It's safe to say that Dr. Steven Gundry knows a thing or two about cardiac health—he has dedicated his entire life to helping patients make their hearts healthier, after all. Before shifting his career to focus on food-based interventions, Dr. Gundry was a world-renowned cardiac surgeon. And now, he's on a mission to get people to eat more plants, less grains and sugar, and eat the right type of chocolate with his new book, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain.

Gundry is particularly focused on helping people avoid lectins, carbohydrate-binding proteins thought to lead to inflammation and disease. He believes people can do this by eating more plants, less grains (yes, corn counts!), and less red meat—with the occasional square of dark chocolate thrown in there.

In this podcast episode, Gundry opens up about the strong correlation between what we eat, weight gain, and disease. He discusses the real impact of grains on the human body (it's not pretty), which alcohols we should be drinking (go ahead, drink more mezcal!), and why eating super-dark chocolate every day is amazing for the body. He also gets real about just how bad sugar is for us, why not everyone should be cooking with coconut oil regularly, and why green bananas are a whole lot better for you than yellow ones.

Whether you're all about eating plant-based or you're just dipping your toes into the world of more plants and less sugar, you won't want to miss Dr. Gundry's fascinating research and unique opinions on how certain foods affect our bodies and longevity overall.

To contact Jason with comments, questions, or speaker ideas, please e-mail podcast@mindbodygreen.com.

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