We previously reviewed this book some years ago, but we’re revisiting it now because:

1. It really is a book that should be in every healthspan-enjoyer’s collection
2. Our book reviews back then were not as comprehensive as now (though we still generally try to fit into the “it takes about one minute to read this review” idea, sometimes we’ll spend a little extra time).

Dr. Greger (of “Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen” fame) outlines for us in cold hard facts and stats what’s most likely to be our cause of death. While this is not a cheery premise for a book, he then sets out to work back from there—what could have prevented those specific things?

Thus, while the book doesn’t confer immortality (the title is not “how to not die”, after all), it does teach us how not to die—i.e, from heart disease, lung diseases, brain diseases, digestive cancers, infections, diabetes, high blood pressure, liver disease, blood cancers, kidney disease, breast cancer, suicidal depression, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and even iatrogenic causes.

This it does with a lot of solid science, explained for the layperson, and/but without holding back when it comes to big words, and a lot of them, at that. If you want to add in daily exercises, just lifting the book could be a start; weighing in at 678 pages, it’s an information-dense tome that’s more likely to be sifted through than read cover-to-cover.

The style is thus dense science somewhat editorialized for lay readability, and well-evidenced with around 3,000 citations. That’s not a typo; there are 178 pages of bibliography at the back with about 15–20 scientific references per page.

In terms of practical use, he does also devote chapters to that, it’s not just all textbook. Indeed, he discusses the reasonings behind the items, portion sizes, and quantities of his “daily dozen” foods, so that the reader will understand how much bang-for-buck they deliver, and then it’ll seem a lot less like an arbitrary list, and more likely to be adopted and maintained.

Bottom line: if you care about not getting life-threatening illnesses (which at the end of the day, come to most people at some point), then this book is a must-read.

Click here to check out How Not To Die, and live well!

The answer to the question in the title is: you can eat pretty much anything, if you’re prepared for the consequences!

This book looks to give you the information to make your own decisions in that regard. There’s a large section on the science of glucose metabolism in the context of food (other aspects of glucose metabolism aren’t covered), so you will not simply be told “raw carrots are good; mashed potatoes are bad”, you’ll understand many factors that affect it, e.g:

• Macronutrient profiles of food and resultant base glycemic indices
• How the glycemic index changes if you cut something, crush it, mash it, juice it, etc
• How the glycemic index changes if you chill something, heat it, fry it, boil it, etc
• The many “this food works differently in the presence of this other food” factors
• How your relative level of insulin resistance affects things itself

…and much more.

The style is simple and explanatory, without deep science, but with good science and comprehensive advice.

There are also the promised recipes; they’re in an appendix at the back and aren’t the main meat of the book, though.

Bottom line: if you’ve ever found it confusing working out what works how in the mysterious world of diabetes nutrition, this book is a top tier demystifier.

Click here to check out Can I Eat That?, and gain confidence in your food choices!

Dr. Mieres takes us through understanding our own heart disease risks as individuals rather than as averages. As the title suggests, she does assume a female readership, so if you are a man and have no female loved ones, this might not be the book for you. But aside from that, she walks us through examining risk in the context of age, other health conditions, lifestyle factors, and so forth—including not turning a blind eye to factors that might intersect, such as for example if a physical condition reduces how much we can exercise, or if there’s some reason we can’t follow the usual gold standard of heart-healthy diet.

On which note, she does offer dietary advice, including information around recipes, meal-planning, and what things to always have in stock, as well as what things matter the most when it comes to what and how we eat.

It’s not all lifestyle medicine though; Dr. Mieres gives due attention to many of the medications available for heart health issues—and the pros and cons of these.

The style of the book is very simple and readable pop-science, without undue jargon, and with a generous glossary. As with many books of this genre, it does rely on (presumably apocryphal) anecdotes, though an interesting choice for this book is that it keeps a standing cast of four recurring characters, each to represent a set of circumstances and illustrate how certain things can go differently for different people, with different things then being needed and/or possible. Hopefully, any given reader will find themself represented at least moderately well somewhere in or between these four characters.

Bottom line: this is a very informative and accessible book, that demystifies a lot of common confusions around heart health.

Click here to check out Heart Smarter For Women, and take control of your health!