How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss

The short version: This book is incredible, chock-full of a massive amount of information that was new to me. Very highly recommend.The long version: I am 58 years old and lately my lackluster halfhearted diet attempts have been making me crazy. I weigh about 25 pounds more than I'd like to, and I am feeling the strain of lugging around the extra weight, especially on my knees. On the one hand, I really want to lose the extra weight. On the other hand, I really want to eat whatever I want. And after having watched what I eat for 44 years now, sometimes more successfully than others, I have started to wonder: When does it end? When can I stop caring what I weigh? When can I eat Nutella without feeling guilty? When can I, you know, stop dieting and stop watching what I eat?Sadly, my logical conclusion is never. I can stop caring about what I weigh and what I eat when I decide to stop caring about my health. So … never.But still, even after years of doing this, I have found that lately the struggle has been profound. I drop 3 pounds and regain 4 almost immediately. Repeat repeat repeat. My overall trend has been up instead of down, despite my efforts. It's all very discouraging.I have also spent a lifetime learning about diets and nutrition. Seriously, if you want the skinny on various diets, don't ask a thin person and don't ask an obese person. Ask an in-between person who has spent years facing the struggle. We know. We're the ones who do the homework and know all about Keto and Atkins and Ornish and Cabbage Soup and Paleo. My knowledge stretches back decades, and I have discovered that there are really only two things that work:1. Your head has to be in the game. If you aren't mentally all in, it's a waste of time. If you are mentally all in, it doesn't matter what diet you're on, if any. You will succeed.2. You can't just diet. It really has to be a lifestyle change to maintain long-term results.So here I am, discouraged and prone to stress eating, not even wanting to play the diet game anymore – and along comes this book.How Not to Diet was exactly what I needed. The book absolutely blew me away. I had no idea that there was so much I didn't know about a subject I thought I basically knew everything about. Every page a new revelation. Constant insights. Not just “eat more fiber” but detailed explanations as to why.The author and his team scoured many thousands of studies to arrive at the well-researched conclusions with which this book is teeming. Free of the usual agendas and the unfounded assertions diet books put forward so that they will be different from one another and hence marketable, this book is loaded with GASP! actual facts.I had also heard of, but not read, the author's How Not to Die. I've ordered a copy. I want to read as much of his work as possible. It's an investment in my health. Hopefully, this will be the catalyst I need to create real change. I am very optimistic.The author's proceeds from this book will be donated to charity.BOTTOM LINE: This book is a game changer. This book is a life changer. Very strongly recommend.

Written in Dr Greger’s inimitable style, this much awaited voluminous tome does not disappoint!! Working in healthcare, specifically in Obesity & Weight Loss, Dr Greger’s new book will be an invaluable clinical tool. His latest book does for weight loss what his previous book did for disease prevention, ie give the layman (and professional) the latest evidence-based scientific ‘guidelines’ to assist in achieving long term weight loss success. Naturally the ‘key’ is to base your diet on whole plant foods, but Dr Greger delves much deeper into the science and goes far beyond, introducing 21 weight loss accelerators & tweaks. Eating a whole food plant based diet, incorporating the principles in this guide, alongside structured coaching in behaviour change & building healthy habits is your blueprint for permanent weight loss! Thank you Dr Greger for your selfless dedication - another amazing Blockbuster!

While many readers will look to this book to help them lose weight, it is a great resource for weight management -- or for learning how to eat well, in every sense of the word. I've followed Dr Greger on Youtube for years and bought his first book, "How Not To Die," when it came out so I pre-ordered this book. It didn't disappoint. It is an incredible reference tome of nutritional research (extensively footnoted but mercifully not included in the book but online so you can easily jump to, and bookmark, specific studies) presented in Dr Greger's inimitable style so that it is both accessible and interesting. Similarly to "How Not to Die", you can read the book straight or hopscotch through chapters according to your need. The "tweaks" at the end are a good starting point if you want to create personalised guidelines for healthy eating and you can always refer back to specific sections to see if or why this works for you. Dr Greger doesn't hide his advocacy of a plant-based diet but doesn't force it upon readers: the science is there for everyone to read and draw their own conclusions. (That said, what I've always appreciated about NutritionFacts is that it offers qualitative assessments that include methodology and doesn't just take study results at face value.) I'm mostly plant-based, with the very occasional lapse--like a slice of birthday carrot cake--but this book shouldn't be pigeon-holed as only for plant-based/vegan or vegetarian eaters.

Despite being an international best seller, (if it isn't already, I'm sure it will be soon!) the capacities are very much based on the strange American method. It would have been nice if the metric system could have been given as well. Come on Dr Greger, much of the info you refer to came from the UK so give us a bit of consideration please.

Another gem from Dr Greger. All the science, studies and information you could ever need about nutrition and disease. This book along with Dr Joel Fuhrman, Esselstyn et al should be what is prescribed at the Doctors office. People need to take responsibility for their health armed with all the CORRECT information and give our NHS a much needed break.