Nutritional experts, including Dr. Joel Fuhrman, emphasize the importance of specific foods for maintaining a disease and cancer-free body. Dr. Fuhrman is known for creating the acronym G-BOMBS, which highlights the foods that are most effective in promoting longevity. The G-BOMBS diet encourages the daily consumption of Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, and Seeds to maximize health benefits. These foods are readily accessible, affordable, and versatile.
Understanding G-BOMBS
Dr. Fuhrman uses a simple, yet powerful acronym, G-BOMBS (Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, and Seeds) to help us easily remember these six nutrient-dense foods. These particular foods have the most evidence that supports their incredible immune-boosting, anticancer, and longevity promoting effects.
Greens: The Foundation of the Diet
Leafy green cruciferous vegetables are the cornerstone of the G-BOMBS diet. Dr. Fuhrman advises, “The salad is the main dish!” Eating a HUGE salad, at least once per day, is important for your health.
- Nutrient Density: Green vegetables are the healthiest foods on the planet. They have more than ten times the nutrients as any other food. Raw, leafy green vegetables have the highest nutrient density of all foods. Nutrient density is the concept defined by the ratio of micronutrients per calorie of food. Nutrient density is incredibly important for our health and longevity.
- Isothiocyanates (ITCs): The ITCs from green cruciferous vegetables (Ex: broccoli, kale, bok choy, arugula, watercress, brussels sprouts, red cabbage, cauliflower, collards, mustard greens) have the most protective compounds against cancer. These ITCs are formed when you chew these vegetables, as an enzyme called myrosinase mixes with glucosinolates. Myrosinase is heat sensitive, so be careful not to overcook your vegetables because this will destroy the myrosinase enzymes. When you are chewing overcooked broccoli, for example, you will not form many anticancer ITCs. ITCs are important for immune function, cardiovascular health, and cancer prevention. Regularly eating more cruciferous vegetables is linked to a decreased risk of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers.
- Quantity Matters: There is no threshold when eating green vegetables. Meaning, your body will have more protection, the more greens you consume. Green vegetables help maintain a healthy body weight. Leafy greens provide bulk, which causes you to feel full and satisfied. These greens are rich in fiber, micronutrients, and phytochemicals, and are very low in calories.
- Expert Agreement: “Dark-green, leafy vegetables are the healthiest foods on the planet. As whole foods go, they offer the most nutrition per calorie.” “Eating greens nearly every day may be one of the most powerful steps you can take to prolong your life.” “Try to incorporate greens into as many meals as possible. I put just about everything I eat on a bed of greens.”
Beans: Longevity and Versatility
Beans are associated with longevity worldwide. High in fiber, protein, B vitamins, and minerals like iron, magnesium, and phosphorus, beans not only help prevent cancer, but also benefit heart health, weight loss, and blood sugar management. They are the lowest glycemic, carbohydrate-rich food. An added bonus is that they’re relatively inexpensive, and so can help you get more from your food budget. The fiber and resistant starch in beans, lentils, and split peas cannot be broken down by the human digestive system. Gut bacteria metabolize resistant starch into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which have a variety of protective health effects. SCFAs promote good intestinal immune function and have anti-inflammatory effects.
Onions: Pungent Protection
Onions and their cousins in the allium family, including garlic, chives, and leeks, have been used both culinarily and as medicine for thousands of years. Their strong odors arise from organosulfur compounds (based on the element sulfur), which serve to protect the plants from predators. Once onions or garlic are chopped or crushed, the enzyme alliinase goes to work, producing organosulfur compounds with beneficial antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects. The other members of the Allium family also contain beneficial organosulfur compounds.
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Mushrooms: Fungi Powerhouses
Mushrooms, which are not plants but fungi, are loaded with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Being from a different kingdom, they provide some valuable nutrients that aren’t so common in many plants. Mushrooms are also one of the few foods that may provide a source of vitamin D if they’re exposed to sunlight while growing. While white button mushrooms are among the most nutritionally potent cancer fighters, a group of mushrooms known as medicinal mushrooms are now being studied, with great interest, for their potential as immune modulators. These include maitake, reishi, himematsutake, turkey tail, shiitake, lion’s mane, zhu ling, meshimakobu, and Chaga. Mushrooms have additional anti-cancer effects beyond their anti-estrogen activity. Mushrooms also promote a healthy body weight.
Berries: Antioxidant Richness
When it comes to real food, the more colorful, the better. And a greater variety of colors is even better still. One way to tell if you’re getting a full range of these amazing nutrients is if you’re “eating the rainbow” on a regular basis. In addition to being great sources of vitamin C, folate, and potassium, berries are also high in antioxidants and polyphenols like anthocyanins and resveratrol. These compounds help fight oxidative stress in the body, which is often responsible for inflammation and chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. While eating fresh or frozen berries is the best way to get these wonderful benefits, you may also choose to supplement with Dr. Antioxidant-rich berries increase blood antioxidant capacity, decrease adhesion of inflammatory cells to blood vessel walls, and improve blood pressure regulation. Berries are an excellent food for the brain.
Seeds: Nutrient-Packed Gems
Seeds are phytonutrient powerhouses containing tocopherols, phytosterols, vitamin E, vitamin B6, folate, and phenolic compounds. Some seeds, such as chia and flax, also contain omega-3 essential fatty acids, which aren’t always easy to come by on a plant-based diet. Raw seeds and nuts are healthful, whole-food fat sources and are rich in a spectrum of micronutrients, including phytosterols, minerals, and antioxidants. Despite their caloric density, nuts and seeds do not promote weight gain. Good choices include chia, flax, hemp, pumpkin and sesame seeds, and almonds, Mediterranean pine nuts, and pistachios and walnuts.
Incorporating G-BOMBS into Your Diet
Incorporating GBOMBS into your daily meals can be as simple or complicated as you like. If you’re just starting out, one way to get into the GBOMBS habit is to make sure to eat from one category each day. If you’re more ambitious or already familiar with GBOMBS in your diet, you can up your game by choosing one to include at each meal. Once you’re a GBOMBS pro, see if you can incorporate all six into each day.
Sample G-BOMBS Recipes
G-BOMBS stir-fry side dish! Lovely served over grains such as rice or quinoa. This stir-fry incorporates 4 of the 6 foods that Dr. Fuhrman suggests we eat daily in accordance with his G-BOMBS acronym. In order to get one more, you could easily sprinkle on some sesame, hemp or sunflower seeds. Even just add tahini into the stir-fry! The sky’s the limit. You can use any bean you have on hand. A can of white kidney beans works well, as would a can of pinto beans, chopped fresh green beans, fava beans, lentils or even chickpeas! To top it off, eat some kind of berry for dessert!
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Green Smoothie Recipe: A blended breakfast salad. When made fresh at home, you are the controller of ingredients, calories, fiber, and nutrition. It's kept whole food and plant based food based in order to start the day off on the right foot-especially since you would otherwise, at least during the work week, skip breakfast. You can add a teaspoon of greens powder for an extra boost of concentrated green goodness, and sometimes matcha (ground green tea) if you feel you need a boost of energy and focus.
Health Benefits of the Nutritarian Diet
The Nutritarian diet, which emphasizes G-BOMBS, offers several potential health benefits:
- Nutritious Eating: The eating style emphasizes plant-based, minimally processed and nutrient-dense foods like fruits and vegetables, all of which support overall wellbeing, according to the Mayo Clinic. As a bonus, these foods are packed with fiber, an essential nutrient that helps promote good digestion and normalizes bowel movements, according to the Mayo Clinic. Fiber can also be beneficial for your heart health and blood sugar levels (more on those later).
- Heart Health Support: High-fiber foods like produce, beans, legumes and whole grains may help lower cholesterol, blood pressure and inflammation, which all can contribute to healthy heart functioning, per the Mayo Clinic. Indeed, an October 2015 study in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine found that following the Nutritarian Diet - also referred to as a nutrient-dense, plant-rich diet - helped lower people's blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, all of which may decrease risk for cardiovascular disease.
- Blood Sugar Regulation: A high-fiber diet can also help regulate digestion to avoid blood sugar spikes, according to the Mayo Clinic. The diet has likewise been linked to better glycemic control - in other words, more stable blood sugar levels - in people with diabetes, according to the 2020 American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine research.
- Weight Loss: As mentioned above, the diet's emphasis on whole plant foods and lack of processed goods may all support weight loss, according to the Mayo Clinic. The 2015 American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine research also found that following an eating program similar to the Nutritarian Diet led to sustained weight loss in people with obesity. Regular exercise is also an important component of any weight-loss plan, according to the Mayo Clinic, so consider adding physical activity to your nutritarian lifestyle.
- Chronic Disease Risk Reduction: Altogether, these potential benefits may help decrease your risk for developing chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes, according to the 2020 American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine research.
Potential Drawbacks of the Nutritarian Diet
- Food Limitations: The diet limits beneficial foods like fish and olive oil. Both foods are staples of the Mediterranean diet, which experts and research have deemed one of the best diets for overall wellbeing due to its non-restrictive guidelines and heart-healthy ingredients, according to the Mayo Clinic. These foods are also rich in beneficial fats and omega-3s, both of which can support heart health, per the American Heart Association.
- Sustainability: Because the diet restricts certain food groups and requires calorie budgeting, it may not be easy to stick to in the long run, per the Mayo Clinic.
- Long-Term Weight Loss: Similarly, diets that are restrictive, boring or don't include foods you love can be hard to follow in the long term, according to the Mayo Clinic. And if a diet isn't sustainable, it's not likely you'll maintain weight loss.
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