How are ye doing, guys!
You read the title...let's do this!
I've just finished Dr. Michael Greger's new book, titled 'How Not to Diet.'
I've been extremely busy with work and other stuff recently and I haven't had much of a
chance to make videos, but I just had to make this one now to share my thoughts on this
book with you guys.
Dr. Greger, founding member and fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine
and founder of NutritionFacts.org, also created the blockbuster New York Times Bestseller
'How Not to Die' and the accompanying cookbook.
He now follows up that paradigm-shifting entry in the nutrition literature with a foray into
the diet and weight loss book arena.
'How Not to Diet' IS a diet and weight loss book, coming out on December the 10th just
in time for Christmas and in perfect time to help kick-start a new year new you weight
loss plan, as is often the case with weight loss literature.
But from my reading of this advance copy the guys at NutritionFacts.org were good enough
to send me, the parallels with other diet books end there.
In 'How Not to Diet', Dr. Greger swaps emotional appeals for evidence, anecdotes for truly
actionable advice and testimonials for cutting-edge science.
As he says himself on page 4, "This is the kind of book I was made for."
Complete with a note from Dr. G. himself and well aware of the precedent set by his previous
books and work on NutritionFacts.org, I was psyched to discover the "groundbreaking science
of healthy, permanent weight loss", being all too aware not only of the growing problem
of overweight and obesity here in Ireland, but also how the problem goes on to increase
the risk of chronic disease and especially given how hard it is to keep weight off after
losing it.
So how does the book live up to it's promise, does it deliver "facts, not filler, fantasy
or fluff"?
And importantly, is it something I would recommend to my patients, or to you watching this video?
I'd first of all like to say that everything about this book rails against your typical
diet book, from the content, to the size, to the amount of text...but don't let that
put you off.
If it seems a bit much at first, you could skip right through to Dr. Greger's 21 Tweaks
to start implementing his recommendations right away.
There are also "Food for Thought" summaries at the end of each section that sum up the
actionable advice covered in that section.
But the book is such an interesting, entertaining and easy read that it will likely grab you
once you've finished the introduction anyway and this is the best way to get the most from
this book, since once you understand the mechanism behind each piece of advice and have an awareness
of the level of evidence there is to back it up, you will be all the more motivated
to fully commit to it.
Indeed, Dr. Greger admits himself that this book turned out to be a much bigger undertaking
than even he was expecting.
I can attest to this, having covered the topic of diet and weight loss before - what I planned
on being a quick overview rapidly evolved into a detailed 3-part series as I uncovered
some of the huge amount of research during my own reading on the topic.
The amount of work that has gone into every chapter, every paragraph, even every sentence
of this book is massively impressive to me, and to the casual reader can be easily grasped
by the frequency of references - averaging almost 10 per PAGE, each indicating a scientific
work that was read, critically appraised and woven into this work by Dr. Greger and his
team.
The amount of effort that has gone into this book is truly mind-boggling!
The nigh-on 5000 references are not even included physically in the book since it would have
almost doubled it's size, but will instead be available online via a QR code by the time
of release.
Given this level of detail and comprehensiveness, I can guarantee that there'll be stuff in
here that will be new even to the most seasoned Nutrition expert.
There'll be tips, techniques and strategies in these pages that will be brand new to you
no matter how much you might have previously read up on weight loss or however many diet
books you've bought before.
Even early on in the book you might be very surprised as I was as to just how much of
an issue our obesity problem has become, the problems with some of the remedies that have
been used so far including issues with bariatric surgery and the level of impotence of public
health policy and scale of the push-back from big industries against attempts to fight this
epidemic.
The book then moves onto part 2, which explores all the key factors that might go into a perfect
sustainable weight loss program.
This highly evidence-based section provides the tools to allow you to assess weight loss
diets yourself for likelihood of effectiveness, including parameters such as glycaemic load,
caloric density, satiety and effect on the intestinal microbiome, and helps shine some
light on why most weight loss strategies and diets inevitably fail - and what you can do
about it.
These seventeen key ingredients for an optimum weight loss diet are added to four more factors
important for long-term weight control, including safety [sic], sustainability and nutritional completeness,
and the 21 total elements are used to define "The Optimal Weight-Loss Diet" Dr. Greger
describes in part 3.
Part 4 is truly an exciting prospect for dieters out there that are partial to that "one weird
trick" we used to see cropping up all over the Internet, or that might not be fully ready
to commit to wholesale changes in what they eat but want to start off with some smaller
changes that can be made to any diet, and especially for those that may have given up
hope following multiple attempts at weight loss - even attempts at losing weight on a
plant-based diet.
This is the section in which Dr. Greger documents "every evidence-based tip, trick, tweak and
hack" he has uncovered through years of scouring the medical literature, as he says himself.
These "boosters" are arranged in a way that will appeal especially to those of us who
appreciate things like checklists and personalisation, allowing you to customise your own portfolio
of techniques that work best for you.
Dr. Greger stresses that this section is supposed to be used as an adjunct to a solid baseline
of a healthy, dare I say "boring" weight-loss diet, but it is nonetheless exciting to read
about and discover some of these novel and unexpected weight loss boosters!
This section will be especially pertinent to those that may have encountered the all-too-common
problem of resistant weight loss, or just want to realise their bodyweight goals that
little bit quicker.
It includes the highly-anticipated chapters on ketogenic diets and intermittent fasting
from Dr. Greger that are such hot topics at the moment, and they are certainly worth the
wait.
Indeed, these sections are like microcosms of the entire book; guiding the reader through
vast swathes of science and research whilst being easy and fun to read, allowing you to
draw your own conclusions and implement as much or as little of the techniques and advice
as you like.
There are many other fascinating sections in this part, including details on how you
can activate your so-called "ileal brake", how to position your bed at night to increase
weight loss and the recent revelations in the field of Chronobiology - that is, the
study of our bodies' daily mental, physical and emotional cycles.
Without giving too much away, here you will find details on how best to time meals, answers
to perennial questions about the importance of breakfast and how we can work with our
bodies' natural rhythms to accelerate weight loss, including the apparent triple-benefit
of front-loading our calories.
There's plenty in here that will be brand new to even the most dedicated follower of
Dr. Greger's videos.
There's even a section on Dr. Valter Longo's fasting mimicking diet which many people might
be keen to read!
I would also like to draw special attention to the way Dr. Greger addresses two important
topics in the weight loss world especially plagued with misinformation - the relative
importance of genetics, and the role of exercise in weight loss.
The over-emphasis of these two factors persists because it suits big interests to keep the
public misinformed on them, and he does a particularly good job of addressing both throughout
this book.
Dr. Greger closes out the book with a section dedicated towards putting all of this science
into action.
This will eventually be added into Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen app in a special weight loss section
that will enable you to implement all this science into your daily life with a simple
checklist just like we can with the Daily Dozen.
There is so much actionable, evidence-based advice and such a wealth of practical tips
presented in this book that you won't be able to help but lose weight!
Overall, 'How Not to Diet' is a perfect blend of science, advice and practical tips on diet
and weight loss.
This book is the real new year, new you investment, something you can get really excited about
and fully on board with, and I promise you you won't be disappointed.
But more than that, this book is perfectly poised to bring a healthy dietary pattern
to a whole new cohort, and hopefully many more people will become empowered not only
with the knowledge they need to achieve sustainable weight loss, but lifelong health as well.
Given all of this, in addition to the fact that you can go into as much or as little
detail as you want whilst resting assured that the advice you're putting into action
is evidence-based and proven to work, yes I would recommend this book to my patients
and to you watching this video.
Whether you are after "exciting new tools and tricks", if you like the structure of
a checklist and customisation, if you've failed previous attempts at weight loss, if you're
hoping to shed a few pounds after Christmas or just looking to maintain a healthy weight
in this World of fattening food choices we live in, there will be something for everyone
in here regardless of where you are in your weight loss journey or what level of motivation
you have.
Everyone's going to be talking about this book, so if it sounds like it's something
you might be interested in make sure you get your copy early!
I hope you enjoyed this review, if you found it helpful give us an old thumbs-up there
and subscribe for more reviews and other stuff.
I'll leave a link to buy 'How Not to Diet' in the description box in case you're interested.
Let me know in the comments if you're thinking about giving it a look!
That's it for now though guys, talk to ye soon.
Sláinte!