How Not to Die: The Tired, Time-Starved Adults’ Guide to Healthy Eating | Shelf-Help
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The morning I turned 31, I woke up with a severe back pain that lasted a couple of days. While lying in bed at night and contorting my back, I realised that I had taken my physical body for granted.
I was far from healthy, slithering through the days like a human slug, plodding from home to work and back again, drained and exhausted. In all honesty, my unhealthy diet and lack of exercise probably contributed to this lack of energy.
So when I saw YouTuber Anna Akana rave about Dr Michael Greger’s book, How Not To Die, I was ready to give it a shot and take steps toward changing my life.
Despite its somewhat shocking and scandalous title, Dr Greger’s intentions for his readers are pure. Armed with case studies and research findings, he makes a compelling case for eating more vegetables.
As a child, he watched his grandmother’s health blossom when she was placed on a plant-based diet. Her rapid recovery inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. However, when he started out as a medical student, he found that nutrition training made up less than 1% of the curriculum.
How Not to Die comprises two parts: The first half delves into major illnesses such as heart diseases, digestive cancers, and infectious diseases and discusses what you can eat to keep these killers away.
The second part acts as a meal plan guide and provides a breakdown of the twelve food categories that Dr Greger recommends consuming so that your body remains healthy and strong.
In essence, it’s a food checklist and what you’ll read next is my experience in following Dr Greger’s Daily Dozen guide for a month.
What distinguishes Dr Greger’s book from other diet fads is that his diet is not a restrictive one — instead, it includes and incorporates more healthy food groups. Adhering to a strict diet is not easy and Dr Greger set out to create a plan with less pressure, stress and deprivation.
Week 1: The Week I Crashed and Burned
In my mad rush to get started, I flung myself into the Daily Dozen meal plan — unprepared and unsure.
For starters, I had little idea what amount of groceries I needed. I also cooked sides that didn’t go well together taste-wise— think Indian dhal with Chinese-style oyster mushrooms and tofu, which I then had to eat for three nights in a row!
Preparing and cooking a meal every night after work was also exhausting and I gave up my culinary quest after three days. As someone who needs variety in every meal, eating the same food several days straight also made it difficult to stick to my plan.
That said, I actually ate more vegetables and fruits that week than I had for the past few months combined! I also ate no red meat and little poultry since the chapter, How to Prevent Infectious Diseases advised against eating these.
Tips:
1. Download the Daily Dozen app.
2. Plan out your meals and prepare your grocery shopping at the start of the week (if you plan to cook every day).
3. Watch meal prep videos on YouTube if you can stomach the thought of eating the same meal for a couple of days.
Week 2: The Week Where I Was an Avid Salad Eater
Since I gave up cooking on days that I work, I started frequenting Soup Spoon on an almost daily basis. My go-to was their Nourish Bowls, which helped me tick off many of the Daily Dozen items in one meal.
While salads don’t come cheap, they do cost less than what I spent on groceries while cooking for myself. So overall, this felt like the better option since I got to save my time, energy and precious moolah.
For my second meal of the day, I would try to balance out my food expenses by eating at a more affordable eatery — making sure to order sufficient veggies either way.
For example, if I ate at a hawker centre, I would eat at the caifan stall, opting for the healthier brown rice option, reducing my carbs and piling on the veggies.
Though the Daily Dozen is not a restrictive diet and focuses more on adding healthy elements to your meals, the filling nature of vegetables left little space in my stomach for any other food type. Surprisingly, each salad bowl would leave me feeling full throughout the day and craving for little else.
Tips:
1. On your working days, try getting salads from The Soup Spoon or Stuff’d for at least one meal in your day.
2. If you are customising your salads, choose ingredients so that you can tick items off Greger’s Daily Dozen checklist.
Week 3: My Week as an Amateur Healthy Food Chef
This week, while I continued to survive on salads, I had more time to spend in my kitchen.
Inspired by health food accounts on Instagram, I tried my hand at some new recipes. One of my creations was rice paper rolls (stuffed with tuna, avocado, baby spinach and a bit of chilli oil for the kick). They were not fantastic, but I was proud of them.
Missing ice-cream, I also paired my berries with coconut cream to balance the sourness in the berries to recreate the creamy texture and satisfy my sweet tooth. Fruits are nature’s candy indeed.
Tips:
1. Borrow a healthy eating recipe book like Beauty Foods to practice making healthy meals or;
2. Follow Instagram chefs who focus on healthy food and check out their multitude of recipes.
Week 4: My Week of Relapse and Recovery
Having stuck to healthy eating for most of the past three weeks, I felt like I deserved a reward.
When I met up with my friends, I tried my best to choose the healthier options on the menu. However, it was hard when everyone around me was noshing on my favourite foods.
Ultimately, my downfall came from within.
While grocery shopping, I decided to get a Magnum Mini Ice Cream box containing 6 mini-ice creams on a whim. This was, of course, a mistake.
The flavour was White Chocolate and Cookies and I was only human.
I really missed having some cold sweetness in my life. That night, I had ice-cream as a midnight snack and for breakfast the next morning.
Unfortunately, my body was thrown off balance and I was hit by a strong wave of lethargy and random pangs of hunger. The next time I started craving sugar, I ate oranges instead.
Tips:
1. Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s okay if you have an unhealthy meal occasionally. As Dr Greger reminds us, “We cannot let “perfect” be the enemy of “good”.
2. Also, if you’re a sugar addict like me, you can opt for yogurts as a healthier alternative. Don’t buy ice cream for your fridge. Unless you have a high sense of self-control, unlike me.
Week 5 & Beyond: The Aftermath
In the weeks following my month of healthy-eating, I continued to face temptations.
However, when I had a chicken burger with curly fries from A&W, I felt bloated and experienced a food coma for the first time in a while. This was something I didn’t experience when I stuck to my trusty salads. Fast food also made me hungrier faster.
Eating well-balanced, plant-based meals has become its own reward. Now and then, I re-read parts of How Not to Die to remind myself of how and why I should stick to the Daily Dozen. The title alone is a good enough reminder sometimes.
Just kidding!
But with all seriousness, Dr Michael Greger is a great storyteller who raises excellent points. I didn’t expect that a book on healthy eating could be funny, engaging, and insightful at the same time. For instance, when it comes to eating healthy, the sum of the parts is better than the individual parts. There are specific nutrients in an orange that are good for you, but when you extract those to eat them as a supplement, their benefits are greatly diminished.
If you’re looking to start eating healthier, grab a copy of his book at our libraries or read it online to get started on changing your diet. Check out his cookbook here too if you’re planning to make healthy food at home.
Happy reading and all the best on your healthy-eating journey!
For more Wellness content, check out the LearnX Wellness website and register for upcoming Wellness programmes here.
Text by
Sarannya Anil
National Library Board
