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Fiat Food: Why Inflation Destroyed Our Health and How Bitcoin Fixes It
THE REAL COST OF INFLATION ON A COUNTRY can be best seen not through government-sanctioned data points circulated throughout the corporate sponsored media, but in the financial, physical, and mental health of its citizenry. Officials point to the increase of paper wealth as evidence that their stewardship in both the economy and nutrition has led to a rise in the quality of life. In reality, the past fifty years has seen the true standard of living for most Americans plummet. Debasement of the currency has left the American people poorer, and through the resulting degradation of the nutrients of their food supply, sicker than at any time in recent history. What follows is an examination of one of the most compelling “who[1]done-its” in American history. In Fiat Food, Lysiak unravels a plot by the largest institutions of American power and the outsized ramifications it has had on modern civilization.
“IN TERMS OF THE LIVES CUT SHORT, it would be no exaggeration to say that 20th century nutrition science and government food policies are the biggest crime in history, putting genocides and man-made famines to shame. Matthew Lysiak provides a gripping forensic investigation into the barely believable sequence of events, spanning over a century, which led to the complete overhaul of the modern diet and the current obesity, diabetes, and autoimmune disease epidemic ravaging our species.”
—SAIFEDEAN AMMOUS Internationally Best-selling Economist and Author
“WHAT IF THE FOOD YOU ATE MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE to think clearly about the food you were eating—or for that matter, anything else? Could the western diet function as a tool of mass social control? Hell yes, as this remarkable book explains with horrifying clarity.”
—TUCKER CARLSON Author, Journalist, and Host of Tucker on X
“IN TERMS OF THE LIVES CUT SHORT, it would be no exaggeration to say that 20th century nutrition science and government food policies are the biggest crime in history, putting genocides and man-made famines to shame. Matthew Lysiak provides a gripping forensic investigation into the barely believable sequence of events, spanning over a century, which led to the complete overhaul of the modern diet and the current obesity, diabetes, and autoimmune disease epidemic ravaging our species.”
—SAIFEDEAN AMMOUS Internationally Best-selling Economist and Author
“WHAT IF THE FOOD YOU ATE MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE to think clearly about the food you were eating—or for that matter, anything else? Could the western diet function as a tool of mass social control? Hell yes, as this remarkable book explains with horrifying clarity.”
—TUCKER CARLSON Author, Journalist, and Host of Tucker on X
274 pages, Paperback
Published September 25, 2023
79 people are currently reading
448 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 23, 2024
I found this book incredibly eye opening. I’ve never really considered the history of our current society’s food before. Let alone considered the impact of inflation on our nutrition . Or the marketing, government, religious, and financial aspects that effected it.
Matthew and Saifedean have proposed many compelling reasons to avoid sugar, corn, soy, and vegetable oils amongst other things. I’m a little biased because from my knowledge I consider these substances detrimental to health anyways. I don’t have the knowledge, expertise, or credentials of either author to object to any points. Assuming what they say is true, which I’m compelled to believe because Saifedean is a former economics professor with no time for BS and Matthew is a renowned journalist, it’s horrific to see the epidemic of malnutrition in society.
I read a review that stated this book is “one sided”. No shit. The authors are trying to state their case. Just like a book about veganism, sleep, or Christianity. In the book they do not touch on animal cruelty or factory farming. Unfortunate, but that’s not the point. Towards the end Saifedean encourages local butchers shops to obtain meat or using local farmers. The last option was supermarket meat which you, the one reading this review, probably use for every food you consume.
I thoroughly enjoy the no bullshit straight to the point tone of the book. I’m going to implement carnivore where I can and analyze the results. There’s no harm in experimenting.
I’d definitely recommend giving this book a read. It might support what you already know intuitively or shed light on what you never considered.
Matthew and Saifedean have proposed many compelling reasons to avoid sugar, corn, soy, and vegetable oils amongst other things. I’m a little biased because from my knowledge I consider these substances detrimental to health anyways. I don’t have the knowledge, expertise, or credentials of either author to object to any points. Assuming what they say is true, which I’m compelled to believe because Saifedean is a former economics professor with no time for BS and Matthew is a renowned journalist, it’s horrific to see the epidemic of malnutrition in society.
I read a review that stated this book is “one sided”. No shit. The authors are trying to state their case. Just like a book about veganism, sleep, or Christianity. In the book they do not touch on animal cruelty or factory farming. Unfortunate, but that’s not the point. Towards the end Saifedean encourages local butchers shops to obtain meat or using local farmers. The last option was supermarket meat which you, the one reading this review, probably use for every food you consume.
I thoroughly enjoy the no bullshit straight to the point tone of the book. I’m going to implement carnivore where I can and analyze the results. There’s no harm in experimenting.
I’d definitely recommend giving this book a read. It might support what you already know intuitively or shed light on what you never considered.
June 9, 2024
Lots of decent ideas, but this book is honestly not written very well. I noticed a decent number of simple grammatical mistakes that look sloppy, and for some reason, I always want to second guess myself: don’t judge so easily, grammar’s not the end all be all, etc.
But that is the dumb American in me, insisting that the exception should always be the rule. The fact is that the sloppy grammar is just a preview of the sloppy thinking the continues throughout. To be clear, there is important information in here, and I can pull out enough to realize he’s absolutely onto something.
But it simply isn’t clear, which is super disappointing to me, a huge bitcoin supporter. I’d say there are two main issues. One is essentially this constant hint at an overarching conspiracy that never really ties together. This is probably the fault of the marketers and maybe Saifedean Ammous, who literally uses the word “whodunnit” in the intro. There have indeed been a number of actors whose interests aligned to push the standard American diet down our throats, but this conspiracy angle just left me looking for a smoking gun that simply doesn’t exist. If he had basically pushed the same information but framed it as a confluence of factors that rolled us forward (and yes, to the obvious benefit of some actors, etc.), I’d have liked it a lot better.
Two on my list of problems is much worse - this book is filled with conclusion after conclusion w/ no real backing. If you flip to the back, where he’s talking about how BTC fixes all these issues, the arguments are basically non-existent. For example, he just says that with a bitcoin standard, suddenly meat would be more affordable. How? I mean if you’re preaching to the choir, I can get there in my head. But he offers nothing that would stand up outside the echo chamber.
The facts are these: when you turn on the money spigot in any environment — the nation or even in your own home — the recipient immediately stops anything they might be doing and looks at that spigot. How do I get more of that? No more is that person concerned with .. producing. They are just looking to get a cut of what was already produced. Said another way, the spigot produces nothing, but b/c money represents real value in society, printing more of it is literally just taking that pre-existing value and making it worth less dollars, i.e., more expensive. As the game rolls on, an increasing number of people are producing nothing but fighting over the dollars. If you turn that spigot off, meat will NOT be cheaper. Meat will cost what it costs today. But at least it will stop increasing in price as all of the marginal grifters stop fighting over “free” money and pushing the spigot to open even wider, and that stoppage will at least allow the real value, e.g., meat, to at least stop getting more expensive.
Now I get that, and I tend to agree that high inflation leads to a preference for cheaper BS foods, e.g., processed foods, over substantial food with higher marginal cost to produce, e.g., meat. But if you’re going to write a book, you shouldn’t be just trying to ‘convince’ people like me that already believe or want to believe you before you start. He doesn’t do this, and for that reason, my view is that this book will never get anywhere with a serious and skeptical reader.
But that is the dumb American in me, insisting that the exception should always be the rule. The fact is that the sloppy grammar is just a preview of the sloppy thinking the continues throughout. To be clear, there is important information in here, and I can pull out enough to realize he’s absolutely onto something.
But it simply isn’t clear, which is super disappointing to me, a huge bitcoin supporter. I’d say there are two main issues. One is essentially this constant hint at an overarching conspiracy that never really ties together. This is probably the fault of the marketers and maybe Saifedean Ammous, who literally uses the word “whodunnit” in the intro. There have indeed been a number of actors whose interests aligned to push the standard American diet down our throats, but this conspiracy angle just left me looking for a smoking gun that simply doesn’t exist. If he had basically pushed the same information but framed it as a confluence of factors that rolled us forward (and yes, to the obvious benefit of some actors, etc.), I’d have liked it a lot better.
Two on my list of problems is much worse - this book is filled with conclusion after conclusion w/ no real backing. If you flip to the back, where he’s talking about how BTC fixes all these issues, the arguments are basically non-existent. For example, he just says that with a bitcoin standard, suddenly meat would be more affordable. How? I mean if you’re preaching to the choir, I can get there in my head. But he offers nothing that would stand up outside the echo chamber.
The facts are these: when you turn on the money spigot in any environment — the nation or even in your own home — the recipient immediately stops anything they might be doing and looks at that spigot. How do I get more of that? No more is that person concerned with .. producing. They are just looking to get a cut of what was already produced. Said another way, the spigot produces nothing, but b/c money represents real value in society, printing more of it is literally just taking that pre-existing value and making it worth less dollars, i.e., more expensive. As the game rolls on, an increasing number of people are producing nothing but fighting over the dollars. If you turn that spigot off, meat will NOT be cheaper. Meat will cost what it costs today. But at least it will stop increasing in price as all of the marginal grifters stop fighting over “free” money and pushing the spigot to open even wider, and that stoppage will at least allow the real value, e.g., meat, to at least stop getting more expensive.
Now I get that, and I tend to agree that high inflation leads to a preference for cheaper BS foods, e.g., processed foods, over substantial food with higher marginal cost to produce, e.g., meat. But if you’re going to write a book, you shouldn’t be just trying to ‘convince’ people like me that already believe or want to believe you before you start. He doesn’t do this, and for that reason, my view is that this book will never get anywhere with a serious and skeptical reader.
January 13, 2025
While I enjoyed the part of the book that discussed the history of how the American diet was influenced by economics, it was not clear to me how the author thought that bitcoin was going to solve everything. Also, I do not agree with the assertion that a 100% carnivore diet is right for everyone and the ending of the book really pushed that idea.
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January 4, 2024My Favorite Quote:
"In successfully recasting the narrative around health, authorities have pitted the most natural human instincts-the urge to eat healthy red meat-against a reasoning mind struggling to make sense out of the endless layers of false data points, consequently, corrupting the perceptions needed for the mind to integrate and for the body to act and in turn, destroying the ability of the individual to shape the circumstances that dictate the fate of their own existence."
Quite the who dunnit in terms of investigating many of the perverse relationships and incentives that have led to the profit driven modern industrial food complex that has completely destroyed western diets, especially in the US, and have left many, myself included, completely overwhelmed w/ misinformation and noise about the most basic thing of what to (and what not to) put into our bodies for fuel.
This book has also served to confirm many of the long standing hypothesis that I have been testing on myself (on and off, w/ and without success) on different types of foods, namely (to borrow from Dr. Ken Berry) the "ancestrally appropriate" foods (i.e. RED FATTY MEAT) and its positive impact on my energy, focus, high intensity and resistance regimes, etc.
Loved Saifedean's contributions to this work as well as his work has clearly inspired the author (and myself) as to the toxic tragedy and far reaching devastation caused by the modern fiat banking / central banking / the dysfunctional and dishonest debt based fractional reserve system whose financial weeds of course invade academia, Keynesian economics, and yes, the mainstream nutrition narrative and why it is broken.
"In successfully recasting the narrative around health, authorities have pitted the most natural human instincts-the urge to eat healthy red meat-against a reasoning mind struggling to make sense out of the endless layers of false data points, consequently, corrupting the perceptions needed for the mind to integrate and for the body to act and in turn, destroying the ability of the individual to shape the circumstances that dictate the fate of their own existence."
Quite the who dunnit in terms of investigating many of the perverse relationships and incentives that have led to the profit driven modern industrial food complex that has completely destroyed western diets, especially in the US, and have left many, myself included, completely overwhelmed w/ misinformation and noise about the most basic thing of what to (and what not to) put into our bodies for fuel.
This book has also served to confirm many of the long standing hypothesis that I have been testing on myself (on and off, w/ and without success) on different types of foods, namely (to borrow from Dr. Ken Berry) the "ancestrally appropriate" foods (i.e. RED FATTY MEAT) and its positive impact on my energy, focus, high intensity and resistance regimes, etc.
Loved Saifedean's contributions to this work as well as his work has clearly inspired the author (and myself) as to the toxic tragedy and far reaching devastation caused by the modern fiat banking / central banking / the dysfunctional and dishonest debt based fractional reserve system whose financial weeds of course invade academia, Keynesian economics, and yes, the mainstream nutrition narrative and why it is broken.
August 6, 2024
I believe the authors jump to conclusions in ways similar to those people discussed in the book on the opposing side. They take for granted something that they see as obvious - i.e. red meat, eggs, and butter are self-evidently the healthiest foods, so they don't make attempts to show studies which can prove that. Instead they take the lazy approach of deferring to "historical humans" and how absent disease supposedly was for them. In that regard I was hoping for more factual data. BUT I certainly appreciated putting the food conversation into the context of fiat money. I hadn't thought about how cheap processed food is another means by which the true cost of inflation can be masked. I'm still not sure which foods I want to be eating since this book is light on scientific studies (and moreso provides sources from journalist articles), but I'm convinced there has been some serious meddling in our diets by institutional interests.
June 28, 2024
Everyone should read this book
A beautiful history lesson and simplified text on why your money and your food are intrinsically linked.
If you wonder why food is so expensive then you need to read this book
A beautiful history lesson and simplified text on why your money and your food are intrinsically linked.
If you wonder why food is so expensive then you need to read this book
February 5, 2024
Fascinating read on the impact inflation has had, and is currently having, on our health due to the food we’ve been consuming since the last century with the implementation of the fiat system. This system, where money can be created out of nowhere through debt, is not only destroying the purchasing power of hardworking people but also our health.
Matthew Lysiak explains in a very digestible way the history of fiat money and the origin of highly processed foods, sugar, vegetable oils, etc., and why it’s necessary for the current system, with food corporations, governments, and health professionals working together to dictate our diet. Essentially, this book will help you understand phenomena such as why Lucky Charms cereal was ranked as healthier food than steak and eggs (crazy) in a study by Tufts University in 2022 and the incentives behind these kinds of studies.
The last part of the book might not be for anyone who doesn’t understand Bitcoin’s properties as money and the effects it can have on societies by lowering its ‘time preference’, and changing the incentives of different agents in the economy which could be a solution towards healthier food consumption in the future.
Matthew Lysiak explains in a very digestible way the history of fiat money and the origin of highly processed foods, sugar, vegetable oils, etc., and why it’s necessary for the current system, with food corporations, governments, and health professionals working together to dictate our diet. Essentially, this book will help you understand phenomena such as why Lucky Charms cereal was ranked as healthier food than steak and eggs (crazy) in a study by Tufts University in 2022 and the incentives behind these kinds of studies.
The last part of the book might not be for anyone who doesn’t understand Bitcoin’s properties as money and the effects it can have on societies by lowering its ‘time preference’, and changing the incentives of different agents in the economy which could be a solution towards healthier food consumption in the future.
January 7, 2024
Didnt finish, stopped half way.
I guess most of what is written in this book, about the origin of some of our highly processed food is true. However, I miss the topic of animal welfare in this book when the author talks about an increase of efficiency in animal (meat) production. With the growth of some super farms/ factories, to speed up the process of cows and pigs for consumption, the quality of the 'food' went down, and in a lot of cases also the price. This had/ has a negative effect on animal welfare, and the health of humans as these animals are full of antibiotics and other medicine to speed up growth and reduce diseases. This is not mentioned in the book (at least not in the first half).
It also talks about the downsides of increasing soy production but doesnt mention that the majority of this soy is used to feed cattle, in these super farms/ factories.
I therefore didnt continue in the book as it seemed quite 1 sided.
I guess most of what is written in this book, about the origin of some of our highly processed food is true. However, I miss the topic of animal welfare in this book when the author talks about an increase of efficiency in animal (meat) production. With the growth of some super farms/ factories, to speed up the process of cows and pigs for consumption, the quality of the 'food' went down, and in a lot of cases also the price. This had/ has a negative effect on animal welfare, and the health of humans as these animals are full of antibiotics and other medicine to speed up growth and reduce diseases. This is not mentioned in the book (at least not in the first half).
It also talks about the downsides of increasing soy production but doesnt mention that the majority of this soy is used to feed cattle, in these super farms/ factories.
I therefore didnt continue in the book as it seemed quite 1 sided.
September 17, 2024
Fascinating though I already knew a good portion of the food parts. I'm still not sure that I would do bitcoin, but I do love the thought process of how the science of food has been hijacked. I was lucky that although I studied food science, I worked with gum instead of at one of these food conglomerates or what my education taught me would have been even more hijacked for the so called new science than what the so called NEWS did to me. So happy to be back on track in the last 2 years going to what I always knew about food.
October 27, 2024
4.5 ⭐️ Wow. The American history book we all should have read. If you’ve ever wondered why there’s so much contradicting information about what’s healthy for you, it’s because there are many powerful people (big gov, big pharma, big food & big ag) that are trying to keep the truth from you, for their economical benefit. This book will open your mind to what’s really going on in this country and will make you want to be your own health advocate! 👏
Warning: it will make you very angry at some point lol.
Warning: it will make you very angry at some point lol.
November 19, 2024
The author claimed at the beginning this book would read like a crime novel; “Fiat Food” lives up that claim. As someone who has eaten a plant-based diet for 6 years, this book truly challenges core assumptions and beliefs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the “science” and “common sense” so many of us assume is true, is not only false, but fabricated for the sake of profit and industry. Is there meat in my future? Most likely…
April 21, 2025
This was one of the most powerful and thought provoking books I've ever read. It's easily one of the most important books I've read in the past 10 years. The authors paint a thorough and vivid picture of the problems with how society views food, and the manipulative forces that played a part in getting us to where we are today. I promise you that after this book you'll never look at food or what some pass off as "food" the same way again!
December 15, 2023
interesting connection
I love reading history that I’ve lived through- it’s a humbling experience to find out what I should have observed , real time. Thank you for the detailed history on the connection between the dissolution of the gold standard and the funding of corporate research disguised as scholarly work.
I love reading history that I’ve lived through- it’s a humbling experience to find out what I should have observed , real time. Thank you for the detailed history on the connection between the dissolution of the gold standard and the funding of corporate research disguised as scholarly work.
July 21, 2025
My coach recommended this book to me…. A very intriguing dive into all the people who profit from keeping us eating junk, misguiding us, keeping us sick and in a mindset that we have no control over how we eat and our own health. Many parts truly shocked 😳 me! I will never look at food the same again…
It probably would’ve been 5 stars without all of the bitcoin baloney
It probably would’ve been 5 stars without all of the bitcoin baloney
December 2, 2025
Eye-opening to say the least. I took more pleasure in tracking down the development of nutrition in the US, rather than the pro-BTC arguments (which make sense anyway). The book is full of references to various sources to books and scientific researches, which provide solid ground for a deep-dive on the subject.
December 27, 2023
This book BLEW my mind. I highly recommend for anyone to read! It’s crazy to read about all the money that goes into promoting certain things to eat and the actual benefits of red meat that is downplayed so hard.
January 4, 2024
This is a must read for anyone who is interested in breaking free from the SAD. It’s totally infuriating, even though I knew most of these points before reading, seeing pseudo-foods for what they are and how they became so ubiquitous to the American diet.
May 2, 2024
food for thought
Brilliant and a fast “couldn’t put it down” type read. These truths are self evident, just needed to hear them to arrive at the “of course” moment. Excellent book.
Brilliant and a fast “couldn’t put it down” type read. These truths are self evident, just needed to hear them to arrive at the “of course” moment. Excellent book.
October 5, 2024
The book got a llliitttllleee off track towards the end with the carnivore cult stuff but overall, this was a magnificent condemnation of government overreach into the American food supply and how our deteriorating health is a direct result of unleashing the Fiat money printer.
October 28, 2024
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Fiat Foods makes a profound, compelling, & devastating argument about our food industry — which is fueled by fiat money. The cover up & deception is real and it has significantly altered my worldview.
February 19, 2025
Surprisingly easy read after reading The Bitcoin Standard. This book has had a profound impact on the way I view the government and nutrition. I always knew the government didn’t really care about our nutrition, now I know why. This book will drastically change the way you view nutrition
June 16, 2025
For me, so much was brought to light in this book. Most readers will be surprised (and disappointed) by what the learn.
It took me a while to see how everything in this book fits together and by the end - it did.
Note though: the last two chapters are provided by another author.
It took me a while to see how everything in this book fits together and by the end - it did.
Note though: the last two chapters are provided by another author.
December 17, 2023
One of the greatest dietary foods of this generation.
In each chapter, expect to feel parts of your mind that have long been blind and suppressed to start opening up. Must be an ancestral thing.
In each chapter, expect to feel parts of your mind that have long been blind and suppressed to start opening up. Must be an ancestral thing.
July 31, 2024
Great explanation of the corruption of the Processed food industry, the government, and academia to trick Americans into eating fake food and getting sick and fat.
Great book.
Great book.
October 20, 2024
Fantastic book. Everyone would benefit from reading and understanding how we have been misled on many levels. This book is well researched and well written. Fix the money fix the world.
November 6, 2024
This appears to lack sufficient editing, and the timeline is sometimes difficult to follow. Still, the research is thorough, the writing good, and the content significant.
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December 22, 2024A self-published book without an editor, but good points and studies to back them up.
July 2, 2025
must read for students of health, economics, and freedom. describes the impact of "fiat" (i.e. government declaration) on food.
July 13, 2025
Interesting, eye opening, makes you angry at the world. Too simplistic and dismissive of other opinions and reasons at times. Don’t listen to the audiobook, the narrator is absolutely terrible.
March 5, 2025
I thought there were a lot of valid points made. I have always been skeptical about the government, especially when they direct the way we eat. I read this book for my own due diligence as I’m learning more about the poisoned food in this world that I have been addicted to my entire life. This just adds more reasoning into my decisions of what I put in my body as far as more meat, and less garbage. I learned a lot of things I did not already know, which what was exactly what I was looking for. Enjoy the read and always do your own research!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews