The 6 Best Nutrition Books of All Time (2024)

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 Summary

The Obesity Code is about a different approach to losing weight, not through cutting fat or calories, but through controlling our hormone insulin.

Dr. Fung recommends a low-carb healthy-fat diet filled with whole unprocessed foods, as well as intermittent fasting.

"" —Dr. Jason Fung
 Summary

How to Not Die reveals the connection between what we eat and chronic diseases.

Based on hundreds of references to scientific evidence, Dr. Michael Greger shows how to prevent (and even reverse) the top causes of death like heart disease, most cancers, diabetes, obesity, strokes and Alzheimer's.

"That one unifying diet found to best prevent and treat many of these chronic diseases is a whole-food, plant-based diet" —Dr. Michael Greger
 Summary

The Plant Paradox says lectins are bad.

Lectins are proteins hidden in some plants like grains, beans and tomatoes.

Dr. Gundry claims they cause many health problems rampant today (like obesity, diabetes and autoimmune diseases) and if you avoid lectin-producing plants, you will lose weight, live longer and feel better.

"All New World plants have troublesome lectins that most of mankind has eaten for no more than five hundred years. Even Native Americans came from Asia, so these plants are "new" to all of us." —Dr. Steven R Gundry
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Grain Brain is about improving brain health through eating more "good fats" and less grains, sugars, and processed carbs.

Dr. Perlmutter says this diet helped many of his patients lower their weight, blood sugar, inflammation, and cholesterol levels—thereby decreasing their risk for dementia, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.

"My goal is to show you how certain habits reduce inflammation while at the same time enhancing neurogenesis, so that rather than destroying brain cells you are sparking the growth of new ones." —David Perlmutter, MD
 Summary

Lifespan is about how to live longer and healthier, according to the latest science.

Harvard researcher David Sinclair says that aging is a disease that will be treatable and—perhaps one day—completely preventable.

For now, we can boost our longevity with practices like fasting, exercise and cold exposure.

"There are plenty of stressors that will activate longevity genes without damaging the cell, including certain types of exercise, intermittent fasting, low-protein diets, and exposure to hot and cold temperatures." —David Sinclair
 Summary

The Omnivore's Dilemma is about where our food comes from.

Michael Pollan went on a journey through the big food industry and discovered processed corn is in almost everything we eat.

He also explored 'alternative' food systems like a smaller organic farm and finding wild food in the forest.

"We subsidize high-fructose corn syrup in this country, but not carrots. [...] guaranteeing that the cheapest calories in the supermarket will continue to be the unhealthiest." —Michael Pollan