I wanted to read a book on nutrition which is backed by extensive research and is easily readable by a common person so that he/she can make changes in his/her lifestyle (especially vegetarian). Most of times, they are contradictory views related to diet and food we consume even in the top 10 results of google. I understand that diet is something which is dependent on person to person, but some universal truths like don't mix sour foods with dairy always work.
This would help a lot, rather than me reading every other blog on which food combinations do not go well together, or is dairy good, is keto diet healthy, is plant-based diet better than others etc.
Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
1–10 of 41 posts
Re: Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
#2It would also help to just have a short booklet which lists down even 20 things which are well established to improve your nutrition like:-
Don't eat any form of refined sugar.
Drink more water.
This thread is a lot of help - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3282998, however reasoning behind them is not super clear.
Re: Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
#3I like Joel Fuhrman's books. Not sure if the science included is as deep as you (a Hacker News reader) would want or not, but I found it adequate. I'm not trying to become a nutritional scientist myself, just understand things better.
Re: Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
#4Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes is a good start. It explains the high-level science of fat regulation well and can deep dive further with references. Gives a good history of bad nutrition advice. There's a bias towards low carb, high fat diet (popular variant is keto).
Re: Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
#5I’ve read most of them. There be dragons. There’s an entire landscape of conflicting information backed by conflicting scientific studies. You’ll go mad trying to find an objective answer.
But I’d recommend Food Rules by Michael Pollan. Honestly, you can get the summary in the first paragraph below: “Eat [real, unprocessed] food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
https://michaelpollan.com/reviews/how-to-eat/
I’d also recommend anything by Dr. Rhonda Patrick. I feel like she does not have an agenda and is putting out best-effort evidence.
Re: Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
#6Most people tend to forget the most important thing in nutrition:
If you are chasing an objective, remember to listen to your body. If you don't, it will be often cause a substantial issue while you course correct.
Also, don't experiment too much, the digestive system isn't bullet proof.
Re: Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
#7The perfect ten diet - by Dr Michael Aziz
I lost about seventeen kilos in ten months following the advice in this book
The Leangains method - by Martin Berkhan
Science and development of muscle hypertrophy - Brad Schoenfeld
Re: Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
#8I'd start with a movie, not a book. The movie is "Game Changers", directed by James Cameron, and released last month on Netflix and Amazon Video. If you're skeptical about the science behind the movie, read the critique published in Men's Health magazine along with the rebuttal from one of the MD's interviewed in the film.
Next I'd read "The Engine 2 seven-day rescue diet" by Rip Esselstyn. If you a more in-depth treatment, try "How Not to Die" by Michael Greger, MD. If you want scientific journal articles, I recommend the work of Caldwell Esselstyn. MD and Dean Ornish, MD. Dean Ornish's TED talk is also a good reference.
Re: Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
#9Deep Nutrition: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Nutrition-Your-Genes-Traditional...
Re: Ask HN: Which is the best book on nutrition?
#10I'd start with a movie, not a book. The movie is "Game Changers", directed by James Cameron, and released last month on Netflix and Amazon Video. If you're skeptical about the science behind the movie, read the critique published in Men's Health magazine along with the rebuttal from one of the MD's interviewed in the film. Next I'd read "The Engine 2 seven-day rescue diet" by Rip Esselstyn. If you a more in-depth tre…
I really liked game changers, but a few things stuck out to me, the first was the visual they used where they compared blood after a meal with meat vs a meal without meat. They put all this emphasis on how cloudy the blood plasma was in the blood taken after a meaty meal. They didn't explain why that was bad and I couldn't find any information elsewhere on why or even if that is a bad thing. Perhaps cloudy plasma is better?
Second, I found it very dishonest that great pains were taken to show that many advocates and studies of Paleo and other meat based diets were merely the product of bias because "big meat" was influencing them financially. I then discovered that James Cameron and his wife own a pea protein company. Which is one of the main ingredients in meat free "meat". Hmm, they wouldn't stand to gain financially from people going vegan, would they?
Normally, I wouldn't think that would matter too much. But they didn't disclose that and sounds a lot like the pot calling the kettle black.
I think science is pretty settled that we should all have a higher ratio of vegetables in our diet. But humans are unquestionably omnivores so I think Game Changers advocating for a totally animal product free diet is worried more about their ideology and possibly pocketbooks than they are the health of those who watch.