“Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease.
When I first saw the title of this book, I thought it was a bit jarring, but I braved my way through it, and I’m glad I did. Many of my friends can tell you that I’ve persuaded, or downright insisted that they buy it, and so far I haven’t heard a single complaint.
This is not a diet book, a cook book, nor is it your typical self help book.
Dr. Greger’s passion for sharing the benefits of a whole food, plant-based diet as the basis for a healthy lifestyle is evident, but it was the reversal of his grandmother’s heart disease through diet and exercise which transformed her from a woman at “deaths door,†to a woman who could walk ten miles a day, that piqued his interest.
What made the difference for his grandmother was spending three weeks at a Nathan Pritkin Center where she was given only plant based food, and a graded exercise program. Dr. Greger says she was wheeled in, and walked out.
I met Dr. Michael Greger at a conferance three years ago, and yes, that is me to the left, with my puffy cheeks and wig, at the end of my first month of chemotherapy. I had already started a plant based diet at that time, and I’m certain that it made my recovery easier.
Having started chemotherapy at the time I discovered this book, I honed in on everything about cancer, but I was surprised to find additional cancer fighting recomendations in the latter half of the book, where he discusses various foods as well.
The book is wonderful. His recomendations are based on referenced scientific research, and the book includes Dr. Greger’s own “daily dozen” which is a convenient list of how many portions of various types of foods you should include in your daily diet. Still, I wish he had started with part two, and placed the various medical conditions in the second half of the book, considering the fact that so many people know very little about nutrition, even doctors.
Dr. Greger’s co-autor is Mr. Gene Stone, and author of “Forks Over Knives,” which is also a “must see” documentary. He is also the co-author of “The Engine 2 Diet, and “Living the Farm Sanctuary Life.”
“How Not to Die” was published by FlatIron Books, but I have not been able to find an agent involved in this project, although Dr. Gregor mentions several editors by first name.
