Rating:		5/5	Health

How Not To Die

by Michael Greger MD

After first reading this book and being really impressed by it nearly three years ago, I decided to revisit it again after a recent conversation with a doctor about cholesterol and blood pressure. His view is that these are often hereditory diseases that worsen with age and for which drugs offer the only real solution.

In the book’s introduction the author explains how his grandmother was sent home with end stage heart disease at the age of sixty five with just weeks to live. After numerous surgeries, there was nothing further that the medical profession could offer her in terms of treatment.

By chance she had heard about the Pritkin Clinic in California that claimed to be able to help patients suffering from heart disease. She checked into the clinic in a wheelchair, barely able to walk, but was then able to walk 10 miles a day in just three weeks by adhering to Pritkin’s diet and lifestyle changes. Under Pritkin’s guidance she managed to reverse her heart disease and live another thirty one years; something that the medical profession asserts is almost impossible given her diagnosis.

This extraordinary outcome lead the author to become a medical doctor, and to take an interest in diet and nutrition and its effects on health and disease. Over the couse of many years, he has studied thousands of medical research papers and distilled that information into a practical set of guidelines for living a healthly life. The emphasis is on quality of life and freedom from a reliance on drugs by focusing on disease causation rather than symptom relief.

The book is divided into two sections. The first focuses on the top fifteen causes of death and the steps that you can take to reduce your chances of succumbing to them. Invariably this involves significant changes to diet and minor changes to lifestyle. The diet changes are not just about removing certain foods from your diet but also ensuring that missing foods that target specific diseases are also included in your diet. Each chapter explains the disease and gives you a blueprint for how to reverse it or to prevent it if you don’t yet have it.

The second part of the book covers different foods, herbs and drinks and the benefits they provide in staying healthy. Again this section of the book is divided into twelve chapters covering different food groups or types and the specific benefits they bring. Each chapter describes how the food or drink contributes to health and the quantities that are required to effect the necessary benefit.

Every piece of advice in the book is backed by research; all of which is included in the notes section at the end of the book and this makes the book look intimidatingly large. However the information is very clearly presented and in a very engaging style - this is not a difficult book to read.

To corroborate the finding in the book; after following the advice given on blood pressure, I have managed to drop my average systolic and diastolic readings by 20 and 10 points respectively in just two weeks. If you want to remain healthy for the rest of your life, then I would highly recommend this book as a concrete starting point for making changes in your lifestyle that could benefit you hugely. Highly recommended.