Who: Michael Greger

Claim To Fame: A founding member and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Michael Greger, MD, is a physician, New York Times bestselling author, and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety, and public health issues. His book How Not To Die was an instant New York Times bestseller and his latest book, How Not To Diet, premiered at #2 on the New York Times Bestseller list. He is also the creator of the non-profit NutritionFacts.org where Dr. Greger produces videos and articles every single day on all things nutrition, health, and disease prevention. He has lectured at the Conference on World Affairs, testified before Congress, and was invited as an expert witness in the defense of Oprah Winfrey in the infamous “meat defamation” trial and has appeared all over television on shows like Dr. Oz and The Colbert Report.

Where To Find Michael: His Website, Amazon, Twitter

Praise For Michael: “How Not To Die is one of the most important books on health ever written. Dr. Greger shows us how to prevent and sometimes reverse all the major diseases that are killing us. We have the genetic potential to live disease free lives full of health and vitality until we are past 100. This book is the scientific road map we need to do exactly that.” ― John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market

When and where do you like to write? Are you the same-thing-every-day kind of writer or can you write anytime, anywhere?

I write on a treadmill desk. This might seem distracting, but I’m only walking 1.8 miles per hour and your brain quickly gets used to the bobbing page. I had a practice-what-I-preach moment when I read about the adverse health effects of prolonged sitting and now I find it difficult to write any other way!

Do you have any pre-writing rituals or habits before you sit down to write?

Before I write I turn off all notifications and carve out a distraction-free block. I’m amazed people can write meaningfully in coffee shops. I need total focus for creative work.

What do you do when the writing isn’t coming easy? Do you struggle at all with that dreaded enemy of writing: writer’s block?

The difficulty for me as a science writer is trying to synthesize disparate threads into a coherent narrative. Whenever I’m having difficulty I go back and reread the source material and see what I can dig up further. I realize if I’m not fully grasping the connections I will remain ill-equipped to explain it satisfactorily to anyone else.

Writers have to be master prioritizers — juggling all sorts of projects and deadlines at the same time. That’s certainly the case for you. Do you have any methods for managing tasks and time so to not let overwhelm sneak in?

My twin saviors are the Getting Things Done organizational system by David Allen and delegation. I’m privileged to have a staff that can help remove things from my plate so I can concentrate on things I’m uniquely suited to do.

In addition to your books, you contribute regularly to medical journals, as well as daily videos and posts on your site NutritionFacts.org. Do you find that your routine or process between your short-form work versus your longer form books?

I’m currently on a three-year book cycle, aiming to write a new book every three years. One year I write it, one year I travel around the world promoting it, and the third year I do three years worth of videos so NutritionFacts.org will always have fresh content as I dive into the next book.

Your work is intensely and meticulously researched. What is your process for collecting and organizing material you might want to use in your writing?

I did a webinar on my collection methods, but don’t recommend it since I think it would be much too technical for most people. Basically, I combine extensive searching of the National Library of Medicine database (the largest in the world) with iterative citation searching through Web of Science (which contains more than a billion references). Then I have a network of volunteers at major universities around the world that can pull and scan papers I can’t access online.

What books or writers have most influenced the way you think and the way you write?

I have always very much been inspired by Noam Chomsky’s intellectual honesty and rigor to follow to the evidence where it leads, no matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable the uncovered truths.

What are the best pieces of writing advice that you’ve ever received, read, or heard? 

Start the day writing. Get up a few hours before the rest of the world wakes up so you can lay some undistracted groundwork.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

For nonfiction writers, never go into a subject with preconceived notions. It’s too easy to get swept away from confirmation bias and dismiss findings that don’t fit neatly into your developing narrative. That’s the opposite of science. In true scholarship, your conclusions follow from the evidence, not the other way around.

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