Book Review: How Not To Die by Dr. Jan Garavaglia

How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Me

Or as I like to call it:

Eat Fiber! Or your colon could generate pustules that, if popped and enter your bloodstream, CAN KILL YOU. Seriously, can you imagine someone telling your family that you died of ASS PUS?

or

Did you know you could get neck and throat tumors from BLOW JOBS?! Everyone, get the HPV vaccine. Damn.

She does a very good job linking the advice from your doctor ("Eat more fiber! Don't drink so much! Stop smoking!) with the real life consequences of these actions. There are some points where it feels like she's reaching (the section on accidents come to mind since even she admits that there isn't a way to prevent accidents) but otherwise, it is a fun and fairly informative read.

She tends to be a little too "me me me" focused (I'm fairly certain we don't need to relate everything to her family) and I find her recommendation of fat-reducing pills to be a little on the unwise side (look at me! I'm being polite!). She also seems hellbent on proving that she is more compassionate and more dedicated to her work than others.

Of course, it's not a huge detriment to the book until nearer the end when I felt the need to roll my eyes while I was reading. That may have been when I started reading the "FAT WILL KILL YOU" section. Considering she outlined with the chapters previous how regular, "fit" people can still die from heart disease and whatnot, linking fatness only to the risk of heart disease is... well, I'm going to guess she's never heard of "Healthy At Every Size" which is unfortunate for those around her and those reading her book.

Overall though, I highly recommend this. It gives you a good outline how your lifestyle could be stealing years from you. And seriously, how would you like your family knowing you died of ass pus?