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wyvernfriend's review against another edition
4.0
He made me cry. Honestly when I read the quote from page 245 "'A hospice patient admitted for end-of-life care said that one thing she really wanted before the end was to eat a few slices of French baguette with butter, but refused the ofer from the hospice chef as she was fearful of taking carbs that would "feed her cancer cells"' Catherine Collins RD, fellow of the British Dietetic Association." any diet that demands a terminally ill person is wrong to have something they really want to have is evil. Now I'm not in that situation, but I am someone who has to deal with dietary restrictions day in and day out, I'm technically gluten sensitive because I had to give up gluten before a formal diagnosis (gastroenterologist: there's healing damage there, whatever you're doing, keep at it), but I respond quickly and upsettingly to gluten present in my foodstuffs (and this has been verified but an accident or two), so on one level I'm quite happy with the fashion for gluten-free but dammit I would love good French bread, or even one dinner out where I had freedom to explore the menu more. Another quote that hit more for truth is "Cancer is a complex, shapeshifting disease that has staggered and confounded the best researchers for a hundred years. (p.247) and I would love to shake it in the face of the people who tell me that I asked for, ate for, lived for, the Hodgkins Lymphoma science threw into remission 15 years ago. This book is a mildly sweary, angry with bad science, rant about how our diets seem to have become the latest battleground for morality, how what we eat has become a heavily charged moral issue with some claiming that only by following their creed will we be purfied from this "too, too solid flesh" and achieve some sort of living purity or sainthood, freed from illness and pain, having learned the lessons of purity and wellness from the chosen few.Yes it's a bit more sweary than some people are comfortable with but I'd say it's no more sweary than I would be if I was talking to people on the topic. There are some citations and it could do with a suggested reading list but overall I found it one of the best books on eating that I've read in a long time.
azirserinus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Medical content
inamerata's review against another edition
3.0
A decent read with brisk writing and solid science. However, some jokes ran on too long and I was frustrated by unquestioned misogynistic and fatphobic standards.
beeeeg's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting read to debunk some of the rubbish you hear, but also a good reminder of how science works and how to separate facts from bullshit.
leapylees's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, rounded up. Firstly, I enjoyed this sweary attempt to demolish the pseudoscience and "nutribollocks" the diet and nutrition industry and so-called health bloggers peddle so successfully HOWEVER I felt that it needed far more references and fewer anecdotes to come across as a well argued, well-researched and substantial piece rather than a rant. It's also fairly repetitive and probably works better in blog/article form.
starrygal's review against another edition
3.75
Well written, if a bit annoying at times. It debunked a lot of myths that I'd already had debunked for me (thanks to listening to Maintenance Phase podcast), and more that I discovered I still believed. One thing that bothered me was that the author didn't seem to question the ideology of weight loss, despite questioning everything else. Big blind spot.
1001reads's review against another edition
5.0
Very good, shows the scientific insights into food and nutrition and challenges many conventional and modern beliefs. Chapter on cancer is especially brutal but all definitely worth a read.
n_nazir's review against another edition
2.0
I agree with so much of this book and am in complete favour of anything which aims to debunk nonsensical pseudoscience. I think the problems I had with the book were firstly, the angry, shouty style and 'cute' tics of having 'Science Columbo' probably work better in a blog format, in a full length book it becomes repetitive and annoying quite quickly. Another thing I found grating was the constant 'celeb' bashing (one in particular); now, I never thought there would come a day when I would feel compelled to defend this person; and that day has still not arrived, but after a while, the bashing stops being comedic or useful and just becomes mean. The person he discusses so much, is a symptom, not the cause of a lot of this nonsense. Take her out of the equation, another insipid 'celeb' will take her place. I think making her the central baddie as it were, rings hollow. The chapter on eating disorders. Oy vey. That was heavy handed and not particularly well written; apologising for stupid comments you've made in the past about eating disorders does not absolve you of responsibility for the cack handed mess this chapter was. Finally, the chapter on processed food was just...bad. He discloses that he works for a food manufacturer, fair enough. But to have this uneven, 'not all processed food is bad and actually, telling people to cook is like, totally sexist' is reductionist and about as un-nuanced as you can get.
I am all for debunking nonsense, especially nonsense that poses as science and whilst I genuinely applaud the effort of this book, the execution is somewhat flawed. And that is a shame because some good quality debunking is very clearly needed in this subject area.
I am all for debunking nonsense, especially nonsense that poses as science and whilst I genuinely applaud the effort of this book, the execution is somewhat flawed. And that is a shame because some good quality debunking is very clearly needed in this subject area.
slane4nik's review against another edition
I appreciated the book's structure and the facts (few were new, but it's always good to do a revision) as well as the nudge to embrace the messiness of science and the evolution. However, as much as I dislike those who promote unhealthy ideas, I didn't appreciate the mockery. I guess I'm not exactly the intended audience of this book.