Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating

Rating:
Summary: I learned why food does what it does to my body.
Review: This book was a fantastic learning experience. It was an easy read that is packed full of useful information.

In elementary school I learned about the food pyramid - then the eating standard. But no one taught me (until now), that the food pyramid was backed by the food industries.

No one explained how food works with my body. Simple questions such as "Why is my cholesterol high?" and "How can I lower it?" weren't explained to me in a manner that ever sank in. The answers were - "It's what you're eating" and "change your diet".

This book went beyond the 2 minute explanations I got from my family doctor. It went beyond just giving recipies or meal plans to change the way I eat. In a way that was easily understood, it was explained why food reacts as it does with the body, and how to change to become a healthier person.

I have recommended it to anyone who's thinking about changing their diets and their lives. I am now on the road to healthy living, thank you Dr. Willett

Rating:
Summary: Solid nutritional information
Review: This book provides solid, researched nutritional information from a reliable source. The newest fad of carb counting is obviously attractive to many people, but I think often it is misunderstood in an overall nutritional context (just as the "low-fat" fad of the 90's was). This is not a fad diet book it is more a handbook to healthy eating based on the most current research. I highly recommend it as the basis to understanding nutrition and helping formulate a nutritious diet which is a way of life, not a passing fad.

Rating:
Summary: Scientifically-based, Sound Advice
Review: Dr. Willet's whole approach and style to nutrition is sensible and should be emulated by others who sincerely want to give the public knowledgable advice.

Unlike most nutrition experts who base their claims on anecdotal evidence and unproven or worse, sloppy or pseudo-science, Dr. Willet establishes nutritional guidelines that are based on proven, long-term scientific studies.

He shows that nutrition is not an exact science and that many studies contradict earlier ones(for example, because of its high cholesterol content people should not eat eggs because it would raise their cholesterol levels) or may not be conclusive(drinking coffee may or may not contribute to osteoporosis).

The key, then, to maintaining life-long, healthy, eating habits is to focus on current, objective, scientific studies, and to learn to change and adapt these habits according to the continuous stream of new information that is being uncovered.

It is not about mindlessly following a popular new trend or taking a so-called miracle antioxidant supplement or relying on the static, out-of-date USDA food pyramid.

Keep up the good work Dr. Willet!

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Summary: THE starting place for diet and nutrition information.
Review: A lot has been said about this book by reviewers who came before me, so I'll keep it brief. Whether you are interested in dieting to lose weight or just want to be better informed about nutrition, this is THE BOOK to purchase. It is THE starting place. Willett uses the whole of the literature and research to meld the most up-to-date, most science-based diet planning and information available. Further, his diet is moldable to most people, without offering the usual "too-good-to-be-true" or "no pain, no gain" advice. This is the real stuff, where all so-called diet and nutrition books should start, but, as we all know, don't.

I also recommend checking out the Harvard Health sites and newsletters as a follow-up to reading this book. There you will find sound advice, without having to wrangle with the emotional highs and lows that arrive with the press' overbearing reporting of each single new study. The whole of research literature is always considered by Harvard Health -- as it is in Willett's book -- not just the hyperbole surrounding the latest single study, as it often is in the press and in many other "nutrition books."