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(More customer reviews)*****
This book has been my dietary bible since reading it a year ago. It is a sourcebook for people wanting to eat a traditional diet, which is a diet solidly grounded in current dietary research, not unproven theories of the past. Look past the gimmicky cover here, as this is not a book about fads. It is a book about coconut oil as the foundation for an overall diet that is health-enhancing.
"Eat Fat, Lose Fat" is part of the growing body of literature supporting the eating of "real food", which is food that is healthy, tasty, not disease-promoting, slow, of exceptional quality, nutrient dense, organic, vital, traditional, local, seasonal, and clean. "Real foods" are the opposite of "fake foods", which are foods that are processed, dead, fast, nutrient poor, chemicalized, devitalized, rotten, spoiled, dead, old, or contaminated with antibiotics and growth hormones. It is based on scientific studies published in journals such as the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Lancet, and even JAMA. It is also based upon looking at the dietary practices of people of different cultures, a fascinating anthropological study that illuminates how indigenous people throughout history instinctively knew things that we are just now "discovering" with modern scientific methods.
The authors are Mary Enig, a world-renowned biochemist and nutritionist who spearheaded, with her research over 25 years ago, the recent move against trans fats at last, and Sally Fallon, The book is written in an interesting style, and is full of facts, explanations, how-to's, tips for
Chapter 1 sorts out the facts versus the fears about fats, debunking fat myths one by one, citing recent studies. The authors explain contradictory findings and flaws with past studies. One surprising fact is that most studies done in the past with coconut oil were done with fully hydrogenated coconut oil, a far cry from today's organic, extra virgin coconut oil or traditional society's raw coconut oil.
Chapter 2 explains the lipid hypothesis (and makes it interesting for non-chemistry majors like me) and explains the relationship between fat and heart disease and cholesterol. She explains how quality fats actually protect you from heart disease. This will be of particular interest to those eating a low-saturated-fat diet in hope of preventing or recovering from heart disease. All of this is written in a logical, yet not dry style.
Chapter 3 details the effects fats have on your various body systems, and the important nutrients that these systems need that can only be obtained from fats.
I know that up until this point this review makes the book sound boring, but it is very exciting, filled with facts and ideas that work.
Chapter 4 explains why diets with healthy fats help you to lose weight and be healthier at the same time, including important effects of healthy fats upon metabolism. This chapter also explains problems with ineffective weight loss theories of the past. It discusses the pros and cons of the Atkins diet, Ornish (low-fat vegetarian), Zone, South Beach, Weight Watchers, juice fasts, and the glycemic index.
Chapter 5 discusses the principles of healthy traditional diets, which surprisingly are similar the world over. It discusses individual foods at length as well as MSG, superfoods, fermentation, supplementation, raw vs. cooked, and more.
Chapter 6 is all about weight loss, based on four core principles:
1. Eat three meals per day, and always eat breakfast.
2. Eat traditional fats, including coconut oil.
3. Eat nutrient dense foods, particularly those supplying calcium and vitamins A and D.
4. Restrict calories moderately.
It also discusses special weight loss tips, such as taking coconut oil before each meal (and gives you 25 ways to use coconut oil in your meals). Of particular interest to me was why you should restrict your calories moderately but not too much. The chapter takes you step-by-step and day-by-day into starting your weight loss program, effectively holding your hand with shopping lists and daily menu plans.
Chapter 7 is about dietary emphases for recovery from various illnesses and health issues.
Chapter 8 is an everyday gourmet diet for those who are interested in maintaining their weight. It also covers dining out.
The rest of the book (about 100 pages out of almost 300 pages) is recipes and resources.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough for those who are serious and committed to their health, especially including those who are unwilling to lose weight through dangerous fad diets.
*****
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Eat Fat, Lose Fat: Lose Weight And Feel Great With The Delicious, Science-based Coconut DietThe healthy alternative to trans fats, this revolutionary program explains why we must eat healthy, saturated fats-especially coconut-to achieve weight loss and good health. Since the late 1950s, it's been drilled into Americans that fat makes you fat, saturated fats (such as those found in butter, eggs, and red meat) are unhealthy, and tropical fats and oils (like coconut and palm) are downright deadly. And yet-as we eliminate saturated fats from our diet for fear of high cholesterol levels and hardened arteries-obesity, heart disease, and cancer rates have continued to climb.Based on more than two decades of research by world-renowned biochemist and fats expert Dr. Mary Enig, Eat Fat, Lose Fat flouts conventional wisdom by asserting that so-called healthy vegetable oils (such as soybean and corn) are in large part responsible for our national obesity and health crises, while the saturated fats traditionally considered "harmful" are, in fact, essential to weight loss and health. World populations on four continents that subsist on the coconut, with less evidence of heart disease, weight gain, or other chronic illnesses, provide the best proof of this food's safety and efficacy; dozens of studies conducted by prestigious, mainstream universities support the use of coconut and other healthy fats and reveal the faulty reasoning underlying the saturated fat/heart disease hypothesis; and case stories from a wide range of people illustrate how using coconut oil in concert with other healthy fats can spark weight loss and heal serious illnesses, including anxiety, hypothyroidism, and chronic fatigue syndrome.Featuring delicious recipes for each of its three nutritional programs, Eat Fat, Lose Fat is the book to help you build energy, lose weight, fight disease, and boost your immunity.
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