Book Review: Dark Calories

Dark Calories: How Vegetable Oils Destroy Our Health and How We Can Get It Back by Cate Shanahan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book presents scientific research supporting the link between vegetable oil and poor health. The author describes how the oils are made, the levels of toxicity, and how they can cause inflammation and disease. You will learn how to identify and avoid vegetable oils, what to use instead, and how to eat healthy and delicious foods without them.

There are three parts. Part one, The Science that Medicine Overlooks, dives into the poison in your pantry, the buffet of chronic disease, the unseen metabolic problem, and fat bodies, starving brains. Part two, Dark History, explores the truth about cholesterol, Ancel Keys and the American Heart Association, the sicker you get the richer they grow, and the reason for hope. Part three, Taking Back Our Health, presents how to ditch vegetable oils for good, eating to heal, and a two-week challenge.

4 Pillars of a Human Diet
1. Eat fresh food from healthy soil, raw or gently cooked
2. Preserve and enhance foods using fermentation and sprouting
3. Extract nutrients that support healthy connective tissue by boiling animal bones, skin, and joint material
4. Use every part of the animal, including the organs and the fat (p. xiii)

Hateful Eight Seed Oils to Avoid
· Corn oil
· Canola oil
· Cottonseed oil
· Soy oil
· Sunflower oil
· Safflower oil
· Grapeseed oil
· Rice bran oil
· *Avoid “vegetable oil,” a general term used for any of the above eight oils.

Each chapter begins with a “In this chapter, you will learn” section that highlights the key concepts. This is very helpful. While she indicates the “hateful eight” oils to avoid, she also provides the “delightful dozen” cooking fats to include. If people knew what processes these seed oils went through to become edible, they would be less likely to consume them. Dr. Shanahan does a good job explaining these complex concepts.

The most practical chapter is the two-week challenge with meal planning tips and simple meal ideas. The end of the book has numerous resources to support your health journey.

This is not a quick and easy read. Many scientific studies are presented and discussed, and the details can be overwhelming.

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Book Review: The Plan

The PLAN: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius by Kendra Adachi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kendra Adachi offers a different approach to time management by focusing on living life without the constant need for productivity. She introduces the PLAN acronym: Prepare, Live, Adjust, and Notice. This method helps you manage your time based on what matters to you in your current life state. The book promises to change your time management perspective by integrating personal factors like hormones and personality, using the Lighten the Load framework and freeing you from the pressures of potential and hustle, allowing you to live wholeheartedly.

Calling out key quotes, using bold font for key words and phrases, and summarizing each chapter is valuable to reinforce the number of concepts and acronyms presented. If you are a fan of the author’s other books and her Lazy Genius method, you will appreciate how she incorporates it into this book. The “pep talks” are targeted topics and can be consulted as needed. There is also a helpful quick reference guide.

The book is written for women. Men may not feel invited to the party. Also, if you tend to be a type-A, checklist-loving person, you may not feel there is enough accountability and practicality in the recommendations.

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Book Review: Rethinking Diabetes

Rethinking Diabetes: What Science Reveals About Diet, Insulin, and Successful Treatments by Gary Taubes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a detailed investigation into the history of diabetes (type 1 and type 2) research and treatment. Before the discovery of insulin, diabetes was treated almost entirely through diet, from meat and reliance on fats to repeated fasting and near-starvation regimens. After two centuries of differing medical advice, most authorities today think diabetics can have the same dietary freedom as the rest of us if insulin therapy and other blood-sugar-lowering medications are used. Unfortunately, these guiding principles have been associated with a dangerous rise in diabetes over the last 50 years.

The author argues for a refocused diet—fewer carbohydrates and more fat—and reduced reliance on insulin and other medications. He also suggests that doctors and medical researchers turn their attention to clinical trials and not be afraid to challenge established wisdom.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in diabetes or diagnosed with pre-diabetes or diabetes type 1 or type 2.

The author, Gary Taubes, is well known for his investigative reporting, and this book provides a deep dive into diabetes.

Even if you know what you are getting into and are a fan of the author’s work, it can be a bit overwhelming as you go through the book.

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Book Review: Good Energy

Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health by Casey Means
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good energy means your cells can function and support your physical and mental health. This book aims to show you how to maximize this good energy and thus, feel better, prevent disease, and perform optimally.

Part 1: The Truth about Energy explains metabolism, the causes of disease, and being proactive for your own health. In part 2: Creating Good Energy, the author provides tools and strategies to address eating, sleeping, moving, and toxins. There are also three primary sources of “bad energy” foods that should be avoided: refined added sugar, refined industrial vegetable and seed oils, and refined grains. Part 3 is a four-week, prescriptive plan with a baseline quiz, detailed lists, and action items. Part 4 is a sampling of good energy recipes.

Dr. Means offers stories and lessons learned through her experience in the medical system and highlighting expert health leaders. Don’t get bogged down with the number of recommendations; choose what resonates most with you, the doable habits, and the sustainable actions.

I highly recommend this book to those interested in learning about underlying causes and improving their health. Some of the most valuable resources Dr. Means includes are a chart on analyzing a standard blood test (normal and optimal ranges), a key micronutrient for good energy chart, a list of the best antioxidant sources, a list of the best omega-3 foods, a list of the best ways to get fiber, and a chart on building good-energy meals components.

Six Principles of Good Energy Eating
1. Food determines the structure of our cells and microbiome
2. Eating is the process of matching cellular needs with oral inputs
3. Food is how you communicate with your cells
4. Extreme food cravings are feedback from your cells that you’re giving mixed messages
5. Ignore diet philosophies and focus on unprocessed food
6. Find awe in food (p. 137)

This book contains a great deal of information that is presented thoughtfully and thoroughly. If you are looking for a prescriptive plan, this book has it. The downside may be that the amount of info becomes overwhelming.

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Book Review: Lies I Taught in Medical School

Lies I Taught in Medical School: How Conventional Medicine Is Making You Sicker and What You Can Do to Save Your Own Life by Robert Lufkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book covers the medical lies that the author believed, taught, got sick from, and eventually began to question. Dr. Lufkin presents the truths that saved his life.

Your health depends on diet, genetics, environment, stress, sleep, toxins, and deficiencies. The book provides an overview of nutritional and lifestyle recommendations based on the latest scientific research. I highly recommend this book--it is chock full of practical advice you can implement to improve your own health.

10 lies covered: Metabolic Lie, Obesity Lie, Diabetes Lie, Fatty Liver Lie, Hypertension Lie, Cardiovascular Disease Lie, Cancer Lie, Alzheimer’s Lie, Mental Health Lie, Longevity Lie.

Dr. Lufkin shares his personal health journey and how he overcame obesity, high blood pressure, prediabetes, dangerous lipid profiles, and gout. For a book club study guide, visit the author’s website, www.robertlufkin.md.com/bookgift. It provides a great summary of each chapter with questions to reinforce the key concepts.

I found the first chapter a bit unclear, with three of the lies partially covered in the introduction. Sometimes the medical explanations can get very detailed and may not be easily understood by the average reader. The longevity lie chapter was my least favorite. The biohacking, promotions, and recommendations did not resonate with me.


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Book Review: Nutrivore

Nutrivore: The Radical New Science for Getting the Nutrients You Need from the Food You Eat by Sarah Ballantyne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book seeks to improve your nutrient awareness, i.e., what nutrients are, what they do, how much we need, and how we can get them. It is an excellent resource for addressing specific symptoms and conditions by choosing health-promoting, nutrient-dense foods.

There are three parts: What is Nutrivore?, Nutrients and Your Health, and Nutrivore in Practice. The book is educational, providing definitions, examples, cheat sheets, and recipes.

Basics of the plan
1. Choose primarily whole foods
2. Eat a diverse diet
3. Eat the rainbow of fruits and vegetables
4. Use the nutrivore meal map (50% veg/fruit; 25% starch; 25% protein; drink water; choose healthy fats)

This book is replete with practical information, e.g., marvelous minerals cheat sheet, valuable vitamins cheat sheet, eat the rainbow chart, nutrivore foundational foods cheat sheet, serving size cheat sheet, 17 tips for weight loss, and simple recipes.

This book is challenging to read, cover to cover. The nutrivore score is helpful but not something I would use regularly. It seems more important to vary a whole-food diet. The nutrivore meal map does not include a percentage for healthy fats. This part needs to be clarified.

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Book Review: Real Self-Care

Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness by Pooja Lakshmin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Self-care is effective when it is personalized to meet your needs. It is not a substitute for medical or mental health intervention. I'd recommend this book to someone addicted to "faux" self-care and still searching for the answer.

The author proposes four core principles in order to implement real self-care.
1. Set boundaries
2. Treat yourself with kindness and compassion
3. Connect with your core values and goals
4. Activate the power within to take control of your life

There are two parts. Part I: The Tyranny of Faux Self-Care, covers how faux self-care hasn’t saved us, why it is so easy to turn to faux self-care, and how the system is broke. In Part II: Real Self-Care is an Inside Job, the author dives deeper into the four principles of real self-care.

“Do not shy away from taking this time to learn how to look after your own well-being…I will invite you to take a close look at how you spend your time and how you talk to yourself, so you can make clear decisions about aligning your behaviors with what matters most to you” (pp. xxiii).

The objective is to come away with clarity on how to develop practices that are nourishing and transforming. These same principles can and should be applied to your physical health as well.

This book is rich with actionable tools and exercises for applying these principles. I like how she has included an appendix listing all the exercises throughout the book and also providing information on seeking professional help. Key concepts and summaries are boxed out for emphasis and easy review. There is a helpful Real Self-Care Thermometer to measure your capacity to identify and communicate your boundaries in various situations.

This is not a quick read. To get the most from it requires time to think through and implement these four principles. The activities and self-reflections can be overwhelming.

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Book Review: The Secret Life of Groceries

The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book unveils our food system—the supply chain, the people, production details, marketing, and the business of making stores successful. Get the insider story of Trader Joe’s founder, Joe Coulombe, one of the beloved grocery chains with an almost cult-like following.

There are six parts: Part I: Salad Days at Trader Joe’s; Part II: Distribution of Responsibility; Part III: Self-Realization through Snack; Part IV: The Retail Experience; Part V: When I look in My Window: Backstage in the Theater of Retail; and Part VI: The Bottom of the Commodity Chain.

“This book is about the grocery store. About the people who work there and the routes of supply that define it. It is the product of five years of research, hundreds of interviews, and thousands of hours tracking down and working alongside the buyers, brokers, marketers, and managers whose lives and choices define our diet” (pp. 4-5).

“So, within a century, we have cut rates of hunger and nutritional deficiency to historic lows, reduced food-borne illness to a rounding error, and democratized food that was once the height of luxury into fare for everyday consumption. And we have been so successful in all those endeavors that we now grapple with a series of problems entirely unprecedented in the history of humanity: of too much food, of using food to distribute ethical responsibility, of food as a proxy for control in our own increasingly detached lives” (p. 6).

This book will force you to consider the food industry, the consequences of our purchasing power, and solutions for improving this food system. I highly recommend it to anyone who buys groceries. I hope you will be inspired to support local farmers, shop local, and focus on the least processed, most nutritious options.

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Book Review: Reworked

Reworked: Health and Happiness at the Centre of Your Career by Stephanie Fitzgerald
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The employee should be at the center of the workplace and be happy, healthy, safe, and engaged. These four components are key to a thriving workplace well-being for both the employer and the employee.

This book has 15 chapters covering money, physical and psychological safety, stress, burnout, management, teamwork, workspace considerations, a chapter on quitting, and more. Dr. Fitzgerald prompts you to use the techniques outlined in the book to improve your well-being at work. “Keep close the knowledge of what works for you and how you reworked your work life to keep yourself happy, healthy, safe and engaged. Never settle for anything else” (p. 239).

The book is easy to read, keeping concepts, tips, stories, and activities boxed out for the reader to notice easily. Take the time to read these. Reflect. Do the work. I especially like the chapter summaries. You will be inspired and prompted to move forward. While there is not a specific chapter on nutrition, the overall theme of achieving workplace well-being and the techniques presented can also be applied to how you nourish your body.

Some advice may not be what you were expecting. For example, your mental health is not your employer’s or manager’s responsibility. Also, be ready to look in the mirror… maybe you are playing a dominating role in the toxic team energy.

The author’s expertise as a psychologist is in mental health, i.e., there is little practical information on improving nutrition or physical health. Generally, if you are happy, healthy, safe, and engaged, you can make good food choices at work and not self-medicate through food and alcohol, and your health should not negatively impact your work and vice versa.

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Book Review: Outlive

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, MD
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book has been on my list for a while. Years ago, I heard the author on some podcasts but didn't connect with his vibe and personality. Also, the length of the book was a bit offputting. However, I am so glad I finally picked this one up. In fact, I have the Kindle version and also listened to the audio version. I recommend this to anyone interested in aging better.

This book focuses on how we can live longer and better. Through research, anecdotes, and personal experiences, Dr. Attia communicates complex processes and ways to prevent, mitigate, treat, or reverse diseases. His three-part approach to longevity includes having a clear objective, using a science-based strategy, and having tools and tactics to implement your longevity goals.

The book serves as a guide addressing exercise, diet, sleep, emotional health, and exogenous molecules (i.e., drugs, hormones, supplements). You will be inspired to think about prevention, your uniqueness, and honestly assessing your health status.

“My goal is to create an actionable operating manual for the practice of longevity. A guide that will help you Outlive…with enough time and effort, you can potentially extend your lifespan by a decade and your healthspan possibly by two…my intent here is not to tell you exactly what to do; it’s to help you learn how to think about doing these things” (p. 18).

There is a ton of information—something for everyone—that you can learn and apply to improve your life and health span. The book is thorough. The author’s tone is encouraging, and he achieves his goal of providing both the knowledge and tools to increase longevity and “outlive.”

For some, it may be overwhelming. One of the most interesting sections for me was the chapter on mental health and the author’s journey. I wish he had addressed this domain first. Also, this is not a step-by-step guide; information is provided, and then you have to create your own action plan tailored to you. You have to put the work in to benefit from Medicine 3.0—prevention, individuality, and honest assessment.


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Book Review: Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind

Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind: A Powerful Plan to Improve Mood, Overcome Anxiety, and Protect Memory for a Lifetime of Optimal Mental Health by Georgia Ede
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The author, Dr. Ede, states that her goal in writing this book was to “take the confusion out of nutrition and replace it with science, simplicity, and common sense; to teach you how to think for yourself about food so you can make your own informed choices and find what works best for you and your family” (pp. 6-7).

There are four parts to the book. In part 1: Rethinking Brain Food, discover the causes of mental health problems, failures of current nutrition guidelines, how the brain functions, and defining a brain-healthy diet. Part 2: Our Descent into Dietary Madness chapters cover processed foods, metabolic mayhem, insulin resistance, and the promise of ketogenic diets. In part 3: The Whole Truth about Whole Foods, the benefits and risks of different food groups and how they affect the brain are identified. Part 4: Hope is on the Menu takes the information from previous parts and presents three dietary strategies that you can customize based on your goals, conditions, and preferences.

The plans in the book are intended as short-term, six to 12-week strategies toward better metabolic health. You can then work with your health care provider(s) to further personalize and tweak them.

A brain-healthy diet must meet the following criteria:
1. Nourish the brain with adequate essential nutrients
2. Protect the brain by excluding damaging ingredients
3. Energize the brain by keeping blood sugar and insulin levels in a healthy range

The book is comprehensive and well-researched. Key terms and concepts are noted in bold font with relatable case stories of success. The tour of the brain’s anatomy is informative and makes it easier to understand what it needs. The quiet diet strategies are prescriptive with details (e.g., meal plans, recipes) and instructions for implementation. There is a helpful section on handling challenges and obstacles, such as social gatherings, restaurants, traveling, and cheat days.

The deeper dives into brain metabolism may be too technical for some readers. Molecules, pathways, and systems are described via six concepts. You may want to skim over, read twice, or save for another time.

I would recommend this book to everyone looking to improve their mental health. This review is based on the hardcover, but I wish I had purchased the audio version so I could listen to it several times. There is so much to learn.

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Book Review: GRIT

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book shares that the secret to achievement is grit, defined as a blend of passion and persistence.

There are three parts: Part I: what grit is and why it matters; Part II: growing grit from the inside out; and Part III: growing grit from the outside in. The reader will learn how effort counts twice (over talent), how to become grittier, how lifelong interests are triggered, how to develop habits of daily practice, how to connect work to a purpose, and the importance of outside influencers (parents, coaches, teachers, bosses, mentors, friends).

Everyone should read this book to succeed at being a better person for yourself, loved ones, friends, and colleagues.

The author shares her own discoveries, studies, and real-world examples to explain concepts. It is engaging, thought-provoking, and inspirational.

This is not for the reader expecting shortcuts or a fast track to success.

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Book Review: Calm Your Mind with Food

Calm Your Mind with Food: A Revolutionary Guide to Controlling Your Anxiety by Uma Naidoo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There is a connection between the food you eat and how it affects your brain and your body. This book explains how anxiety may be rooted in our brain, our gut, our immune system, and our metabolism and how to fix this so our minds are calm and functioning correctly. Dr. Naidoo, a board-certified nutritional psychiatrist, provides guidelines to apply the six pillars for calming the mind, personalizing a meal plan, and improving your overall mental well-being.

This book has three parts: The Problem, The Solution, and The Protocol. This book is recommended to anyone dealing with anxiety and new to nutrition.

6 Pillars to Calm Your Mind
1. Eat whole to be whole
2. The calming kaleidoscope plate
3. Magnify micronutrients
4. Prioritize healthy fats
5. Avoid anxiety-triggering foods
6. Find consistency and balance

This book is well-organized, well-researched, and presented in a friendly, relatable tone. Dr. Naidoo explains each concept thoroughly with many patient examples. A whole chapter is dedicated to recipes, including a lavender play dough (nonedible) recipe.

Overall, the concepts are not new.


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