While Gottfried shares some important information with plenty of evidence cited, sprinkled among this crucial info are bizarre unfounded claims that I just couldn’t swallow (like nuts and coffee being riddled with mold, despite nuts being in many of the recipes she shares).
The information was also presented in a less than user-friendly fashion, so if the goal is to help those who this info is new for, I’m sure it does help to some degree, but the organization feels mediocre at best.
Always up for experimentation, I tried many of her recommendations and recipes, and to her credit, tracking my blood sugar (I caved and ordered some CGMs despite not being diabetic) was quite insightful, especially in regard to stress. Ironically, however, my blood sugar was at its worst after eating meals she recommends (made specifically according to recipes in her book). Vitamin C can throw off glucose monitors, showing falsely high reads, however, and I did nerd out and calculate the estimated concentration of Vitamin C in my blood, comparing it to concentrations in studies that were sufficient to show artificially high glucose levels…it was comparable IF absorbed all the Vitamin C I ate (unlikely) within about 10 minutes (highly unlikely). So, the jury’s out on this one.
What I did really appreciate about this book was how much she drives home the importance of relaxation. Having been a primary care doc in a former life, I can safely say in my experience the average person doesn’t fully grasp the systemic impact of insufficient relaxation. Most people know “stress is bad,” (not all stress…), but are stumped as to why they’re not losing weight, or why their hormones are out of whack. I think Gottfried does a great job of constantly reiterating just how harmful it is to be constantly “on.” I also appreciated the tremendous focus on brain health (yes, yes, it’s in the name), but she discusses the many different ways brain health can be impacted by diet and lifestyle, and this too, is too commonly unknown.
So, kudos to her for getting this out there, but it would be a much more powerful book if she:
a) stuck to evidence-based claims (and cited that evidence)
b) found a better way to organize the info,
and
c) provided more guidance on how an individual can experiment to find their healthy dietary balance (instead, she gives vague prescriptives like “eat a moderate amount of protein”).