Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating [Paperback]

STEP 1 FORWARD: This book steers you away from the high "glycemic index" sugar and starch foundation of the old pyramid which helped promote adult diabetes, blood circulation problems and heart disease. Instead, vegetables, fruits, whole grain foods and some oils become part of the new foundations of the proposed food pyramid.

STEP 2 FORWARD: The new pyramid includes "Multiple Vitamins for Most" and Alcohol in Moderation (unless contraindicated).

STEP 3 FORWARD: Harvard's new pyramid rehabilitates an oil based diet by making mono-unsaturates (olive and canola) and OMEGA-3 poly-unsaturates keys to good heath. ALL scientists having studied OMEGA-3 oils (of which fish, canola, flax and unhydrogenated soybean are main sources) DO AGREE with the need to increase this healthy oil which appears, at the very least, to lower sudden heart deaths and that may well reduce inflammation (arthritis, etc.) and possibly cancers.

BACKWARD 1 STEP, and this is extremely unfortunate since most fat-scientists also agree about this point: an excessive intake of the other poly-unsaturate, OMEGA-6 linoleic (found in corn, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower and again in soy) may well promote inflammatory (arthritis, heart) diseases, and cancer. I'd refer the reader to the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids, ISSFAL ( [...]) recommending a maximum intake of omega-6 linoleic of only 6.7 grams ï¿as the average American and most Europeans already get twice that much.

While Willett ([...]) report on this potential danger of omega-6 (page 77), they nevertheless include corn and sunflower, some main offenders, in the very base of their new pyramid. Not only that, they propose that reducing omega-6 oils from current amounts "is likely to wipe out many of the gains" in preventing heart disease... This omega-6 position has Harvard relatively isolated since it is without the support of clinical trials. The blanket recommendation of all polyunsaturated oils, if ISSFAL is correct, may well violate the medical principle of "first not to do harm". This, and the continued blaming of saturated fat and cholesterol [also without clinical evidence in support] is truly a superb opportunity missed to incorporate the important last decade of research about fats.

This is one problem with statistics and not biology based nutritional advice. With those comments in mind and considering that a high intake of omega-6 poly-unsaturates like corn and sunflower oils may be dangerous [and don't raise good cholesterol; HDL, page 61], this book is a worthwhile read that makes an important contribution to healthy eating and to the battle against diabetes and industrial hydrogenation [trans fats]. ([...] )

The author is opposed to low fat diets. Willett talks about a study in which participants who had diets high in unsaturated fats had significantly fewer heart attacks than participants on low fat diets. This is because unsaturated fats raise good cholesterol. I also found out how to recognize trans fats when I look through lists of ingredients. The author explains the importance of getting many different colors of fruits and vegetables per day. So, everyday I fry a medley of five or six different kinds of vegetables for dinner, and lunch the next day. This is easy to do if you buy frozen vegetables.

My one complaint is that the book did not mention high fructose corn syrup. This is a sweetener that is in many breads, yogurts, crackers, juices, and breakfast cereals. It is man-made and the metabolic system has a difficult time processing it. HFCS actually slows your metabolism when you eat it, which is ridiculous considering that we eat food for energy. I was the same weight for about 5 years. Less than two months after cutting out HFCS, my weight went down 10lbs without any other changes in diet or exercise. I wish Dr. Willett had discussed this because it would have been extremely helpful information for his readers.

Other than that, this is an excellent and life-changing book. I am following everything the book suggests (except drinking alcohol in moderation because I don't drink and never will) and I definitely feel better. Forget the Atkins Diet. Follow the simple instructions in this book and you will be both healthier and thinner.