*Deep Breath* Hold me back..seriously someone please come and calm me down. If you are looking to develop disordered eating, fear of food and anxiety about all the processes in your body then this is the book for you.
There is no doubt that Dr. Michael Greger has done years and years of research to compile his books, I have read his previous 2 books, each being in different stages of my life. I am sad to say his first book, How Not To Die made me fear that if I didn't eat according to his strict guidelines I would end up lazy, passed out on my coach with twinkies everywhere and a diagnosis of diabetes, heart disease and cancer (okay I am exaggerating my actual response, but you get the point)
Now some years later, I can sit here with my hamburger greased fingers and write this review from a much different (freer-er/happier / stronger) perspective.
Shall we begin?
The length of this book is incredibly long, I believe 25 hours of audio, ~ 900 pages and it can all be boiled down to his reverberating message : Eat a whole food plant based diet, no animal products and very few processed foods. Honestly I believe every chapter ended with some version of that.
Dr Greger addresses particular aspects of aging including memory loss, joint function, health conditions, cancer, arthritis etc in great detail and applaud all the work he seems to have put into this. For the average lay reader it is heavy on the medical jargon and quite a bit of medical lingo that I started to drown out. The book became very tedious and unless you have a certain passion as I believe most of Dr. Greger (and his goonies: Dr. Essenstyn, Dr Campbell, Rip, Barnard etc) do this book just feels like it will be preached to the choir if you will. Validating their strong belief that plants= good, animals= bad. You could almost use this book as the hammer to bang it into your head-literally have you seen how thick it is?
He is very strict about saying things like "Even after just 1 meal of animal protein will lead to........." Fill in the blank with whatever scare tactic he is discussing in that chapter. In my mind I am thinking the average American lives ~74 years (give or take) and if they are eating the average American diet thats a pretty decent life for sure, and they are getting t enjoy hamburgers, bacon and grilled cheese. Now please hear me the Average American Diet is alarmingly not good! We are not getting enough fruits and vegetables and whole grains, for sure. However if you are reasonable and stay active, eat your fruits and veggies (DAILY) and don't over do the "bad" (I hate using that term but I am so tired of big words thank you Dr. G) stuff you can still enjoy life. Food is meant to be enjoyed (not one extreme or the other) I think Dr G sucks the pleasure out of eating because he makes recommednations like you should be eating 5-6 prunes, broccoli sprouts to get sulpheraphane (Y'all if you want to know what gym socks taste lie....just get you some of those), sip Hiscus tea and eat black cumin.
So let me ask you....when was the last time you saw these obscure food items in your local grocery store? Or thought oooo I can't wait to wake up in the morning and eat my 5-6 prunes and drink my hibiscus tea while walking on my desk treadmil as my steel cut oats prepared with water (no salt or sugar) so I can go have a massive bowel movement? I think I prefer my mornings of XL cup of coffee and the freedom to have some bacon and eggs if I want, or cereal, or Aunt Jemima Pancakes (not pancakes made from flacs (still missing a certain key on my keyboard) seeds, bulger, applesauce and oats)
I will leave you with one more piece of evidence:
Dr Greger spouts off about how meat causes inflammation, but then he gives you some hope. Venison causes very little inflammation...so you get alll happy and ready to have a bambi burger then he hits you with "BUT" *Key in his demeaning judgemental voice* You could potentially get lead poisoning from the bullet that was used to kill the deer......
Do I honestly need to say anything else beside that? No.
((I do want to see people, be resonable,eat a well rounded diet, eat 5-6 servings of veggies, get your whole grains, stick to lean proteins,,,,but enjoy your food! Don't worry about such nit picky facts'''
Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy listen of Dr. Greger's How Not To Age. I was neither influenced or paid for my honest review.