Book Review: How Not to Die by Michael Greger

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Somewhere in the summer of 2021, deep in my healing year, I became the person who reads a 576-page nutrition book for fun. In my defense, How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger is the most fun a 576-page nutrition book has ever been, and I’ve read enough of them to say that with a straight face.

The premise: Dr. Greger, founder of NutritionFacts.org, walks through the leading causes of death and lays out the evidence for which foods help prevent (and in some cases reverse) the diseases doing the killing. Then he hands you his Daily Dozen, a checklist of foods he wants on your plate every day. It sounds grim. It reads like a page-turner.

What I Loved About How Not to Die by Michael Greger

When I reviewed this on Goodreads in 2021, I wrote that if you’re a human being, this book applies to you. I stand by it. This is the most thoroughly researched nutrition book I’ve ever come across (the citations section could bench-press me), but the research never smothers the readability. Greger writes with actual wit, which should be illegal in evidence-based medicine and thankfully isn’t.

It also met me at the right moment. My healing protocol was already plant-heavy (roughly 90% vegan and gluten-free, a story I’ve told in full in my remission essay), and this book turned that from a restriction I was enduring into a strategy I understood. Nothing makes kale easier to eat than a mechanism of action.

Standard reminder: I’m a writer, not a doctor. I read nutrition science the way I read everything (critically, with my care team on speed dial), and you should too.

What I Didn’t Love About How Not to Die

It’s a brick. 576 pages, and you’ll feel every one of them if you try to read it straight through like a novel (ask me how I know). Treat it as a reference you live with instead. And Dr. Greger is an advocate with a clear plant-based point of view — I share a lot of it, but read him as a passionate prosecutor presenting evidence, not a neutral judge. Neither of those cost it a star from me.

Final Thoughts on How Not to Die

The nutrition book I recommend to other humans most often, full stop. Start with the chapters closest to your family history, adopt the Daily Dozen loosely, and let the rest work on your grocery list over time. For the autoimmune-specific angle from my healing year, Goodbye Autoimmune Disease is the companion read, and my 10 health and lifestyle habits post covers what actually stuck.

My final score: 5 out of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Do I recommend this book? 👍 Yes — to every human with a body.

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