Eat to Beat Your Diet by Dr. William Li

I first heard about this author from podcast by Lewis Howes “School of Greatness” - I accidentally bumped into this podcast one day and immediately hooked on the guest speaker - Dr. William Li.

Maybe because of his trusty look - I don’t know, but maybe because what he said was simply reasonable and made sense.

I do understand that people are dieting for numerous reasons e.g medical reasons, losing weight, etc. I also know some people who seem to be dieting forever without results. I am no exception. However, I think the fad diets especially when it comes to losing weight is not based on validated scientific research. 

Here comes Dr. Li who is a world-renowned physician, scientist, speaker and author. His groundbreaking research on how food, sleep and exercise can help our body against excess fat, therefore fighting diseases. Instead of demonising food, this book is based on fascinating new research on nutrition and positive attitude around healthy choices. 

He is blending the best of Asian and Mediterranean diet and he called it MediterAsian - delicious!!

He started the book by talking about body fat and metabolism. It is rather long in this part but I learned so much from it. I also think it is imperative for us to have a basic understand of metabolism and body fat before proceeding to nutritions. He will present you the most up to date research on body fat. I never heard of brown fat until I read his book. He will also present you with data of bioactives found in foods and how they can tame the “fat” and boost your metabolism - ultimately fighting diseases with foods. 

In part 2, he will show you how to find foods with powerful bioactives and the reason why I am hooked is because you can really find all of these foods in your common grocery stores. No fancy or upmarket stores, or out of this world ingredients. I particularly amazed at his research on food and beverage doses. 

Photo credit : Eat to Beat Your Diet by Dr. William Li

Part 3 will be about his coaching tips, sample menus and recipes. My book is so beat up because I always come back to it for reference and instead of sitting on the book shelve, this book is actually sitting on my kitchen bench. 

I have to admit that I do not follow his recipes to the tee, however I am now a lot more mindful when I shop and cook. The main reason why I do not follow the plans is because of the kids’ diet (they are 2 and 5). I do not think my kids will appreciate Jasmine wake up for breakfast or green papaya salad for lunch. Although his Mediterranean tuna caponata has become my weekly rotation.  

If you have been trying to eat healthy and lose weight, however frustrated with your current regimes, I highly recommend Dr. William Li’s “Eat to Beat Your Diet” book. Even if you are not planning to follow his tips, this book is a treasure trove of knowledge and inspiration - based on validated scientific research.