Everyday Systems

I just read AJ Jacobs' latest self project: Drop Dead Healthy.

Jacobs is a New York writer for Esquire, grandson of the lawyer who represented the Gates artist in Central Park, and does these "goofy" projects or self experiments. He is the author who has given us, The Year of Living Biblicly, Drop Dead Healthy, and a few others.

Premise: Mr. Jacobs is going to do what he can to be the healthiest human alive. He employed a standing workstation w/ treadmill, a personal trainer, 1/2 a bottle of sun screen a day, a plant based diet with salmon 3 days a week (sorry right there I'd need my beef), helmets, noise reducers, stress reducers, aroma treatments, dental "spas", three day cleanses, stopped taking subways and cabs and started "running" errands, employed a variety of workout strategies, ran a mini traithlon (which was swam in New York Harbor, I saw Jaws, no way...), experimented with "superfoods" (a concept I do not believe in...), detoxing- not just him, but his air, house, clothes, etc., a hand specialist, a urologist, dermatologist, proctologist, and so on.

He would try various diets: raw food veganism, veganism, Paleo, Low Carb/Atkins, Low Glycemic, No Sugar, etc. I don't think a two week sampling of a diet is an accurate accounting of what goes on, but he only had two years. He seemed less impressed with the Paleo Diet than the vegan diet, and maybe less impressed with the raw food approach.

Again, he seemed most comfortable with whole grains, fruits/vegetables, and salmon/tuna. You could almost make the argument that he was eating low glycemic.

He did write about the frustration of medical specialization, and the mixed messages it sends to the lay person- the all or nothing approach I would call it. For instance sun screen. Anal dermotologists suggest a shot glass full of sun screen every two hours. He said he and his wife went through a bottle the first day. And, he added, a shot glass full of sun screen is a lot of sun screen. They ran out of body parts to cover.

The best part of the book is the tender relationship he has with his grandfather. At almost 50, I still have a grandfather, so I "bonded", if you will with him on this. (During the writing of the book his grandfather does pass.)

Very informative, but at times narrow? I guess I found the micro-managing of health tedious, but have to admit I have done similar things in the past. I have raw fooded in my 30's for 6 months, and Atkins-ed for 6 months. If some of you have paid attention to my posts, I find the Super Slow workout (Power of 10, Body by Science) to be excellent. But he seemed under-whelmed. Which is fine, nit picking differences can't be good for our health.

Over all, if this were Amazon I would say, 4.5/5 stars.

I did send him an email and invite him to check out No S. Maybe he will.

That sounds very interesting!

Thank you for that thorough review; I find it fascinating.

I guess you focused long enough to finish the book!

I bought this on my Kindle a couple of days ago and, so far, I'm really enjoying it!

What was the outcome? Did he come to the conclusion that most diets are hogwash?

I've always wondered why certain foods are considered "healthy" when the animal/plant it represents is already dead.

leafy_greens wrote:What was the outcome? Did he come to the conclusion that most diets are hogwash?

He, if I am not mistaken, considers himself a Flexarian. But tries to stay plant based.

More importantly, is he the healthiest human alive? Who's to say?

Sounds like a dang expensive experiment. I wonder if he could have bankrolled it without his previous success.

It's hard to imagine that for most people, all that effort will do much more good than consistent moderation in food, drink, and exercise. Pursuing interests and good relationships play a significant role, too. Thank goodness.