Today we are excited to bring you a review from our Team Member Anne, of Denise Minger‘s new book, Death By Food Pyramid. Denise was a delightful guest on a past episode of The Paleo View Podcast, where she talked about her new book and her views on a real food/ancestral diet. Denise was once a raw food vegan who suffered a number of health issues related to her choice in diet, and through personal research found her way back to a more ancestral way of eating that has greatly improved her personal health. After investigating the truth about food she became well known for debunking the “science” used to support The China Study. And now she’s back with even more fact-based research in her first book! You can read more from Denise on her blog, Raw Foods SOS, as well as her many guest articles on Mark’s Daily Apple.
This book could’ve been titled “Forget everything you were taught about Nutrition”.
I’d ordered this book long before Stacy & Matt asked if anyone wanted to review it. Having been Paleo/Primal for over 2 years I was already down the path that the “Food Pyramid” wasn’t my friend. That said I was interested in how we got the place to where we are at with nutritional guidelines.
Death By Food Pyramid starts off with the politics behind the Food Pyramid and how this benchmark for a proper diet came about. Denise’s book shows in a step by step fashion how large institutions trying to reconcile multiple conflicting agendas can go so far astray. It highlights the difficulty in making good nutritional choices when so much of the data and information we’re given comes from government and food industry giants who have agendas other than our health. Any time corporate growth and profits, and controlling cost of government programs is in play the data can and does get distorted.
The meat of the book really falls in the remaining two-thirds of the book. She dissects some of the major studies used to justify that nutritional advice that was prevalent for over 50 years. I found her style of writing to be easily understood and not too technical (sciencey) for the average reader. It was both entertaining and informative at that same time.
I liked how Denise provides a wide choice of eating plans ranging from a more Paleo (my personal choice) style of diet to a Vegan/Vegetarian based diet, the pluses and minuses of each point. As well as the current foods that should have no place in any of our diets. The lack of “one diet fits all” was something I think we can all relate to. What works well in my diet (some high quality dairy) might be disastrous for others. I find that some books are very 1 minded and I didn’t get that feeling from this book.
I’d definitely recommend Death By Food Pyramid for everyone’s reading list. It would be a great way to introduce others to a more whole foods approach to eating more like the diets that our forefathers ate before big industry and government decided to try and sway us to meet their economic agendas.
You can connect with Denise on her book’s Facebook page and find more information on other books like this by connecting on the Primal Blueprint Publishing Facebook page.
