Z. Karpinski

While I mostly listen to fiction books I have a long standing interest in books about food and healthy living. I've read/listened to books from Pollan, Hyman, Taubes, Schlosser and more. This one is right up there with the best of them. It includes real research on both sides of the cholesterol/fat debate. In addition they do a good job explaining how some research has been "interpreted" which helps to frame the explanation of how we got to where we are when it comes to eating right.

This book isn't a story (exactly) but the authors did a great job making the science easy to grasp. They acknowledge the parts that can cause eyes to glaze over and summarize these concepts very accurately. Given the nature of this material they still did a good job keeping it entertaining without detracting from the quality of the book.

There were a few parts that did get a chuckle out of me and I think that speaks to how well the authors managed to deliver their message. Glycation, oxidization, metabolism and other such concepts are not innately entertaining to most people. This book kept my attention and didn't bore me. I found it very interesting and if I had never read another book about this subject I would have been astounded at how inaccurate the common perceptions of heart health are.

For most of my life I was trying to "eat healthy" and seemed to only gain more weight no matter how much I excercised or avoided "bad foods". I was a vegetarian for seven years and even that made me gain weight and upped my triglycerides. Thanks to this book and others like it I have gradually come around to realizing that sugar (in every processed form) is really the true "bad food". This book represents a solid explanation of how the common knowledge and dietary advice is contributing to "western diseases". I feel that books like this should be required reading for every physician that is in business to keep people well and not just sell them the newest prescriptions.