Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 4,266 ratings
Price: 22.04
Last update: 05-21-2024
About this item
The New York Times best-selling author of Fat Chance explains the eight pathologies that underlie all chronic disease, documents how processed food has impacted them to ruin our health, economy, and environment over the past 50 years, and proposes an urgent manifesto and strategy to cure both us and the planet.
Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric neuroendocrinologist who has long been on the cutting edge of medicine and science, challenges our current healthcare paradigm which has gone off the rails under the influence of Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government.
You can’t solve a problem if you don’t know what the problem is. One of Lustig’s singular gifts as a communicator is his ability to “connect the dots” for the general listener, in order to unpack the scientific data and concepts behind his arguments, as he tells the “real story of food” and “the story of real food”.
Metabolical weaves the interconnected strands of nutrition, health/disease, medicine, environment, and society into a completely new fabric by proving on a scientific basis a series of iconoclastic revelations, among them:
- Medicine for chronic disease treats symptoms, not the disease itself
- You can diagnose your own biochemical profile
- Chronic diseases are not "druggable," but they are "foodable"
- Processed food isn’t just toxic, it’s addictive
- The war between vegan and keto is a false war - the combatants are on the same side
- Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government are on the other side
Making the case that food is the only lever we have to effect biochemical change to improve our health, Lustig explains what to eat based on two novel criteria: protect the liver, and feed the gut. He insists that if we do not fix our food and change the way we eat, we will continue to court chronic disease, bankrupt healthcare, and threaten the planet. But there is hope: this book explains what’s needed to fix all three.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Top reviews from the United States
It was the longest book I’ve read in the last few years, so it took me a long time to finish, but finally finished yesterday!! First book of the year 2024 completed. ✔️
I’d rate it a 4.5/5 and if you don’t mind medical terminology being sprinkled around a lot, I’d definitely recommend. This absolutely opened my eyes on the food industry in this country. I didn’t realize just how much politics are involved.
Cons: There were probably 2 or 3 chapters that I didn’t particularly care for, and a few jokes that I didn’t quite get.
If you’re in between the physical vs kindle version, I’d do kindle because you’ll likely have a lot of highlighting to do!
It’s great that he doesn’t promote a specific diet or way of life. His overarching theme is that 1) sugar is aweful for you and 2) processed foods are, too. In fact, they aren’t even “foods”.
He backs up everything with science, studies and logic, which you’ll appreciate.
If you have listened to his YouTube interviews you will notice he writes the way he speaks. This is evidence of truth. The truth NEVER changes.
What an extraordinary gift to mankind. I am forever grateful.
Thank you, Dr. Lustig for choosing serotonin (contentment: connection & contribution).