Best How Not to Diet Book Ever!

A big part of my adult life has been devoted to reading diet books. I sometimes even followed them for a few weeks, days, or sometimes just a few hours. I’ve been around long enough to travel from “A” for Adkins to “Z” for Zone, with many stops along the way in places like South Beach and even the Mediterranean. My last diet gig was sort of a Paleo/Keto blend because I really like fat and meat. But I also really like carbs, so I never got close to the correct macro and ended up eating way too much protein, fat, AND carbohydrates, which basically just added up to a whole lot of calories.

My latest diet book venture is How Not to Diet by Dr. Michael Greger. Luckily for me, it was in the last set of 25 books I borrowed from the Toledo Lucas County Public Library before it closed due to COVID-19. The library has been my faithful supplier of diet books for the past 50 years. Borrowing rather than buying has saved me thousands of dollars since I usually ended up dumping the diet before needing to return it to the library. In these unique times we’re living through, I will be able to keep this book until the library is considered safe to reopen. So, since it’s the ONLY diet book I had to read, I was able to thoroughly digest it’s 570 pages and had plenty of time to start implementing some of the Daily Dozen and the 21 Tweaks.

As a disclaimer, my obsession with dieting has been based equally on a love of research for what could benefit not only me, but those I care about. That’s why I decided to start this “on line journal” so I could share what I’ve found to be helpful by more than just word of mouth. My stats are as follows: I weighed 100 pounds in 1969 when I was in high school, 109 pounds when I got married in 1971, 119 pounds after giving birth to Zachary in 1974, and ended up around 129 after the births of Jessica in 1974 and Gabriel in 1979. (I also dropped 154 pounds – my ex didn’t weigh very much – in 2001 when I got divorced!). So, for the past 40 years my weight has yoyo’ed up and down from a low of 126 to a high of 132. My yoyo has a pretty short string but it goes up and down frequently. All in all, I’ve been very lucky to have gained just 20 pounds from my ideal weight of 109 pounds in 1971. I think just reading, absorbing, and once in awhile implementing all those diet hints over the past 40 years combined with my daily habit of walking in the parks, was just enough exercise to help me hold that line!

The problem with a weight of 129 is that I am only 5 feet tall and the charts say I should weigh between 97 and 123 pounds, so that 129 pounds puts me solidly in the overweight camp. This honestly wouldn’t be too big of a deal since I’ve gotten by just fine with those extra pounds strategically padding my midsection. Unfortunately, my fat lipid numbers and my A1C are also too high. I’ve been on a statin drug for cholesterol for the past 15 years or so and I also keep tiptoeing into pre-diabetes. The one thing I’ve learned from reading all those diet/health books is that having those invisible numbers too high do much more damage than the visible ones around my waist.

Reading How Not to Diet while I’ve been off work during COVID-19 shutdown, also gave me time to ease into making better food choices and to getting even more walks in the park. Dr. Greger advocates a plant based diet, low fat diet – which is not the direction I ever chose before – but the research shows this is the only diet that’s been proven to reverse heart disease. I also started adding some of the interesting weight loss tweaks he’s researched. I got so excited with my own personal research project, that I decided to start a Blog to share what I’ve found. After adopting some of Dr. Greger’s protocols over the course of the past month, I tipped the scales at 125 this morning. I’ve also lost 1/2 inch off my waist, and since carrying excess baggage around the middle is equated to metabolic syndrome, that half inch is a really big deal. Personally, I think my “love handles” have shrunk to just “drawer pulls!” I am feeling good even though I have only committed to TRYING to alternate a vegetarian day with a meat day for the past week. The Daily Dozen (lots of fruit and vegetables, beans, greens, nuts and seeds) will be the hardest since it’s not an eating style that comes easily to me. The 21 Tweaks have been easier and more fun for me to try, and I can already see results from implementing them.

If you just can’t wait to see what I’m going to share from the book, you can always order one since the libraries are still closed (I did order my own copy since this is a great reference book I want to keep). Or you can check out Dr. Greger’s website: nutritionfacts.org for tons of videos. I loaded up his free app, The Daily Dozen, to help me keep track of the tons of good foods I need to incorporate in my diet. Or you can just wait until my next post when I tell you all about the benefits of adding two teaspoons of vinegar to every meal!