention that my family gets all those food groups in every day (I’m already quite good at it myself): greens, beans, nuts and seeds, something from the allium family, cruciferous veggies, mushrooms, seaweeds.
The Best Interviews of Food Revolution Summit 2022
Now, if you register to listen to the summit now, you’ll have 4-day all-access to listen to as many interviews as you can. Should you not be able to cover them all and don’t have the means to invest in the lifetime access, then these are the 8 interviews I recommend you pick:
- Kristi Funk on breast cancer. Every woman and man who has dear women in his life should listen to this one!
- Either Monica Aggarwal or Brooke Goldner on auto-immune disease and chronic inflammation. Besides the science, both women share their incredible personal healing stories. Brooke from lupus and Monica from rheumatoid arthritis.
- Then, doctors Dean and Ayesha Sherzai are a must-listen if you care a tiniest bit about your brain health and want to live long and happy without cognitive decline, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease.
- Next, Dr Kim Williams or Joel Kahn on heart health. Joel talks about TMAOs, lectins, and keto diet. Dr Williams shares the latest science on dairy products, triglycerides, coronary calcium scores, the keto diet, and the different kinds of cholesterol.
- To learn about gut microbiome and its connection to the rest of the body, especially brain, listen to Will Bulsiewicz. He will tell you all about short chain fatty acids and their importance for the gut as well as how to make beans more digestible.
- Susan Pierce Thomson will open your eyes to food addiction. How it is as real as drug addiction. And how much more difficult it is for those people to navigate through social events and everyday life in general. She also knows what she’s preaching as she’s been in the deepest ditch herself.
- If you have kids or ever plan to have them and raise them on a plant-based diet, then Reshma Shah’s interview is a must.
- And finally, George Monbiot on feeding the world without destroying the planet. I’d even say that this is the most important interview of this summit. Regardless of whether you care about your own health, you can’t turn a blind eye to what’s happening to our precious planet. If you want your children and grandchildren to have a place to live, now is the time to make changes otherwise only the rocks will survive.
Now, go and register for the Food Revolution Summit 2022 4-day all-access and start listening to as many interviews as you can because our future depends on it!
Register for free 4-day all-access and listen to the Food Revolution Summit 2022!
