The “How Not to Die” food list comes from Dr. Michael Greger’s Daily Dozen, a checklist of foods and habits he recommends eating every day based on nutrition research. The list centers on whole, plant-based foods divided into specific categories, each with a target number of daily servings. Here’s what’s on it, why each category made the cut, and how to get the most out of every serving.
The Daily Dozen Categories
Greger’s checklist includes 12 items, 11 of which are foods or drinks. The categories and their recommended daily servings are:
- Beans: 3 servings
- Berries: 1 serving
- Other fruits: 3 servings
- Cruciferous vegetables: 1 serving
- Greens: 2 servings
- Other vegetables: 2 servings
- Flaxseeds: 1 serving (1 tablespoon ground)
- Nuts and seeds: 1 serving
- Herbs and spices: 1 serving (including turmeric)
- Whole grains: 3 servings
- Beverages: 5 servings (water, tea, etc.)
- Exercise: 1 session (90 minutes moderate or 40 minutes vigorous)
The list isn’t meant to be restrictive. It’s a floor, not a ceiling. You can eat other foods; the idea is to check off these items first.
Beans: The Protein and Fiber Anchor
Three servings of beans daily is one of the more ambitious targets on the list. A serving is half a cup of cooked beans, lentils, chickpeas, split peas, or tofu. This also includes hummus (about a quarter cup per serving) and edamame. Beans deliver both protein and soluble fiber, which feeds beneficial gut bacteria and helps regulate blood sugar after meals. Populations with the longest lifespans consistently eat beans as a dietary staple.
If three servings sounds like a lot, spreading them across meals helps. Hummus with lunch, lentils in soup at dinner, and black beans mixed into a grain bowl cover it without much effort.
Berries: A Separate Category for a Reason
Berries get their own spot apart from other fruits because of their exceptionally high concentration of anthocyanins, the pigments responsible for deep red, blue, and purple colors. Blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, and blackcurrants typically contain 100 to 200 mg of anthocyanins per 100-gram serving.
A meta-analysis of 44 randomized controlled trials published in Frontiers in Nutrition found that anthocyanin-rich berries significantly lowered total cholesterol and C-reactive protein, a key marker of inflammation. Purified anthocyanins at doses of 200 mg or more per day also reduced LDL cholesterol by about 5 mg/dL and raised HDL (“good”) cholesterol by roughly 11 mg/dL. One serving on the Daily Dozen is half a cup of fresh or frozen berries, or a quarter cup of dried.
Cruciferous Vegetables: Prep Matters
Broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and arugula all qualify. These vegetables contain compounds called glucosinolates that convert into potent protective molecules when the plant cells are damaged. The key enzyme that triggers this conversion, myrosinase, is released when you chop, crush, or chew raw cruciferous vegetables.
Here’s the practical tip that makes a real difference: boiling or steaming cruciferous vegetables before chopping them inactivates myrosinase, which prevents those beneficial compounds from forming. If you prefer cooked broccoli, chop it first and let it sit for about 40 minutes before cooking. This gives the enzyme enough time to do its work before heat shuts it down. Alternatively, you can add a pinch of mustard powder to cooked cruciferous vegetables, since mustard seeds contain their own myrosinase.
One serving is half a cup cooked or one cup raw.
Greens and Other Vegetables
Greens get two dedicated servings per day, separate from cruciferous vegetables (though some overlap, like kale). This includes spinach, Swiss chard, collard greens, romaine lettuce, and mixed salad greens. A serving of cooked greens is half a cup; raw greens count as one cup per serving.
The “other vegetables” category covers everything else: carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, onions, beets, zucchini. Two servings daily, with the same half-cup cooked or one-cup raw measurement. The emphasis is on variety and color, since different pigments correspond to different protective compounds.
Flaxseeds: A Small but Specific Recommendation
Flaxseeds are the only food on the Daily Dozen with a precise daily amount: one tablespoon of ground flaxseeds. They must be ground because whole flaxseeds pass through your digestive system intact, and you absorb very little from them.
The research behind this recommendation is notably strong for blood pressure. A meta-analysis in Clinical Nutrition Research found that flaxseed consumption reduced systolic blood pressure by an average of 8.6 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 4.9 mmHg in people with hypertension. For context, that systolic reduction is comparable to what some blood pressure medications achieve. Flaxseeds are also one of the richest plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids and contain lignans, a type of fiber-associated compound linked to hormonal health.
Store ground flaxseeds in the refrigerator or freezer, as the oils go rancid quickly once the seeds are broken open. An easy way to get your serving is stirring a tablespoon into oatmeal, a smoothie, or a bowl of soup.
Nuts and Seeds
One serving of nuts or seeds per day, which works out to about a quarter cup or a small handful (roughly 25 to 30 grams). Walnuts, almonds, pistachios, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and chia seeds all count. This recommendation is consistent across nearly every national dietary guideline in Europe and North America, with most countries landing on 20 to 30 grams of unsalted nuts daily.
Greger highlights walnuts specifically for their omega-3 content and Brazil nuts for selenium (just one or two Brazil nuts covers your daily selenium needs). The key qualifier across all guidelines is “unsalted” and “unflavored,” since heavily processed or candy-coated nuts don’t deliver the same benefits.
Herbs, Spices, and Turmeric
The spice recommendation focuses particularly on turmeric, which contains curcumin, a compound with strong anti-inflammatory properties. The catch is that curcumin is poorly absorbed on its own. Pairing turmeric with black pepper dramatically changes this. Piperine, the active compound in black pepper, has been shown to increase curcumin absorption by up to 2,000% in human studies. Even a small pinch of black pepper makes a meaningful difference.
A quarter teaspoon of turmeric per day is the target. You can add it to scrambled tofu, soups, rice, smoothies, or golden milk. Beyond turmeric, the list encourages liberal use of any herbs and spices for flavor and their various protective compounds.
Whole Grains
Three servings daily of intact or minimally processed grains. A serving is half a cup of cooked oats, rice, quinoa, or pasta, or one slice of whole-grain bread. The word “whole” is doing important work here. Refined grains (white bread, white rice) have had the bran and germ removed, stripping most of the fiber and micronutrients. Brown rice, steel-cut oats, barley, farro, millet, and whole wheat all count.
Greger specifically recommends checking that “whole grain” appears as the first ingredient on packaged foods, since many products labeled “multigrain” or “wheat bread” are primarily refined flour.
Beverages
Five servings of beverages per day, with one serving being 12 ounces (about a glass and a half). Water is the baseline, but green tea, hibiscus tea, and white tea are highlighted for their own antioxidant content. Coffee counts too. The main things to avoid are sugary drinks and excessive fruit juice, which concentrates sugar while removing fiber.
What About Vitamin B12?
While not a “food” on the list per se, Greger is emphatic that anyone eating a fully plant-based diet needs to supplement vitamin B12. This vitamin is produced by bacteria and is reliably found in animal products but not in plant foods. The recommended daily amount for adults is 2.4 micrograms, though Greger suggests a higher supplemental dose (at least 50 mcg daily or 2,500 mcg weekly) because absorption from supplements is less efficient than from food. Adults over 50 may need 10 to 12 mcg daily regardless of diet, since B12 absorption declines with age.
B12 deficiency develops slowly but can cause irreversible nerve damage, so this isn’t optional for people avoiding animal products entirely.
Putting It Together
The Daily Dozen works best as a flexible framework rather than a rigid prescription. A typical day might look like oatmeal with ground flaxseed and berries for breakfast, a big salad with greens, beans, and vegetables for lunch, a handful of nuts as a snack, and a grain bowl with cruciferous vegetables and turmeric-spiced lentils for dinner. There’s a free Daily Dozen app (by Dr. Greger’s nonprofit) that lets you check off servings throughout the day, which many people find useful for building the habit.
You don’t need to hit every target every day to benefit. The checklist is designed so that consistently aiming for it pushes your overall diet toward more whole plant foods, more fiber, and more protective compounds, even on days when you fall short.