About the Author Author of 23 books, including the acclaimed besteller The Encyclopedia of Natural Foods (co-authored with Dr. Joseph Pizzorno), Dr. Michael T. Murray is regarded as the world authority on natural medicine. An educator, lecturer, researcher and health food industry consultant, Michael also serves as the Director of Product Development and Education at Natural Factors, a health product firm. Dr. Joseph Pizzorno is a leader in the field of natural medicine, and co-founder of Bastyr University, the first ever accredited, multidisciplinary university of natural medicine in the United States (and the english-speaking world). An international lecturer and on-going contributor to magazines such as Natural Health, Better Nutrition and Let's Live, he also co-wrote the acclaimed bestseller The Encyclopedia of Natural Foods with Dr. Michael Murray.Dr. Joseph Pizzorno is cofounder of Bastyr University, the first accredited multidisciplinary university of natural medicine in the United States.Lara Pizzorno, M.A., L.M.T., is a health writer and medical editor with more than twenty years of experience. Product Description JUST WHAT IS A HEALTHY DIET? WHAT DOES THE BODY NEED TO STAY STRONG AND GET WELL? From the bestselling authors of The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods comes this convenient condensed edition -- a practical, portable guide to the nutritional benefits and healing properties of virtually everything we eat. Studies have shown that diet plays a major role in both provoking and preventing a wide range of diseases. Here, leading authorities on nutrition and wellness make sense of the research in an easy-to-use A-to-Z guide to eating your way to good health. Boasting the most effective natural remedies for everyday aches and pains, as well as potent protection against serious diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer, The Condensed Encyclopedia of Healing Foods is an essential reference for anyone looking to make healthy eating a lifelong habit. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One: Human Nutrition: An Evolutionary Perspective In order to answer the question "What is a healthy diet?," it is important to first take a look at what our body is designed for. Is the human body designed to eat plant foods, animal foods, or both? Respectively, are we herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores? While the human gastrointestinal tract is capable of digesting both plant and animal foods, there are indications that we evolved to digest primarily plant foods. Specifically, our teeth are composed of twenty molars, which are perfect for crushing and grinding plant foods, along with eight front incisors, which are well suited for biting into fruits and vegetables. Only our front four canine teeth are designed for meat eating, and our jaws swing both vertically to tear and laterally to crush, while carnivores' jaws swing only vertically. Additional evidence that supports the human body's preference for plant foods is the long length of the human intestinal tract. Carnivores typically have a short bowel, while herbivores have a bowel length proportionally comparable to humans'. To answer the question of what humans should eat, many researchers look to other primates, such as chimpanzees, monkeys, and gorillas. These nonhuman wild primates are omnivores. They are also often described as herbivores and opportunistic carnivores in that although they eat mainly fruits and vegetables, they may also eat small animals, lizards, and eggs if given the opportunity. For example, the gorilla and the orangutan eat only 1 percent and 2 percent of animal foods as a percentage of total calories, respectively. The remainder of their diet is derived from plant foods. Since humans are between the weight of the gorilla and orangutan, it has been suggested that humans are designed to eat around 1.5 percent of their diet in the form of animal foods. However, most Americans derive well over 50 percent of thei

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