I wanted to read this to help with a mental reset around my health and fitness.

I’ve listened to Chatterjee’s podcast a lot and always find his conversation and attitude toward health to be realistic. He is a gp and uses his medical background and real world experiences to inform his health advice. This book is no different.

As the title suggests it breaks down your health into four pillars: Relax, Eat, Move & Sleep. And then in each section outlines strategies that can help.

For me it was more reminding me about things l already knew but what I like about Chatterjee is how he is realistic about what he advises. Even with intermittent fasting, he suggests a 12 hour window is much more realistic. He suggests working movement and exercise into your whole day rather than just 3 times a week in the gym and then forget about it. (Although he’s not saying you shouldn’t go to the gym unfortunately! ( )

An inspiring collection of relatively simple health interventions that are said to make a huge difference in many people's lives. I like that they all pretty much seem attainable, even the exercise ones, which otherwise are probably the ones I'd find the most daunting. But Dr. Chatterjee sets out some simple goals and suggestions that make you want to give it a try. He also doesn't promote any one certain diet, but rather the principles of eating whole, non-processed foods as much as possible, and de-normalizing sugar. This is basic stuff, but sometimes we need to hear it from a source that seems legit and can explain why.

My biggest takeaway on the science front was that when we get stressed, our bodies make extra cortisol, and to do that they have to steal ingredients that would otherwise be used to make other super important things like hormones. (Something I also learned about in Lara Briden's book on women's health.) No wonder reducing stress is so important. I always thought that was just sort of a feel-good, soft, catch-all suggestion, so it was interesting to read the details.

The other thing I really had very little idea about was how insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes happens. I'm grateful for the semi-decent habits that mean this is probably not going to be a huge worry for me and my family, but it made me thoughtful and a bit sad about how widespread it is, even though it's preventable. Modern habits are the worst, especially when they're rooted in lack of knowledge.

I'm reviewing this book under its UK title instead of its American one... in America, it's called "How to Make Disease Disappear," and I just instinctively cringe at something so clickbait-y. ( )

Excellent book that is full of advice to help you feel well and live well. ( )

This is the American version of “The 4 pillar plan” so please see my review of that book. ( )

This is an excellent book, providing us with basic, necessary information about how to keep or regain our health. Dr. Chatterjee tells us how to relax, eat, move and sleep, these being the four pillars of health.

With his tv-show “Doctor in the House” Dr. Rangan Chatterjee is educating the British public about how to become healthy. This show has been sold to about 70 other countries but unfortunately the Danish TV companies (I live in Denmark) are apparently not interested. Tough luck for us.

Dr. Chatterjee is one of my new heroes, since he is both transforming the lives of thousands of people for the better and also showing us how the doctors of the future need to be – they need to get away from prescribing medicine, which is harmful in the long run, and begin to teach people how to heal themselves by improving their lifestyle. As Rangan states, “the practice of medicine will also need to evolve”.

Rangan has reversed type 2 diabetes, got rid of depression, eliminated irritable bowel syndrome, lowered blood pressure, reduced menopausal systems without the use of hormones, conquered insomnia, helped people lose weight, got rid of severe migraines and even reversed autoimmune conditions, all without the use of any medication.

He does not decree that we need to do everything immediately but gives us ideas about how we can begin to improve our lifestyle in the four areas, one thing at a time, or whatever appeals to us. If we can’t meditate for 15 minutes, then we can begin by meditating just for a few minutes.

Re relaxation, he suggests 1) me-time every day (he’s found that stress due to lack of me-time is a big issue for many) 2) weekly screen-free Sabbath 3) keep a gratitude journal 4) a daily practice of stillness and 5) eat one meal per day around a table without an e-device (again, he has discovered that many families have stopped eating meals around a table together as they did previously, but instead eat in front of the TV.

Re eating, he suggests 1) de-normalize sugar and retrain your taste buds 2) eat five different vegetables every day 3) eat all your food within a twelve-hour window (what Dr. Mercola also advises and terms “intermittent fasting”) 4) drink eight glasses of water per day and unprocess your diet by avoiding any food product containing more than five ingredients.

Re moving, 1) walk at least 10,000 steps per day (though I’ve seen from British tv-programmes on health, with for example, Michael Mosley, that just walking half an hour a day will suffice 2) do a form of strength training twice a week 3) do a form of high-intensity interval training twice a week 4), make a habit of “movement snacking”” 5) do daily glute exercises to help wake up the glutes.

Re sleep, 1) Create an environment of absolute darkness (in the bedroom), 2) spend at least twenty minutes outside every morning 3) create a bedtime routine 4) manage your commotion (minimize any activity that will raise emotional tension before bed) 5) enjoy your caffeine before noon.

Rangan doesn’t just tell us what to do, he walks the walk himself. The book is crammed with photos of the handsome doctor doing the various activities he advises us to do, relaxing on a park bench, buying fresh vegetables at the market and taking a brisk walk, for example.

We have previously focused mostly on the importance of exercise and eating healthy food but now Rangan tells that adequate sleep and daily relaxation are just as important.

The book is extremely readable since we are told about what Rangan himself does and are also presented with edifying case histories.

The difference between the author and most GPs is that he listens to his patients and thus finds out how they live their lives and is better able to find out what they are doing wrong. In the TV programme Doctor in the House, he moves in with a selected family so he can really see what they’re doing and eating, and what rubbish their kitchen cupboards contain (which he then encourages them to chuck out).

He has discovered that many of our problems stem from an addiction to digital device such as our smartphones, and provides suggestions for letting go of these addictions.

He teaches us 3-4-5 breathing, breathing in for 3 seconds, holding our breath for 4 seconds and breathing out for 5 seconds.

He’s not fanatical about what exactly we eat, but we need to cut down on sugar, read labels, avoid processed foods, remove unhealthy food from our kitchen cupboards, as stated, and instead keep healthy snacks readily available at home and at work so we’re not tempted by unhealthy ones.

As regards the five portions of vegetables we should strive to eat each day, these should ideally be of five different colours.

We are informed about our microbiome, i.e. the “bugs”, as he calls them, that live in our gut. An ideal microbiome is a diverse one, and the more diverse our eating, the more diverse our gut bugs. These love plant-based fibre. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables are especially loved by these bugs. They are beneficial for the immune system and sooth inflammation.

One particularly beneficial bacterium is Akkermansia muciniphila, which feeds on onions, garlic, leeks, artichokes, yams, bananas, Brussels sprouts, etc.

Walking more will reduce our risk of getting Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart attacks, strokes and type 2 diabetes and will improve our mental well-being and quality of life.

Strength training is important as it will reverse ageing, reduce risk of muscle loss, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke and improve our brain health.

We are given a five-minute kitchen workout complete with illustrations. This includes 5-10 squats, 5-10 calf raises, 5-10 press-ups (if like me you’re not strong enough to do them on the floor, you can begin by doing them against a wall and then a kitchen worktop), 5-10 triceps dips and 5-10 lunges.

We’re also provided with valuable exercises to wake up our glutes. (I’ve learnt the word “glutes” from Rangan.)

We learn about the importance of getting adequate sleep and I was introduced to the idea of purchasing red light as a night-light. Red light has the least impact on your body’s circadian clock. Blue light from computers etc is harmful and it is beneficial to use amber glasses to block it out.

Though I already knew much of what Dr. Chatterjee had to say, I greatly appreciated this well-written informative book. I highly recommend that everyone read it. It has appeared in the USA under the name “How to make disease disappear”. I’ve been reading that book too at the same time, since I had ordered them both from the library and it doesn’t harm to read the same thing twice and thus more easily assimilate the information, His new book “The stress solution” will soon be appearing so I’m looking forward to reading that too. ( )