I read a lot about health and nutrition. I mean a lot. Sometimes several books a week, along with papers from the scientific literature. I’m a total research nerd. I admit it.
One complaint I’ve had for a long time is that there hasn’t been a single book I can recommend without reservation to friends and family that reflects my views on nutrition. There are certainly some great books out there, but there’s almost always something relatively significant I disagree with that keeps me from giving my full stamp of approval.
I had come to the conclusion that I’d have to write this book myself, but I simply don’t have the time and don’t anticipate that changing in the near future.
That’s why I was thrilled (and relieved) to discover the Perfect Health Diet by Paul Jaminet, Ph.D and Shou-Ching Shih, Ph.D. Paul was an astrophysicist at Harvard and Shou-Ching is a molecular biologist and cancer researcher at Harvard, and let me tell you, these folks are smart. Of course we know that being smart alone doesn’t cut it in the world of nutrition, but I’m happy to tell you that Paul & Shou-Ching combine broad and deep research, clear thinking and a direct, accessible writing style with a rock-solid grounding in evolutionary biology and nutrition.
Their book hasn’t been published yet, but it’s available as a PDF from their website. One of my readers linked to their blog, which I was unaware of. I read their series on healing gut problems, and it was so well done that I decided to check out their book.
I’m so glad I did. It’s broken into three sections: “optimizing macronutrition”, “eat paleo, not toxic” and “nutrition”. They cover everything from the ideal macronutrient ratio, to the finer points of fat metabolism, to the role of chronic infections in modern disease, to which foods are toxic and why, to the benefits of starch and the dangers of fructose.
It’s chock-full of well chosen studies to back up their arguments, but it’s written for the layperson so you don’t need a Ph.D from Harvard to understand it. I have not been this impressed by a book in this genre for a long time, and I’ve never found one that so closely reflects my views on nutrition.
They’ve got an A-list blog, too. Reading a few posts there will give you a good idea of the quality of their writing and research. The book costs about $25. Although it’s not yet in its final version, if you buy it now you’ll receive a hard copy when it’s finished.
Many of you have emailed me in the past asking me what book I would suggest as an introduction to the nutritional principles I write about. Well, this is it. Head over to their website and check it out.
