[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Knopf in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary and Review
This is an exploration and defense of low carbohydrate, high fat eating, often called “Keto.” The author is not a doctor, which surprised me at first, but instead he is a health and science journalist. The research in this book is top notch. There’s a lot of history regarding health, nutrition, and obesity here. The endnotes and citations were thorough.
The general premise is that obesity and diabetes as well as other health issues continue to rise even though we have had decades of “eat less, move more” advice. That doesn’t work for all body types. Some schools of thought are reluctant to remove any food group from consumption in an effort to remain “balanced.” But if a particular category of foods – high carbohydrate ones, for example – are causing the problems, it would make sense to eliminate them.
The author makes a couple analogies with smoking, alcohol/drug addiction, and allergies, which I found convincing and helpful. We don’t consider abstinence a “deprivation” if the thing someone abstains from is something they are allergic to or something they are addicted to. Thinking of carbohydrates that way can be helpful for those whose bodies would thrive without them. Following a ketogenic lifestyle to address a metabolic disorder is a way of living, not something you try for awhile before going back to “normal.” You would never recommend an alcoholic celebrate a sobriety milestone with a glass of champagne. If carbohydrates are problematic for a particular individual, they always will be problematic.
This is a dense, technical resource. I was probably not the right audience for this as a consumer. I did a lot of skimming in the early chapters. Still, I found the later chapters on what to eat and what to avoid most helpful along with the anecdotes from people interviewed for the book. Professionals – dietitians, medical professionals – are probably the proper audience for this book. If someone was curious about following a ketogenic diet, this would not be the resource I would hand them for their introduction.
That said, there was a lot here that I found fascinating about obesity, about research methods, and about ketogenic eating. I would highly recommend this for professionals, but I would probably steer the general public to one of the author’s other books (The Case Against Sugar, maybe) or to a different resource that explores a ketogenic diet in a less technical way.
Rating: ♥♥♥*
*♥♥♥ = Good/fine/solid