Read this very entertaining and informative book.
Description
by indie bound
From the bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All comes the truly hilarious story of one person’s quest to become the healthiest man in the world.
Hospitalized with a freak case of tropical pneumonia and ashamed of a middle-aged body best described as “a python that swallowed a goat,” A.J. Jacobs felt compelled to change his ways and get healthy. To accomplish this epic task, he consulted an army of experts and subjected himself to dozens of different workouts, diets, and devices—from Finger Fitness to Strollercize sessions, veganism to extreme chewing.
The story of his transformation is not only brilliantly entertaining, but it just may be the healthiest book ever written. It will make you laugh until your sides split and endorphins flood your bloodstream. It will move you emotionally and get you moving physically in surprising ways. It will serve you up today’s best health advice. And it will give you occasion to reflect on the body’s many mysteries and the ultimate pursuit of health: a well-lived life.
Here are some quotes taken from the book " Drop Dead Healthy " by A. J. Jacobs
Stomach -
The Quest to Eat Right
One of the major causes of obesity epidemic is that we thoughtlessly shove omnipresent food into always-open maws.
We love to multi-task while eating, a sure way to get fat. Studies show that we eat up to 71% more when we are watching TV.
Eating for Longevity
One of the keys successful aging is to stay active, connected, involved, and cognitively challenged.
Heart -
The Quest to Get My Blood Pumping
Dr Oz recommended that to stay young, 20 minutes of aerobic exercises 3 times a week, plus a bit of weight lifting. Too much more, he said, exercise starts to raise your age, because of the wear and tear on the body.
Recent research shows that just being outside might improve your health ... A Nippon Medical study showed that two-hour walks in a forest caused a 50 % spike in natural killer cells, a powerful immune cell.
So what's so great outdoors? One theory is that plants release a chemical called 'phytonicles'. Plants use this chemical to protect themselves from decay, but it may benefit people too.
Exercise and Old Age
A good marriage is a boon to your health .... staying in a bad marriage is terrible for your health.
The Ears - The Quest for Quiet
Noise harms the ears and the heart - but it also wreaks havoc on the brain.
The Butt - The Quest to Avoid Sedentary Life
The more I read, the more I realize an unfortunate truth: Sitting and staring at screens all day is bad for you. Sitting puts you at risk for heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and some types of cancer,including colon and ovarian.
We weren't built to sit. Never before in history have we been so immobile.
According to the book
The Blue Zones, the cultures with the longest life spans - such as those in Okinawa and Sardinia - move all the time, lugging food up steep hills.
The problem with Americans is that we've Balkanized our lives. We go to the gym for an hour and then sit for the rest of the day. Movement is sealed into an airtight container.
We sit and sit and sit, then have a burst of movement.
So my plan is to tear do the wall between exercise and life. ... I squeeze physical activity into every nook of my day.
We should all walk as we work. ... now I found walking while working actually helps hone my focus.
The Immune System - The Quest to Conquer Germs
I love the elaborate metaphors they use to convey the unimaginable number of germs. You have more germs in your gut right now than humans that ever lived on earth. Germaphobia.
Most bacteria are harmless. In fact, human beings are mostly germs. We are walking around with 90% germ cells, and just 10 % human cells with our DNA.
There are 156,000 categories of germs around, but only a small percentage are pathogenic. Maybe two thousand of these.
Hand washing is the single most important thing you can do for your health. Eighty percent of all infections are transmitted by direct and indirect contact.
Hygiene Hypothesis - the idea is that children in the modern first world countries aren't exposed to enough germs, a situation that throws off the development of the immune system. Our immune cells don't get a chance to learn to recognise and assassinate the bad guys. Our overly sanitized world could be responsible for the dramatic rise in allergies and asthma.
Immunologist Mary Ruebush, author of
Why Dirty is Good, is rallying a cry for the Hygiene Hypothesis.
What her video here.
The Genitals - The Quest to Have More Sex
Recent science has come down on the side of sex as healthy.
Old age is a long, slow loss of control.
Praise For Drop Dead Healthy…
"A.J. Jacobs is very, very bad for your health. He will keep you up reading til 2 a.m., disturbing your circadian rhythms, making you sleep through breakfast and overeat at lunch. He is delicious. He's habit-forming. He will give you infectious titters and terminal glee. Don't let that stop you. Indulge."—Mary Roach, author of Bonk and Packing for Mars
“We can become healthier by learning from AJ's discomfort in this very funny book. He moves us from theory to practice by dragging his body through all the longevity practices.”—Dr. Mehmet Oz, host, "The Dr. Oz Show"
“I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book, and once again, the brilliant A.J. Jacobs had me laughing out loud—and also deciding to change the way I live. Drop Dead Healthy is a rare mixture of the hilarious, the absurd, and the scientifically sound. Who knew it could be so entertaining to read about broccoli puree and shoeless jogging?”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
"Can one man go from a 'python that ate a goat' physique to perfect specimen? From Roman soldier workouts to Areca palm plants, from the sublime to the absurd, A.J. has tried it all. I laughed my ass off the wholeway and learned a ton ... including about my ass."—Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek
"Who wouldn't want to be fitter, happier, more productive? In this riotous, madcap book, A.J. Jacobs sets himself an ambitious goal: to become the person we all wish we could be. It's vintage A.J. Do your future self a favor and read this book." —Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein
"You'll burn calories laughing out loud."—Shape
“While Jacobs’s attempts at health enlightenment can be hilarious, visits with his grandfather, famed labor lawyer Theodore Kheel, provide the most revealing glimpse into the secrets of aging well.”—More
"Jacobs' light touch camouflages the impressive amount of research that goes into each chapter. He reads books and medical reports, interviews experts and scientists as well as enthusiasts on the fringe, then tries everything himself. He brings a skeptic's eye to each point of view, but he remains respectful of even the wackiest ideas... Yes, the results are funny, but this is, at heart, a serious book, with an underlying poignancy: As Jacobs works to get healthier, his beloved grandfather begins his slow decline, reminding us that no matter how healthy we are, it's all going to end the same way."—Laurie Hertzl, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
"You'll exercise your abdominals laughing over his adventures."—Entertainment Weekly
“Why go to the gym when you can sit and read a funny book about it instead?”—USA Today
