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I have always had a fascination with food. I suffer from an eating disorder and was severely overweight for about 13 years. I have lost about 100 pounds since 2013 but I still have a very bad relationship with food. I have seen every documentary out there related to food and have read hundreds of books and so when I saw I could do a book report I was ecstatic. I found this particular book and had not read it so I listened to it while working. The author, Michael Greger M.D. is a physician, an internationally recognized lecturer, and founder of nutritionfacts.org and seems to be very qualified to write about this particular topic. He uses a lot of personal content in the book that shows his passion for this particular subject. Like I mentioned before I have seen all the documentaries and have tried eating vegan, vegetarian, keto, and all the other dieting/living ways out there but I am tired of not knowing what to do permanently, so reading this book has helped me to finally figure it out.
This book is very well written as it covers a wide variety of topics. It covers everything from heart attacks to diabetes to cancers. It also covers how we can prevent those diseases that are so prevalent in the United States by eating a whole grain plant-based diet. Besides disease, this book also covers all the different foods that are available to us and the good and bad uses of them. The book goes very in-depth and discusses some very sensitive but necessary topics as well. If you are not taking care of yourself or your health this book could be an eye-opener and a hard pill to swallow at the same time. The first 15 chapters of the book cover a wide array of diseases that plague us here in the United States that could be prevented by changing the way we eat. Another 11 chapters cover loads of different foods and how we can use them in our daily life. There is also a short chapter on exercise and a chapter where the author gives us the ultimate 12 things that we should consume on a daily basis. I won’t write about each disease individually but instead, I will summarize the types of diseases he mentions in a few paragraphs instead.
The first few diseases that he covers are heart disease, lung disease, and brain disease. Each of these has its own chapter and he adds a personal touch to each of the chapters. The worst death he ever witnessed as a doctor was seeing someone die because they just couldn’t breathe anymore. He had a patient who was suffering from lung cancer and he remembers feeling helpless as he watched his patient die. His grandma passed away from brain disease, also known as dementia. He explains how a lot of people could live longer and not die from any of these horrible diseases if they just changed their diet a little.
Digestive cancers, infections, diabetes, and high blood pressure are the next few chapters in the book. The amount of people diagnosed with diabetes rises each year and people are being diagnosed younger and younger. We have a food epidemic on our hands here in the United States and it seems to get worse each year. Diabetes is closely related to food and the types of food we put in our bodies. I have a sister-in-law who was diagnosed with diabetes after being morbidly obese for years. I can see how much it affects her life but she has no desire to change the way she eats. She just takes medication after medication to hide the symptoms that so easily could be treated by changing a few of her eating habits. Many people are on high blood pressure pills and will be for the rest of their lives unless they change the way they eat. 5 million years are lost each year to digestive cancers as well.
Liver diseases, blood cancers, and kidney diseases are also preventable if we just watch what we put inside of our bodies. Not only can food have the power to slow cancers it can also reverse some cancers. The author has many stories in his book that describe actual patients that have either gotten better all the way or extended their lives by many years just by changing what they eat daily. Our bodies are capable of so much and we give them way too little credit.
The chapter on breast cancer had me paying extra special attention. My grandmother died from breast cancer and so did her sisters. I know breast cancer is in my family line and so I need to be extra careful that I also don’t get it. My mom has had a few scares and has changed some of her eating habits to improve her odds of not contracting breast cancer. I am 45 and went for my first mammogram this year (I know I had put it off way too long, I think it scared me and so I figured if I would ignore it, it would go away.) I received my results and got a bi-rads level 2 on a scale of 1-4. If you get a level 1 your mammogram is normal and nothing to report, a 2 shows benign starts, a 3 is the beginning of questionable findings, and a 4 is suspicious anomalies. Receiving a 2 scared me more than the mammogram itself and has put me back on the road I have been teetering on for years. I do really good with my eating and then I give up and indulge for a long period. It was time for me to be serious again about my health and really stick to my changes for good. I have given up aspartame (diet soda, all soda for that matter) and am eating a whole grain plant-based diet again and I can already feel the changes in my body.
The next chapter talked about suicidal depression and the effects food can have on your mood. I had never thought about depression and food together before but I can see the correlation after reading this book. Food can make us happy or sad and can trigger different chemicals in our brains.
Prostate cancers, Parkinson’s disease, and dying from seeing the doctor are the last 3 chapters of part 1. I thought it was really interesting that he included going to the doctor as a form of dying. We all know doctors like to prescribe medicine and rarely treat symptoms but rather cover it up with medicine. If doctors were taught to teach nutrition more then maybe they could help patients live a healthier life without stuffing them full of pills that will eventually get them to an earlier grave. The author’s dad suffered from Parkinson’s disease and so he was able to relate personal stories about seeing his dad succumb to this awful disease that has no cure.
He starts part 2 of his book by listing his daily dozen. This list has 12 things on it you should consume daily in order to stay healthy. I really enjoyed this chapter and still, I find it a little overwhelming to think of all the things I need to cram into one day worth of food. I know this will take baby steps and practice until I can master the daily dozen as he does. As part of his daily dozen you need to consume the following:
3 servings of beans, 1 serving of berries, 3 servings of other fruits, 1 serving of cruciferous vegetables, 2 servings of other greens, 2 servings of other vegetables, 1 serving of flaxseed, 1 serving of nuts, 1 serving of spices, 3 servings of whole grains, 5 glasses of beverage, and 1 serving of exercise.
I can only imagine this taking me a long time to figure out how to get it all done, but I have a good start on what to consume daily now.
Part 2 then dives into the actual foods we can consume and which ones are better for us than others. It covers beans, berries, other fruits, cruciferous vegetables, greens, other vegetables, flaxseeds, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices, and whole grains. Even though these all sound healthy some are more beneficial than others and some don’t have any nutritional value and are better left alone. He talks about his favorite fruits and vegetable and how he combines them to make whole meals. After he goes through every chapter covering each individual food item I felt a little more like I could make the change to a whole grain plant-based diet.
He has an entire topic on beverages which I found very useful as I drink a lot of water but would like a little variety sometimes. I already knew that aspartame causes cancers and so I always check the labels to make sure that I don’t buy a drink that has aspartame in it. (You’d be surprised how many beverages it is found in.) He goes through the health benefits of certain coffees and teas (not all are created equal) and he gives you ideas on how to spice up your water without distracting you from the nutritional benefits.
The last chapter he covers is exercise. I have read a lot on exercise and everyone will give you a different take on how much and how long is beneficial. We all know walking is good for us and we need to get at least 10,000 steps, but do we? He explains that after 7,000 there really are no extra benefits. He explains what other things we can do in addition to the 7,000 steps to get our body strong and healthy. In 2013 I started running (I don’t know if it was called running what I was attempting at over 300 pounds.) and started to lose weight. As soon as I added dietary changes the weight really came off and now I can say that I have lost almost 100 pounds. About 20 of those pounds keep coming back and then I lose them again, it is a battle with food that is keeping these stubborn 20 pounds around longer than necessary.
I loved reading this book, it gave me the push to be healthier again. I have been on and off the bandwagon many many times and I am sure I will fall off again at some point, but for now, I have the motivation needed to make some major changes in my life. In the past, I have tried without success many times to change my lifestyle but was always shot down by the rest of my family who was content eating junk and processed foods. I have tried eating vegan and vegetarian with lots of protests and laughter from my ex-husband. My life is completely different now as I am single and my kids are grown and so I only cook for myself. I can now dictate what I eat and don’t eat without scrutiny from others. I have learned to also keep my opinion of food to myself in my workplace as I would have co-workers also laugh at me for my choices. I don’t think a lot of people are ready to change their lives drastically and so we are only slowly seeing more vegan places pop up and more meat alternatives show up in the grocery stores. We are behind here in America as Europe has already embraced plant-based foods and people there eat many meat-free meals a week. It is easier to eat healthier as the grocery stores there are stocked with great alternatives and the restaurants are offering many other options besides meat. I know we will get there and I am excited to get a head start here in the United States. Maybe I will share my beliefs with others if I see that they can benefit from my knowledge.
[Paper written for HLTH 1100 class UVU Summer 2021]
Amy Brouwer . 2024 . All Right Reserved
