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The Immunity Code: The New Paradigm for Immune Centric Health and Radical Anti-Aging.
The immunity code represents a powerful paradigm shift to an immune centric approach aging and health, and how to slow it dramatically in easy, practical steps. A new era has arrived. It is an era where commonalities found in the physiology of the leanest, healthiest, and longest lived humans has been uncovered. The startling discovery is that many of these commonalities can be replicated by anyone, and quite easily. But the key is not found in fitness, or bodybuilding or weight loss, or anything we knew prior. The foundation is an immune centric approach to health and aging. The Immunity Code is simply a new paradigm and an entirely new way think about caring for the body. The new goal is learning to control key aspects of immunity, specifically immune cells called macrophages, to control health and aging. Using new science based techniques, hacks if you will, to steer immunity to slow and reverse aging and drive peak health, you will gain a power everyone seeks and so few find.
- GenresHealthNonfiction
387 pages, Paperback
Published December 13, 2019
11 people are currently reading
319 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 3, 2021
Firstly: I believe the content contained within this book is worth 7 stars. I’m currently working through the recommended protocols. I’m following the Facebook group posts to get greater insight. I’ll be signing up for his courses. Im a fan. I’m on board. I’m here to do the work.
But f*#% me if this not THE most lazily put together published book I’ve ever read! Typos and grammatical errors abound on EVERY page. It’s like literary death by a thousand cuts. And because the content is so cutting edge, there are so many instances in which the presence of or omission of a comma can change the entire meaning and now there’s further cognitive load for me to work out what the author wants to communicate. It is a subject that is already incredibly demanding for me. I needed the little things taken care of so I could focus on the demands of the topic and the necessary paradigm shifts of thought required.
As a reader, I got the message drummed into me that ‘baby talk’ science of ‘X is bad, Y is good’ needs to be replaced with exactness and specificity (which is tough to swallow though I have been humbled by the wisdom of it) - but then I’m left with instructions that are so vague that I have to go to the Facebook group to read the answers for the questions that clearly not only I have had. For instance;
BLOOD CIRCULATION HACK:
The What: Fucoidan
The When: 8 hours after workout. After workouts.
The How: Together with Vitamin C
“Did he already mention dosage of Fucoidan? Maybe. I’ll go back and search for it. I probably missed it. Why does he write ‘after workouts’ after ‘8 hours after workout?’ Are these two separate points? Is this simply a repetition mistake? Or is there something I should be getting from these two sentences? Vit C dosage? Did I miss that? I’ll go back and look for it.”
I feel like a crazy person reading this book. Like I must be the one who is being unreasonable. I must be missing things. I must just not be keeping up like everyone else. It’s been comforting to read the Facebook posts to realise that no, it’s not just me. Everyone is just as confused. The only ones who aren’t have spent a huge amount of time and energy outside of the book to understand the book.
My suggestion is to get a proper editor to cull the traditional typos from the book. But on top of that, employ an educator to rework the delivery. You can be the smartest guy in the room with the most brilliant of concepts - but the onus of communication is on the sender, not the receiver. And if most don’t get it, or can’t action it, what value have you provided? Convincing others of your intelligence? Maybe. But if your objective is more about making positive change in people’s lives (as stated it is), then make a paradigm shift like the one the reader has been prompted to make - and rework it to make it more valuable for the world.
To the prospective new reader, I would still recommend this book because I believe the principles contained with are far too valuable to ignore. But be prepared to do a lot of unnecessary work - work that we take for granted has been done already by the author. I would suggest to join the Facebook group to accompany the book. Also, within the courses (purchased through the Veep website) there are apparently more concise checklists that help. I’ll be joining those after I finish the book (this was the first book I’ve written a review for before even finishing it!). I just hope there is a do over of this book available soon that I can use for myself and recommend to other people - it’s just that the current version is so energy taxing.
But f*#% me if this not THE most lazily put together published book I’ve ever read! Typos and grammatical errors abound on EVERY page. It’s like literary death by a thousand cuts. And because the content is so cutting edge, there are so many instances in which the presence of or omission of a comma can change the entire meaning and now there’s further cognitive load for me to work out what the author wants to communicate. It is a subject that is already incredibly demanding for me. I needed the little things taken care of so I could focus on the demands of the topic and the necessary paradigm shifts of thought required.
As a reader, I got the message drummed into me that ‘baby talk’ science of ‘X is bad, Y is good’ needs to be replaced with exactness and specificity (which is tough to swallow though I have been humbled by the wisdom of it) - but then I’m left with instructions that are so vague that I have to go to the Facebook group to read the answers for the questions that clearly not only I have had. For instance;
BLOOD CIRCULATION HACK:
The What: Fucoidan
The When: 8 hours after workout. After workouts.
The How: Together with Vitamin C
“Did he already mention dosage of Fucoidan? Maybe. I’ll go back and search for it. I probably missed it. Why does he write ‘after workouts’ after ‘8 hours after workout?’ Are these two separate points? Is this simply a repetition mistake? Or is there something I should be getting from these two sentences? Vit C dosage? Did I miss that? I’ll go back and look for it.”
I feel like a crazy person reading this book. Like I must be the one who is being unreasonable. I must be missing things. I must just not be keeping up like everyone else. It’s been comforting to read the Facebook posts to realise that no, it’s not just me. Everyone is just as confused. The only ones who aren’t have spent a huge amount of time and energy outside of the book to understand the book.
My suggestion is to get a proper editor to cull the traditional typos from the book. But on top of that, employ an educator to rework the delivery. You can be the smartest guy in the room with the most brilliant of concepts - but the onus of communication is on the sender, not the receiver. And if most don’t get it, or can’t action it, what value have you provided? Convincing others of your intelligence? Maybe. But if your objective is more about making positive change in people’s lives (as stated it is), then make a paradigm shift like the one the reader has been prompted to make - and rework it to make it more valuable for the world.
To the prospective new reader, I would still recommend this book because I believe the principles contained with are far too valuable to ignore. But be prepared to do a lot of unnecessary work - work that we take for granted has been done already by the author. I would suggest to join the Facebook group to accompany the book. Also, within the courses (purchased through the Veep website) there are apparently more concise checklists that help. I’ll be joining those after I finish the book (this was the first book I’ve written a review for before even finishing it!). I just hope there is a do over of this book available soon that I can use for myself and recommend to other people - it’s just that the current version is so energy taxing.
February 2, 2021
This was a fantastic read with a ton of information but my three stars are because of the following:
1) Formatting was just off the rails. Typos, spelling mistakes, and grammatical errors were quite frequent, especially as the book came to a close, which was infuriating because you can tell that this is well researched, intelligent information being conveyed.
2) The format of the book itself is very hard to follow. While items are given as "protocols" and "to do list" styles, they are usually at the end of a chapter, with sometimes "hacks" showing up within the middle of a chapter somewhere. Because of that, and the table of contents not having page numbers, I had to do something I never do with a book and fold over page corners to find information again (and even then it's a bit of a shot in the dark)
3) I wish there had been a bit more of a solid path to follow. There are all the protocols with some being more important than others and yes the information is there, but I still scratch my head trying to figure out EXACTLY what I am supposed to do in some situations.
Overall, the information with in is very important, I was very interested, and will be (or have already begun) implementing some of these protocols into my life, but this book needs another pass from an editor and a cleaner version should be released!
1) Formatting was just off the rails. Typos, spelling mistakes, and grammatical errors were quite frequent, especially as the book came to a close, which was infuriating because you can tell that this is well researched, intelligent information being conveyed.
2) The format of the book itself is very hard to follow. While items are given as "protocols" and "to do list" styles, they are usually at the end of a chapter, with sometimes "hacks" showing up within the middle of a chapter somewhere. Because of that, and the table of contents not having page numbers, I had to do something I never do with a book and fold over page corners to find information again (and even then it's a bit of a shot in the dark)
3) I wish there had been a bit more of a solid path to follow. There are all the protocols with some being more important than others and yes the information is there, but I still scratch my head trying to figure out EXACTLY what I am supposed to do in some situations.
Overall, the information with in is very important, I was very interested, and will be (or have already begun) implementing some of these protocols into my life, but this book needs another pass from an editor and a cleaner version should be released!
January 27, 2021
The information is fantastic and paradigm shifting. The 3 stars are due to the numerous distracting typos coupled with the confusing way the information is organized. I will gladly repurchase when these things are corrected.
September 12, 2020
A lot of good info in an almost incomprehensible format. Even the most dedicated reader, who is prepared to read and reread sections and even email the author multiple times trying to decipher the content is left flummoxed and irritated.
I started writing a list of the questions that I had an it became too long. Orange juice, when, how much? Melatonin, zinc etc... How much? When?
I think this book could be revolutionary as it's filled with nuggets of premium content but in its current form, it's useless.
I started writing a list of the questions that I had an it became too long. Orange juice, when, how much? Melatonin, zinc etc... How much? When?
I think this book could be revolutionary as it's filled with nuggets of premium content but in its current form, it's useless.
October 11, 2021
This book is a diamond in the rough, but you have to break down a lot of rock to get to the gem. Joel Greene writes in a conversational style, which is great at first. I excitedly read along with him, but about a third of the way through the book, I had to stop and ask, how do I organize all of this raw data he's provided? That's my biggest complaint and I think it has to do with the fact that he self-published this. No publishing company would've settled for this format. The table of contents isn't labeled, there is no index, and no easy-to-decipher summary. (There is a summary, but it's hard to decipher and you have no way of knowing which page numbers to reference, so it's a crapshoot to thumb back through 350+ pages.) But if you can bear with this...
He gives some compelling evidence for his unique advice on eating, including the what, how, when, and why of it all. At first it sounds crazy, like a breakfast of grapefruit and green bananas and a dinner of avocados, raw asparagus, onions, raspberries, vinegar, and olive oil. But he swears that these combinations will majorly reduce inflammation, take ten years off of your life, and increase your energy in ways you can't imagine. The amount of suggestions are overwhelming, but Greene assures you many times over that if you only choose one or two hacks, you are going to be so much healthier.
He also has an innovative view on the gluten-free or dairy-free way of eating. He says you don't have to give up eating gluten and dairy; you only need to repair your gut lining. So he gives hope to those who may have thrown in the towel. It's all very promising; I just wish he could condense this into a 30 page "quick guide".
He gives some compelling evidence for his unique advice on eating, including the what, how, when, and why of it all. At first it sounds crazy, like a breakfast of grapefruit and green bananas and a dinner of avocados, raw asparagus, onions, raspberries, vinegar, and olive oil. But he swears that these combinations will majorly reduce inflammation, take ten years off of your life, and increase your energy in ways you can't imagine. The amount of suggestions are overwhelming, but Greene assures you many times over that if you only choose one or two hacks, you are going to be so much healthier.
He also has an innovative view on the gluten-free or dairy-free way of eating. He says you don't have to give up eating gluten and dairy; you only need to repair your gut lining. So he gives hope to those who may have thrown in the towel. It's all very promising; I just wish he could condense this into a 30 page "quick guide".
July 11, 2021
I'm struggling with how to rate this book (I'd give it 3.5 stars)... I think it's like a diamond in the rough, but one would have to invest a great deal of time and energy to extract the value from it.
On the one hand, I very much admire how Joel Greene thinks outside the box of traditional health recommendations--indeed, as a biohacker (though I don't know that he used that word to describe himself), that's inherent in his entire approach. He's not looking to cure any particular disease, but to optimize peak human function, particularly with respect to aging (the author is in his fifties). The questions he asks are born of personal experience and experience with clients, based on what actually works. He makes the very clearly observable point that traditional recommendations of diet and exercise only work with unlimited time to devote to one's physical fitness. Lacking that, in today's modern sedentary world with myriad demands, how might one achieve fitness anyway? If one has no time for meal prep, and doesn't want to live a life of restriction (which isn't really doable long-term), how can one still reach and maintain optimal weight? What factors in our physiology are the biggest players in driving aging, and what can we do, with limited time and budget, to counteract those players?
I believe him when he says he's hacked the code on this, and has been effectively forestalling his own aging for decades -- he certainly looks the part. Yet I struggled with the presentation--and I'm a naturopathic doctor, so if anybody should have followed him 100%, I should have. Instead, he made assertions of how things worked that were completely new information to me, and then intentionally reduced the mechanisms down to easily understandable language for those with no background in medicine--which I appreciate, but I wanted to check out whether he was right. Alas, there were no footnotes. The bibliography at the end was dense, but not arranged by chapter (and not even correctly cited, though I don't think that matters too much, since I could easily google the papers and find them I'm sure). Then he'd jump from one totally new assertion to another, and I had a hard time following how the two were connected (probably because I didn't have the physiologic understanding of either point). Then he'd invent a name for his protocol hacks, called “modules," to address said points, and list what readers should do to leverage the presented concepts to maximum benefit. This was kind of ok with me for awhile, but as it went on, multiple seemingly unrelated modules came at me fast and furious. I couldn't remember what the module titles referred to, nor was I sure when to do them or under what circumstance. Eventually I kind of started to skim and hoped it would all fit together later.
I give him a lot of credit for mostly emphasizing food in his hacks, especially since he owns a supplement company. I can imagine a lot of my patients would protest against his recommendations as being unreasonable, though--he seems to be the kind of person who eats to live, and doesn't necessarily care if he enjoys his food most of the time. (Half a plate of raw green beans?! Lunch is nothing but walnuts?) It might not take a lot of meal prep, and might enable people to splurge on pizza and ice cream from time to time, but I wonder how sustainable it would be for someone with a family to feed, who maybe doesn't have a great deal of willpower to eat something less than appetizing while their family eats something tasty right in front of them. He might be justifiably annoyed by such objections, and a certain type of person (those just like Joel, probably) would prioritize their health, youth, and longevity over them. I just know how hard it is to get many people to start eating real food, let alone begin to consume enormous plates of raw green beans.
That said, I do plan to go back through the book, take notes, and mine the bibliography. I want to see if I can follow his reasoning and synthesize the information in such a way that it is usable to me.
On the one hand, I very much admire how Joel Greene thinks outside the box of traditional health recommendations--indeed, as a biohacker (though I don't know that he used that word to describe himself), that's inherent in his entire approach. He's not looking to cure any particular disease, but to optimize peak human function, particularly with respect to aging (the author is in his fifties). The questions he asks are born of personal experience and experience with clients, based on what actually works. He makes the very clearly observable point that traditional recommendations of diet and exercise only work with unlimited time to devote to one's physical fitness. Lacking that, in today's modern sedentary world with myriad demands, how might one achieve fitness anyway? If one has no time for meal prep, and doesn't want to live a life of restriction (which isn't really doable long-term), how can one still reach and maintain optimal weight? What factors in our physiology are the biggest players in driving aging, and what can we do, with limited time and budget, to counteract those players?
I believe him when he says he's hacked the code on this, and has been effectively forestalling his own aging for decades -- he certainly looks the part. Yet I struggled with the presentation--and I'm a naturopathic doctor, so if anybody should have followed him 100%, I should have. Instead, he made assertions of how things worked that were completely new information to me, and then intentionally reduced the mechanisms down to easily understandable language for those with no background in medicine--which I appreciate, but I wanted to check out whether he was right. Alas, there were no footnotes. The bibliography at the end was dense, but not arranged by chapter (and not even correctly cited, though I don't think that matters too much, since I could easily google the papers and find them I'm sure). Then he'd jump from one totally new assertion to another, and I had a hard time following how the two were connected (probably because I didn't have the physiologic understanding of either point). Then he'd invent a name for his protocol hacks, called “modules," to address said points, and list what readers should do to leverage the presented concepts to maximum benefit. This was kind of ok with me for awhile, but as it went on, multiple seemingly unrelated modules came at me fast and furious. I couldn't remember what the module titles referred to, nor was I sure when to do them or under what circumstance. Eventually I kind of started to skim and hoped it would all fit together later.
I give him a lot of credit for mostly emphasizing food in his hacks, especially since he owns a supplement company. I can imagine a lot of my patients would protest against his recommendations as being unreasonable, though--he seems to be the kind of person who eats to live, and doesn't necessarily care if he enjoys his food most of the time. (Half a plate of raw green beans?! Lunch is nothing but walnuts?) It might not take a lot of meal prep, and might enable people to splurge on pizza and ice cream from time to time, but I wonder how sustainable it would be for someone with a family to feed, who maybe doesn't have a great deal of willpower to eat something less than appetizing while their family eats something tasty right in front of them. He might be justifiably annoyed by such objections, and a certain type of person (those just like Joel, probably) would prioritize their health, youth, and longevity over them. I just know how hard it is to get many people to start eating real food, let alone begin to consume enormous plates of raw green beans.
That said, I do plan to go back through the book, take notes, and mine the bibliography. I want to see if I can follow his reasoning and synthesize the information in such a way that it is usable to me.
October 20, 2021
Let me start by saying I loved this book. Greene's passion and energy is contagious, you KNOW he really believes in his book and is SO excited to help people and that inspired me to put a lot of faith in him so I just said fuck it and bought ALL the shit he says to do and applied it 100% and so far have had great results after just a week; increased libido, better muscle mass, lower fat, more energy etc. Ben Greenfield also highly regards him which definitely helps. I think the content of the book is fantastic. The ideas and principles are really effective. The execution and organization is a bit of a struggle bus. To be fair, Greene communicates that the 2 day core is the MOST important thing, and I do believe that was well communicated however especially as an RN, I had some real issue with the communication of the supplements. I would guess about 1/2 of the supplements have no dose listed and not even a comment like "to tolerance or for your weight or the research shows varying doses, try starting with this." Like lecithin during the amplified fast. Now when you listen to interviews of Greene, he usually says to take the dose the bottle prescribes, but I found myself having to do a LOT of additional research and it's a pain in the ass. That being said, I still think the book has a ton of value and is worth reading and implementing. Hopefully he can come up with another additional and clean it up a bit. Greene also said he wants people to use it as a tool kit and not just doing what ever it says which is why I think it lacks some very thoroughly written out protocols. Also it sounds like Joel has his VEEP system as a computer software which makes sense, so there might be some difficulty in translating software to a linear format because there are MANY things you do concurrently and it can get a bit confusing.
It needs:
Supplements communicated with time, dose, route, frequency.
Grammar/spelling checks
An index with page numbers
I still want the protocols communicated visually like if Day 1 is the day you start reading the book I think 1 month should be written out verbatim what to do until you start to get the hang of things.
many images in the book with words are hard to read.
That being said, READ this.
It needs:
Supplements communicated with time, dose, route, frequency.
Grammar/spelling checks
An index with page numbers
I still want the protocols communicated visually like if Day 1 is the day you start reading the book I think 1 month should be written out verbatim what to do until you start to get the hang of things.
many images in the book with words are hard to read.
That being said, READ this.
October 14, 2022
I loved the book and am still Studying it. I gave it 4
Stars because I feel the information is so
Compelling and valuable. But it’s a pretty difficult book to read. When deciding which of the protocols I want to try, it has been tricky to find the specific hacks I’m
Looking for.
Stars because I feel the information is so
Compelling and valuable. But it’s a pretty difficult book to read. When deciding which of the protocols I want to try, it has been tricky to find the specific hacks I’m
Looking for.
January 18, 2021
Honestly have yet to finish this book and will need to read this so many times as so much new to me content and some serious paradigm changes....even more than insulin book. The whole premise that dieting only works if u can do that lifestyle all the time and most can't. This yoyo situation is actually creating issues and exacerbating the problem.
My key notes...The stomach lining repair is so important as triggers immune reactions. Immune system teams....Red (inflame) and blue (repair) need to be in balance. Losing fat damages fat cells causing immune reaction that needs to be addressed and supported. Oxidation and reduction need balance. Healthy things when imbalanced produces disease.
Baby talk. Carbs are bad fats are food. Absolutes. Using what when how (importance of the order of operations). Taking circadian and system interactions into account. Its not simply calories in and out but understanding systems and how to use hacks to not be stuck eating 1200 calories each day. Losing fat is the biggest predictor of future weight gain. Fat loss is an injury.
Too much autophagy is detrimental. Peroxisomes maybe more important than mitochondria are key blue team members ...go pexophagy. Breath book ideas mentioned here...importance of chew and closed mouth breathing. Insulin is indirectly addressed and rereading why we get sick may help me tie these two together. So many hacks to process it is overwhelming. Sticking with stomach lining for a bit as seems so fundamental and a few others. Will go back and see.
I have to let go of the fact that most likely I will never be able to go up the stairs normally or vacuum etc without being so out of breath, but these lessons and ways to work with the body systems will help me hopefully feel better and reduce a bit of my extra for the long haul. Hopefully I will not continue further damage with the yo yo.
My key notes...The stomach lining repair is so important as triggers immune reactions. Immune system teams....Red (inflame) and blue (repair) need to be in balance. Losing fat damages fat cells causing immune reaction that needs to be addressed and supported. Oxidation and reduction need balance. Healthy things when imbalanced produces disease.
Baby talk. Carbs are bad fats are food. Absolutes. Using what when how (importance of the order of operations). Taking circadian and system interactions into account. Its not simply calories in and out but understanding systems and how to use hacks to not be stuck eating 1200 calories each day. Losing fat is the biggest predictor of future weight gain. Fat loss is an injury.
Too much autophagy is detrimental. Peroxisomes maybe more important than mitochondria are key blue team members ...go pexophagy. Breath book ideas mentioned here...importance of chew and closed mouth breathing. Insulin is indirectly addressed and rereading why we get sick may help me tie these two together. So many hacks to process it is overwhelming. Sticking with stomach lining for a bit as seems so fundamental and a few others. Will go back and see.
I have to let go of the fact that most likely I will never be able to go up the stairs normally or vacuum etc without being so out of breath, but these lessons and ways to work with the body systems will help me hopefully feel better and reduce a bit of my extra for the long haul. Hopefully I will not continue further damage with the yo yo.
July 15, 2025
Joel Greene is a true genius, an N of 1, a longevity prophet. The Immunity Code and The Way are my health and wellness bibles. Greene's writing and protocols are accessible, logical, and ahead of its time. I had the privilege of doing a consultation with Joel, and his kindness, generosity, and intelligence are incomparable. Please run and get his books, listen to all his podcast interviews, and you will be stronger, healthier, and wiser for it!
May 3, 2021
Wow This author has compiles a solid, well studied case to help the reader understand the body's immunity and the "how, what and when" certain foods can help or hurt your body's ability to regenerate.
POPsugar 2021 - ugly cover
POPsugar 2021 - ugly cover
October 1, 2023
For health nerds, this book is probably a 4 or 5 star. I felt a specialist is needed to advise on most of his insights. I couldn’t appreciate the organization of the book either. A bit overwhelming for me.
January 9, 2021
This dude knows his shit
February 2, 2022
Great information but poorly written and formatted.
December 25, 2023
This book centers on the relationship between the immune system and fat cells. It analyzes how weight loss in itself can register as injury if it's done without consideration for the immune system and gut lining's interplay with fat cells.
It dispels the magical thinking of anti-aging and fat loss and offers easy 2 Day Resets you can do your whole life to optimize your health and even reset for indulgences.
-Eat apple peels to restore gut lining.
-Eat glycine before bed.
-Eat beans cold.
-NAD+ is great but don't supplement it until after you've restored your gut and inflammation and sleep or it won't benefit you.
-Every meal builds on the meal before it and so you can sandwich your hamburger and fries between meals that easily offset its impact.
It can overwhelm with you the number of day plans and details and yet it also has a way of simplifying the interworking systems and complexity into achievable foods and plans of action. In short, it's beneficial and helpful and turns many assumptions on its head while also adding further insight on biohacking and KETO modalities.
It dispels the magical thinking of anti-aging and fat loss and offers easy 2 Day Resets you can do your whole life to optimize your health and even reset for indulgences.
-Eat apple peels to restore gut lining.
-Eat glycine before bed.
-Eat beans cold.
-NAD+ is great but don't supplement it until after you've restored your gut and inflammation and sleep or it won't benefit you.
-Every meal builds on the meal before it and so you can sandwich your hamburger and fries between meals that easily offset its impact.
It can overwhelm with you the number of day plans and details and yet it also has a way of simplifying the interworking systems and complexity into achievable foods and plans of action. In short, it's beneficial and helpful and turns many assumptions on its head while also adding further insight on biohacking and KETO modalities.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews