How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease
By Michael Greger, MD, FACLM
FlatIron Books
This New York Times bestseller follows a popular formula for persuasion. First, you need a title that gets people’s attention. Next, it helps to have an author with a good chunk of the alphabet after his name. Letters like MD and PhD are especially good. That means you are looking at the name of an expert, and experts are never wrong. Finally, you need lots of references. This book has all that covered—seven letters after the author’s name and over a hundred pages of references. This formula doesn’t guarantee success, but it can work and obviously did this time.
Greger presents us with chapter after chapter of advice on how not to die from all the chronic ailments that plague modern civilization. Each chapter is riddled with references, yet in the first chapter (which tells us how not to die from heart disease), Greger makes the claim that statin drug benefits outweigh the risks for those with high risk—without any references.
The key point in each chapter is that a plant-based diet is the secret to survival. I would never argue with an expert who has so many studies backing him up, would I? Well, I’ve developed this nasty habit of noncompliance with the popular mentality, so yes I would. How could I do that? Who do I think I am?
I don’t have to be anybody but someone who pays attention. I have seen many experts claim many different, incompatible things. They can’t all be right, some of them must be wrong. Being an expert carries no guarantee of correctness. Having lots of references doesn’t guarantee anything either.
One big name the author refers to more than once is Pritikin, who came up with a diet to prevent or even cure heart disease. That sounds great, but what Greger neglects to mention is that this diet did not help Pritikin himself with leukemia. You have to look at the whole picture, not just the convenient part of it.
Many of the studies referred to take place in a lab, in a test tube or petri dish. While some interesting information might come of such a study, a test tube or dish is not a good simulator of the human body. When isolated proteins or other nutrients are exposed to isolated human or animal tissue, I don’t care what happens. Nothing has been proven about what is good nutrition and what is not. Studies on actual human beings, not test tubes, are better, but even a study lasting several years is short term. And studies comparing McDonald’s high-fat meals to McDonald’s lowfat meals should be dropped in the trash where they belong.
Studies done on factory food may do a very good job of proving factory food is not good for you, but that is not really news and proves nothing about properly produced organic food. There is at least one reference to information from the American Dietetic Association, which is funded by industry, including the likes of Coca-Cola. Studies funded by the factory food industry are not science, they are marketing.
In an apparent attempt to scare us all away from chicken, we are told that the number one food source of arsenic for preschool children is chicken. That may be true as far as it goes, but it leaves out an important detail. Why is chicken so high in arsenic? Because at least until recently, the industry deliberately added arsenic to chicken feed as a preservative.
Any studies—whether lab studies or short-term studies—done outside of the context of what has worked to keep different cultures around the world healthy for generations (like the research done by Weston A. Price) add up to one big nothing-burger. Thumbs DOWN.
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Winter 2018
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This is one of the shallowest, most biased reviews I have ever seen. The thumbs-down appears to be based entirely on mischaracterizing a single sentence in the book.
The actual sentence Boyd refers to (second paragraph) about Heart Disease is this:
“For those at high risk of heart disease who are unwilling or unable to bring down their cholesterol levels naturally with dietary changes, the benefits of statins generally outweight the risks.” Dr. Greger than goes on to explain what those risks are — and references are given regarding the risks. (And it’s quite likely those papers reaffirm the use of statins — which currently is the standard of care for CAD.”
Maybe having the right initials after his name would enable Tim Boyd to give a more credible review.
Yes, Greger is just trying to sell books and make money. So is every one else promoting a restricted diet.
Want to know what really “has worked to keep different cultures around the world healthy for generations”? They did not have technological, complicated or expensive forms of medical treatment (or worse yet “prevention” aka vaccines) for anyone – not babies, adults, teens, middle aged or old people. You got a germ-related disease? There were simple treatments of various kinds. If they didn’t work, you died, and your inferior genes were gone with the wind. Only the hearty survived. If you were a weakling, mother Nature took you. The people left over went on to reproduce and round and round it went. Until fairly recently.
Today, attaining health and keeping it is a struggle no matter what you do. We all have a bad history compliments of modern medicine. It is not difficult to find health advisors who couldn’t shut up about their miraculous diet and after the first flush of magnificent health, they too got something serious and perished.
I am sure that these entire early populations were consuming a Weston Price style of eating, yet disease occurred anyway, even back then. Diet is mighty important, but people get sick anyway. It isn’t only about diet. Thanks for listening.
Thank you, thank you, and again thank you. I bought the book because it was being promoted by the founder of The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. Without knowing he was auditing the fb page, I had strong words about his endorsement of such nonsense filled literature . After all Blue Zones was created on the premise of “Plant Slant.” Of course he wrote words to the contrary, but I held my ground. Then the “good” Dr. Gregor chimed in also. More nonsensical rambling. He lives under the misconception that his plan works for everyone….his presentations are also very annoying. Aside from the Barney Fife voice masquerade, he thinks very highly of his humor as well as himself.
Lol, we should discredit a diet crafted against heart disease, because it did not cure LEUKEMIA? Your logic in paragraph 5 is astounding.
You discredit lab studies, but the book makes that same criticism itself, so you either didn’t read it or aren’t being fair. The book puts a lot of focus on “transplant” studies as well as prescriptive diet/intervention studies, which are both real-world.
I think your only remaining valid point is that he has one study from the ADA, but in the context of his 100+ pages of references that doesn’t really persuade me.
Well, another bad book helped along by a worse review. You are certain to boost sales as people buy it just to find out what exactly it says.
Well, Tim Boyd’s review has convinced me. I buy mostly used books and won’t waste even $4 on this book. Why would anyone buy a bad book to see what it says?
Actually Michael Greger donates all the profits from sales of his books and speaking engagements to Nutrition Facts, a non-profit organization that he works for with a salary. So he’s not trying to sell books for his own personal gain.
Your review makes some bizarre leaps… so we should discount the work of Dr Pritikin because he had leukemia? But not discount the countless people dying of disease who eat a meat-based diet? I think stick to the computer engineering field and leave nutrition to others.
Because of Dr Greger’s vibrant presentations, we changed to vegan diet to heal my bride’s tumor. Worked great. Also noticed stomach feeling much better with vegan diet over last 4 years. But I’ve also had challenges with pains in my feet. Cardio/Ion test revealed some nutritional deficiencies. Also reading a book on dental healing, and it recommended Dr Westin’s diet. Researching on nutritionfacts.org , can’t find responses to Dr Westin Price’s research. Wondering how can I see or read a debate and get more data points to make best choices for our health.
p.s. Lately I’m noticing Greger emphasizing Vegan diet because of alleged ‘ethical’ reasons. He seemed to say that even if medical studies show vegan to be unhealthy, he would not eat healthier since he since it would be “unethical”. I have no idea why he finds eating fish unethical. Jesus resurrected ate fish with the Apostles 🙂 Obviously nothing unethical. Many Orthodox Christian monks live on vegan diet and receive Grace from God to be healthy even when living on only bread & water until age 105 (i.e. Anthony the great biography by Athanasius). Other Orthodox monks eat fresh fish and dairy but not other meats. I’m more interested in the health impact for those of us who have not received special Grace from God to fast on bread & water all our lives and still be healthy 🙂 .