Dr. Jeremy London (@drjeremylondon) is a board-certified cardiovascular surgeon based in Savannah, Georgia. He repairs damaged blood vessels, performs bypass surgery for clogged arteries, and operates on hearts that have been worn down by years of accumulated damage.
“That didn’t happen overnight in most people,” he told TODAY. “It’s an accumulation of a chronic process.”
That context informs everything on his personal avoid list, which he shared in a TikTok that has racked up over three million views.
Fast food
“Well, the name says it all,” London says in the video. “Most of what’s available in fast food chains is edible food product. It’s not even real food.” A 2017 article in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine backed this up, noting that fast food typically delivers high calories with minimal nutrients and often contains synthetic ingredients and chemical additives.
Soft drinks
Both diet and regular. His summary: “Liquid death. Don’t drink them.” Regular sodas are loaded with sugar linked to obesity and metabolic disease. Diet versions aren’t necessarily better, with research linking artificial sweeteners to changes in gut bacteria and metabolic response.
Dairy products
This is where the comments got heated. London’s argument: “We are the only mammals that drink milk outside of infancy and we drink it from a different species.” It’s a point that gets raised often in nutrition debates, but it’s worth noting that the science on dairy is genuinely mixed. Many studies show dairy consumption is associated with bone health and doesn’t significantly increase cardiovascular risk. London’s take is his personal preference, not a settled scientific consensus.
Alcohol
This one has the most research behind it. “Alcohol is toxic to every cell in our bodies, even moderate or occasional use is, in fact, detrimental,” London says. In a separate TikTok explaining the mechanism, he laid out exactly why. When alcohol is absorbed and metabolized in the liver, it converts immediately to acetaldehyde, which damages proteins, DNA, and lipid cells while triggering inflammation. The body then converts it to acetate, which sounds like progress, but the body prioritizes acetate as an energy source, suppressing fat metabolism and increasing fat storage. “This is why moderate alcohol use results in increased abdominal fat, which we know is a risk factor for heart disease,” London explained.
The comment section split predictably. The fast food and soda claims got little pushback. Alcohol got mixed reactions from people who weren’t ready to give it up. The dairy claim provoked the most debate, with one commenter pointing out that humans have been consuming milk products for thousands of years, and another firing back: “We’re the only species that went to space.”
London’s broader point is about whole foods and conscious choices. “If I can eat whole foods 80% of the time, that’s a win for me. And I think that’s reasonable.” The four things he avoids are the things he sees as offering essentially no upside against documented health risks.
He’s seen what those risks look like from the inside. That tends to focus the mind.
You can follow Dr. Jeremy London (@drjeremylondon) on TikTok and YouTube for more health-related and lifestyle content.
