Book Review: Metabolical

Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine by Robert H. Lustig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book's central message is to eat unprocessed food to protect your liver and feed your gut. The author, Dr. Lustig, tackles the issues of modern medicine, chronic diseases, Big Pharma, Big Food, and Big Government—proposing that by changing the way we eat, we can improve our health, the health care system, the economy, and the environment.

There are five parts to the book: debunking “modern medicine,” debunking “chronic disease,” notes from the nutritional battlefield, (processed) food fight, and where are the food police when you need them? There are 28 chapters. At the end of the book is a helpful glossary.

This book is overflowing with information. I found the most insightful and interesting chapters were in part IV, (Processed) Food Fight, on food adulterations, food subtractions, food additions, food addictions, and food fraud.

This was not an easy book to get through—it is long, and the explanations can become detailed and complicated for the average reader. I should read it through a second time (or at least the parts that I found most interesting). Some may take offense to the political overtones and statements.

Great takeaway: "If any form of sugar is one of the first three ingredients, it's a dessert (p. 373).

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