Why We Eat (Too Much): The New Science of Appetite

by Andrew Jenkinson

The Sunday Times bestseller that explains the new science behind weight loss and how we can get in shape without counting calories.

'A compelling look at the science of appetite and metabolism' Vogue

'This book tells us the truth about weight loss' Dr Rangan Chatterjee
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We've all heard the golden eat less, exercise more and you'll lose weight. But what if it isn't that simple?

For over two decades, weight loss surgeon Dr Andrew Jenkinson has treated thousands of people who have become trapped in the endless cycle of dieting. Why We Eat (Too Much) , combines case studies from his practice and the new science of metabolism to illuminate how our appetite really works.

Debunking myths of about body and systematically explaining why dieting is counter-productive, this unflinching book investigates every aspect of from the 'set weight point' that is unique to all of us, to good and bad fats , and from how genes impact our weight to how our hormones are affected after a diet ends .

With a new chapter about the link between obesity and COVID-19, this incredible book will help you understand your body better than ever before.
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'Articulate, clear, a joy to read, this is a book that really needed written' Joanna Blythman, author of Swallow This

'Highly persuasive . . . a radical approach to weight loss' Sunday Times

'Debunks the myths around dieting and weight-loss' Telegraph

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Science, Food, Audiobook, Self Help, Nutrition

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2020

Reviews

[persy · Rating 4 out of 5]

basically: cut down on sugar and carbs (but don't go keto); eat good fat and dairy products (some/most fat is good for you!!!); eat your vegs. eat as much omega-3 as possible. a mediterranean diet is where it's at. abate cravings with meditation and breathing (your cravings come and go and it will pass!!! franticworld.com for meditations); eat mindfully in general. a good diet/weight loss plan is one that is sustainable, so you don't mess up your weight-set point and metabolism.

i really liked part 1 (beginner's guide to metabology); this was very informative and an easy read. tips sound very plausible and are scientifically backed. just kinda sad the exercise bit (exercise 2-3x/wk, 20-30mins each, make sure you sweat) also includes "avoid endurance exercise", since i like running long distance (and became skinny when i was running 40-50k/week). but maybe i plateaued because... adaptive thermogenesis.

wish there was more info on sugar consumption/cravings/weight, though, and how carbs are actually important for fuel when you work out.

[K.J. Charles]

Very interesting explanation of leptin and ghrelin, the hunger and saiety hormones, with quite a heavy emphasis on how high glucose messes up the signals, and that eating more omega 3s isn't enough, you also need fewer omega 6s because the latter block the former. Hence how catastrophic processed food is because it's full of sugar and seed oils. Lots and lots of science (which I am not qualified to assess) to back his arguments.

Also an explanation of set point weight that actually makes sense, and a compassionate approach to obesity that acknowledges 'willpower' is not in any way the answer to a complex combination of genetic predisposition, processed foods messing up body signals, and bad nutritional advice given by governments led by the food industry.

The tl;dr is that we need to cut down/out the sugar and wheat (not all carbs) and rebalance the omega 3 to 6 ratios in our diets, rather than focusing on calorie counts, plus focus on improving sleep, reducing stress, and pleasurable exercise, and that will help your body settle at a healthier weight for you. Which is to say, don't have Shit Life Syndrome, it's bad for you. There's obviously a fairly large question of how people can do this without a solid helping of privilege (he acknowledges that buying and cooking fresh ingredients is seriously time consuming, but doesn't really address that people often buy £1 frozen pizzas because that's how they can afford to fill the family stomach) but it's not really within the purview of a nutrition book to fix society. Also to note he's very much in favour of animal fats, a) for omega 3 reasons and b) because 'fat=bad' is bullshit, so vegans may struggle.

This is a persuasive argument all over that boils down to what we keep hearing from all directions, viz that processed foods, including vegetable oils, and sugars are really messing us up. That said, the parts where he talks about history are deeply unconvincing (he has an upper class woman in mid-Victorian London want blackened teeth because it's a status symbol, like...I think you'll find you're three centuries out with that, mate) so who can say.

[Kate Berkeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a registered nutritional therapist I read every book there is going on diet, weight loss, eating for health, etc. It’s depressing how often I read books that make me guffaw at their poor interpretation of the scientific data.

But Andrew Jenkinson’s book is a masterpiece. Truly I think I’m going to recommend it to each and every one of my clients because it offers such sage and sensible advice on how to lose weight. Not only that but his recommendations will bring health to those with health concerns beyond their weight.

It’s a rare treat when you chance upon a book you’re sad to finish, but even rarer in non-fiction. I keep finding excuses to dip back in and refer back to earlier chapters.

Truly, this is the best book I have read on health and nutrition for a long time, possibly ever. And I have a library if at least 500 on the topic!

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does important things: listens to and assumes overweight patients (people) are authorities on their own bodies & experience, reliably targets cultural sectors that make money off faulty nutrition (from media & diet culture all the way up to government guidelines), invalidates stigma around weight by explaining what is and is not within individuals' conscious control, and takes nutritional health to be one part of a healthy lifestyle. Jenkinson writes colloquially about his own experience with patients and combines that with research done through studies, rationales from evolution & genetics, and a much needed focus on environment.

The complaints I see from other reviewers are complaints about the segment on practical implementation of the nutrition/metabolic science Jenkinson spends most of the book detailing. Yes, it is general advice, and it is a relatively short segment, and some of it sounds like a mere reiteration of things we probably should have started taking seriously awhile ago (highly processed wheat, sugar, and vegetable oils—cue me at Trader Joe's reading nutritional labels and confirming that everything either is or was cooked in a vat of sunflower oil). My reading experience was different: there are aspects that are unabashedly antithetical to traditional dieting advice, and the amount of time Jenkinson spent on the how of metabolism and the why of nutrition along with his emphatic rejection of diet culture made the practical stuff a gulp of fresh air.

[Adrian Buck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nutrition is a young science, most of its research is statistical in nature, and because it studies humans not lab rats, the most reliable statistical methods can't be applied (unless they use prisoners). This methodological limitation explains why so much nonsense and confusion is presented as nutritional science. The best part of this book is that is eschews statistics nearly altogether, and presents the underlying physiological mechanisms that control human appetite. This was very refreshing. The worst thing about the book is that he loses sight of the statistics that describe the broader health and environmental contexts in which these mechanisms operate. That was very disturbing.

The new science for me was leptin. Body fat is not just a passive store of energy. Body fat is a organ that releases a hormone, leptin, which the hypothalamus (a small organ below the brain) detects in the blood and uses to control appetite: more fat, more leptin, less appetite. Jenkinson argues that something has gone terribly wrong with the operation of the appetite regulating function of the hypothalamus since the 1980s. He points his finger at bad nutritional science, and food producers.

The bad nutritional science is the 'diet-heart' hypothesis, the idea that a fat-rich diet causes heart disease. He argues the statistical evidence supporting the diet-heart hypothesis didn't control adequately for smoking, and that smoking was the real cause of the shocking increase of heart-disease in the mid-twentieth century, not increased consumption of fat. Having just worked painfully worked through the establishment of smoking as a cause of lung cancer in The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect I can't say I'm surprised. But I feel I would need to read a book by a cardiologist rather than a bariatric surgeon to be convinced or otherwise on this matter. To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail: and Jenkinson takes his hammer (leptin) not only to the diet-heart hypothesis, but the processed food industry and alternate nutritional theories.

The food industry reacted to the establishment of the diet-heart hypothesis as the medical consensus by producing 'low-fat' products for the health conscious consumer. This was achieved two ways; by substituting sugar for fat, and by replacing unhealthy saturated animal fat with 'healthier' unsaturated plant fat. Replacing sugar with fat leads to obesity, because the hypothalamus uses the same receptors to detect both glucose and leptin in the blood. Increasing glucose in the blood meant fewer receptors were available to detect leptin and vice versa. This overload lead to the breakdown of the appetite regulating mechanisms in the hypothalamus leaving people feeling hungry even when they were overfed. This has lead to the massive increase in obesity and diabetes since the 1980s.

The substitution of animal fat for plant fat made this situation worse. Plant fats derived from seeds (sunflower oil) have a much higher ratio of omega-six to omega-three fatty acids compared to animal fats which derive there fatty-acids from leaves and grass. Human cell walls require a certain ratio of omega-six to omega-three, a sudden increase in the cell wall of omega six will result in inflammation. This in turn produces 'THF-alpha' which again blocks the action the leptin in the hypothalamus, which causes obesity. In addition the inflammation of the cell wall leads he suggests to a increase in cases of arthritis, allergies, asthma and IBS.

Brilliant though the discovery and description of this mechanism is, I was at this point longing for a statistic, an effect size. Which is the more significant cause of obesity; sugar substitution of fat, or the replacement of animal fat with plant fat? For Jenkinson it doesn't really matter, he believes we should eat at much animal fat as we can, eschewing the need for low-fat or healthy-fat food all together. Everything is a nail, right? No, it's not, our world is also pinned together with screws, and glue, and all sorts of other fastenings...and somehow it's structure has to stand, the multifarious effects of all its parts have to work together.

I've made two changes to my diet this year. I've given up eating dairy, beef and lamb. Dairy because my vegan teenage daughter has finally persuaded me that modern milk production is intolerably cruel. Beef and lamb because their production swallows an inordinate amount of the world's land, and I prefer access to uncultivated land over access to roast meat. These kind of issues don't enter into Jenkinson's calculations - he has no calculations. There is some discussion of modern farming, and how the replacement of grass with seed based animal feeds has impacted the balance of omega-three with omega-six. But he doesn't seem to recognise that switching back to grass feeding of cattle will lead to a 35% increase in the land used to produce beef, and in any case he wants us to eat as much as we can stomach. He may not like the food industry, but the food industry does deal with these kind of calculations, and is subject to the kind of consumer pressure that led to the ill-fated switch to low-fat diets in the first place.

The other change is I've switched to a low sodium/high potassium diet. I did this when I discovered that my low potassium consumption was responsible for my high blood pressure. Jenkinson should be delighted, I've nearly completely given up bread (high 6, low 3). But I've done this because bread in Hungary is only available with a shockingly high level of sodium. As a result my Vitamin E intake has collapsed, to increase that I've started cooking with Vitamin E rich sunflower oil - Jenkinson would be appalled. The real world of food and nutrition is full of such trade-offs, which means no diet, even Jenkinson's neo-paleo diet offers everyone a magic bullet. Obviously, as a bariatric surgeon Jenkinson is focused on obesity not hypertension, but I think he should make it clear who his diet is intended for, and not suggest it is a panacea for humanity. The recommendations he makes could have serious environmental consequences, and be offensive to those who have chosen to limit their diets for ethical reasons.

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The long and the short of it: part 1 is about the science of 'metabology' and it explains a lot about how our organisms function. Also, it touches on scarcity, hereditary issues.

Part 2 gives advices about how we should eat more food that we prepare and less processed food, that is full of sugars and 'bad' oils, and to cut down on sugar and white flour, without going full keto or dukan or whichever other diet.

As I listened to this, I don't think I was able to get everything I could from it, so I think I'll also read it soon, it was that interesting.

[Isadora · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author puts across convincing arguments to explain the set-point theory of weight-loss. Even though I've relied on Nadja Hermann's "Conquering Fat-logic" which presents scientific evidence that absolutely opposes this theory, I thought the explanations of the interplay of hormones such as Ghrelin and Leptin and Insulin very convincing and interesting. The author uses a lot of metaphors and practical examples to illustrate his points.

However, I felt the writing was at times sloppy and possibly willfully dishonest. While he does adhere to standards of scientific writing, he writes that humans descended from chimpanzees (no we did not, we have the same ancestors but that's not the same) and suggests that the figurine of the Venus of Willendorf is a sculpture of an actual person who lived at the time when it is commonly thought the voluptuous figurine represents a Goddess of Fertility and therefore has exaggerated features. That's what I mean by sloppiness; it's not problematic but better editing would have prevented that. The book by Nadja Hermann mentioned above did a much better job at looking into certain topics that Jenkinson evoked, too, especially the value of the BMI (the BMI is accurate for ppl who are not weight-lifters or pregnant; it will underestimate obesity rates in ppl who don't have much muscle mass (skinny-fat ppl) but not overestimate unless you actually are a heavy-weight lifter which holds true for 3 % of all men and 1 % of women). Jenkinson tells you that if you look fit, then you probably aren't overweight and that's that. Also: When writing about the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, one should mention that the experiment was really not about dieting but about starvation, meaning that the food the participants received was very low in nutrients which is very different from going on a low calorie diet with a lot of nutrients. This is also explained in the book by Nadja Hermann.

I didn't expect to find a book in 2020 that would actually recommend eating more meat and dairy without any restriction to replace refined wheat and processed products without warning against the health risks of these products (such as cancer risks, see "How not to die" by Dr. Greger). I didn't expect to find a book in 2020 that would leave out wholegrain products as great resources of nutrients. The authors warns against eating grains, but only ever talks about wheat products. Never does he mention spelt, millet, oats, quinoa, amaranth - you name it, all those great wholegrain products. He advises against the usage of plant oils but only ever focuses on a ridiculously small number of plant oils. What about flaxseed oil? Algae oil? Same goes for seeds. He advises against the use of "seeds" but never mentions chia seeds or flaxseeds as sources of omega 3. In his appendix tables, he'll only mention a total of 4 different sorts of nuts. Also, he doesn't really explicitly encourage people to balance out meals. I was waiting for him to write about walnuts, which he did in the end, writing that the high amount of omega 6 in walnuts would render the omega 3 "useless". He gives the exact numbers for both nutrients in walnuts; when you calculate them, the ration is 1 (omega3): 4,2 (omega6). Then again, the appendix tells you that you should aspire to eat products that have a omega3 to omega 6 ratio between 1:1 and 1:4. So 1:4,2 is practically useless? No hint at balancing it out in a meal is given?

My impression of this book is that the author really wants to make a point for eating as much meat and dairy as you like and not worrying about it, which is probably linked to the fact that he urgently wants to get rid of the theories surrounding saturated fats, cholesterol and health problems. The single page he dedicates to vegetarianism and veganism opens with him considering the Massai and Inuit communities and explaining how they're not overweight bc they only eat animal products. So are these good examples - communities that live in remote areas where they have no other choice than to rely on a carnivorous diet? He does not consider overall physical health in these communities, longevity, growth etc., he only considers obesity rates in communities that live on a carnivorous diet.

[Kitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

arvasin, et olen toitumisraamatuid juba piisavalt lugenud ja tean enamvähem, mis mul on vaja teada, aga siit tuli küll juurde uut ja asjalikku infot. detailsusaste oli üsna kõrge, aga mind just need detailid huvitasidki - jah, ma tean juba küll, mida peaks (ideaalis) sööma ja mida mitte, aga mõned "miks?" küsimused said siit head vastused.

autor on maovähendusoperatsioonidele spetsialiseerunud arst, kes seega on oma töös näinud väga palju väga ülekaalulisi inimesi. hukkamõistmise asemel on ta nad ära kuulanud ja siis välja uurinud, miks ikkagi mõned (järjest rohkemad) inimesed lähevad ebanormaalselt paksuks. sest ei, asi ei ole selles, et neil oleks kehv enesekontroll või muidu halb iseloom ja "ise süüdi".

suures plaanis räägitakse siin uuesti ära kogu see kurb lugu, kuidas inimkond on läbi aastasadade, aga eriti viimaste -kümnete muutunud järjest paksemaks ja haigemaks. alates põllumajandusrevolutsioonist ja lõpetade Ancel Keyesi ja rasvade demoniseerimise ja suhkru, teravilja ja transrasvade võidutsemisega me söögilaual. ja et kuidas see kõik me kehale mõjub - siin on üllatusi! kui kehakaalu määraks ainult kalorid sisse/kalorid välja matemaatika, oleksime me kõik ikka kõvasti paksemad. aga selgub, et keha on päris osav reguleerija selle osas, kui palju energiat ja energiakulu tal loota on ja palju ta arvab heaks kõrvale panna. siit siis edasi see, kuidas mõjub dieeditamine ja misasjad veel neid keha normaalseid signaale (vanad head greliin, leptiin ja mis nad kõik on) segadusse ajavad ja seega liigset kehakaalu tekitavad.

üks teema, millesse mindi rohkem süviti, kui ma enne näinud olin, olid oomega-3 ja oomega-6 rasvhapped - mida üks ja teine teeb, kuidas need tegemised mõjutavad me tervist ja hormoone ja seega miks ikkagi nende tasakaalu toidus peaks silmas pidama.

teine huvitav osa oli seoses kolesterooliga - omal ajal mõõdeti ja mõisteti (ja kardeti) ainult üldkolesterooli, tänapäeval osatakse seda juba jagada LDL- ja HDL-kolesterooliks, aga siin raamatus mindi tase sügavamale ja räägiti ka LDL ehk "halva" kolesterooli kahest alamtüübist, millest omakorda on südametervisele ja kehakaalule kahjulik ainult üks. kogu see üsna segane teema oli lahti jutustatud päris meeleoluka liiklusanaloogia abil (tegelased: suured turvalised bussid, väiksed ebaturvalised minibussid, politsei, vihm, lumetorm, ilus ilm).

lõpuks selles osas ikkagi midagi uut ei olnud, et: tuleb süüa, magada ja liikuda normaalselt, suured ekstreemsused ei aita kedagi kuhugi; kaloripiiramisega dieedid on väga halb idee; suhkrut ja teravilja peaks oma toidus pigem vältima; transrasvu ja enamust taimseid rasvu peaks veel eriti vältima; küllastatud loomsetel rasvadel pole häda midagi, neid võib süüa vabalt (aga nende oomegatega on seal ka omad trikid). kokku taandub kõik sellele, et tee endale kodus ise süüa päris toiduainetest ja söö kõht täis (eriti hommikuti).

[Subodh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is different from other diet books. For one thing the author is very clear that diets don't work. They may help you lose weight in the short run, but that weight comes back soon with something extra! So, one clear advice from the author - don't go on a diet.

The author is a bariatric surgeon. He, however, does not use this book to advise overweight or obese people to go for this procedure. He uses the experience of his patients to make the point that weight control is not for 'will power' but for the physiology of the body. Our bodies have a 'set point' for weight, and if we try to force us to a weight different from it, the body will eventually win.

The 'set point' can be changed - mostly for the worse. A diet rich in processed foods, particularly refined vegetable oils, raises the set point. It is possible to bring the set point down by mindful eating, a healthy mix of omega-3 and omega-6 fats, avoiding sugar spikes, eating proteins at breakfast and related practices that form part of recommendations. The results will come slowly, over a year or so, and they won't be dramatic; but they will last.

The book makes sense, but so do many other self-improvement books. I do plan to follow the book's prescriptions and see. Check a year from now!

[emina.mujagic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very Interesting to find out more about the science of appetite. A good read for sure, if you want to learn more about this topic, but but did not enjoy the last part of the book, encouraging to eat “healthy” foods such as dairy and meat. As a plant based eater I obviously do not agree with that, but otherwise I enjoyed reading it.

[Jakub · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is primarily about obesity and managing the natural weight set-point of your body. i do not care about this at all, so it was a little problematic to find the book's meaningful and entertaining. sometimes it was quite repetitive so i went ahead and just skipped many of the paragraphs - i am beginning to change my mind about the idea that one has to finish and read carefully all the books one starts. nevertheless, the book has confirmed some diet essentials summarised as:

- the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio is way too low and so pump up your omega-3 intake and primarily reduce your omega-6 intake. you can do this by eliminating all the bad vegetable oils full of omega-6 (or trans-fats) such as rapeseed, sunflower, soybean, etc., but also try and avoid meat and fish that were fed with omega-6 rich grains and seeds (thus try and find grass/algae-fed variants)
- linked to the above, saturated fat ain't bad, eat dairy, spread that butter and don't feel bad about it because the US department has issued a statement in the 70s that demonized these goodies
- manage your insulin level by cutting down on the high-sugar, fast glucose-uptake carbs such as pasta, bread, etc. and essentially level out your insulin level and glucose cravings during the day (one does truly not need to snack in between meals - one does that only because the snack-industry taught us to do so)
- fuck off with alcohol full of sweet carbs (so that means any alcohol)
- and no, you don't need to include any refined sugar in your diet, you definitely don't and you probably shouldn't if you are planning to have a good time in your life

lastly, the author was sort of saying that keto diet is alright, although he doesn't believe we should all go all the way into ketosis, as that may have adverse effects. to be fair, i don't completely agree with him, but i acknowledge that this issue needs more studies and self-observation to be fully understood.

[Gabrielė Bužinskaitė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although some of us associate plus sized people with the USA, the statistics are clear — the average european is overweight. In fact, the majority* of us living in Europe are overweight or obese. On top of that, obesity is predicted to only grow in future.

Why We Eat (Too Much) is a book that I’ve read very quickly — it was simply a fascinating work that introduced me to many new topics and ideas. The book itself is written by a bariatric surgeon, someone who specialises in obesity treatment and has decades of experience in this field. His focus is not tips and tricks for weight loss — he lets you understand the science of weight gain (or loss) by explaining how our metabolism and appetite work.

There are plenty of topics covered in the book, including genes and their role in our weight, thermodynamics, metabolism and how it changes/adapts, appetite and how satiety works, the history of our diets, myths, etc. I noticed that my oversimplified understanding of (energy in) - (energy out) = energy stored was flawed in too many ways. Moreover, I really appreciate how thoroughly the author explained evolution and hunter gatherer societies in terms of diet, food and lifestyle.

After this book I can understand the wrongs and flaws of the western diet in way more depth. Recommend!


*About 60% of people in EU are overweight or obese (https://gateway.euro.who.int/en/indic...).

[Praniya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have very mixed feelings about this book. During the first couple of chapters I was certain it was going to be 5 star read due to the amazing breakdown on how our body works and how the decades long push for diets are causing more harm than good. However, I had huge bouts of getting annoyed with the author. Firstly, the language was very deeming towards other cultures and fat people in general - there was a strange tokenism approach and lots of misplaced humour. Plus, the authors own ideas often were mixed into the segments that more factually which can confuse readers who can mistake this with fact as well. He seemed to think the whole world was only trying to make profit. In the boarder perspective there are other reasons for preserving or processing food like for people who are food insecure or in a food desert and can't afford to buy fresh versions every 2-3 days. But the main takeaway from this book is that nutrition science is complicated and take it with a grain of salt.

(Also why is this man obsessed with Offal???)

[Justine Reeves · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is worth reading for the scientific explanations of the hormones at play in appetite and weight maintenance. But the premise - that weight gain is out of a person’s conscious control - doesn’t really stack up against his solution to lowering your weight set point by (deliberately) avoiding sugar, high GI foods and anything processed.

[Raluca Paraschivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book finally made it clear for me how weight loss and weight gain work and why diets do more harm than good. The first part about metabology is spot on. I think that everyone passionate about nutrition should read and understand this bit. Still, when it comes to the application of the eating plan I felt that there is a lot missing. We should avoid carbs (white processed ones), but how should we construct our meals? “Sugar is bad and white carbs are the devil” is not a recipe for success. What is good food? A meal plan for a few weeks would have been great to get you started on the path to the ideal weight.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute game changer learning about why myself and so many other people struggle with their weight- it’s out of our conscious control.

Your body’s weight set point, influenced by past diets, your genes and environmental cues can override conscious weight loss effort and will win every time.

Only by targeting the weight set point and the hormone signals that communicate with it can long term weight loss be achieved.

Highly recommended!

[Clare Kirwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a nutshell: sugar bad, wheat bad, fat good and bad (but we've got them the wrong way round), diets don't work because your body treats them like famines and prepares for more.

The first part (4.5*) of this book is a comprehensive and accessible guide to metabology - how weight and appetite are controlled in our body. This was really illuminating, especially about each individual's 'set-point' - the weight your body decides is right for you and will work back towards however much you diet or overeat.

The second part (4*)expands into obesogenics, looking at environmental and genetic factors in weight gain and exploring myths around fat, sugar, nutritional recommendations and debunking all weight-loss diets.

The third section (2*) deteriorated into an impractical utopian diet based on having the budget, time and local shopping opportunities of a London consultant. Content became more 'seems' and ‘I believe' than scientific evidence and when he got onto scented candles he lost credibility for me…

[Jana Protic · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone who is from Mathematical college there's too many "mays", "suggests", "seems" for me to take this book completely seriously, so 2* for that. But 5* for interesting studies and experiments it brought to me and 5* for (proven) biology and 5* for love for fat and hate for sugar it installed in me. So a solid 4* overall.

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Täitsa hvitav lugemine - selgub, miks inimesed muutuvad ülekaaluliseks (spoiler: peamine põhjus ei ole üldse mitte nõrk iseloom), miks kalorite kogust piiravad dieedid ei ole hea mõte, millised toitumisalased soovitused on aja jooksul tegelikult toitumisharjumusi hoopis halvemaks muutnud, kuidas organismi ainevahetus töötab ja mida kõige selle teadmisega võiks peale hakata. Selles viimases, pealehakkamise osas on üllatavat vähe - söö päris toitu ja ära söö surnuks töödeldud toidulaadseid tooteid ega suhkrut. Aga on nipet-näpet veel, mille pärast tasub lugeda küll, isegi kui stiil vahel närvidele käib (mulle käis).

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Repetitive but eye-opening. I’d recommend it to anyone who has struggled with yo-yo dieting. It sheds a light on the role our western diet, disproved but perpetuated information regarding what types of foods and nutrients lead to weight gain, and the resistance of governments, the food industry and scientists whose livelihoods and grant funding are reliant our way of eating, plays in our obesogenic society.

[Enhee Tsoodol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Хэзээ ч битгий дэглэм барь, сайн ид, сайн унт гэнээ. Ер нь weight set- point дээр их төвлөрчээ. Урт хугацаандаа амжилттай жингээ барихын тулд омега 3-тай сайн хоол ундаа хийж ид, ургамлын тосоо гаргаж хая, тогтмол дасгал хөдөлгөөнтэй байж, сайн унтаж амрах ёстой юм байна. Академик судалгаанууд энэ номонд нилээн дурдагджээ.

[Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book. Losing weight is so hard, so so hard. Because the body is so good at regulating its precious energy. So simply playing out with calorie intake (reduce calorie count) and outtake (going to gym) does not necessarily translate to weight loss, and can even backfire as the body tries to protect itself from so much turbulences and uncertainties.

So how, then? Of course there is always a huge role of genetics. But the expressions of those genes are triggered by the drastic changes in the environment, and in particular of the food environment. The book views obesity as a couple of several bodily disfunctions. The quality of the food one has in particular plays such a critical role. Due to the type of food, some micronutrients are wildly off balance, leading to worse hormone performance and the body fails to take into account appropriately all the right signals and veers off track. Sugar and carbs interfere with eating behavior, affects insulin so much and it intertwines with hormone regulating metabolism.

There you got it. Ultraprocessed food, too much carb, refined carb, vegetable oil that is so high in omega 6, so much sugar cheaply and widely available. They are probably some big culprits. I have read the problems of upf in another book, but this one really highlights the pathways and the causal chains in biology more clearly.

Advice? Have a different type of diet. Some diet that is still fulfilling and make you happy and not crave for more food and not live in agony. Lots of greens, meat (even highly saturated fat is fine), manage when you take carbs and how.

I have two problems. (1) Unlike elsewhere, the author fails to point out a systemic problem. Yes the food industry and food environment is bad, but the responsobility lies on you, the consumer, to fix your own diet. But can we? If you are poor and cannot afford grass fed beef and green vegies? The book clearly complains about the health establishment, the conflict of interests in food and nutrition research, but eventually it is you who must be lucky enough to be able to afford the solution.

(2) the writing, well, is sometimes cringey to me. Strong statements without allowing for a different opinion and extra uncertainty. I dont buy that the argument the author presents is 100% true. I dont buy that there is no truth in other alternatives. Nuances are rare in the book. The section on how humans adopt agriculture and diet changes accordingly, for example, makes me roll my eyes so hard. This is a HUGE area of research with so much complexities. Id prefer if the author just not tries to tell an oversimplified story and just directly say, hey, our diet is now different. Also, there are so many allegories that make the writing harder to understand actually. I got so bored by them. I think many could be trimmed down into a slimmer and less sensational written book and I would have more respect to it as a reference book.

But overall, i would still recommend the book. Because I think the argument/the causal chains make quite some sense.

Update: reading/looking more into research into vegetable oils, it seems it is not that terrible. But yeah, saturated fat definitely is not so evil.

[Filipa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 - "It was Ok"

I am not exactly the target audience for this book, as I would not be Dr. Jenkinson's patient. However, as a person who's struggled with her weight (or rather, as he says, someone who most likely is somewhere between "Obesity-vulnerable" and "Obesity highly sensitive"), I found the first half of the book to be very interesting. I liked how the author referenced several studies and how he constructed his argument, especially when he confirms that weight gain has lots to do with your genes, which is a claim that is very often ridiculed and attacked in weight-loss circles. It's oddly freeing to know that there is a lot of determinism associated with our weight.

If we chose to believe the author's experience and claims (and I personally do), then obviously there is an urgency in "updating" the way we think and learn about weight and weightloss. Personally, I feel like that is the main takeaway of this book and its value lies in that discussion.

Having said that, I found the latter half of the book, where Dr. Jenkinson then goes on to structure his weight loss strategy/plan, to be less compelling. To be fair, this was probably because: 1) I come from a Southwestern European country, which means that eating lots of vegetables, fresh fruit, consuming less refined carbs and home-cooking is not a revolutionary idea (can't speak for everyone); 2) I was not interested in changing my diet when I picked up this book. When reading those last chapters, I felt like I was taking the author's word for it, so to say. His logic had been laid out in the previous chapters for sure, but maybe it needed to be interlaced a bit more towards the end for me to be truly convinced that his diet plan would be that different from others'.

All in all, this is a good book with valuable insights if you want to know more about weight-loss, the role that genetics/epigenetics plays in our weight and your weight set-point.

[Vanya Prodanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Доста книги на тема хранене съм чела и всичките до една са хубави, но тази е може би най-добрата към момента, която съм прочела. Авторът е бариатричен хирург (или каквото там е на български) и невероятно добър учител. Всъщност начинът, по който представя информацията е това, което прави книгата уникално добра. Примерите, които дава, са толкова живописни и лесни за възприемане, че не виждам как може да стане още по-достъпно от това, кое е.

По-голямата част от книгата е посветена на това как функционира метаболизмът на човек и каква е връзката с хранене, тегло и апетит. Аз също вярвам, че ако знаеш нещо как функционира и е построено, това ти дава нужните знания да направиш промени и/или да приемеш, че някои неща няма да бъдат възможни. Знанието наистина е сила. :)

Последната част е посветена на нещо като диета, по-скоро начин на живот и хранене. Там леко ме напрегна, защото някои предложения бяха прекалени според мен. Визирам да спреш да ядеш хляб, което за мен е безумно. Другото, което беше напрягащо е, че говори за реалистични очаквания, но неговите спрямо читателите му и какво реалистично средностатистически жител на западния свят може да постигне спрямо всичките life-style промени, които предлага, са почти невъзможни, освен ако не спреш да работиш и се посветиш само на начинанието да живееш здравословен живот. Читателят трябва сам да прецени кое е едното нещо от всичките споменати неща, над което да се посвети, и което смята, че за личните му обстоятелства ще има най-позитивен ефект върху живота му.

В книгата много говори и всъщност от къде идват всичките ни проблеми, свързани с трудностите да контролираме здравословно ниво на тегло и нямаше една запетайка, с която да не бях съгласна. Твърде много пари има в това населението да бъде поддържано болно и с наднормено тегло, че някое правителство да реши да промени нещата. :/

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating. Maybe it was a bit of new year enthusiasm but I found myself nodding along in agreement to the audiobook. I have also been inspired to make a couple of dietary changes. Well, maybe stop eating so many crisps.

It was all going so well until the French-people-aren’t-fat theory got rolled out. Proper meals, lots fat and lard, no sugar, no processed food, home cooking, three hour lunches. Nonsense, I’ve been to France, they have fat people and processed food.

[Peter Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had me hooked from the first chapter. His explanation of metabology and of how, in response to a variety of influences, the body sets a point for its weight and sticks to it - if you're too heavy you'll lose weight, if the body thinks your low on fat reserves you will gain weight. He then went on to describe how the hormones interact, why certain hormones, especially insulin, block the signal from the fat reserves saying 'hey, we've got enough here' - and when the body doesn't here this signal, on goes the weight. He then tied in factors that I'd read about in other books - factors from our ancient past and transition to agriculture, the falsified evidence identifying eating fat as the bad guy (hence decades of low fat nonsense) and the way the food industry has now surrounded us with a food desert. So far, so convincing, but then his plan to reset your weight point was so brief and lacking in detail. Don't eat bread - but no suggestion of what to replace it with. I often judge these books on what they suggest for a packed lunch - surely the lunch of most workers - and the best we got was leftovers from the night before; I guess that's OK if you're organised enough to make enough. His plea that we should all cook our food from fresh ingredients is great, but that was the extent of it - just give us some damn examples. So, if you want to understand food and dieting, this book is required reading, but if you want a detailed plan you'll be disappointed.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book- if you have any interest in nutrition and where we’re going wrong, this one’s for you.
The book takes a no blame approach to obesity, cuts through all the “noise” if you read anything online, and introduces some genuinely fascinating ideas and research- notably obesity and weight gain as a symptom of nutritional deficiencies or over nutrition. It considers obesity as a symptom of an environment overwrought with options that our adaptive mechanisms would previously made use of- and yet now, they are killing us.
Genuinely critiques the studies he is referencing and states where it’s a new “idea” that has yet to be researched but provides clear explanations for why the mechanics of it might just provide explanations. Fascinating. Audiobooked :)

[Simone Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after a recommendation from a friend. I’ve read various diet books in the past and nothing has worked long-term, so I was intrigued by this book. It isn’t a diet book, but looks at the science behind your metabolism and how what you eat can affect you.

A lot of research has gone into the book and it also draws on Dr Jenkinson’s experiences from running his clinics with obese patients.

There is quite a lot of science involved in the book. I was surprised at how readable and accessible the book was and I enjoyed reading it. There are frequent references back to earlier parts of the book and little reminders to show you how it all ties in together.

It has certainly made me think about the “low fat” foods I would have chosen, believing them to be better for me. I’m now hoping to be able to change my eating habits and hopefully achieve long-term weight loss without calorie counting. This book shows it’s best to play the long game and get results for life rather than jumping from one fad diet to the next.

I’m very glad I read it and would encourage everyone to read it.

[Oana Popescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book goes hand in hand with my readings on nutrition coaching and mentioned from page 1 that losing weight is not all about calories in, calories out. It's about heritage, environment, culture, sleep, hormones etc. It offers a clear understanding of the history of food vs period of times and ends up with recommendations on how to restart your weight setpoint. I enjoyed the "French paradox" chapter.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.