Excellent. Excellent. Read this book and prepare to fall in love with fruits and vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Love spices: turmeric, cinnamon, oregano, cumin, cardamom, saffron. How could you not?
"You should eat more fruits and vegetables as if your life depended on it, because maybe it does," writes Dr. Michael Greger.
And not just a few more — a lot!
In How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease, Dr. Greger dives into nutrition science providing overwhelming compelling evidence for food as medicine. He takes the reader through numerous well-conducted scientific studies that show how foods nourish and protect us. He points the eater to foods (like flaxseeds) proven to be more powerful and beneficial than medicine — if only we will eat to live.
Dr. Greger became interested in nutrition science because of his grandmother, Frances. She was put on hospice due to a heart condition and told there was nothing more doctors could do. Instead of dying, his grandmother found Nathan Pritikin, changed her diet and lived 31 years longer. She was featured in Pritikin's biography: Pritikin: The Man Who Healed America's Heart.
Greger was inspired to study medicine, became interested in nutrition science and changed his own diet after reading Dr. Dean Ornish's 1990 landmark Lifestyle Heart Trial study which showed how heart disease could be reversed with a plant-based diet and other lifestyle changes (no drugs, no surgery).
Greger repeatedly points out that a whole-foods, plant-based diet can prevent and reverse heart disease — and he doesn't stop there. In part one of the book, Greger goes through the 15 leading causes of death and systematically shows how a plant-based diet may prevent or even reverse each of these ills.
"It turns out a more plant-based diet may help prevent, treat, or reverse every single one of our fifteen leading causes of death," he writes.
He makes the case that there's an opportunity cost to food. At every meal, we can choose lifesaving nourishment, which builds our strength and resilience — or we can eat junk. Eating is about so much more than satisfying a craving or indulging a taste — it's about truly satiating hunger and sustaining and fortifying our bodies.
Dr. Greger takes issue with silent doctors and watered down dietary guidelines. Rather than assuming what people can or can't do, Greger recommends providing people with the evidence and letting them make their own choices about their health, "First, it shouldn't matter what I or anyone else eats, says or does. The science is the science."
"That one unifying diet found to best prevent and treat many of these chronic diseases is a whole-food, plant-based diet, defined as an eating pattern that encourages the consumption of unrefined plant foods and discourages meats, dairy products, eggs, and processed foods. In this book(How Not to Die), I don't advocate for a vegetarian diet or a vegan diet. I advocate for an evidence-based diet, and the best available balance of science suggests that the more whole plant foods we eat, the better—both to reap their nutritional benefits and to displace the less healthful options."
How Not to Die reads a lot like The China Study to start. It systematically goes through a bunch of horrible, chronic diseases and presents scientific studies, which conclude that the disease is preventable with a plant-based diet. It becomes a familiar refrain — and increasingly frustrating.
Why is this not more widely known and practiced? Dr. Greger has been talking about plant-based diets and food as medicine for 25 years (and he's certainly not a lone voice in the wilderness - see pairs well with below). Still, when the International Agency for Research on Cancer (22 experts from 10 countries) of the World Health Organization, after considering more than 800 studies on cancer in humans, showed a causal link between processed meat and colorectal cancer and declared bacon a known carcinogen and red meat a probable carcinogen, people who would on any other day say, "F* cancer!" were suddenly defending it. Eating death and suffering— for the love of bacon! How bizarre.
What if there is already a cure?
"Diets that revolve around whole plant foods — vegetables, whole grains, fruits and beans—cut the risk of many cancers, and other diseases as well." — American Institute for Cancer Research
Dr. Greger points out that agribusiness is big business and that U.S. dietary recommendations are mixed in with the Department of Agriculture's goals of promoting consumption. There is money to be made in processed foods, whereas watermelons, sweet potatoes, kale and turmeric are inexpensive health solutions.
Then, people claim they would not enjoy life if they had to give up certain foods. Again, Dr. Greger looks to the science. On the contrary, studies show people feel better and enjoy eating plant-based diets. For diabetic patients, for example, a plant-based diet is less restrictive, easier to follow and more enjoyable than other options. It's a particularly great choice for people who love to eat. Following a plant-based lifestyle, you are encouraged to eat a lot of healthy, tasty, colorful, flavorful foods at every meal.
Despite the sad state of the average American diet today, How Not to Die remains upbeat. Throughout the book, Greger amply employs wit, humor and silly puns (my favorite of which is "Them's some block-rockin' beets!" in reference to the benefits of beets for athletic performance.).
The second part of How Not to Die talks about how to make those food choices — it's about eating a lot of certain fruits, vegetables, legumes and spices every day. Dr. Greger talks about his favorites and how much to eat. Again, lots!
"One of their (World Cancer Research Fund) summary cancer-prevention recommendations is to eat whole grains and/or legumes (beans, split peas, chickpeas, or lentils) with every meal. Not every week or every day. Every meal!"
To be clear, How Not to Die is not a book about immortality. It is a book about preventative medicine and living well — how not to die prematurely and how not to suffer from chronic disease.
As the president of the American College of Cardiology, Kim Williams, MD said in advocating for and adopting a plant-based diet as written in "Heal Thyself," in the University of Chicago Magazine (Jan./Feb/ 2015), "Unlike those who find enjoyment or comfort even in foods they know are unhealthy, Williams takes solace in the belief that, with each bite, he’s doing no harm. 'I don’t mind dying,' he says, 'I just don’t want it to be my fault.'"
The book ends on a sweet and loving note as Dr. Greger acknowledges the transience of life: "And we need to make each day count by filling is with fresh air, laughter, and love—love for ourselves, for others, and for whatever we are doing with our one precious life."
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Popular Highlights in this book
To become virtually heart-attack proof, you need to get your LDL cholesterol at least under 70 mg/dL.Highlighted by 7,596 Kindle readers- The optimal LDL cholesterol level is probably 50 or 70 mg/dL, and apparently, the lower, the better.Highlighted by 6,735 Kindle readers
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From the Publisher
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How Not to Die is a fantastic reference book...
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2015
How Not to Die is a fantastic read and reference book. Fans of Dr Greger's popular website, nutritionfacts.org, will not be disappointed. Having worked with him closely for the last 4 years, I will assure you his search for as he calls it, an evidence-based diet, trumps any ideology labels that might be tossed his way. Make no mistake about it, he is an advocate of increasing whole plant food in the diet, but he's in no way blinded by it. On more than one occasion we've exchanged new journal articles only to step back and question - do we believe this because it is true or because it is a beautiful story? He is driven to seek out the evidence no matter where that answer might lead.The book is stuffed with references (148 pages!) for the person that wants to dig deeper, but in a style that has become uniquely his, Dr Greger uses quoted language from the papers to give an unitimidating explanation of the science contained within. He has a knack for picking out key sentences and graphs that strike at the very heart of the journal article relavence. He stands almost alone in a mass media that can't seem to get past the catchy titles, abstracts, and carefully worded, often misleading conclusions. HNTD is not an academic tome or textbook. Not only does it read with ease it is pushed along with his witty examples.The first 15 chapters (how not to die from..cancers, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, etc..) are arranged based on easy to recognize conditions and though they are related can be read completely independent from one another. The reader will get a more complete picture from the often conflicting issues of business, government and food marketing, but it's presented in a language that is anything but activist. Within each chapter there are practical examples of how to get the benefits seen in the literature into your daily routine. The book doesn't follow a chronology, so I found myself flipping through an early review copy reading small sections at a time. I often was so caught up in the section that reading would continue past what I originally had searched.I find it refreshing that he's not afraid to take on all the alternative cleanse, detox, blood type, etc... popular narratives that seem to come along with any alternative to traditional pharmacological/surgical/symptom mitigating popular approach. He doesn't give in to gluten or coconut oil just because it is popular or profitable and while some might find it frustrating, he sticks to the entire body of evidence not the latest single study. His appendix on supplements is completely on point. There is no evolutionary perfect diet and if one chooses to limit certain elements, like animal products, there are necessary steps that should be taken to avoid issues down the road.Finally, his "Daily Dozen" is a great place to begin implementing the message of bountiful health he enjoys teaching to anyone that will listen. These chapters begin with a summary box (exercise, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices, berries, etc..) of exactly what to do and how often. These are daily habits that can get one moving in the right direction. Diet is habit not genetic and his simple steps aret a great way to make new habits stick. There are a couple of good recipes (the back of the book isn't cooking - it's science references). I made Eight Check Mark Pesto when first flipping through the book. I liked his version of Dr Klaper's caesar.I am 6 years into this life experiment and I've never felt better. The standard western diet and the cyclic fad repackaging of the last century's food of affluence dominates most discussion, funded research, restaurants, and food advertising. There's more money spent than ever on wellness and yet we've never been more overweight or sick. Those contradictory facts don't lie. In spite of all the economic momentum for more profitable and popular food, each year hundreds of articles surface on the benefits of adding more plant-based nutrition to one's diet for health and Dr Michael Greger seems to find them all. For that we should all be grateful. You won't be disappointed in this book. Everyone will learn something.
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2015
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