Myths about diets. The science of what we eat

Thanks to this book, you will receive an answer to exciting questions: why diets do not work and how to eat right.

We know that "proper nutrition" helps to remain slender, energetic and maintain health for many years. However, to the question: "How is it to eat right?" There are many response options that often contradict each other or are completely mutually exclusive. For example, according to the recommendations of some nutritionists, you should abandon meat and dairy products (and animal fats contained in them), while others, on the contrary, argue that carbohydrates need to be excluded. And there is also a glycemic index, body mass index, coaling proteins, cholesterol and calorie rate, which should not be exceeded (and this is far from a complete list) With a closer examination, expert advice and recommendations based on them, which often seem quite logical, are in fact too simplified. The main evidence of this is that the percentage of people with an excess body weight and obesity is growing steadily.

For a long time, nutritionists have tried to identify several ingredients that can bring health or cause illness. So harmful at different times, fat, sugar, gluten were declared ... But the products consist of many ingredients. Even products related to the same group can be "unequally useful." For example, saturated fats, which have long been considered dangerous, are different in oil and cheese, and it cannot be argued that the use of these products has the same effect on the body.

The stronger we will delve into the topic, the sooner we will see what the questions: "Why are we gaining weight?" and "what products do you need to eat?" You cannot answer absolutely unambiguously. Tim spector shows that the key to health and harmony is not in the formula: "You eat less and move more", but in the microbioma, which everyone has their own.

Based on the latest achievements of science and its own innovative studies in the field of genetics, the spector explains: many of the postulates that seemed unshakable are actually misconceptions, the potential harm or benefits of many products are not proven, and to achieve health and harmony, you need to understand the individual characteristics of your organism, especially microbioma.

From the author
I wanted to find a formula that would help me maintain health, while reducing risks and weakening the severity of the symptoms of the most common modern diseases. However, the most popular diets are mostly focused on weight loss, and not on other aspects of a healthy lifestyle and nutrition. Some people with overweight practically do not encounter symptoms of impaired metabolism, while others, thin and slender, seem to be very subcutaneous fat, but at the same time they suffer from obesity of internal organs with the most destructive health consequences. And scientists cannot understand why this is happening.

Those changes that have occurred recently with our tiny intestinal microbes in particular and our microbiota as a whole, most likely, are responsible for the obesity epidemic and for its terrible consequences - diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Analysis of DNA of intestinal microbes allows us to predict the possibility of obesity in a particular individual more accurately than the study of all 20 thousand genes. And what will happen if you start studying viruses and fungi!

Types and number of microbes inhabiting our insides, to some extent explain the connection between our diet and the state of health. In particular, why are the results of studies of nutrition regimes in individuals and groups of the population so diverge. Why a low fat diet works (although not for everyone), and a diet with a high content is perfectly tolerated and dangerous for others. Why someone can calmly consume a lot of carbohydrates, and someone from the same number extracts more calories and gets fat. Why some eat red meat with pleasure, while others, having eaten a little bit, earn cardiovascular diseases. And even why older people who move to the nursing home and change diet are more susceptible to various ailments.

Book chips
detailed analysis of scientific data on food products and the ingredients contained in them from the famous and authoritative scientist.

The answer to the question: "Why is one person eats certain products and gaining weight, and the second remains slim?"

Fascinating style: interesting, but complex facts and phenomena are explained by simple language.

For whom this book
For everyone who is interested in proper nutrition.

For those who managed to realize that diets do not work.

For those who want to learn more about their body.

About the author
Tim Spector - professor of genetic epidemiology of the Royal College of London, director of Twinsuk Registry - data registry of 11 thousand twins. Since 1992, he proves that many diseases have been associated not only with nutrition and the environment, but also with genetics. He published more than 700 articles in scientific journals, including Science and Nature. Tim - the project manager for the study of human microbioma and the author of several books, laureate of academic awards. He also conducts research in the field of epigenetics - the science of how the environment affects our genes