Films can have a strong and immediate impact — Super Size Me certainly did, despite the rather large helping of bologna it served up — but they’re no substitute for reading. Read, people, read!
Here are some excellent books that may help convince you much of what you’ve been told about diets, calories, weight loss, heart disease, and saturated fat is a load of bologna. (If you’re wondering what happened to the old book widget, it apparently is stripped out by modern browsers.)
Hello,
I just finished a book referenced by Taubes in Why We Get Fat called Calories Don’t Count, written by Herman Taller. The book was published in 1961 and is fairly accurate on a number of points. He is off with his views on vegetable oil and margarine, but its a great short read. Very insightful and I feel an important contribution to the HFLC nutrition movement.
Cheers,
Sid
There’s a great book called Everyday Paleo that you might consider adding to your list. It’s mostly a cookbook, but it also serves as an excellent primer for folks who are new to paleo living.
I picked it up after my sister recommended a recipe, and I’ve gone back to it over and over. The recipes are fantastic, and not too intimidating to make. I’m not even “officially” observing a paleo lifestyle, but I’ve found myself losing weight and feeling much healthier since incorporating this book into my regular weekly menu planning.
Hi – I’m a scientist from an unrelated discipline and I’m not really very interested in these books with may or may not have an agenda to peddle. I’d be really interested, however, if you could point me in the direction of any peer reviewed literature which supports refutation of the lipid hypothesis.
Thanks
The books are full of references to studies. In the meantime, a short sample:
http://www.ajcn.org/content/91/3/535.abstract
http://www.metabolismjournal.com/article/S0026-0495%2809%2900250-9/abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10837285
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15164336
http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8636&catid=1&Itemid=17
http://healthydietsandscience.blogspot.com/2010/10/saturated-fat-lowers-risk-of-heart.html?spref=tw
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/10/saturated-fat-and-health-brief.html
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-carbs-20101220,0,5464425.story
I’m a little shocked to not see it here, but check out “The Paleo Solution” by Robb Wolf if you haven’t already.
I’ll need to read it before recommending it.
Hey Tom,
Just got Kendrick’s The Great Cholesterol Con (by the way there is a book with the exact same name by someone named Colpo) and loving it so far. However I just getting into his idea of social dislocation. Its interesting but I can’t say that I buy it 100% Have you or any other bloggers you know of written about this. I’d like to see what others think.
Thanks
I agree that stress plays a role in heart disease, and dislocation be stressful. Dr Kendrick doesn’t blame all heart disease on dislocation by any means.
Hey,
First of all, for some reason I can’t see the book list. I can only see the first paragraph talking about it, but not the book list itself.
Furthermore, I’ve read “the truth about saturated fats” and it clearly stated that oxidized cholesterol is very dangerous. The frightening thing is that they stated that it can occur in meats that have been heated to high temperatures by frying and so.
If it is true, how can I avoid it? should I eat my meat medium-rare? or just cook it very slowly with very low temperatures?
Thanks in advance.
I don’t believe cooking meat means you end up with oxidized cholesterol floating around in your blood. It’s the oxidation that takes place within the walls of our arteries that does the damage.
Thanks for the answer Tom.
So cooking in high temperatures is not perilous at all?
I’m sorry for bugging you like that, they just clearly said that in the article.
Thanks again for your answers and patience to reply to my posts.
Humans have been cooking meats for hundreds of thousands of years. I sincerely doubt it makes the meat dangerous to our health.
Hey tom,
My family had been asking me for some time about cooking with olive oil.
We try to stick to coconut oil, but it’s not all that tasty with omelets. Do you think it’s fine making our omelets with olive oil? it doesn’t cook for so long.
Thanks!
Olive oil is a natural oil. Use and enjoy.
Ghee is even better particularly as you can get grass fed organic ghee which is a natural with eggs and has many vitamins missing in all (or nearly all) plant foods.
Hi Tom,
I’ve come across some articles who claim that many of the foods considered paleo (though it also includes sugar, white flour etc) are “acid-forming”, and therefore might be dangerous when consumed in high quantities. I’m quite sure you’re familiar with the rest of it. What’s your opinion of this issue?
Thanks!
Yes, some of them are acid-forming. Vegetables tend to be alkaline. So eat your meats and your vegetables.
Hi Tom,
yet another question!, this one a little more complicated (or not).
I’ve read a little about “Nutritional Typing”, which pretty much says each person reacts differently to carbs, fats and protein. Some tend to feel better on a high carb diet when others feel better on a low carb diet. Seems to make sense. Though it sort of collides with the whole Paleo idea.
I would guess it’s something in the middle. Most people (if not all) would react better to LCHF. but we all have problems with certain foods. For some fish makes them sick, and for some butter and milk makes them sick, and so on.
My question is: What’s your opinion (or fact) about this idea? Is it more towards my way of thinking (LCHF is good for everyone, but some of us just hate milk and or fish) or is there some truth in the whole “Nutritional type” thing.
Thanks!
I think there’s probably something to it. We know that populations that only began eating grains and sugars fairly recently seem to have particularly bad reactions, high rates of diabetes, etc. My guess is that nutrition typing depends partly on genetic background.
Hi Tom,
Sorry to bother you with yet another question, it had been troubling me for some while now: It’s about supplements. Especially omega 3 fish oils and such.
I’ve been reading a lot about it all. some paleo advocates seem to be against supplements and omega 3 supplements in general (mostly because they’re un-natural in a way). My first question would be, what’s your opinion?, are omega 3 supplements safe and, most importantly, useful?
If so, I’ve heard so much alternatives for it, ranging from fish oil, krill oil, cod liver oil and so on. Some say fish oil becomes rancid quickly so it shouldn’t be consumed, and so on. and some say the rest have no evidence supporting them. Which one do you think best?
And what about supplementation in general, I mean it’s sort of against the paleo-eating nature. Since our ancestors seemed to survive quite well without them. (though eating fish might be problematic today because the oceans are heavily polluted). Though it seems we do need some of them, or so we are told.
I’d like to hear your opinion of this issue.
Thanks so much for all the help, I truly appreciate it.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking a few supplements. True, our ancestors didn’t, but they were eating foods grown in a much more nutrient-dense soil, or eating animals that ate much more nutrient-dense plants. I take a multi-vitamin, a D vitamin (I don’t run around half-naked outdoors like my paleo ancestors), CoQ10.
in response to the response above…..I take D3 after suffering with frequent colds and flu most of my life, and now our KIDS get sick from grade school infections while I stay well and can take care of them. I also found CoQ-10 to be indespensible and taking enough of it (400mg per day in my case) noticeably sharpens my thought processes.
I expect to live longer with a much higher quality of life in later years, just with these 2 vitamins, although I’ve experimented with nearly every new vitamin “fad” over the years and found no benfit in most of them.
addendum: please excuse spelling…my font size is too small on this browser.
Anyone that takes coq10 should be aware that some of the highest quality vitamin products are/were manufactured in Japan, and while there’s no news about the Japanese nuclear accident (last March) in ANY news media now, the radiation release has NOT been stopped since then. I bought a bunch of stuff just after the accident, figuring that the supply chain had not yet been contaminated, but I don’t know what I’m going to do when I run out. Japanese products should be treated with appropriate suspicion….imo, of course.
hi, I was very impressed by the film, and have just this week started my own low carb diet. Though I am looking for a little clarification.
You lost weight on the fast food diet by making sensible decisions, and keeping your calorie count around 2000 per day. My question is this; during your saturated fat pig out month at the end of the film, you showed that your bad cholesterol went down, but were you still losing weight? (also were you still keeping to around 2000 per day? this seems more difficult while eating higher concentrations of saturated fat)
just wanted to know if there was too much of a good thing. 🙂
I made no effort to limit my intake or lose weight during that month — I wanted to see what pigging out on fat would do to me — but I still lost another two pounds.
Hey tom,
Someone presented me with some article from “harvard school of public health” claiming it’s credible and therefore the whole paleo and high fat diet is dangerous etc.., the usual deal. problem is, I can’t quite answer something like that.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-full-story/index.html
How can I contradict those statements?
Look at it again. In an article full of references, they make this statement …
“That’s why saturated fat can be in the bad category—because we don’t need to eat any of it, and it has undesirable effects in cardiovascular disease.”
… and don’t offer a single reference to back it up. Later they mention one observational study (we all know what those are worth) in which a correlation was found between a high intake of animal fat and breast cancer. As I’ve pointed out several times, the biggest sources of saturated fat in the American diet are dairy desserts (sugar) and grain-based desserts (sugar and flour).
They’re simply repeating the same old nonsense about saturated fat without offering proof — because there isn’t any proof. Ask whoever gave you this article to please cite the controlled studies (not observational studies) in which saturated fat was shown to lead to heart disease, or the controlled studies in which reducing saturated fat was shown to reduce heart disease. There have been several studies in which reducing saturated fat FAILED to reduce heart disease, which should be all the proof we need.
Hey Tom,
Thanks a lot for the answer.
Honestly, the sentence “Scientists are freakin’ liars” seems to be true in so many cases, It’s almost frightening.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/salt/lower-sodium-and-salt/index.html
Here is another “proof” why salt is bad. I looked at the references and it seems most of the so called “proof” is based on estimations and interventional and observational studies. In other words, BS. I simply wonder, what’s in it for them? I mean, it’s not that some industry gains anything from salt reduction, so why fake those proofs?
Furthermore, do you have a link to the review of the analysis of data from more than 167 studies about salt intake?, I mean besides the article presenting it.
Thanks a lot, your answers certainly contribute to my knowledge and to the knowledge of those who are willing to think and hear new proof which isn’t mainstream.
Sincerely
Guy
I think what’s in it for them is access to ongoing grants from the feds.
I don’t have a link to a separate analysis, but you may find it on PubMed.gov
I have been making different food choices for several months – lots of good veggies, whole fruits (no juice), butter and raw milk cheese, and good protein. I’ve avoided sugar (using stevia and erythitol) and wheat 99% of the time. I’ve lost 23 pounds and I feel so much better in my body.
I love the movie and I’m going to work my way through the recommended reading. My question concerns reading material that is specifically for children. Not books for adults about healthy children, but picture books that can be read with children to familiarize them with these concepts in age appropriate ways.
My local library has lots of attractive books for kids but they spout the “party line” about the food pyramid, the importance of whole wheat, and the dangers of fat. If I cannot find what I’m looking for I’m considering writing at least one book myself just so there is some sort of alternative perspective for the kids. It saddens me to think we may be losing yet another generation to spurious research and lies, damn lies.
Thanks for your creativity, perseverance, and integrity –
Karen
We haven’t found a good book on the topic for kids either, which is why Chareva and I are going to produce one this year.
The book that first got me interested in the topic of going grain and legume free is Melissa Smith’s GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN. She states a lot of the same kinds of things that Gary Taubes does, but it’s an easier read. Check it out!
I love your documentary! My kids do, too. I really appreciate that Fat Head is an easy-to-digest rebuttal for what my kids learn in health class at school.
Speaking of kids at school – I make my kids’ lunches everyday. I’d love to get my hands on books and/or websites with ideas on low-carb packed lunches. Could you point me in the right direction?
Thank you so much for all you do. Your hard work has certainly made a difference in the health of my family!
I don’t know about lunches specifically, but I like the cookbooks by Dana Carpender and Judy Barnes Baker. Search for them on Amazon. My wife packs lunches for our girls. She makes stews, chili, lunchmeat rollups, roasted chicken, etc., then usually includes an apple, a cheese stick, or a small bag of nuts.
Hey tom,
Yet another controversy article trying to demonize saturated fats. It seems they considered saturated fats and trans fats in the same category. Though when I read it a little further, it seems that “palmitic acid” is indeed common in natural saturated fats. And this article seems to suggest it leads to very problematic issues.
http://www.nature.com/ni/journal/v12/n5/full/ni.2022.html
I’d like to hear your thoughts about it.
Thanks!
Yes, they often put trans fats and saturated fats in the same category. A high-carb diet increases the concentration of palmitic acid in the blood:
http://www.ajcn.org/content/84/2/461.1.full
Peter at Hyperlipid on the specific study you linked:
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2011/04/palmitic-acid-horror-never-ends.html
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2011/04/palmitic-acid-horror-never-ends_14.html
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2011/04/palmitic-acid-horror-never-ends_17.html
Hey Tom,
I like your book list and just ordered my 9th book from it, Fred Hahn’s Slow Burn Fitness Revolution. One book that is not on the list that I have read and highly recommend is the Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. Jimmy Moore recommended it to me and I was not disappointed.
Cheers
I intend to give that one a look. I don’t put books on the list until I’ve read them.
Virtually everything on the list has been written by people with no qualifications or relevant publications under their belt (e.g. Uffe has never ever publihed any experimental data relevant to lipidology, cardiology etc.), and this shows. Why not recommend proper research literature?
Dr. Ravnskov has published quite a few articles in medical journals, and written many more that were never published because the editors didn’t like his conclusions. In his books, he examines the relevant literature quite thoroughly.
“There have been several studies in which reducing saturated fat FAILED to reduce heart disease, which should be all the proof we need.”
As well as studies in which reducing safa and/or replacing with with pufa and/or mufa has lead to beneficial results.
But that’s digressing from what I truly wanted to point out:
Usually, the intake of safa in a normal diet is too low to be of any specific importance (either good or bad), which of course shows in epidemiological data. Also, in RCT’s the amount of safa has often been quite ok to begin with and thus one really can’t expect noticeable benefits from reducing it from “ok” level to “low” level. And one also has to bear in mind that quite often the study designs (length, control of other variables, study population etc.) aren’t really 100% relevant in terms of e.g. evaluating the potential benefits for high risk patients in “the normal world”.
So, while reducing the intake of safa really doesn’t matter that much for most people, for those suffering of dyslipdemia, metabolic syndrome etc. it can be beneficial. Depending on dose and context. “Laissez-faire” attitude to safa is as nonsensical and stupid as the old-fashioned “safa-is-a-threat-to-life-as-we-know-it” attitude.
Hi Tom,
I’m from down in New Zealand (just thought it would be cool to know your film was global!) Watched your movie a month or so back and thought it was great. Me and my GF have been going low carb for a few weeks and it is going well. The main reason we started is my GF is a type1 diabetic and she did some more research to find that the low carb diet is the best way for her to control it. Anyway i just had a couple of questions for you. I find the biggest problems are breakfasts and snacks. What do you eat for breakfast? and do you eat many snacks?
Thanks
Sam
I usually have bacon or sausage with eggs for breakfast, maybe a cheese omelet on weekends. I don’t eat snacks very often, but if I do it’s usually something like almonds (dry-roasted, no vegetable oils) or macadamia nuts.
I just saw the Fat Head documentary on Netflix and have been reading as much as possible into this new life style.. But I have to say I’m getting hit by a bit of information overload.
Is there a particular book you would recommend that has meal plans or something to help me build my own without getting overly complicated.
The two intro book I’d recommend are “The Primal Blueprint” by Mark Sisson and “A New Atkins For A New You” by Westman et al.
Just and FYI..The Perfect Health Diet is probably one of the best researched books I’ve ever read (and I’ve probably hit every paleo diet or relevant book out there at this point). It’s the type of book I would hand my doctor as it basically just reviews the science without trying to sell you a diet you can lose weight on.
Thanks for your film. I’m really glad it exists because it seems to be easier to get people to watch something instead of read it. And, people really need to hear this stuff.
Hi Tom,
LOVED the film! Quick question – what about sodium? During the month you ate fast-food, was there any concern of all the sodium you were consuming? That was never really discussed by you or any doctor. Or is the “low-sodium/no sodium” craze also another dupe fed to us by the gov’t or gov’t funded scientific organizations?
Thanks!
Sodium is only a concern for a small fraction of the population. For most of us, it makes no difference on blood pressure:
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2010/01/26/mayor-bloombergs-a-salt-on-science/
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2011/08/01/another-a-salt-on-science/
This may have been added, but may I suggest Body by Science by Dr. Doug McGuff and John Little. Fascinating.
That is a good one.
Tom,
I just watched Fat Head and I wanted to say THANK YOU!! I had a heart attack three weeks ago at the age of 31. I have been an uncontrolled diabetic for sometime and knew that I needed to get my stuff together and had in the last year made some pretty good changed. I lost 90 pounds and was on my way to success. After the heart attack, they were feeding me so many carbs in the hospital and they couldnt get my sugars as regulated as they should have been. When I got out, I immediately cut half or more of those carbs and all of a sudden the levels went down. However I am gaining weight and I think it’s because I am still eating a lot of carbs and taking insulin to “balance it out”. Your documentary explained so much to me….such as how I have normal (even good) cholesterol levels but had a heart attack! I am going to go even more low-carb and hope this will allow me to take less insulin and therefore drop some weight. Thank you again, this has only confirmed everything I was already thinking about how my body works. I look forward to reading some of the books on your suggested reading list!
I’d urge to you get Dr. Bernstein’s book. It was written for people in your situation.
Don’t know if anyone has told you about John Kiefer but he has two excellent books about diet and how Carbohydrates are essentially a drug. Check out his website at dangerouslyhardcore.com
He’s very opinionated, backs everything up with research, and does not mince words. I think you’ll like his writings if you’re unfamiliar
Looks like an excellent site. I hope to take a month off someday just to catch up on all the blogs I’ve had to ignore lately.
Hi Tom, great topic, as usual. Really liked your powerful film, and it was a help in that it kind of convinced my teen to try the LCHF eating style. He has changed his body and feels somehow warm or hot frequently so has to take his shirt off quite often (couldn’t be that he likes to view his now flat belly as he passes the occasional mirror? Ah, teens, you’ve gotta love them!) For his new found confidence, I thank you. I appreciate your work so much.
Now, I have a book to recommend: “Natural Health and Weight Loss” by Barry Groves. It covers the LCHF ground well with health and science information and implications. The real value of this book is that the author and his wife discovered this nutrition style about forty years ago and therefore their experience quiets any objections about long term detrimental consequences of either low carb or high fat part of the diet.
Oh, oh, can I add one other book, please, please? “Deep Nutrition” by Cate Shanahan MD and Luke Shanahan. You will really like this book as Dr Cate writes about her experiences with patients where the elderly, more traditionally fed, grandparents of her patients (in Hawaii where she practiced medicine) were so much more robust and healthy than the patients nourished (?) on the current standard diet.
PS I really so enjoy listening to you on Dr Su’s podcasts.
I’ll put those on my list. I’ve read several of Dr. Groves’ online articles.
On Feb 9th I came on here asking for advice on what books to read to get started.. I purchased your suggestions along with a slew of others and set about reading everything I could get my hands on..
As of today I’m 16lbs lighter and probably have about 80 more to go.. But this is just so easy to do.. I don’t really track things or follow a specific plan. I just took what I learned and adjusted my eating habits from mostly pre-packaged stuff and lots of pasta and bread to eating lots of meat, eggs and plants while just occasionally grazing on fruits when I’m craving something sweet. Cooking all the time is a bit of a pain but I’m getting used to cooking in larger batches rather then enough for a meal or two at a time and my wife is becoming supportive and helping me with that as well now.
Anyways I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to send me off in the right direction
It’s amazing what a difference real food can make, isn’t it?
I will tell others of this site!
The comments are amazing!
Thanks to the infromation from the book by Dr. Davis, I have my life back!
This site is like a support group, for Former Human Pesticide Junkies, like I was!
Hope the FDA, CDC, and other like-experts do not shut you down. Perhaps if they ate more whole grain goodness, they would feel better.
Greetings Tom. Two questions: I read Denise Minger’s ““Forks Over Knives”: Is the Science Legit? (A Review and Critique)” This after I watched “Forks over Knives” and I’m curious if the “acid-forming” you mention in Guy’s post back in Oct. 29, 2011 occurs strictly in the stomach or is it all related to what Colin Campbell mentions as “metabolic acidosis” (Denise has a post in which she “debunks” metabolic acidosis called “One Year Later: The China Study, Revisited and Re-Bashed” which I’m struggling to get through, truth be told)?
You mention that eating veggies with meats sounds like they balance each other out (alkaline vs. acid). As a current GERD sufferer is there a good resource/book that discusses this acid production and meat intake in more detail? Are there better keywords (aside from “GERD and meat” and “metabolic acidosis” which take me to “eat low fat meat” results) to help me in my online search that you would suggest? –Thank you!
I’ll refer you to someone who knows more about it than I do:
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/heartburn-cured/
Hi Tom,
I just finished watching Fat Head. As a senior undergrad student who has been studying dietetics, watching your movie was like you slapping me in the face (sorry – the best analogy I could come up with). Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE what I’m studying and I think that dieticians have a great breadth of knowledge that should be commended. However, it really concerns me that much of what I have been studying MAY be based on complete – to put it frankly – bullshit!
I just have a few questions:
I’m currently in a Sports and Exercise nutrition class. What is your opinion when it comes to athletes and carbohydrate intake?
In the dietetic field it is completely taboo to mention low-carbohydrate diets (except for certain circumstances). I hear from my professors all the time that there are no scientific studies that have been able to track the long-term effects of a low-carbohydrate diet (due to participant drop out rates and such). Could you point me in the right direction?
Lastly, what advice do you have for a 22-year-old-soon-to-be-graduated-student majoring in the field of dietetics and nutrition? (who is now panicking that they made the wrong choice!)
Thank you for making your documentary, opening my eyes, and possibly changing the course of my career.
-Megan
Hi, Megan. Dr. Steve Phinney and Dr. Jeff Volek have both done studies on athletes and low-carb diets and found that if the athletes have time to become keto-adapted, they do quite well. A journalist in the 1930s wrote about his experience living with Inuits for two years. Their diet was all meat and fish, and yet he was amazed at how they could chase down and kill animals by running after them for hours.
That being said, I don’t see anything wrong with athletes eating whole-food carbohydrates (in other words, not sugars or grains) before an endurance event.
There are no long-term clinical studies on low-carb diets because those studies are hugely expensive. For that reason, there are also no long-term clinical studies on low-fat diets, and yet the “experts” recommend them all the time. In long-term observational studies, low-fat diets haven’t done well. If we look at hunter-gatherer populations who lived on low-carb diets, we find they were remarkably healthy.
Some two-year studies:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/297/9/969.full
http://www.annals.org/content/153/3/147.short
You didn’t make the wrong choice. Once you’re in practice, you can give out the advice you know to be correct. As for educating yourself, there are several books listed on our Recommended Reading page, and most of them include references in the back.
I learned similar stuff from Dr Joseph Mercola on mercola.com etc. But he adds that two body types do better with some carbs mixed in; even eating carbs first in one ‘s case.
Love all this new knowledge — has worked for me, too.
Yup, I believe it has a lot to do with genetics, where your ancestors came from, etc. That’s why I’m not impressed that Kitavins can live on sweet potatoes without negative effects. My Irish ancestors sure as heck didn’t live on starches and fruits year-round.
Hi Tom,
I really enjoyed your movie! I read Good Calories, Bad Calories after that and it’s completely changed the way I eat.
Have you ever thought of giving a TED talk? I really enjoy what the speakers usually have to say but I did see one speech where they were advocating a high carb/low fat diet. They lumped sugars and meat into the same bad category. It may be a nice avenue to spread the word and correct what a previous speaker had said. TED talks are usually very modern/cutting edge ideas and very insightful. Eating Paleo/low carb isn’t a new idea but it does go against the mainstream. Just a thought.
Ben
Perhaps someday. I’m not sure how people end up doing TED talks.
Thank you for the awesome documentary. I never did watch super size me since I did not believe in what it was about, but I am happy that someone came along to debunk it. I never felt better than I did when I was doing Atkins program, and I believe eating grains has contributed to many of my current health problems. I work in a hospital and it is amazing how much of the current health information that the Dieticians use is based on the misinformation presented by various “heart healthy” organizations. Sending poor diabetic people home with a new high carb diet has to be the saddest thing to see.
I have been using Fred Hahn’s Slow Burn fitness routine for a number of years, and it builds strength fast. It is simple and I did start the program with canned food weights and milk jugs, but moved to a small weigh set and now to the nesting weights. I also use a stability ball for all the seated exercises just for some added core strength.
I am also a big fan of Mark Sisson, and I believe he is on the right track, exercise wise, with the sprinting and heavy lifting for exercise. I have seen pictures of Olympic marathon runners side by side with Olympic sprinters and the sprinters look healthier and have the more desirable body shape. Also, Mark has a newsletter with lots of useful and interesting information on Paleo eating and simple exercise.
Please, keep up the good work. The word is getting out there and the world will change as people take their health into their own hands and stop watching the health reports on the nightly news!!
Hey Tom, the list of books isn’y here anymore? I wanted to link to this for a friend I am trying to dissuade from going vegan after he saw Forks Over Knives, so that he can do what’s “best for his heart and arteries”.
Feel free to delete this post after the site is corrected.
It shows up for me, but I’ve heard that from someone else too. Maybe some security setting in your browser is blocking it.
Hey Tom, that was it! I had AdBlock extension activated in Safari. Sorry for the hassle.
Keep up the good fight!
FYI – I am statin free, wheat free, carb limited, and fat flush (diet, not bodily) because of your blog. Thanks for all you do.
Excellent, Dusty. Keep it up.
Hey Tom! You might want to add It Starts With Food to your list–I’m in love with it. Just like I’m in love with your documentary! 🙂
In response to this post:
Thanks for the answer Tom.
So cooking in high temperatures is not perilous at all?
I’m sorry for bugging you like that, they just clearly said that in the article.
Thanks again for your answers and patience to reply to my posts.
Humans have been cooking meats for hundreds of thousands of years. I sincerely doubt it makes the meat dangerous to our health.
I know nothing about this stuff, but it kinda makes sense to me that the “high temps” may make a difference. Yes, humans have been cooking meat forever, BUT wouldn’t they have cooked it very slow and at low temps as the comment previously suggest. I mean, how fast could a cave man have cooked meat over an open fire! lol Whatcha think?
Based on what I’ve read, I think it’s best to cook your meat, but not too much. So I go for medium rare.
I’d like to read more, especially books by the experts featured in the film, but the booklist isn’t showing for me. There’s the paragraph talking about it, then the page goes straight to comments. Where’s the list??
Your browser probably has a popup blocker that’s preventing it from showing. You should be able to turn it off for this site.
SOLUTION TO THE DISAPPEARING BOOK LIST!!
It didn’t show up for me. I disabled my Adblock software for this site, reloaded the page, and voila! The book list appeared!
Feel free to delete my first post inquiring about the problem.
I’ve watched the movie on Hulu and I praise you both for your message and for making it available to the public this way. I know it’ll take decades to undo the misinformation and damage done by Keyes & Co. but this is a good, entertaining and informative step in the right direction. Thanks!
Thank you for watching.
Hello,
I was wondering where can I find what would be my normal weight for my height and age (like a chart of some sort?). I never really trusted the government about this. I am 50 y old, 160 lbs and 5′ tall. Also, I would like to get more info about how much fat and proteins should I eat a day. My doctor (he is a good doctor for most part) says I need to eat more protein and take vitamin D supplements because I am tired all the time. It is hard to be a mother this way 🙂
BTW, I loved your movie, we watched as a family. I am thinking about buying a few copies and giving it as gifts to my in-laws.
Thank you for having done this for us. I hated when they showed the super sized me in school for my kids. I knew it was all bologna then. Thanks again.
Cassia
You can go by the BMI charts for a very general idea, but whether or not you’re actually overweight will depend on how much muscle you have versus how much fat. At some gyms and doctors’ offices, you can get a true body-fat reading, which is more useful.
Did your doctor run a vitamin D test? That will tell you if you’re deficient. If so, yes, supplementing with vitamin D would be wise.
Dear Tom,
the booklist apparently got lost, I only see the introduction paragraph and the comments below. I’d really like to access the list.
Thank you for your great work!
Fred
It’s most likely your browser blocking it. See what happens if you enable popups for the site.
Just watched you documentary and loved it. It confirmed everything I read in “It Starts With Food”.
Thank you.
Hi, I was just genuinely curious about your opinion of the book ‘Eat to Live’ by Joel Fuhrman and his theories concerning food and such. Let me know.
Great documentary, by the way!
I haven’t read his book. I’ve read some of his articles. I agree with his views on eating nutrient-dense, real food. I don’t agree that animal fat is bad for us.
Hi, I watched your movie twice this week. It was difficult for me. I have a degree as a fitness instructor trainer, am NASM CPT and have for most of my life advocated a high carb low fat diet. At 60 I am over weight even though I work out have been unable to lose weight. There were many days when I consumed 0 grams of fat. In my studies I was told animal fat converted directly to body fat. What you say makes sense, I have always had these niggling doubts about fat consumption. Why weren’t the native innuit affected, even as a child my mom would fry up bacon and eggs for most breakfasts, my dad would fry bread to soak up the fat. He died at 82 from causes unrelated to his diet, his heart was still healthy. Why were so many northern Europeans with their high fat diets not affected? So I have to come to terms with the fact that I may have been wrong in my beliefs. I know what I was doing wasn’t working. By the way my wife who is also 60 has the same figure she had when she was in her 20’s and can still where the same clothes. She has always been a high fat/protein low carb girl. So tonight we are grilling a very large rib eye steak with a herb and shallot flavored butter sauce. Going back to the old Julie Child receipies. Bon Apetite. Thanks for showing us that the previous conventional widsom was neither accurate nor wise.
You’re open-minded, and that’s what matters. I predict once you change your diet, you’ll see the weight start to drop away.
I’m really glad you list Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solutions book! I have had Type II diabetes since 1996, and the diabetes exchange diet was helping me to gain more and more weight. In 2010 I was desperate for a change. Blood sugar readings in the morning were 260, and triglyceride readings were 600. I bought the book in February 2010, and by following the recommendations, my morning blood sugar readings dropped to 98 by July 2010. And I had lost 32 pounds. In January 2011, I was able to discontinue all diabetes medication. Now my A1C reads 5.5, without medication. And triglycerides are between 50 and 70. LDL is higher than the doctors want it to be (137), but I don’t know if it makes a difference. I am 51, and I think I’ll ask my doctor to give me a stress test to see if the LDL level is hurting me.