Improving Your Health: Lessons from “How Not to Die” by Michael Greger — Part 1

In a world where unhealthy eating is common, taking care of your health is incredibly important. “How Not to Die” by Michael Greger is an interesting book that shows how making simple changes in what you eat can stop and even turn around diseases. As I read the first part of this eye-opening book, I really wanted to share what I learned. This blog is all about the main things I got from Greger’s ideas and why it’s vital for everyone to think about their health.

In today’s world, more people are dying early because of heart attacks, cancer, and other diseases. The numbers are shocking. In 2019, just in India, over 28,000 people died from heart attacks. Worldwide, about 17.9 million people lost their lives due to heart diseases. Shockingly, the main reason for all this is the food we eat. This is something that should be taught in schools and something everyone should care about.

It’s really sad to see people having heart attacks and suddenly dying. Many of us think that only exercising can protect us from these diseases, but it’s not that simple. You might have heard about famous people who died from sudden heart attacks. This shows why the information in “How Not to Die” is so important.

The ideas from the book affected me so much that I wanted to write a series of blogs about it. I strongly believe that everyone, not just young people, but also adults, parents, and older folks, should know about this book.

Seeing people around me get heart attacks, cancer, and other serious illnesses worries me, especially when I think about the people I love. Nowadays, we eat lots of different foods, many of them processed and not very good for us. We don’t really think about how these experiments with our food affect our future health. We eat as if the future doesn’t matter, almost like every meal is our last.

It turns out that what we eat is the main reason people die early and have health problems. So, shouldn’t schools teach us about food? Surprisingly, in India, not many schools teach about nutrition. A study in 2017 found that only 58% of schools in India talk about nutrition. And even when they do, the teaching is not very good because lots of teachers don’t really know much about it.

Now, let’s talk about some surprising numbers from the book that might inspire you to eat healthier:
- People who started eating meat at least once a week after being vegetarian had more heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and weight gain.
- In India, diseases like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and stroke are increasing faster than we expected, even though people are eating a little more meat.
- The risk of getting heart disease is not just because of our genes. When people move from a place where heart disease risk is low to a place where it’s high, their risk goes up too.

We need to talk about how our brains feel happy when we try new foods. We often eat things like sauces, cheese, and fried foods, even though they’re not great for us. While plant-based foods are good for us, we sometimes pick processed options. But we need to think about our health and future when we eat these things. As more fast-food places offer unhealthy options, we should encourage ourselves and others to go to places that offer healthy choices.

The book really emphasizes that the best way to prevent and treat diseases is to eat a lot of whole plant-based foods and avoid things like meat, dairy, eggs, and processed foods.

The author says that even just eating a little more fruits and veggies every day can make it less likely for you to have diseases.

The truth is that if you do four simple things, you can really lower your chances of getting sick: don’t smoke, don’t be too overweight, get a bit of exercise each day, and eat healthier, which means more fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and less meat.

To live healthier, remember “The Simple 7”: don’t smoke, keep a good weight, stay active, eat lots of fruits and veggies, keep your cholesterol and blood pressure in check, and make sure your blood sugar is normal.

In the end, “How Not to Die” has really important ideas that can change how healthy you are. By changing what you eat, you can really lower your risk of heart disease and other diseases. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s never too early or too late to start making better choices for your health. Let’s think about being healthy and be smart about the food we eat.

Always Remember, it’s never too early to start eating healthily, and it’s never too late to start healing your body. No matter how old you are, you can start eating better and your body can get healthier when you give it the right kind of food.