** Not Empty Calories **
Mother says to eat more vegetables, Chinese mother says to eat more gojiberries, and those in the gym tell me to eat more protein. Who should I believe? As Greger says throughout the book: You don’t know… until you put it to the test. This book is heftier than the typical American waistline, but covers enough ground to make it worth the girth.
**1. There’s something in the air ** While not strictly about dieting, Greger gives his diagnosis on why Americans have gained so much weight in the last 30 years. He is skeptical of mainstream ideas like ‘Americans are lazier’ and instead thinks that what we eat (and how that has changed) is the biggest contributor to the problem. What I appreciate about this section is that he points out there are no big villains. There are just companies doing what companies were founded to do: make money. Selling cheap food that hits the all the right flavor notes we have been conditioned to crave is a great way to make money. I, for one, love sour cream and cheddar ruffles potato chips. This part of the book reminded me of attention merchants, and presented a compelling thesis of where we as a country went wrong in our diet.
2. How can eating food so wrong make me feel so right? The bulk of the book talks about things that are known to make people obese. Perhaps the most important part of what Greger talks about is calorie density: our bodies use volume as a proxy for calories, the denser our meals, the more likely we are to overeat. Processed foods, oils, sugars etc. are all obvious, tested culprits. 90% of the advice you already knew: leave out the oil, eat more fruits and veggies, make sure that you eat whole grains, beans are good for you etc. The difference is the studies that back it up, and the reasons that each of these elements will help you lose weight. Greger casually destroys many fad diets in this section, showing the failed hypotheses of atkins, most fasting, and diet foods such as artificial sweeteners. Greger also explains how much diet matters vs. exercise, with diet responsible for 90% of the change. Don’t think that trip to the gym is going to save you.
**3. Thinking (about eating), Fast and Slow ** A tome of studies supporting most of the things my parents told me is useful (and convincing) bet the real gems are around the science surrounding diet psychology. This is one of the most practical books I’ve read when it comes to goal-setting, probably because dieting is a well-studied area with strong natural counter-incentives.
Key concepts: -Self Licensing: When you do something good (i.e. eat some gojiberries) there is a propensity to the allow yourself to do something bad (i.e. eat a hamburger). In fact, just seeing healthy items on a menu might cause you to order more. -What the Hell Effect: When a goal is missed, we tend to give up entirely, and can end up eating more than if there was no goal in the first place. -Positive v. Negative goals: It’s easier to achieve things that you should do rather than things you should not do. (Hence his advice around the daily dozen) -Implementation Intentions: If you make a goal, that won’t necessarily help you achieve it. If you come up with specifics around how you will achieve that goal, then you are more likely to achieve it. -Exercising before meals is better for fat burning. -Music leads to +5% performance, mainly through decreased exertion perception.
Most of this you already know. You could just follow ancient Chinese medicine and get mostly the same advice. But as Greiger says: “ancient Chinese medicine also recommends mercury, which is why we have… science.”
** 9th book of 2019. **