Ebook: Drop dead healthy: one man's humble quest for bodily perfection

"Having sanctified himself in The Year of Living Biblically and sharpened his mind in The Know-It-All, A.J. Jacobs had one feat left in the self-improvement trinity: to become the healthiest man in the world. He didn't want just to lose weight, or finish a triathlon, or lower his cholesterol. His ambitions were far, far greater: Maximal health from head to toe. The task was massive. He had to tackle a complicated web of diet and exercise advice, much of which was nonsensical, unproven, and contradictory. He had to consult a team of medical advisers. And he had to subject himself to a grueling regimen of exercises, a range of diets, and an array of practices to improve everything from his hearing to his sleep to his sex life all the while testing the patience of his long-suffering wife. He left nothing untested, from the caveman workout to veganism, from the treadmill desk to extreme chewing. Drop Dead Healthy teems with hilarity and warmth and pushes our cultures assumptions about and obsessions with what makes good health, allowing the reader to reflect on his or her own health, body, and eventual mortality"--;"One mans comedic journey to discover how to live as healthfully as possible"--;The stomach : the quest to eat right -- The heart : the quest to get my blood pumping -- The ears : the quest for quiet -- The butt : the quest to avoid sedentary life -- The immune system : the quest to conquer germs -- The stomach, revisited : the quest for the perfect meal -- The genitals : the quest to have more sex -- The nervous system : the quest to hurt less -- The lower intestine : the quest to go to the bathroom properly -- The adrenal gland : the quest to lower my stress level -- The brain : the quest to be smarter -- The endocrine system : the quest for a nontoxic home -- The teeth: the quest for the perfect smile -- The feet : the quest to run right -- The lungs : The quest to breathe better -- The stomach, revisited : the continued quest for the perfect diet -- The skin : the quest to erase blemishes -- The heart, revisited : the quest for the perfect workout -- The inside of the eyelid : the quest for the perfect night's sleep -- The bladder : the quest to figure out what to drink -- The gonads : the quest to get more balls -- The nose : the quest to smell better -- The hands : the quest for magic fingers -- The back : the quest to stand up straight -- The eyes : the quest to see better -- The skull : the quest not to be killed in an accident -- The finish line -- Appendix A. Guerrilla exercise -- Appendix B. How to eat less -- Appendix C. Five tips on treadmill desks -- Appendix D. My five foolproof (for me, at last) methods of stress reduction -- Appendix E. The ten best pieces of food advice I've gotten all year -- Appendix F. How to live the quiet life -- Appendix G. Five toxins I now avoid.