Mark Hyman - The Pegan Diet 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World

Do we really need another diet book? No. Despite the title, the Pegan Diet is an un-dieta simple set of principles blending science and common sense into guidelines promoting health, weight loss, and longevity that can easily be adapted to any philosophical or cultural preferences. What do we know about food? How do we know it? What conclusions can we draw from the data? How do we combine that with dietary, philosophical, social, and cultural preferences? As a physician on the front lines of the epidemic of chronic disease and obesity (one who has used food as the primary medicine in treating disease and optimization of health for 30 years), I am saddened by the diet wars and fad diets. Politics, religion, and nutrition are all equally polarizing.

The Pegan Diet started off as a joke. Years ago I sat on a nutrition panel at a conference between two friendsone doctor a Paleo proponent, and the other a vegan cardiologist. They argued vigorously for their points of view. To break the tension, I quipped, Well, if you are Paleo and you are vegan, then I must be Pegan. Thus it all began. As I started to think more deeply about what I had said as a joke, I realized that most dietary philosophies, including Paleo and vegan, had far more in common with one another than most people realize, and far, far more in common with one another than with the Standard American Diet, otherwise known as the SAD diet.

In fact, Paleo and vegan camps (if we stick to the best in both approaches) are identical except for one thing: where to get protein. Animal products or beans and grains? Thats it. Of course, you can be a chips and soda vegan, or a bacon and no veggies Paleo eater, but the best whole food expressions of each are so similar. Both promote a plant-rich whole foods diet; a diet low in starch and sugar, processed food, additives, hormones, antibiotics, GMOs; and, except for a small group of extreme low-fat vegan fans, a diet rich in good fats. They both even eschew dairy. And all the other dietary approachesvegetarian, keto, time-restricted eating, lectin-free diets, Mediterranean, low-carb, low-fat, gluten-free, and moremostly adhere to a whole foods approach and remove harmful ultra-processed foods and include protective foods.

Perhaps the real focus should be on shifting people from an obesogenic, disease-causing, nutrient-depleted diet to one rich in whole foods and protective foods that promote weight loss, health, and well-being. That, my friends, is the goal of the Pegan Diet.

Why is this more important than ever? Our modern industrial diet is currently the biggest killer on the planet, exceeding smoking and every other cause. Conservatively our modern diet, rich in processed foods made from wheat (white flour), corn (high-fructose corn syrup and many industrial food additives), and soy (soybean oil), and lacking in protective, healing whole foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans, seafood, etc.), kills 11 million people a year. I believe that is a gross underestimate. Each year about 57 million people die around the world. Three-quarters of those deaths (or 42 million) are due to chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and dementia, mostly caused by poor diet. Even infectious diseases, like COVID-19, are more likely to sicken and kill those who are overweight or suffer from chronic disease. The costs are staggering. In the United States, the direct and indirect cost for chronic disease is projected to be $95 trillion over the next 35 years, or about 1 in 5 dollars of our entire economy. Globally its much more, and getting worse as we export our American diet to every part of the globe.

If we want to lower the total burden of chronic disease, survive another pandemic, save our planet and communities, and create a happier, less divided society, we have to overhaul the way that we grow, produce, distribute, and consume food around the world. We have to come together, stop the diet wars, and embrace the healing power of proper nutrition. That is why I wrote this bookto showcase the power of food and present an inclusive and sustainable food philosophy.

The Pegan Diet is unique in four ways. Ill cover each foundational principle next.