Hans Diehl

Hans Diehl (1946 – 2 August 2023) was an American nutritionist and Seventh-day Adventist, best known for his advocacy of lifestyle medicine and whole food plant-based nutrition. He was the founder of the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP).

Biography

Diehl was born in Germany. He credited his early interest in healthy lifestyle to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He was inspired by the research of Denis Burkitt and Nathan Pritikin who he had met and worked with. CHIP was later renamed Pivio Health.

Diehl obtained a Master of Public Health and Doctor of Health Science from Loma Linda University in 1975. He was a professor of preventative medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. The Lifestyle Medicine Institute promotes The Optimal Diet, a whole-food plant-based diet that is described as "almost devoid of overly processed and refined products".

He was a speaker at the 35th World Vegetarian Congress in 2002. In 2015, Diehl was inducted in the North American Vegetarian Society's Vegan Hall of Fame. His books have been translated into 36 languages and over two million copies sold.

Personal life

Diehl was a lifelong Seventh-day Adventist. He became a lacto-ovo vegetarian in 1967. He adopted a whole-food plant-based diet in 1997.

Selected publications

To Your Health: How to Eat More and Live Longer and Better (1987) Dynamic Living (with Aileen Ludington, 1995) Take Charge of Your Health (with Aileen Ludington, 2001) Dr. Diehl's CHIP Program for Reversing Disease with Fork and Knife (2003) Dynamic Health: A Simple Plan to Take Charge of Your Life (2003) The Optimal Diet: The Official Chip Cookbook (with Darlene Blaney, 2009) Health Power: Health by Choice Not Chance (2011)