How Not to Die By Dr. Greger – Plant-based nutrition book summary

I have long been a fan of NutritionFacts.org. Funded only by donations from individual visitors, Dr. Michael Greger and his team read every English-language journal article on nutrition every year and share their critical analysis free of charge. When it can feel like everyone is trying to manipulate and profit off of others, sources like these stand out as much more credible to me.

After a long wait from the library, I have finally read Dr. Greger’s book How Not to Die. Again, all proceeds go directly to fund his free educational website – he takes no compensation. For most books I discuss on here, I provide a comprehensive summary of the key takeaways as I see them. For this one, though, you can just go directly to NutritionFacts.org and search for any and all the information that interests you. If you’d still prefer a summary, check out the one done by Chewfo or the video published by Dr. Greger himself.

Instead, I’d like to share with you the little notes I took for myself to give you an idea of what the book offers.

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First up, probably the most controversial: a whole foods, plant-based diet recommendation. This blog demonstrates how open I am to considering all different ways of eating and I still believe that there is no one right way – not only because we are individuals with different needs and different reactions to foods, but also because a good diet I can incorporate into my life is heaps better than a great diet I can’t keep up. All that said, this book devotes the first half to explaining exactly why a whole foods, plant-based diet is best for optimal health and avoiding the 15 leading causes of death.

One of those causes is depression. I’m aware that with the exception of the most severely depressed, anti-depressant medication has not been proven to be more effective than the placebo effect. If capable of exercise, 30 minutes of walking is at least as effective as those drugs without the negative side effects. And interestingly, certain foods are naturally beneficial for mood-enhancing neurotransmitters: apples, grapes, onions, green tea, cinnamon, and sesame, sunflower, or pumpkin seeds.

Plus, an intriguing theory was presented: since consuming a lot of manufactured highly-palatable foods can make a person less sensitive to the dopamine it continually spikes, which often leads people to overeat those foods trying to reach the original “high,” some people then find it harder to achieve their usual “reward” feelings from other sources in their lives – this can lead to the common symptoms of low motivation and reduced interest towards things enjoyed before depression. By eating mainly whole foods, not only will you soon better appreciate their tastes but you can also better appreciate the joys of life.

Weight Science from Linda Bacon’s Body Respect – HAES Book Summary

We are constantly warned about the dangers of obesity and urged to manage our weight. These messages come from all directions, including authorities we trust and peers who judge us. But consider for a moment that our accepted assumptions may not represent fully what we know from scientific evidence.

To begin with, the following facts are from Body Respect by Linda Bacon, and you can confirm them in the peer-reviewed article at http://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-10-9

• People who are categorized as overweight or moderately obese have shown time and time again to live as long as or longer than people with weight in the normal category (confirmed even by the CDC)
• BMI standards were written by the pharmaceutical industry to increase weight loss drug profits, ignoring that health decrement hasn’t shown to occur until a BMI of 40 (they funded the international obesity task force that determined the WHO’s standards and therefore the U.S. standards)
• Larger people are more likely to develop several diseases but fatness is not the cause – there are many confounding factors like fitness, stress from discrimination, and inflammation from calorie-restriction dieting and weight cycling – “blaming fatness for heart disease is a lot like blaming yellow teeth for lung cancer”
• “There has never been a research study that has demonstrated long-term maintenance of weight loss from lifestyle change for any but a small minority” – the rare person who does maintain weight loss is as lucky as the smoker who lives to be ninety
• Health can improve when diet and/or exercise improve – not as a result of weight loss – yet at the same time, health behaviours account for less than 1/4 of differences in health outcomes, while social differences (i.e. poverty and discrimination) are the main determinants (again confirmed by the CDC)

If you’re like me, you’re probably tempted to object to the above sample of facts because we fear fat so strongly. However, ignorance has hurt us through lifetime yo-yo dieting, obsession with food and body, disordered eating, weight discrimination, and even poor health, the very thing we think we’re helping by stigmatizing fatness.

Honestly, though… even if I can be healthy at my current weight, I still deep down really want to look the way I did when I was slimmer. In the past I was able to lose weight by manipulating calories – if only I’d just tried harder and longer! Mind you, I’m still stuck with these feelings years after I learned exactly why the belief that I can just force a caloric deficit long-term is, well, unfounded. So let’s forgive each other for not being without bias and just open ourselves up a little more to the possibility that there may be a better way than constantly forcing an attempt to lose weight.

Weight-Loss

End Emotional Eating (100% in 1% Book Summary)

I’ve read a lot of books about healthy eating and mood disorder therapy, not to mention seeing professionals on the subjects, and I have to say End Emotional Eating: Using Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills to Cope with Difficult Emotions and Develop a Healthy Relationship to Food by Dr. Jennifer Taitz is one of the best books I know. I find it scientific, relatable, and practical.

That said, it’s harder than it sounds to “sit with” emotions without letting it turn into feelings of deprivation. This is something I’m still practicing, so I’ve summarized the key points below to remind myself (and you, if you’re interested) most especially in those times of weakness what I can do to truly have a positive relationship with food and why it’s best for living a life I value.

Concept

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is based on accepting reality because suffering comes from trying to fight pain. Radical acceptance is an active process of “purposely adopting an open, nonjudgmental receptive stance” while at the same time deciding whether or not to change the way you respond, often choosing to accept commitments required to take action in order to live life fully.

It is illusory correlation to believe an increased urge to binge means an increased need for it. In fact, urges come and go, whereas “the more we indulge in a habit, the more habitual it becomes.” Giving into emotional eating takes away opportunities to develop other coping skills making you believe it is the only way to cope.

Thinking about food may be less painful than some emotions, but emotional eaters then develop pain and suffering around food. Emotional eaters tend to be more sensitive to rewards as demonstrated in caudate nucleus response research. In fact, motivation is fleeting and unnecessary. “Action leads to action.”

Recommendations

“Accept life as it is without indulging or controlling.” Pain can be “something you experience in the service of living according to your values.” Being mindful of this can foster self-compassion and empathy with others. Self-compassion involves kindness and warmth while maintaining realistically high standards.

Focus on changing behaviour rather than trying to control feelings. “You don’t have to feel willing to behave willingly.” Master mental aikido by weaving and surfing, not throwing punches. Be in the present, aware of the full experience, and problem solve. “Look at the thoughts rather than from the thoughts.”

Have Your Cake and Skinny Jeans Too (100% in 1% Book Summary)

How to Have Your Cake and Your Skinny Jeans Too: Stop Binge Eating, Overeating and Dieting For Good Get the Naturally Thin Body You Crave From the Inside Out (Binge Eating Solution) by Josie Spinardi is an incredibly accessibly written book with clear practical strategies and sound evidence-based approaches.

Concept

• Your body is programmed to maintain a naturally thin weight. You don’t need to know your ideal weight or calorie balance. More calorically dense foods and slower metabolism just means you get full sooner and stay full longer.
• Diets only address the symptom of extra weight. “Overeating or binge eating is in fact a very powerfully anchored conditioned (learned) response to both dieting (food restriction) and a shortage of skills to navigate certain distressing emotional states.”
• Most dieters get stuck in “The Dieting Trangle of Despair,” a cycle of dieting, bingeing, beating self up, and then dieting again… only to binge again all over in more and more extreme ways. Studies like the Ancel Keys show “dieting leads to food obsession, emotional distress, and – wait for it – binge eating.”

Recommendations

• Eat like a naturally thin person. Enjoy satisfying portions of tasty normal foods without worrying, without dieting to try to compensate. If you eat so much you feel uncomfortable, just make a note it doesn’t feel good to be too full.
• Eliminate the “learned habit of overriding your body’s internal signals for hunger and fullness.”
• Use Root Cause Analysis to identify the real reason for Non Hunger Eating:

1. Gasping for Food violently out-of-control in response to deprivation, bingeing on banned foods. By eating only what’s right for you according to physical and psychological needs, you can be confident in any situation instead of being ruled by food obsession, deprivation, or “kryptonite.”
2. Eating Cuz You Ate breaking a diet rule. Tuning into internal forces helps.
3. The Mean Girl Munchies “presses mute” on critical self-awareness with rapid-fire bites of crunchy food regardless of taste. Meditation is a healthier approach to focusing in on a single something.
4. Licking Your Wounds involves avoiding and soothing with slow, sweet, creamy indulgence in learned helplessness. People who lack the skill to engage in task-oriented coping are more likely to emotionally eat. Instead, act directly to resolve, mitigate, or eliminate stressors. Try positive psychology with an empowered paradigm.
5. Recreational Eating is just a response to boredom or procrastination, particularly in times of transition like coming come from work. For a more even balance of things you want to do and things you have to do, sprinkle fun activities throughout your schedule. Give yourself permission; see the value; enjoy your life.

• If you decide to eat before you’re physically hungry, enjoy some of what you really want and then move on. “This is not the eat-when-you’re-hungry-and-stop-when-you’re-full diet.” This is not about rules; it is general guidelines to make you feel good – like resting when you’re tired.

It’s My Party and I’ll Avoid the Party if I Want To

If I’m throwing a party, it’s not for me. My mom taught me the birthday party is for everyone else, and of course the wedding is for the mother… The food is for the majority: my brother got birthday cake every year even though he never wanted to eat it. The events are all about entertaining and pleasing the guests. I know my smile needs to make frequent wide appearances; my tired eyes can’t give me away. The goal is for everyone to leave feeling they had a good time at my party.

Or it’s a party for two. My birthday present last year was a luxurious night at a posh hotel downtown with my boyfriend, safe away from any semblance of a party. The food was a maple glazed salmon with a cheesy rice dish via room service – and lots and lots and lots of chocolates and candies. And I drank lots of water. We went to a movie, one of my favourite things, and so of course we watched another movie in the room later that night. The room was expansive, lush, with a king bed and soaker tub. Party favours were remaining candy I brought to the theatre the following day. Mmm that was top ten the best day of my life.

Inspired by the Daily Prompt