Page 88 - Summer 2017 Journal

All Thumbs Book Reviews
tured proteins. Roasted almonds, pine nuts and cashews are high in oxalates, which are often a problem for children with autism. Anti-nutrients from nuts and seeds can pass into breast milk and cause digestive distress in infants.
Almonds contain the most anti-nutrients of any nut and have an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of almost two thousand to one, yet almonds are Hyman’s go-to food, appearing in numerous recipes. These include homemade almond milk, almond milk smoothies (four recipes), almond sauces and almond pesto. A reviewer comment- ed: “But how much almond milk can a person stand?” Another remarked that she became weary of the “weird almond concoctions.” Hy- man recommends getting organic raw almonds to “protect yourself from. . . contaminants,” but “raw” is a misnomer. If the almonds come from California—and most do—they are either pasteurized or sprayed with a toxic chemical.
A chapter on “controversial foods”—which includes eggs, coconut oil and olive oil—pro- vides more “good news on nuts and seeds.” Hyman touts a “37 percent reduced risk of heart disease if you eat nuts,” gleaned from observa- tional studies such as the Seventh Day Adventist Health studies, the Nurses Health Study, and the Physicians Health Study.
Regarding the diet plan itself, a reviewer states: “The original 21-day plan is the mini- mum, and this plan is however long it takes to lose the weight you...need to lose. So your ‘21- day plan’ might last a year or more. While on the 21-day plan, the restricted food list is very, very, very long.” After completing this phase, the full “pegan” diet incorporates beans, lentils and one-half cup of non-gluten grains per day. Hyman does not include beans and grains in the initial stages because of their lectin content. (Don’t nuts have lectins?)
Hyman characterizes his diet as an “elimi- nation diet” because it initially eliminates glu- ten, dairy and many other foods. Unfortunately, large quantities of allergenic nuts as well as 88
plentiful soy may defeat the purpose of an elimination diet. At some point, Hyman allows you to add back in small amounts of gluten and dairy, depending on “how you feel,” but only “from time to time.”
Most of the recipes avoid dairy, instead featuring coconut milk, cashew cream, nut butters, avocado and lots of coconut oil mayonnaise. The recipes also use cashew grains, substituting coconut flour, seeds and ground nuts. For “healthy” oils, Hyman recommends a good dollop of olive oil along with sesame oil and walnut, almond and macadamia oils (which are expensive and usually rancid), although elsewhere he unjustifiably demonizes macademia nut oil for its high palmitoleic acid content. Hyman’s list of healthy fats does not include any animal fats, although the latter certainly qualify as paleo. Maybe he is worried about saturated fats after all? Butter briefly shows up in a few recipes and in the “controversial foods” chapter. There, he applauds the saturated fats in butter and compares them to saturated-fat-rich breast milk.
For proteins, Hyman recommends eggs, grass-fed meats (except pork), fatty fish and shellfish, poultry, tofu and tempeh, seeds...and nuts—two to three handfuls daily in this “nutty” diet. Hyman appears to be unaware that nuts have variable protein content (from 3 to 50 percent) along with high levels of rancidity-prone polyunsaturated fats and anti- nutrients. Eating liberal quantities of nuts also does not encourage weight loss and may lead to weight gain. Dr. Michael Eades wonders whether nuts are truly paleo. Did our ancestors consume jars of nuts, nut butters and nut oils? Hyman expresses some reservations about protein powders but provides guidelines for using them in smoothies, and he wholeheartedly endorses them in The Daniel Plan, selling the “right” ones on his website.
I will let reviewers on Good Reads sum up my opinion of this book:
• “The groceries alone would be cost-prohibitive, not to mention the supplements and planning. ...Would this new life you have be worth living when you literally cannot eat anything out there?”
• “In some local grocery stores, I can buy a pound of bacon and a pound of grass-fed beef for less than a pound of walnuts.”
• “At some point [Hyman] switched from being an authentic-sounding doctor, to being an infomercial salesman. “
• “There is no reason people need multiple bizarre supplements to be healthy nor do you have to cut out gluten and dairy if you don’t have an allergy to [them].”
Would I purchase this book if I weren’t reviewing it? Are you nuts? There are much more interesting books out there such as Sally Fallon Morell’s new book Nourishing Fats and Nina Teicholz’s The Big Fat Surprise. The thumb is DOWN for Eat Fat, Get Thin.
Review by Sylvia Onusic
Wise Traditions SUMMER 2017