With what books should I start learning about nutrition?

[Agota]

Hello,

I want to improve my diet.

I'm interested in learning more about nutrition. I'm simply tired of hearing the opinions (..you need animal proteins..no you don't..eat fruits..no don't eat fruits..) and not being able to critically evaluate them myself due to my lack of knowledge on the subject, as well as not being able to evaluate my own food choices.

Amazon.com seems to have so many 5-stars book on the subject that I don't know with which ones to start. What would you recommend for someone with no knowledge in nutrition whatsoever?

Thanks!

Agota

[elucidate]

Are there any good courses on nutrition where you live Agota?

I always found my body's wisdom to be the best book I could ever read. it always knows exactly what I need. I just need to remember to listen to it.

[Agota]

I don't think there are any :/

I get the idea of listening to your body (I'll be going omnivore soon because of that), but I want to develop a solid knowledge on nutrition meaning understand how everything works and why. I just need a starting point

[elucidate]

Wish I could help.

You could try going to Dr. Elaine Hollingsworth's website. I think it's called Doctors are Dangerous She has written several e-books you can download for free. She is the most anal of all the food researchers, and I think she really knows her stuff.

There does seem to be a bit of fear based thinking with some of what she writes, but I believe her research is pretty thorough, and she has an intimate knowledge of the history of how certain foods are prepared, and how they react with the body.

There are some books on nutrition she mentions if you go to the "recommended reading" button on the left.

[Mike0149]

Consider subscribing to Natural Health Information Articles and Health Newsletter by Dr. Joseph Mercola

[wolfgang]

Amazon.com: The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy (Primal Blueprint Series) (9780982207703): Mark Sisson: Books

how our genes respond to grains and sugars and stuff humans didn't start eating until recently in the time frame of evolution of the genes.

[Oceans]

Both are great...


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tao-Health-S...4631004&sr=8-1

The Tao of Detox: Amazon.co.uk: Daniel Reid: Books

[Brutha]

I get the idea of listening to your body (I'll be going omnivore soon because of that), but I want to develop a solid knowledge on nutrition meaning understand how everything works and why.

There nobody who understands how everything works and why.

There are multiple different positions for which you can find arguments.

As far as book recommendations go I would recommend Tim Ferriss 4-hour body.

Consider subscribing to Natural Health Information Articles and Health Newsletter by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Mercola is basically a supplement salesman. He is not the kind of person you want to read when you want unbiased knowledge on nutrition.

[freestyler]

Originally Posted by Agota

I don't think there are any :/

I get the idea of listening to your body (I'll be going omnivore soon because of that), but I want to develop a solid knowledge on nutrition meaning understand how everything works and why. I just need a starting point

Why not go with a undergraduate level nutrition textbook (such as Amazon.com: Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism (9780495116578): Sareen S. Gropper, Jack L. Smith: Books), it is not that hard for most educated people and it is priceless as one you get the basics down you can go read the latest studies yourself on pubmed Home - PubMed - NCBI. Thus you can get the latest knowledge in an unbiased way.

[learnllovelaugh]

Originally Posted by Agota

Hello,

I want to improve my diet.

I'm interested in learning more about nutrition. I'm simply tired of hearing the opinions (..you need animal proteins..no you don't..eat fruits..no don't eat fruits..) and not being able to critically evaluate them myself due to my lack of knowledge on the subject, as well as not being able to evaluate my own food choices.

Amazon.com seems to have so many 5-stars book on the subject that I don't know with which ones to start. What would you recommend for someone with no knowledge in nutrition whatsoever?

Thanks!

Agota

Here are my top three favorites:

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan - This one is really easy and enjoyable to read. I would highly recommend it to anyone. It would be a great book to start with.

Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko

The 80-10-10 Diet by Douglas Graham

I second the person who recommended The Primal Blueprint as well. All of these books are easy to read and speak to anyone with common sense.

[aelle]

Originally Posted by freestyler

Why not go with a undergraduate level nutrition textbook (such as Amazon.com: Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism (9780495116578): Sareen S. Gropper, Jack L. Smith: Books), it is not that hard for most educated people and it is priceless as one you get the basics down you can go read the latest studies yourself on pubmed Home - PubMed - NCBI. Thus you can get the latest knowledge in an unbiased way.

Yup, textbooks are my recommendation too. Just go to your local college library, or a used bookshop on your nearest campus. This way you're certain to get raw, basic information without an agenda, and you will build the base knowledge necessary to sort through all the opinions out there. And, like Freestyler said, you'll also be able to understand the actual studies behind the fads.

If you didn't take science in high school (or if it was a long, long time ago), flipping through a high school biology textbook (chapters on cellular biology, metabolism, some biochem) may help before reading college textbooks.

[stanmrak]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Mercola is basically a supplement salesman. He is not the kind of person you want to read when you want unbiased knowledge on nutrition.

And Tim Ferris is basically a book salesman and a carnival sideshow! What's the difference?

Dr. Mercola has the best nutritional website on the internet, by far. So he sells something... you can't operate an enormous website with your spare change. I can't tell you how much life-changing information I've gotten there in the past 10 years (for free). No one does more to expose government and corporate abuse of the public health as well. Anyone smears him here, I'm in there to defend him. We are fortunate to have him.

One thing you must become aware right off is that there's a conspiracy going on against your health. Corporate America doesn't want a healthy population, because there's so much profit in treating sick people. You'd better educate yourself or you'll be victimized too.

Ignore the information you get from the mainstream media. Also anyone who claims that high cholesterol and saturated fat causes heart disease.

Here's a few good books to get started:

Health and Nutrition Secrets
 By Russell L Blaylock MD
The New Super-Nutrition
 By Richard Passwater
Gary Null's Ultimate Anti-Aging Program
 By Gary Null Ph.D.

Originally Posted by aelle

Yup, textbooks are my recommendation too. Just go to your local college library, or a used bookshop on your nearest campus. This way you're certain to get raw, basic information without an agenda

I personally disagree with the textbook idea. You may think that a textbook is by definition unbiased, but this isn't necessarily so. Corporations influence what gets put into the textbooks — and, just as important, what gets left out. This is more common than you think. After all, food corporations are very interested in what gets taught.

Even if all the facts in the books are accurate; it's just as easy to deceive with facts as it is with opinions. Probably more effective, too, because the bias is easier to disguise. A textbook creates a context where it's easy to deceive the reader because they'll trust a textbook without question. I personally have found that the best information often comes from individual independent authors with strong biases! Just don't pick the first one and follow blindly; get more viewpoints from other authors with strong biases!

For example, I imagine that any college textbook will tell you that vaccines were primarily responsible for eradicated every infectious disease that ever existed. However, it turns out that this may be a complete fraud; many of these diseases were nearly gone before the vaccine for any specific one was invented. However, "they" want you to believe in and trust vaccines completely, so they make sure that's in the textbook, to make it official.

Professors are often shills for the pharmaceutical industry as well; Harvard medical students revolted when they found out how widespread this practice was, and how bias crept into the professor's teaching.

You don't have to learn biology or biochemistry to educate yourself about nutrition, either. I didn't, but I've come across an awful lot of really bad information from university-trained nutritionists with an entire alphabet behind their name. The dean of Tufts University School of Nutrition once endorsed Froot Loops and Coco Puffs as "Smart Choices" for breakfast, for christ's sake.

[janicelou]

i agree... there is tons of excellent information on dr. mercola's site

[aelle]

Originally Posted by stanmrak

I personally disagree with the textbook idea. You may think that a textbook is by definition unbiased, but this isn't necessarily so. Corporations influence what gets put into the textbooks — and, just as important, what gets left out. This is more common than you think. After all, food corporations are very interested in what gets taught.

Agota is not from the US, she is probably the best judge here on whether the scientists of her country are corrupt...

Originally Posted by stanmrak

Even if all the facts in the books are accurate; it's just as easy to deceive with facts as it is with opinions. Probably more effective, too, because the bias is easier to disguise. A textbook creates a context where it's easy to deceive the reader because they'll trust a textbook without question.

This is not my experience at all of how science text books are written. The ones I have worked with at undergrad and graduate levels were constructed with hyposesis first, proof (for maths or physics) and/or experimental protocol (for experimental sciences), results and conclusions. Also, when they rely on outside input they quote their sources. It means that technically any reader with an understanding of the scientific method could verify the conclusions, and in fact we often did so in class or as part of an exam. It's a pain in the ass when it means checking the whole thing from the basics of thermodynamics onwards, but it's doable.

Humanities are something else, but in the sciences I have never seen a textbook that expects its reader to trust it without question - that would go against the very premise of what science is.

[Agota]

Awesome, guys, thank you for recommendations!

I think starting with textbooks and reviewing high school biology is a very good idea!

[wolfgang]

are grains evil?

[stanmrak]

Originally Posted by aelle

Humanities are something else, but in the sciences I have never seen a textbook that expects its reader to trust it without question - that would go against the very premise of what science is.

I don't think nutrition is the same as other sciences, because nutritional theories don't lend themselves to being validated by the scientific method. (You can't design a study that proves vitamin X prevents or cures disease Y). Much of what is considered as factual by the mainstream just isn't. For example, I imagine many if not most nutrition textbooks still promote the saturated fat-cholesterol theory of heart disease. This has been debunked for decades now, except few people seem to realize this, including the entire medical profession, it seems. I can think of many other examples of health "facts" that are being taught in schools that are completely erroneous... fluoride in drinking water preventing cavities, you need more calcium to prevent osteoporosis, statin drugs prevent heart attacks... the list goes on and on. Am I off?

When you're being taught something in school, from a textbook, it's natural to assume that the information is accurate. It should be! But I'm astonished at some of the beliefs that college-educated nutritionists hold true. They didn't learn this from personal investigation; they were programmed.

[stanmrak]

Originally Posted by aelle

Agota is not from the US, she is probably the best judge here on whether the scientists of her country are corrupt...

Lithuania... Corrupt? I can't imagine.

Note: I'm not calling the scientists corrupt... it's their "owners". People who work for Monsanto are probably really nice folks, just like you and me, working hard to do a good job. Monsanto the corporation is Dr. Evil.

I've found that if you think it's corrupt in the USA, move somewhere else and you'll find that it's far worse!

[Brutha]

And Tim Ferris is basically a book salesman and a carnival sideshow! What's the difference?

A book salesman has an incentive to write a good book that contains a lot of valuable information.
Being a supplement salesman on the other form is a form of corruption.

Corporate America doesn't want a healthy population, because there's so much profit in treating sick people.

Large parts of US corporate america want to pay less money for the health insurance of their employees. They want healthy productive employees.

Ignore the information you get from the mainstream media. Also anyone who claims that high cholesterol and saturated fat causes heart disease.

I don't get my information about human biology from mainstream media.
I sit in biochemistry lessons and I can read scientific papers myself.

Mercola often misinterprets scientific studies.

statin drugs prevent heart attacks...

The problem with that line of argumentation is that statin drugs actually prevent heart attacks. They just don't prevent enough heart attacks to make it beneficial to treat people outside of risk groups with them.

Humanities are something else, but in the sciences I have never seen a textbook that expects its reader to trust it without question - that would go against the very premise of what science is.

Biochemistry textbooks don't source every claim they make.

[wolfgang]

Originally Posted by stanmrak

Lithuania... Corrupt? I can't imagine.

Note: I'm not calling the scientists corrupt... it's their "owners". People who work for Monsanto are probably really nice folks, just like you and me, working hard to do a good job. Monsanto the corporation is Dr. Evil.

I've found that if you think it's corrupt in the USA, move somewhere else and you'll find that it's far worse!

Yes, a lot of information about what to eat is really about the money that is being made.

A lot of food product that is processed food put in a box, is more a product than a food.

[stanmrak]

Originally Posted by Brutha

A book salesman has an incentive to write a good book that contains a lot of valuable information. Being a supplement salesman on the other form is a form of corruption.

Using your logic, a supplement salesman has an incentive to make better supplements, ones that truly benefit his customers as much as possible. If's he's truly dedicated, he oversees the formulation and manufacturing of them so he can assure their quality, rather than sell someone else's. How is that corrupt? Are you arguing that supplements are all a scam?

I have to also point out that Dr. Mercola has thousands upon thousands of pages of extraordinary health information that he gives away for FREE. The overwhelming majority of his website is dedicated to information, not selling products.

But if you insist on calling all "supplement salesmen" corrupt, well, according to wikipedia, in 2001, Tim Ferriss founded BrainQUICKEN, a San Jose-based online company that sells sports nutrition supplements. I don't think Tim Ferris is corrupt, but by your own definition, he is.

[JamesKnochel]

Originally Posted by Agota

Hello,

I want to improve my diet.

I'm interested in learning more about nutrition. I'm simply tired of hearing the opinions ...<snip>

I suggest getting the books that have been written based on the Edgar Cayce readings, starting with The Edgar Cayce Handbook for Health Through Drugless Therapy. The Association for Research and Enlightenment keeps all the old books in print, or you can frequently find copies at used book stores...

A majority of Cayce's readings were on the topic of health. Each reading was recorded by a stenographer, a copy was sent to the recipient, and a second copy was kept for Cayce's records.

Even though there have been a few seismic shifts in food consumption patterns since the 1940's, the advice given then is timeless.

-James

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by stanmrak

Using your logic, a supplement salesman has an incentive to make better supplements, ones that truly benefit his customers as much as possible. If's he's truly dedicated, he oversees the formulation and manufacturing of them so he can assure their quality, rather than sell someone else's. How is that corrupt? Are you arguing that supplements are all a scam?

Corrupt could be too strong a word.

However, he would have an incentive to recommend purchasing and consuming supplements, when (perhaps) it would be cheaper and equally or more effective, for you just to ensure that you regularly eat certain types of foods in your usual meals.

[sk8joyful]

Originally Posted by Agota

Hello,
I want to improve my diet.
I'm interested in learning more about nutrition.
Amazon.com - I don't know with which ones to start. What would you recommend
for someone with no knowledge in nutrition whatsoever?

Hi Agota,

For the most part, avoid 1) school Textbooks, & their various religions.
(Religion in the sense that after all is said, it's still believed guesswork)

Too, avoid Supplement-sales hype: they're out to SELL,
like everyone else is out to sell their stuff. -
And they hunt, for precious people like you
That said -
Supplements are a God-sent: once you KNOW what you need.

My recommendation, in this age of www.: Formulate in your own mind *very specific* questions, & then go searching... you would be amazed how much Valuable awareness is already on the Internet
See Agota,
the MORE astute observations you make, &
the MORE Astute questions you are able to ask,
the MORE you can get your own answers, for what you might want, including nutrition for OPTIMUM health. Have Fun!

[Brutha]

But if you insist on calling all "supplement salesmen" corrupt, well, according to wikipedia, in 2001, Tim Ferriss founded BrainQUICKEN, a San Jose-based online company that sells sports nutrition supplements. I don't think Tim Ferris is corrupt, but by your own definition, he is.

In his past Tim Ferriss had a supplement company. He doesn't own that company anymore but sold it before he started to write the book.

[stanmrak]

Originally Posted by Brutha

In his past Tim Ferriss had a supplement company. He doesn't own that company anymore but sold it before he started to write the book.

Maybe he found out that selling books is more lucrative, but selling books isn't any different than selling supplements.

[stanmrak]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Corrupt could be too strong a word.

However, he would have an incentive to recommend purchasing and consuming supplements, when (perhaps) it would be cheaper and equally or more effective, for you just to ensure that you regularly eat certain types of foods in your usual meals.

Actually, Dr. Mercola doesn't encourage people to rely on supplements; just the opposite. He promotes a healthy diet and lifestyle much more, but you have to finance your business somehow. He spent half a million of his own money getting his website started when it dawned on him that he couldn't afford to keep going just by giving away free information.

When you look at the supplements he does promote, it's hard to argue that they're worthless.

[nzmegs]

Hi Agota - my recommendation is Gary taubes "The diet delusion" (called Good Calories, Bad calories in some countries).

It is hard going as it is full to the brim with studies from the last 200 years. But if you want a reason to stop eating sugar and high carbohydrate foods, this will convince you. You need to read it with your scientific head on though.

Off the back of this book and others including "pure, white and deadly" I have cut sugar from my diet completely. I now eat a low carb vegetarian diet. not easy - but makes me feel great and finally i am losing weight. I don't consider this as a diet though as the health implications of eating sugar range much wider than obesity. it is thought that alzheimers, cancers and more could be caused by the stuff.

Forget low fat - go low carb!!

[stanmrak]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Large parts of US corporate america want to pay less money for the health insurance of their employees. They want healthy productive employees.

Seriously???

Let's take Coca-Cola as an example... Like any large corporation, they have an excellent benefits package for their employees — health insurance, free health screenings, discounts for fitness clubs, organized sports activities etc. So they can save a little on health care expenses within their organization.

The same corporation aggressively markets the world-wide consumption of high-fructose corn syrup sodas and junk food which destroy the health of billions. They don't care about this; they'll cook up some internal studies that show that their products really aren't that harmful and ignore the obvious harm that they do. The employees have nothing to say about this; they have to go along with the program or quit.

The same can be said for any large corporate food producer in the world. there's more profit in processed food than in real food, so that's what they sell. They'll market it to appear healthy if it means more sales, but for no other reason.

How about a corporation like Whole Foods? They posture themselves as a healthy alternative food store, but if you scope out any of their stores, you'd notice that the majority of the floor space is dedicated to processed foods, just like any other supermarket. They claim to support GMO labeling, but at the same time, sell tons of products with GMO ingredients as well as MSG and other harmful ingredients. If they didn't, they'd go out of business.

I doubt that there's even ONE Fortune 500 corporation that does more to benefit world-wide public health that they do to undermine it... it's not even close. It's either their toxic products, disregard for the environment, exposure of their third-world employees to environmental hazards, etc. The list is endless.

[Brutha]

Maybe he found out that selling books is more lucrative, but selling books isn't any different than selling supplements.

A supplement salesman has a certain bias when it comes to nutrition.

I don't see why someone who sells books should have the same bias.

Someone you makes money through selling information should be trusted more than a person who destributes information to advertise his supplement business.

They don't care about this

If that what you believe than the argument that you made above is false.
You claimed that corporate America does care about health effects and wants a sick population.