This is honestly such a good book. It's a little bit dated on some things (since it was published more than 15 years ago) but the overall science has stayed pretty consistent. The only things I overlooked because I know the research says different now was the saturated fats conversation and the alcohol in moderation portion. Besides these two bits I found this book highly informative. This is a non-fiction, manual, guidebook, piece by piece tool for figuring out what food fuels your body in the best way. All the claims are backed by hard science and thoroughly researched. This book genuinely changed the way I view food entirely. I feel that my relationship with different food groups has been healed by the information on how each component of our diet is important and critical to our overall health. I highly recommend for the reader who is looking to better understand the foods they are putting in their bodies.

Be sure to buy the updated version, not the one shown here. A lot of detailed scientific explanations but very good information. Some good recipes, too.

Informing. Good recipes.

He starts off this book with a tirade about food companies gaming the system to profit off the backs of an unhealthy public. I'm like, "Yusss. Tell it, doc." Then just a few pages later, he says, don't eat all of those sugar-laden processed foods. Eat healthy whole foods and good oils, he says, "like canola oil." Canola oil?

There are dozens of warnings about this nasty oil that is so processed that it is hard to know what's really in it. No, fancy Harvard guy. Maybe go pick up a few journals that are from this century. Canola oil is bad bad bad.

"At this time point we found that chronic exposure to the canola-rich diet resulted in a significant increase in body weight and impairments in their working memory together with decrease levels of post-synaptic density protein-95, a marker of synaptic integrity, and an increase in the ratio of insoluble Aβ 42/40." (Effect of canola oil consumption on memory, synapse and neuropathology in the triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, Lauretti & Praticò, ,2017)

That's just one study. There are dozens. Canola oil is a cheap oil, highly processed, and has been linked to heart disease, general inflammation, and as above, Alzheimer's disease.

Yeah. Lots of doctors are like this. They don't get into med school being a renegade like I am. They don't question dogma, even when they tell you they do.

No thanks. I'll stick with Web of Science.

A well researched, evidence-based account of the most scientifically backed nutrition studies to date. It is clear, informative, and useful. What it lacks in color and intrigue, it makes up for in scientific rigor. My basic take away: eat a plant based, whole grain diet and exercise regularly.

Good base for learning more about how to incorporate better nutrition into your diet but a bit repetitive (ie stressing plant-based diet throughout the whole book). Will prob try some of the recipes in the back of the book - looked fairly simple to toss together.

So, I have been looking for a science based nutrition book that actually explains a lot of the research behind more ideal dietary guidelines, as opposed to the ones that are dictated primarily on political compromises due to public policy pressures. And this book fills that gap.

The recipes in the book however in the second half really left a lot to be desired, but that’s more so a matter of personal taste rather than a critique of the concept of the book itself to some extent. The book does a really good job of explaining how to make healthier choices based on what you were already like, the basics of how to read nutrition labels and what to watch out for, and provides for a sample of recipes that are good inspirations for how to continue forward, knowing what you know after finishing the book.

The one caveat I would make is that the author recommends cooking with canola oil which is not necessarily one of the healthiest choices you could make. I would remove that from your healthy oil list, and just use olive oil and coconut oil more sparingly. The other thing I would add to this caveat is that he mentions there is no discernible difference between high fructose corn syrup and table sugar, which isn’t necessarily true… Newer research has born out the fact that overconsumption of high fructose corn syrup has similar effects on the liver as over consumption of alcohol, and should probably be moderated/avoided if possible. I think from that I thought this was an excellent overview of contemporary nutrition research(as of the 2017 edition) and I would definitely recommend this book to someone curious about nutrition and looking to make healthier food choices that are sustainable long-term.

The best comprehensive book on healthy eating. So much to unpack in this book. This book is written by a scientist, so you are going to get extensive research backing up all his recommendations on how to move forward to improve your diet. One thing to note, is each chapter seems to be written as stand alone essay, so there is a lot of repetition throughout the book, however if you want to jump around when reading this book feel free.

If you have ever been confused about all of the nutritional advice floating around and have wanted to get to the bottom of it - once and for all - then this book is for you. Written by the person behind the glycemic load index and also the team lead of the Nurses and Health professionals health survey, this book packs a ton of useful information in a very digestible form.

Simply put, you need to follow a healthy diet as it has the double benefits of making your day great as well as the long term benefits of protecting you from diseases and such.

Nutrition science research is not your typical research area. There are a lot of challenges associated with the field, which the author lets you know at the onset. It is always good to know about the state of knowledge in an area of research before you act on its findings. It is only in an age where people live long enough that they need worry about lifestyle diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes and cancers. However the rapidly evolving nature of the field makes it important to be abreast of the latest developments.

The book starts off from the author's strong opposition to the US government's dietary guidelines and presents a healthier version of the same. Then it goes on to explain the motivation for the advice by teaching you the elementary aspects of nutrition and its connection with good health. On the way, you learn about why keeping a healthy weight range is one of the most important steps to be taken, the chemistry of saturated and unsaturated fats, the differing action of LDL and HDL cholesterol in our blood, the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet, the reasons to get a multivitamin pill and lots and lots more.

Overall the book is an excellent resource for everything related to diet and its connection with health, covering everything from grocery shopping to food recipes. If treated more as a reference guide than a pleasant and light read like Michael Pollen's Food Rules, you might not be disappointed. Also if you are in a hurry and only want the advice without any of the reasoning and the evidence, you can skip to one of the last chapters which gives you a working summary of all the practical advice in the book.

An incredibly good, no-nonsense book on nutrition for people who want more science and less rhetoric. I'm a very big proponent of evidence-based medicine. This book contains just that. This is what you should expect from a book written by Harvard Medical School faculty.

This is exactly what I want in a nutrition book. The author cites study after study and doesn't make any outlandish claims. There are recipes in the book, but he's not promoting a diet or program. He does provide a new food pyramid and go over why it's better than the USDA's food pyramid, with lots of scientific studies to back him up. Even though its copyright date is 2001, it's been updated since then with a lot of recent data. There were many things that I was surprised by in this book and now I find myself reconsidering everything that I eat. Which is kind of why I read it in the first place, so that's good!

I heard this author on NPR back in 2002 and I was totally blown away. I bought this book and couldn't stop talking about it to my roommate. He said I was one of those nuts who bought any book that was talked about on NPR.