A patient told me that this was the best book she’d ever read– so with that glowing endorsement, I had to at least check it out.
From my perspective, there were a few outstanding pearls, a lot that I already knew, and a whopping ton of bitter politics–some (in my opinion) justified, some not.
The pearls for me primarily revolved around the key connection of fatty liver to the rest of the metabolic syndrome picture. This is something I once knew to some extent and has more or less fallen off my radar; I rarely look for fatty liver unless I know someone has the diagnosis already, or unless they have a few key markers or symptoms that point in that direction. But until now, it hasn’t been the first thought when someone has unexplained high lipids or glucose.
The book also discussed in-depth how food has been adulterated, and it was a good reminder that even if someone is eating “good” quality prepackaged foods, it’s still not the ideal and can be toxic.
Then there was a whole lot of (in my opinion) justified ranting against the various regulatory agencies in the US that should protect the public from toxic food additives, but don’t. Interspersed, there were a few choice political comments that were really unnecessary, I thought–like which administration made which decisions (out of context), or certain politically charged topics that had little to nothing to do with food. I had the impression that the author had found himself a soapbox and he was going to use it, relevant or no. I actually skipped the last couple of chapters because I’d had enough.
Still, I gave it four stars, because the takeaways I did get were well worthwhile.
