Garth Davis, M. D.

A delightfully sensible approach to what to eat. I was at peace after reading this book.

* Multiple large population studies find the benefits of reducing or eliminating meat consumption.
* Human diet is complex enough that double blinded randomized controlled studies are of limited usefulness for a couple of reasons. 1) You can’t double blind eating whole food. 2) They don’t go on long enough.
* Don’t worry about macronutrients - eat a varied whole food diet.

“When it comes to nutrition, the evidence is even clearer than with nicotine, And the stakes are higher: far more people will suffer and perish front bad food than ever did from cigarettes. so I had to ask: What's wrong with how nutritional science is conducted, reported, and under- stood in our society? And given that truths are generally drowned out by half-truths and downright falsehoods, how can ordinary citizens figure out what's right and wrong?”
”The answers to these questions are of far more than theoretical value. When you can see behind the curtain, you'll know how to protect yourself from *information-borne illnesses." Tie goal of this chapter is to teach you how to "speak science." Specifically, I'll show you how to evaluate the research studies you hear about on TV and read about in blogs, magazines, newspapers, and on your Facebook feed. You don't need to become an "expert"; a little interest and effort can keep you from becoming a sucker for bad ideas.
(Page 119)

“The food industry, one of the largest in the country, has a vested interest in keeping the public confused. Their marketing and PR departments have studied at the feet of the tobacco companies, whose private motto for decades was "Our product is doubt" (Freudenberg, 2014). If they sell a food product found to be harmful, they simply refer to the odd assortment of obscure articles that actually show the food to have some benefit, or even a study that shows one ingredient of their product to be good for you. Many scientists are on the payroll of food companies, hired to prostitute their professional credibility by publishing misleading articles and promoting bad science at industry meetings. The dairy industry actually held a meeting where they developed a goal to "neutralize" the science that dairy may be bad for the public.”
(Page 121)

“The point here is that there are many long term studies that draw attention to the link between animal protein and cancer. People may say that this is just a correlation, but I tell you that if there is a correlation in multiple studies from multiple parts of the world, and these correlations have been through vigorous analysis, they you better believe there is something to the connection.” (Page 203)

There are recipes at the back of the book. I ignored that section since I have already learned to not stress about the details (and my wife does most of the cooking.)… (meer)

So finally got around to reading this. First off I've been a vegan for a decade, I did not read this to be convinced of that. Good book. It goes into quite a lot of depth (looking at many individual studies) on the consequences of high-protein diets, the nonsense peddled by high-protein diet promoters, how protein & carbohydrates are related to health & longevity, our actual protein needs and maybe a few things I neglected. What initially made me want to pick this up was a discussion of the needs for bodybuilding. As I'm lifting weights and want to get stronger I'm not immune to a lot in the community wanting to chase protein and I've even seen things by some very knowledgeable and competent people that I couldn't easily refute. The last chapter (if you ignore the ones on meal plan and how to go vegan which I didn't need) was actually incredibly good at this. It looked at a number of studies, compared various results (and the lack of them) and more which had really good information. I recommend this book.

Ah, one note for potential triggers. His professional background is as a weight-loss surgeon so the book does feature a lot of weight talk as well as a lot of "plant-based diet will make you lose weight" talk, which eh not ideal, but if that's a manageable trigger for you this is a very good book.… (meer)

Of course I'm disappointed that more people are not reading or have read this heavily fact based book---but then again, he's writing to the choir at least for me. It is almost impossible to change people's eating habits unless for some reason they reach a point of desperation---sometimes, as with the author himself, a life or death decision. This book is so completely well researched but how does one get the low-carb crowd to even turn their heads to listen. I can't recommend this book with greater enthusiasm but there is a wall of "mental meat" (my term) out there to try and cut through, pun intended.

The one other reviewer comments that he sounds preachy but he was trying hard to make his points, and yes, it took and deserves repetition. The answers will appear over time as the low-carb crowd ages and finds out what happens to their bodies----do they have none of the resulting health problems Davis describes? I will agree that Davis is totally committed to his beliefs and with his resulting exercise efforts he can prove what has worked for one person, as a great example. Will that work for everyone? Of course not but I think he does provide plenty of evidence that there is more potential harm with a heavy protein food plan than with a heavy plant based food plan. It is up to each person to decide what they want to consume.… (meer)

I skimmed this toward the end as he kept beating a dead horse. You're vegan, you think animal protein is the devil. Got it.
Oddly enough, I somewhat agree with his tenets. Carbs aren't the devil for everyone and they certainly haven't been for me personally in my weight loss journey. However in his quest to prove that he's correct and the proponents of paleo, Atkins, South Beach, etc. he commits some of the same errors as he accuses them of. He'll criticise doctors for not knowing nutrition but then go on to push his theory which of course is more correct than those he's critical of. I agree with some of his theories on the fetishization of Paleo as a true cave man diet, but I disagree with his assertion that there is one true way of eating. Different diets work for different people even if his theory that Americans are too overweight is true.
A good read, but could have been a lot shorter and a lot less preachy.… (meer)