Too Much of a Good Thing: How Four Key Survival Traits Are Now Killing Us

by Lee Goldman

Dean of Columbia University's medical school explains why our bodies are out of sync with today's environment and how we can correct this to save our health.

Over the past 200 years, human life-expectancy has approximately doubled. Yet we face soaring worldwide rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, mental illness, heart disease, and stroke. In his fascinating new book, Dr. Lee Goldman presents a radical explanation: The key protective traits that once ensured our species' survival are now the leading global causes of illness and death. Our capacity to store food, for example, lures us into overeating, and a clotting system designed to protect us from bleeding to death now directly contributes to heart attacks and strokes. A deeply compelling narrative that puts a new spin on evolutionary biology, TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING also provides a roadmap for getting back in sync with the modern world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Health, Psychology, Medical, Audiobook, Biology

352 pages, Hardcover

First published December 8, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[J. Ewbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book by Dr. Goldman is a very interessting read. It is about the four things that our bodies are wired to do that helped us in the distant past but today wreak havoc with our health and our lives. Written so that the layperson can read and understand, he has done a good job of doing what he sat out to do. Thank you for the book, Dr. Goldman and thank you Goodreads Giveaways for receiving it. I enjoyed reading it.

J. Robert Ewbank author "JOhn Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" "To Whom It May Concern" and "Tell Me About the United Methodist Church"

[Mason Lower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t read many physiology based books so this was a new perspective for me. Really liked the comparison of hunter gatherers to modern humans and the ideas that our genes are built up to prevent us from starving, bleeding to death, and dying from dehydration. But high blood pressure, obesity, and heart attacks do not have genetic defenses because there was no way any hunter gatherer could develop any of those.

[Viki · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main part of the book was very interesting and awesome read. The conclusion however was extremely disappointing.
Sure, humans are genetically predisposed to overeat, eat much salt, blood clotting etc. but we can change, the solution shouldn't be drugs.

The author is suggesting that people ''can't follow a diet to lose weight and keep it off, let alone become vegans for life'' - calls veganism an ''aggressive diet''. Really? Is it really more aggressive to eat chickpea burgers than having a by-pass surgery or take drugs for the rest of our lives which have many side effects?

Many people consider plant-based diet “extreme”, but the effects of eating cholesterol-laden animal protein are far more extreme.
“I think it’s extreme when someone saws my chest open, takes a vein from my leg and stitches it into my heart.” Dr. Ostfield

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Too Much Of A Good Thing: How Four Key Survival Traits Are Now Killing Us" which I received through Goodreads/First Reads is a remarkably insightful look at the mitigating factors hampering the longevity of mankind and resulting in an increased rate of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and mental illness. Dr. Goldman begins by referencing man's ancestry and natural selection providing clear, concise reasoning for the factors that contribute to heart attacks, strokes and other diseases that plague mankind now and into the future.

The novel is fascinating , gripping and very understandable to a layman like myself who is interested in why key protective traits haven't evolved with our bodies, and his prognosis for man's future.

[Sol · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read book! MD. Lee Goldman describes how four key survival traits are now killing us and the current medical challenges that we faced as a modern society.
I have learn so much about our DNA and the ways it has mutated to adapt into every aspect of human history, the dangers of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity...all this written by the hand of an expert.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Goldman discusses some crucial evolutionary and modern influences on our health in terms lay people can easily understand. This book has compelled me to movement, to include in my daily routine something that requires me to abandon, at least for a few minutes a day, my sedentary lifestyle. "The challenge is to use our brains, which so rapidly changed our environment and created these problems in the first place, to help get us back into sync. It won't be easy" -- Lee Goldman.

[Yolanda Butars · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Georgie Melrose · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ‘four survival traits’ Goldman refers to should be more like 2.5, 3 traits. When Goldman stays in his area of expertise, he explains the science and it makes sense. When he doesn't stay in his field, you can't tell by his tone or words, which is alarming to me. My main issues are as follows:

- Goldman uses the same confidence to explain blood clots as he does to argue that ‘depression probably made people submissive in socially tense hunter gatherer situations’. Psychology is significantly more difficult to measure and test than blood pressure. The post-hoc justification theory-crafting of “it was probably helpful evolutionarily in X way…” should not be treated as fact. Plenty of things happen by accident and stick around, as he himself notes in other places. The jump from depression to 'submissiveness' is also quite a leap he never fully bridges, with a tendency to group PTSD, depression, and anxiety as one big trait. Even going so far as to claim depression might have been helpful to get people kill themselves during ‘high investment’ times of their life as old age and being a teen – that is a wild statement. That is a statement that can’t be tested. A more realistic alternative is “well that’s when your body is changing the most” and he doesn’t even touch on that. I don’t even know what to say about his bold, very poorly defended claim that PTSD is around because soldiers are just ‘turning the violence inwards’ that they need to get out.

- Goldman continually assumes modern hunter-gatherers are the same, or almost the same as ancient hunter-gatherers. They aren’t. We can’t go back into the past and test that, and the assumption hunter-gatherers simply ‘stopped evolving’ is short-sighted. Looking at hunter-gatherer tribes can be helpful, sure, but doesn't even attempt to be nuanced about the using modern examples.

- For blood pressure and clotting, I am amazed Goldman tried to split it up. He had to keep repeating information and stretching out the word count. They are two different measurable traits, yes. My issue is that he forced them into their own long chapters when his point probably would have been better served by one chapter on blood.

- Finally, it is stunning to watch someone: 1. Acknowledge dieting doesn’t work. 2. Acknowledge the numerous social reasons why losing weight is extremely difficult 3. Acknowledge the numerous physical reasons why losing weight is extremely difficult, and then somehow conclude that since calorie labels and fast food taxes didn’t work, policy change is impossible to enact. If there is a weight difference between *nations*, then clearly things like walkable infrastructure, access to cheap, healthy food, and the like make a difference.

Goldman's assumptions ruin this book for me. I wish he would have done the slightest research with his examples, or at least have some humility about the simplified version he presents. For a quick number: he assumes the bible is historically accurate, the Irish Potato Famine was 100% a crop issue, “if obesity was just a cosmetic issue, it would be dismissed as much about nothing”, claims 'full figure' marketing is encouraging people to be fat, etc. He also assumes everything will continue to get better (shockingly no mention of climate change and the stagnating growth of late capitalism). People have different perspectives, that's fine. But not acknowledging the state of the world shows Goldman is in a bizarre bubble, or at least was at the time of this book.

Surgeries and medicine probably will continue to be needed in the future, sure. I don't disagree with that claim. However, his view of the world is painfully limited. Goldman doesn’t think to question the effect of inequality, racism, sexism, etc. on access to healthcare. He dances around eugenics, and while being against it, gets dangerously close at times without mentioning the ethical implications of what he is saying. He talks briefly about how obese diabetic women aren’t able to have children the same way normal weight women can with no thought to how an obese diabetic woman might feel about learning such information. He makes vague motions towards respecting people but also says things like, “we can’t change the obesity epidemic if people don't feel bad about being obese.”

It shouldn’t be a bold statement to respect fat people as people, and actually NO, shame only makes people feel worse and leads to worse outcomes for everyone. It’s not a conducive way to help people, and frankly, I thought that was the point.

[Scott Lupo · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting and fascinating read about four key survival traits that helped us thousands of years ago but now have deleterious effects on us in today's world: hunger for calories, the need for salt and water, flight or fight response, and blood clotting. While these were tremendous traits to have during early survival, these traits now cause more health issues than being advantageous in today's world. While the book is partly academic with statistics and vocabulary words you probably haven't come across before, it actually reads in a clear and logical manner for anybody. The author Lee Goldman does a good job of not blaming or shaming people for their high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, anxiety and depression, and heart disease but at the same time does not let them off the hook either. His point is that genetics does have a huge impact and influence on these things but it also is not the only story. We should be looking for a personalized and holistic approach to treating and preventing disease related to these genetic traits. The only nitpick I have is his blase look at exercise. He focuses too much on the numbers and forgets about things like self-esteem, accomplishment, initiative, feeling supported, and a number of other competencies that exercise develops in a person. While these competencies are harder to put into concrete numbers they are just as important (I would say more important) as knowing the amount of calories burned, grams of fat, the number of carbs, how much you weigh, etc.

[Sheng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too Much of a Good Thing covers the four main key survival traits that have unwittingly ended up as our largest causes of death in the modern age. Our hunger and thirst from our hunter-gatherer times have driven the rates of obesity and other health conditions up. Our fight-0r-flight system has possibly resulted in the spread of anxiety and depression in society today while our body's blood-clotting abilities have backfired in the form of strokes and heart attacks. Lee Goldman discusses these four survival traits and how they went from advantageous in ancient times to disadvantageous in current times, along with what we can do scientifically and behaviourally to counter these effects.

This book is definitely well-researched and expanded upon. Each chapter discusses a different survival trait or how we can try to tackle these issues. The range of discussion is wide though at times it feels like Goldman might have slightly gone off on a tangent and it becomes a little tricky to link it back to the original topic at hand. Overall, this book was pretty informative but it felt quite dry at times as once Goldman reveals the basic premise of each survival trait, the expansion on it can feel uninteresting or repetitive. 3/5

[Sasa Soso · Rating 3 out of 5]

When people lose weight, their bodies release hormones that increase their appetite, regardless of their size. Our ancestors developed genes to produce hormones that maintained high levels of sodium in the blood due to the constant threat of dehydration. However, these genes now pose a threat to us as we consume high amounts of sodium. What once helped us survive in ancient times is now harming us in the modern world.

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was enjoyable but only told me what I already knew in a lot of cases (I am dieting right now in an attempt to lose weight, so I do know a bit about all of this). The book explains how the survival traits of hunger, thirst, fear, and blood clotting are more detrimental to us in the modern age. They used to be traits that helped us to survive and live long enough to mate and reproduce, thereby spreading along our genes. Since the Industrial Era, we have needed these evolutionary advantages less and less. This has resulted in skyrocketing rates of obesity, hypertension, depression, and vascular diseases.

When it comes to solutions, Dr. Goldman isn't exactly putting his trust in human willpower. This makes sense, given the numbers of obese people that try to lose weight but fail. Changing a habit is really difficult to do seeing as how so many people yo-yo their weight back and forth. So another thing he suggests is that medical science will have to step up to the plate. As he says, we have survived for around 200,000 years before, and we can adapt to take care of it. So I suppose you could say it ends on a positive note.

[Cal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading the beginning when focused on how life 5000 plus years ago was, and the lasting impact it has on our bodies. As book wore on, dove very deep into medical treatment and things that did not interest me and begun to drag. Very thought provoking, and is interesting nonetheless. Shows how our bodies are not equipped for the environment we have now put them in, at least modern society.

[YHC · Rating 4 out of 5]

From evolution aspect to examine human bodies, obesity, heart diseases, diabetes...etc,
offering common solution from what we know and real scientific suggestion.
Easy to understand and making sense too.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fascinating book on why what enabled our ancestors to survive are now killing us. The author's depth of knowledge and ability to convey it in an understandable format is impressive

[Tony Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so well done. I am fortunate to work at the same institution as this man.

[Taggerung · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll start out by saying this was a well thought out book, chock full of information relayed in a fairly easy to understand writing style. The small bits of humor interrupted the paragraphs of scientific information just enough to keep it from getting boring. The author brings to light a number of things that I had never considered before about our ancestors and the traits they used to survive in the past. These are things that should be easily thought of by society, but for some reason it never crossed my mind that we're built to store fat for lean times, and that the lean times don't come so we just keep storing it up in case it ever happens. I never thought about what anxiety and fear and blood pressure had to do with living the life of a wandering hunter-gatherer human.

The only real draw back for me was the staggering (to me) amount of numbers and statistics in the book. I appreciate the research done and how it was included in the book, but for a layperson like myself it made me go a little cross-eyed or lose interest in those paragraphs. I'm sure those with a more scientific or math based interest would enjoy those bits of information.

That being said, I still enjoyed reading it. I am interested in the subject matter, for the current status of humanity as well as the past, and this was a different take on survival traits that didn't have much to do with tool making or taming fire or cave paintings. It's about the human body and how it was made to live a life in a vastly different world than it lives in today and is struggling to keep up with the changes in our world.

Not a book for light reading, but the chapters are well contained and easy to break up into several days or weeks of reading. I ended up reading it on weekend mornings with a cup of coffee and at least one cat for company. Several friends have shown an interest in reading it as well, and have asked to borrow it when I was done. That is one mark of a good book in my not-so-humble opinion.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an irresistibly interesting contradiction—four traits that evolved in early humans to increase survival are killing modern humans.

This book goes heavy on genetics, statistics and medical studies. If you enjoy science books that dig deep into a subject and logically lay out arguments and supporting evidence, you’ll enjoy this. The writing is clear and concise, and there isn’t much obscure terminology, so even if you don’t consider yourself scientifically minded but find your curiosity piqued, you should give it a go. It’s a lot of information to absorb, so it’s not a quick read (took me over a week to finish), but, hey, info laden books aren’t meant to be devoured in only one or two sittings.

Goldman’s explanation of how four evolutionary traits couldn’t keep up with the sudden and drastic changes in our environment and society over the past few hundred years and now work “too well” in such a way to be detrimental really made me look at modern diseases and health problems in a whole different light. I think one of the book’s most important takeaways is that some of today’s health problems aren’t a result of people being weak and lazy, but a result of the way our bodies evolved thousands of years ago. That isn’t to say the health problems are solely to blame on genetics, but we should be compassionate with the understanding that our genes make getting certain health problems under control an uphill battle.

Although the prognosis seems pretty grim, the book does end on a hopeful note by discussing how we treat diseases and health problems today, and what treatments the future may hold.

[D.L. Morrese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evolution adapted us to survive in a harsh environment...at least long enough to reproduce. But we don't live in that environment any more. Our world is less violent, food and water are readily available (for most of us), childbirth is far safer, and we're less likely to die prematurely from injury or disease. The genetic adaptations that once helped protect us from starving or bleeding to death are now contributing to obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and (the author argues) anxiety, and depression. In this book, Lee Goldman points out some genetic traits that are now seemingly maladaptive and what we can do to live with them. It's well-written and informative.

[Kass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3. 5 stars
It was an interesting book about how four traits that were key to our survival are now killing us in the modern world. It was easy to understand but I don't think I learned a whole lot new. This book just wasn't up my alley, mostly. I jumped at reading all the evolution-related things in this book, but for the most part it was medical mumbo-jumbo. I think if the book should have focused more from an evolutionary perspective, such as how these traits evolved and how and when they started to be detrimental. It did do that a bit, but there was a lot more talk about medicine. That's fine, but it didn't really feel balanced.

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be a biased review because I was convinced of the argument before reading the book but I really enjoyed the way the point was laid out from a combination of biological and sociological perspectives. The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 was that some of the information seemed to be inaccurate and included just for the sake of proving a point (which was not necessary and hurt the author's case)

[David Schumacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good compilation of all the things we are doing to kill ourselves. Goldman explains how nature and nurture make it difficult for many of us to maintain a healthy lifestyle. He also tells us what we can do about it and why so many of us can't make the healthful choices we should. It all boils down to our hunter/gatherer ancestors and the genetic legacy they left us.

[Hima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written book, it has great details of why we are wired to eat the way we do. it is easy to read even for someone without a science background. The only thing lacking is that the author did not indulge in exploring and listing out solutions to fix all the problems listed in the book.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent writing. As Einstein put it, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Goldman understands the human body, our evolution and the problems our rapid shift in diets and lifestyles have posed for us.

[Sue Hedin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Goldman delves into evolutionary biology and explains how and why key survival strategies that have evolved over the millennia are now the leading global causes of illness and death. He focuses on diabetes, obesity, stroke and heart attack, and mental illness.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Won this through Goodreads, some interesting information about current health epidemics. Though I'm disappointed in the way he over simplified chronic depression.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main part of the book about the four survival traits was very interesting, but the conclusion seemed entirely unrelated and preachy.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful, interesting, and accessible.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gets a little technical but still interesting.

[Christi Novomesky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our bodies are awesome and science is crazy amazing!