Drop Dead Healthy

Heh.

A.J. Jacobs has accomplished what I’ve only daydreamed about—what it would be like to attempt to take everyone’s health advice. This two-year experiment is summed up quite nicely in “Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection.”

Most appreciated? The detailed list of how much time it would take very day to do what the experts recommend. Unfortunately, that’s only half the battle, A.J.—there’s shopping, cooking meals, and reading to your kids, along with the requisite laundry, bed-making, watching “Game of Thrones” and finding your son’s lost sunglasses. Oh. And work. Yeah. I got time for that.

In what can only be described as partial lunacy mixed with a little common sense, Jacobs tackles everything from a Paleo-style workout to the “squatting movement.” Suffice it to say I will never squat for better bowels. But I’m glad A.J. took one for the team and tried it. Did I mention his wife is a saint?

If you want to know what Jacobs learned from his experiment and which health tactics he still employs, you can skip right to the end (hint: give up putting plastic in the microwave already!) But if you do, then you’ll miss some good old fashioned storytelling, miss his dear grandfather’s last days, and in a sad twist of fate, his Aunt Marti’s — a pretty cool cat. And Jacobs is just funny. And a good dose of laughter and cynicism comes in handy when exploring some of the more extreme health fads out there today.

Things I may consider? Fewer toxins, more organic, and outsourcing my worries. I reaallllly liked that one. And I’m happy to know someone else thinks giving up sugar is damn near impossible.

Great book for the pick-up, put-down mode of summer. Stick it in your beach bag and enjoy!

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection
A.J. Jacobs