havenoshelfcontrol's review
2.0
“I don’t mean to scare you” *continues to fearmonger for the next 200 pages*
While I agree with importance of mental health this book emphasizes and the failures of western medicine (which is mostly a critique of capitalism but without explicitly mentioning capitalism because you know he’s in the wellness industry), namely dismissing the experiences of people especially, BIPOC women and framing structural inequalities as the failure of the individual, this book just comes off as a wellness disguised diet.
This “doctor” (he’s not a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine, he’s a naturopath/chiropractor) perpetuates questionable science including a study of two people and pseudoscience to suit his wellness, clean eating narrative. I’d like this book peer reviewed with some systematic reviews and some citations, sir.
He has no concept of class and access to food. Like you do realize the people who consume “processed” and “packaged” food do so because of structural issues such as food deserts and late stage capitalism making basic human necessities inaccessible? Right? Like maybe people don’t sit around for hours, cook and eat because they’re time poor and poor poor….
Shockingly, he also misrepresents critiques of diet culture and body positivity. Body positivity isn’t about eating any certain way, it’s about not being hateful sacks of shit to fat people and other marginalized folk because of their bodies and dismantling anti-fat bias including systemic bias that makes healthcare inaccessible to fat people. People are criticizing diet culture because it promotes the idea of thinness at any cost including eating disorders.
My last gripe is that he’s a Gwyneth Paltrow/GOOP ally. Tragic!
⭐️⭐️
While I agree with importance of mental health this book emphasizes and the failures of western medicine (which is mostly a critique of capitalism but without explicitly mentioning capitalism because you know he’s in the wellness industry), namely dismissing the experiences of people especially, BIPOC women and framing structural inequalities as the failure of the individual, this book just comes off as a wellness disguised diet.
This “doctor” (he’s not a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine, he’s a naturopath/chiropractor) perpetuates questionable science including a study of two people and pseudoscience to suit his wellness, clean eating narrative. I’d like this book peer reviewed with some systematic reviews and some citations, sir.
He has no concept of class and access to food. Like you do realize the people who consume “processed” and “packaged” food do so because of structural issues such as food deserts and late stage capitalism making basic human necessities inaccessible? Right? Like maybe people don’t sit around for hours, cook and eat because they’re time poor and poor poor….
Shockingly, he also misrepresents critiques of diet culture and body positivity. Body positivity isn’t about eating any certain way, it’s about not being hateful sacks of shit to fat people and other marginalized folk because of their bodies and dismantling anti-fat bias including systemic bias that makes healthcare inaccessible to fat people. People are criticizing diet culture because it promotes the idea of thinness at any cost including eating disorders.
My last gripe is that he’s a Gwyneth Paltrow/GOOP ally. Tragic!
⭐️⭐️
bookrecsanddnfs's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
The mind-body connection is something I've read about before, and this book was another take on that concept. While I do agree that physical health can impact mental health and vice-versa, there were some points that I did not agree with- the author used some pseudoscience in this book (i.e., depression is cured by diet and exercise). The actual 21 day plan had some good ideas, but a lot of it was just rehashing the first few chapters.
Aside from that, there were a lot of very good nuggets in this book that focused on the whole body connection in healthcare and looking at illness as systemic rather than isolated to each body system. I appreciate the author's recognition of complex trauma as something separate than trauma from a single incident. The book also included some recipes which was a nice extra, though most of them were too complex for me to make. I liked the emphasis on moderation with certain foods rather than complete restriction and/or elimination. I'm glad I checked this one out.
Aside from that, there were a lot of very good nuggets in this book that focused on the whole body connection in healthcare and looking at illness as systemic rather than isolated to each body system. I appreciate the author's recognition of complex trauma as something separate than trauma from a single incident. The book also included some recipes which was a nice extra, though most of them were too complex for me to make. I liked the emphasis on moderation with certain foods rather than complete restriction and/or elimination. I'm glad I checked this one out.
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