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Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating
1 pages, Audio CD
Published December 26, 2017
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 29, 2026
I finished Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy by Walter C. Willett with P.J. Skerrett.
The recommendations are familiar. Their scientific support is strong for a popular nutrition book. In a 2021 independent expert review, Red Pen Reviews gave the book 97% overall, 3.8/4 for scientific accuracy, and 3.8/4 for reference accuracy. The reviewers found its advice healthy, well-supported, and fairly easy to follow.
The recommendations:
• Maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly.
• Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit; limit juice and treat potatoes as a starch.
• Choose whole grains over refined grains.
• Prefer unsaturated plant oils; limit saturated fat and avoid trans fat.
• Choose beans, nuts, fish, and poultry more often; limit red meat and avoid processed meat.
• Drink mostly water; unsweetened tea and coffee are fine; avoid sugary drinks.
• If you drink alcohol, keep it limited.
• The book also recommends a daily multivitamin with vitamin D.
The main limitation is age. The latest English edition was published in 2017. Current evidence is less favorable toward alcohol, and routine multivitamins have not reliably prevented cardiovascular disease, cancer, or death in the general population. Those two recommendations need an updated check.
The book’s value is a careful explanation of the evidence behind sensible, mostly conventional advice.
The recommendations are familiar. Their scientific support is strong for a popular nutrition book. In a 2021 independent expert review, Red Pen Reviews gave the book 97% overall, 3.8/4 for scientific accuracy, and 3.8/4 for reference accuracy. The reviewers found its advice healthy, well-supported, and fairly easy to follow.
The recommendations:
• Maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly.
• Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit; limit juice and treat potatoes as a starch.
• Choose whole grains over refined grains.
• Prefer unsaturated plant oils; limit saturated fat and avoid trans fat.
• Choose beans, nuts, fish, and poultry more often; limit red meat and avoid processed meat.
• Drink mostly water; unsweetened tea and coffee are fine; avoid sugary drinks.
• If you drink alcohol, keep it limited.
• The book also recommends a daily multivitamin with vitamin D.
The main limitation is age. The latest English edition was published in 2017. Current evidence is less favorable toward alcohol, and routine multivitamins have not reliably prevented cardiovascular disease, cancer, or death in the general population. Those two recommendations need an updated check.
The book’s value is a careful explanation of the evidence behind sensible, mostly conventional advice.
Displaying 1 of 1 review