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The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What You Eat

Alan Levinovitz (Goodreads Author)

3.51 · Rating details · 718 ratings · 151 reviews

An incendiary work of science journalism debunking the myths that dominate the American diet and showing readers how to stop feeling guilty and start loving their food again—sure to ignite controversy over our obsession with what it means to eat right.

FREE YOURSELF FROM ANXIETY ABOUT WHAT YOU EAT

Gluten. Salt. Sugar. Fat. These are the villains of the American diet—or so a ...more

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Hardcover, 272 pages

Published April 21st 2015 by Regan Arts.

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Apr 24, 2015 Megan rated it it was ok

I wanted to love this book. I wanted to buy a dozen copies and anonymously mail them to all the people who post about juice fasts and "eating clean". I think I'm more disappointed in it because of that than I would be if I didn't want to love it so much. Like when the politician you voted for says something idiotic, and that's worse than when the other guy says something equally idiotic. Because you're on the same side, how can your guy be saying idiotic things?!

Alan Levinovitz is a "scholar of I wanted to love this book. I wanted to buy a dozen copies and anonymously mail them to all the people who post about juice fasts and "eating clean". I think I'm more disappointed in it because of that than I would be if I didn't want to love it so much. Like when the politician you voted for says something idiotic, and that's worse than when the other guy says something equally idiotic. Because you're on the same side, how can your guy be saying idiotic things?!

Alan Levinovitz is a "scholar of religion", as the Chapter 1 begins. He claims that he's able to write about food science because of the way that fad diets follow standard myth archetypes. If this was a book about the development and progression of food myths over history with a conclusion that summed up in 15-20 pages the current scientific findings on gluten, fat, salt, sugar and carbs (i.e., the first should be avoided if you're among the fraction of the population with legitimately-diagnosed Celiac Disease, and is just another harmless protein composite for everyone else; the other four are a necessary part of a human diet and should be consumed in moderation), that would be an amazingly interesting and helpful book. It would help people identify future food fads by knowing what to look for. But that is not this book.

(A picky note on the cover: the author is listed as Alan Levinovitz, PhD. Yes, it's true, he has a PhD, in religious studies. It's in poor taste to trumpet your own irrelevant qualifications on a book that derides others for doing the same.)

The book's cover promises "The truth about Salt, Sugar, Fat, Carbs...and the latest fad, Gluten". That's where it begins to fail. The gluten chapter does alright; it's a history of Celiac Disease developments and how prior treatments for CD have also been diet crazes. It explains why self-diagnosing CD and self-treating with a GF diet is a bad idea, and it breaks down why going GF is of absolutely no use for the vast majority of the population. Best of all, it begins to get into how to interpret the findings of scientific studies as reported in the media. Solid beginning, if underwhelming. 3/5 stars.

Chapter 3 "Fat Magic" is where it starts to go downhill. Levinovitz had started to talk about critical thinking when it comes to scientific studies, but stops here before he gets too far down that road because he's about to start throwing around studies and numbers that sounds a lot like what the food fad people do and just hope you don't notice. The most bizarre example was citing a study that showed that the world's population of animals has gained weight over the last three decades, which is apparently meant to be interpreted as proof that fat people don't control getting fat. The chapters on Salt and Sugar get even worse. At one point, the author cites a study where children are given higher-than-recommended levels of sugar and compared to children who consume no sugar. The high-sugar children do better on a variety of measures, "proving" that we should all give our children higher-than-recommended amounts of sugar. But wait, where's the comparison to the children who consumed the recommended levels of sugar? Are they better or worse than the no-sugar or the high-sugar kids? Is this a linear progression or a bell curve? It's this kind of very basic logical fallacy that nearly had me throwing the book against the wall. (I didn't. It's a library book and I just couldn't bring myself to do that to my library.)

I was set on 1 star until the annotated "UNpacked Diet". Basically, Levinovitz wrote a fake fad diet plan (using actual fad diet language), and then provides an annotated version that unpacks all of the ways these diet books try to trick us. Skip the first, unannotated version. If you've spent any time in the diet section of your local bookstore, there's nothing new, and if you haven't, you're not going to be helped by reading through it without the notes. This is a fantastic idea that packs more information people can actually use than the rest of the book taken together. The second star is solely because of this section.

Long story short: If you want to learn about food myths, skim this book for the interesting parts. If you're looking for "the truth about [food]", look to reputable sources (NIH, Mayo Clinic, overviews of published findings). If you want to read more about pseudoscience in medicine, read Do You Believe In Magic by Paul A. Offit, MD. ...more

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Oct 30, 2015 Prima Seadiva rated it it was ok

Shelves: food, non-fiction

I had mixed feelings about this book (2.5 stars).I don't usually write such long reviews.
However having been involved with natural foods since the late 60's and working in the retail end for 39 of those years I've seen a lot of change and food trends and the subject is of long interest to me. This book addressed some of them. I worked in 2 local places, one now gone, the other thriving celebrating 37 years this month.

I recall when plain yogurt was considered very exotic. Now in every flavor kno ...more

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May 25, 2015 Antonia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio-audible, read-in-2015

Fascinating. Well written. Science-based. Highly entertaining. And a completely different perspective on diet fads and fantasies. Most refreshing. Prescriptions about what to eat and what not to eat have a lot in common with the dictates of religious cults, and the followers are no less fervent. Our beliefs in (or hopes for) diets, like our beliefs in supernatural forces, are largely based in magical thinking. It’s so hard not to buy into the myths, in false dichotomies, and the moralistic categ Fascinating. Well written. Science-based. Highly entertaining. And a completely different perspective on diet fads and fantasies. Most refreshing. Prescriptions about what to eat and what not to eat have a lot in common with the dictates of religious cults, and the followers are no less fervent. Our beliefs in (or hopes for) diets, like our beliefs in supernatural forces, are largely based in magical thinking. It’s so hard not to buy into the myths, in false dichotomies, and the moralistic categorization of some foods as natural and good, while others are unnatural (processed!) and evil. “Once you see enough of the same archetypal myths and the same superstitions,” Levinovitz says, “new dietary claims start to look a lot like flood myths.”

We really don’t know what an ideal diet would be, or for whom. Nutrition research is notoriouisly hard to do. It’s easy to scoff at fad diets, but Levinovitz also makes clear that there’s precious little evidence for most of what we think we “know” about healthy eating — or, for that matter, little evidence behind many of the solemn pronouncements of the medical establishment, including some made by the American Heart Association and the CDC. I’m not saying, nor is Levinovitz, that we shouldn’t trust healthcare authorities, but we should also cultivate a healthy skepticism and a return to common sense.

Oh, and don’t worry. The book is not all about gluten. That’s one chapter. Levinovitz recounts the history of fears about MSG, gluten, fat salt, and sugar — the same story told, the same mistakes made, time after time. It can be seen as pretty depressing. but fortunately Levinovitz is humorous and irreverent. Speaking of which, I heartily recommend the audiobook. The reader, Barry Press, is excellent. I think he made it even more entertaining than it already is.

This is one story recounted in the book (though I found it in an article that Levinovitz wrote for Slate.com.). "Once, at a farmers market, I asked a juice vendor whether her product counted as “processed”—a vague, unscientific epithet that gets thrown around in discussions of what we should eat. After a moment of shock, she impressed upon me that processing fruit into juice doesn’t result in processed food. Only corporations, she insisted, were capable of making processed food. Not only that, but it wasn’t the processing that made something processed, so much as the presence of chemicals and additives.

Did the optional protein powder she offered count as a chemical additive, I pressed? A tan, gaunt customer, eager to purchase her cleansing smoothie, interrupted us. “It’s easy,” she said, staring at me intensely. “Processed food is evil.”

At least she was honest. Processed food is evil. Natural food is good. Evil foods harm you, but they are sinfully delicious, guilty pleasures. Good foods, on the other hand, are real and clean. These are religious mantras, helpfully dividing up foods according to moralistic dichotomies. Of course, natural and processed, like real and clean, are not scientific terms, and neither is good nor evil. Yet it is precisely such categories, largely unquestioned, that determine most people’s supposedly scientific decisions about what and how to eat."
...more

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Dec 29, 2015 Karolína rated it it was ok

I really wanted to like this book. Like really REALLY. I think anyone familiar with social media nowadays must be annoyed by some of the self-appointed health gurus, who have a "simple fix" to all your problems. Just follow this diet, ups, its not called diet anymore, its LIFESTYLE now, and all your problems will disappear....no gluten is the latest trend.

And the book starts with the latest gluten craze. It explains a bit the history of celiac disease and how it´s non-sense for people who are no I really wanted to like this book. Like really REALLY. I think anyone familiar with social media nowadays must be annoyed by some of the self-appointed health gurus, who have a "simple fix" to all your problems. Just follow this diet, ups, its not called diet anymore, its LIFESTYLE now, and all your problems will disappear....no gluten is the latest trend.

And the book starts with the latest gluten craze. It explains a bit the history of celiac disease and how it´s non-sense for people who are not celiacs to avoid gluten like a plague. However it goes downhill from there. The next chapters look at sugar, fat and sodium and Levinovitz goes on and on about how there is always conflicting research and how the studies are badly interpreted and how we don´t really know what is good for us.

Might as well be, but he doesnt cite 1 study!!! Not a single 1!!! He just casually mentiones that "this one study done in university of blablabla" proved the previous study wrong. Ehm ok...how about you add it to the footnotes, because for all I know, you just pulled it out of your hat:-)

He basically does throughout the book the exact thing that he criticizes - there was a pragraph about how 1 study doesnt really prove anything and there needs to be more extensive research.....and only couple pages later, he goes on about how 1 study disproved the recommended sodium dose as too low.....ehm, im sorry, didn´t you just school us about how 1 study doesn´t prove anything at all?

Another thing that bugs me is that the author of this book is a religionist. He is a scholar, so I have no doubts he is a smart guy, however nutrition is obviously not his field. That is why I found it ridiculous when he was making fun about the 2 guys, who came up with paleo (I think?) saying that they are not really experts, because they are only cardiologists....ehm...ok....you are a freaking religionist so how does that add up?:D

While I understand he is upset about people not checking facts, blindly following the next "simple fix"and spreading lies or twisting the truth...the idea was passed on poorly and quite hypocryticly. ...more

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Oct 09, 2015 Olwen rated it it was ok

Shelves: nutrition

The author has a valid point - that extremes in nutrition really aren't helpful, and are often over-hyped. But his argument is presented with such ferocious spite that I expected at any moment to have to wipe some spittle from the page. What could have been an interesting exploration of the ever-ongoing debate was actually an emotive rant. The author's vitriol didn't endear me to his recommendations.

It must be possible to disagree in science without hostility, surely? ...more

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Jan 07, 2020 Ben Zornes rated it really liked it

Shelves: odds-ends, culture, worldview

My record on food fussiness is well established. In short, I think we should eat just about everything with gratitude––even processed foods. Those who invoke the verse about our bodies being the temple of the Holy Ghost to justify their food anxieties and fears need the gentle correction of a holy raspberry.

Yes, now I remember, this is a book review. The Gluten Lie traces how food myths gain credence and become gospel, despite scientific evidence to the contrary. For instance, in the 80s we wer

...more

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Jul 31, 2015 Caitlin rated it really liked it

As someone who is utterly sick and tired of being told what I’m not meant to eat, or worse, that giving my child fruit is tantamount to giving them chocolate, I was desperate to know I’m not the only person who relies on dieticians, not whatever nutritionist or wanna-be is flogging their new diet, says I should be eating.

The title of this book is quite misleading, so it’s important not to get the wrong idea about this book. This is not a book about nutrition or arguing the science of what is and As someone who is utterly sick and tired of being told what I’m not meant to eat, or worse, that giving my child fruit is tantamount to giving them chocolate, I was desperate to know I’m not the only person who relies on dieticians, not whatever nutritionist or wanna-be is flogging their new diet, says I should be eating.

The title of this book is quite misleading, so it’s important not to get the wrong idea about this book. This is not a book about nutrition or arguing the science of what is and isn’t “good” for us in the end – rather this is from a communications writer who is more concerned with the way in which people communicate about diets, especially using semi-religious terminology. As someone fascinated by rhetoric (as in proper Aristotelian rhetoric, not “rhetoric as another word for spin”) and a diagnosed coeliac (sick of people telling me “Oh go on, be naughty”) I found this was great.

The central idea isn’t that we should eat sugar, salt, fats and other “bad” foods with reckless abandon, or that Big Food (Big Salt, Big Fat etc) aren’t doing terrible things, but that just as we are sold terrible foods through persuasive messages we need to be wary of being sold terrible diet ideas. Likewise we need to unpack how and why we label some things as “evil” or considering them as so highly addictive that even a very small amount is terrible beyond measure. We need to stop imagining the mystic past as a place of good food where nobody got sick or they lived into their late years on whichever ancient “superfood” is the latest trend, when this wasn’t necessarily the case.

I feel that although thorough and in-depth, this was a short book, and a shorter one would have been okay. Much of the bulk of the pages is taken with footnotes at the end, which is great as it demonstrates the book is based on more than conjecture. There is also a long, extended example of how a diet is sold, with the section reprinted with comments of how it has been constructed. I do wonder if it was necessary to effectively have the section printed twice, but I can see why it was important to read the section “as is” before it is pulled apart.

Whether you agree with the points or examples, there is certainly plenty of food for thought – and thought for food.
...more

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Apr 30, 2015 Angelea rated it really liked it

I really loved this book. The author puts forth and validates so much of what I have observed over the years when counselling people regarding the constantly moving targets in nutrition. Levinovitz's perspective is refreshing and brings to the table insights only someone outside the science and practice of nutrition is likely to notice. I highlighted so many passages and found myself gaining my own new insights and saying "Yes!" a lot.

I think there is much to be gained from considering the autho ...more

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Aug 08, 2015 Amy rated it it was amazing

This was an interesting read about food/diet trends (not just gluten but also fat and sugar) and how to spot them. In the back is an example diet & then the author shows you the "red flags" that should warn us if a fad. There are a lot of food myths out there. This was a voice of reason. Great book!! ...more

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Aug 06, 2015 Lee rated it really liked it

Sobering comments regarding the food hysteria that is currently prevalent. As many people have said, the final section takes a bit of a slide, it feels like he has bowed to publisher pressure with regards to the writing style, ultimately suffocating the ideas in hyperbole.

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Sep 25, 2015 Jaclyn rated it it was ok

I picked up this book out of frustration with all the diets out there and lack of solid information about what is truly 'healthy'. So I enjoyed that the author basically says that much of the fads are not based on scientific findings, and points out how other authors cherry-pick the data, use scare tactics, revert to Nature, and claim modernity as the problem. I tend to think of myself as being very scientific-minded, but I gotta say I was really peeved that he apparently regards anything not ba I picked up this book out of frustration with all the diets out there and lack of solid information about what is truly 'healthy'. So I enjoyed that the author basically says that much of the fads are not based on scientific findings, and points out how other authors cherry-pick the data, use scare tactics, revert to Nature, and claim modernity as the problem. I tend to think of myself as being very scientific-minded, but I gotta say I was really peeved that he apparently regards anything not based on proven science as 'magical thinking'. What about instinct? What about tradition? Why is it 'illogical' to make food choices based on 'the good old days'? Why should we just accept whatever new chemical or treatment of our food (he says nothing about pesticides) as okay until proven otherwise? He also talks about 'the dose is the poison' so just because something is shown to be harmful in high doses, we shouldn't worry about the low doses -- is that in one meal? one day? one year? a lifetime? -- if there isn't a good study, then don't worry about it.

It's interesting that, because the science is lacking to prove something is harmful, it therefore must be okay. I guess I agree, as long as there was an attempt to show it is not harmful by an independent source, but to me that still means - eat a varied diet.

He does conclude that simply preparing your own food and taking the time to actually sit down and eat is likely to make you feel better -- basically, stop stressing out about your food and just enjoy it. Any sickness/issues you had contributed to food before were 'all in your head' -- not real happy about this idea either. Might the symptoms be real, but the cause be unknown (disease, allergies, gut imbalance, etc.)?

While some information was interesting, I found the book annoying because he seems to jump to conclusions just as the people he has a beef with do (I also felt it was almost personal -- does he truly feel these people are evil? have their claims actually harmed people??). But I agree we need to stop reacting to every food/diet claim, especially so passionately as some of us tend to do.

Two stars because the book was interesting, readable, but overall I find his message unclear and confusing - what exactly is his point? And is there any source of reliable information when it comes to diet? Or does he truly believe diet has no role in human health?
...more

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Jul 05, 2015 Richard rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ebook, health, biology, nonfiction, favorites

Much diet and health advice is based on the type of faith more often seen in churches and synagogues than in scientific laboratories, so I'm glad that at last we get a health book by a professor of religion! He shows convincingly why today's popular Paleo, anti-gluten, and other restrictive diets are just the latest in a long line of overhyped attempts to explain something that is far too complicated for our human minds to comprehend.

With good overviews of MSG, Sugar, Fat, Salt, and more, he sho ...more

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May 08, 2015 Wendi rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

A bit of a disappointment. The book has a great premise: tracking the history of food and diet myths in order to understand why people accept different "fads" as "truths", but the author tells more than he shows. In this way the book felt too preachy and if a reader who agrees with him on most points feels lectured, the book won't have much of an impact on skeptics. Still, the book was a quick read and provided some good examples and good information about the history and controversies surroundi ...more

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Jul 27, 2015 Cleokatra rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015

Good book. It's a little superficial, but it covers a lot of dietary myths and does a good job of explaining why drastic approaches to nutrition are not necessary or useful. ...more

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Feb 13, 2020 Jim Becker rated it liked it

Good and helpful, reinforcing what I have already been thinking: food fads are just that. He does well at underscoring throughout the book that, in the case of gluten, there are people who have been diagnosed with celiac disease who do refrain from eating gluten. From MSG in asana food, to bullet-proof coffee, to paleo: all fads.

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Jan 22, 2020 Kyle Grindberg rated it it was amazing

What a breath of fresh air.

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Mar 04, 2019 tinythunder rated it it was ok

This book was annoying.

I saw a picture of it online somewhere and ordered from the library. I assumed it was written by a scientist who would discuss science. In actuality, the author has no health experience; he studies religion, and essentially wrote this book to show how fad diets are mythologies. There is very little discussion of the science. Studies are referenced, but nothing you haven’t heard before (if you read this kind of thing) and it’s glossed over; a talking point in service of his This book was annoying.

I saw a picture of it online somewhere and ordered from the library. I assumed it was written by a scientist who would discuss science. In actuality, the author has no health experience; he studies religion, and essentially wrote this book to show how fad diets are mythologies. There is very little discussion of the science. Studies are referenced, but nothing you haven’t heard before (if you read this kind of thing) and it’s glossed over; a talking point in service of his argument.

His focus is on history and identifying the individuals responsible for demonizing particular foods: gluten, fat, sugar, salt. These are all things the general public needs to educate themselves on, as most people aren’t aware of the controversy around public health guidelines.

However, the book was mostly ruined for me by an off-putting tone of condescending sarcasm throughout, to the point of calling out and mocking multiple people currently active in the online health community. It’s unprofessional and makes him sound arrogant - you can disagree with someone without being an asshole. This coming from someone with an extremely sarcastic sense of humor who actually agrees with him on a lot of this. But it does not translate well into book form, or at least this particular book. The fake diet and the critique of the fake diet at the end were the most annoying way to end and kind of sums the whole thing up. He’s not wrong, but it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

It’s ironic that he chose to write a book that vilifies certain people for lack of credentials, blind promotion of an agenda, and potential book sales... when that’s basically what this is.

He is absolutely correct in the amount of fear inspired by food choices these days and we all just need to chill out. I’m surprised he never used the word orthorexia, but that’s basically what he discusses. I will also say if you find yourself buying into every new fad diet this book will help you develop a lens of healthy skepticism. Don’t go into it expecting a scientific exposé, be prepared for the tone and maybe you’ll enjoy it more than I did.

I highly recommend Denise Minger’s Death by Food Pyramid for a much better example of a balanced book by a health industry outsider that will teach you how to interpret food studies. ...more

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Oct 06, 2015 Jeff rated it it was ok

I gave this 2 stars because Levinovitz does a great job uncloaking lies and biases about gluten, MSG, salt, sugar, fat, "super foods", and fad diets. The historical perspective is great and he effectively uses examples of historical fear-mongering to demonstrate that these insane diets have always been a part of human history (i.e. monks in ancient China only drinking water and gaining immortality, nuns being possessed by animal demons when they ate meat). Everyone that thinks they are gluten-in ...more

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May 29, 2015 David Schwan rated it really liked it

Readers will either hate this book or love it. The author presents the reader with a look at food myths and shows elements of these myths to look for. The author is not a scientist but rather studies historical Chinese food myths (the Daoists) and shows the reader the basic elements of a food myth. While not a scientist the author has consulted with many scientists and presents arguements about MSG, Gluten, Salt, and Fat. Many of the things that bugged me about the book "Grain Brain" and expande ...more

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Jul 23, 2015 Gail Pigford rated it it was ok

I like to investigate the credentials an author has when writing a book. After looking up the author's educational background I wondered why he would write a nutrition book and was slightly amused when he addressed this early on in the book. I found the history of some of the myths interesting but his arguments were rather flat and unconvincing. After stating for several chapters we should be skeptical of the latest fads he than introduces his own fad diet, of course based on sound scientific fa ...more

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Jul 22, 2015 Edith-nicolecameron rated it did not like it

This book is terrible, and I don't even disagree with a lot of what Levinovitz is arguing. Maybe it's his overuse of the word "charlatan" or his failure to use any actual science to bolster his views - or maybe it's just that I happen to have read some really excellent, well-researched, measured, organized journalism lately (e.g. Pig Tales, Fifth Extinction, Duty, On Immunity). Mostly, I prickled at every angry, condescending, insensitive, and unfounded sentence in this book. ...more

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Sep 06, 2015 Kelly rated it really liked it

As a writer who specializes in health, fitness, and nutrition, I'm aware that there's really nothing new "out there" when it comes to dieting and weight loss. What I enjoyed about the Gluten Lie is the background on how easily we're persuaded by what others tell us about how we should eat, what's good/bad for us, etc. I also enjoyed his "Unpacked Diet" and the analysis of it...anyone who falls for a fad diet should read that section of the book! ...more

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Aug 22, 2016 Jonah rated it did not like it

Shelves: books-with-imperatives, adult-nonfiction

He just didn't do a good job of analyzing the available science. And it's hard to take seriously a guy talking about salt restriction who claims that 3 grams is anything other than 3000 milligrams (he claims 3 grams of sodium comes out to about 1260 milligrams- in what world, I don't know).
Yeah, there's a ton of problems with the way diet is discussed. But he really does a poor job of analyzing how it ought to be discussed. ...more

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May 07, 2017 Sonia Dyett rated it really liked it

This book does a nice job at taking down common food myths (even though I still believe sugar is evil). But at the end of the book, the author writes an entire "parody" chapter about his "new discovery" of finding out that food packaging is poisoning our food. The problem is, an an e-book, you can't really tell it is a satire and you think that the author has just gone off his rocker. He should have definitely shortened that segment and made the parody aspect more obvious in the e-book. ...more

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Jul 26, 2015 Annalie rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, xx2015-list

I found this book surprisingly easy to read and very engaging. Sadly, those people who would benefit most from it probably won't read it and Levinovitz will be preaching to the converted (well, this isn't exactly the appropriate word because people with a scientific approach don't get "converted", do we? We weigh the evidence ...) ...more

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Nov 27, 2015 Daniel rated it really liked it

Shelves: top-recommends

A great sceptical book on food and I think the world needs a lot more scepticism. (read The Believing Brain). This author might have spent a little more time reminding us that some of the bull shit we're exposed to actually could prove to be true, but the message that science is messy and often not clear cut is s good one. ...more

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Dec 27, 2016 Lukas Lovas rated it really liked it

As all declarations of how food works and what is scientifically proven or not, I will take this book with a grain of salt. From all that was said here, I get the feeling that it isn't just about what you eat, but also about how you feel about it.

It's good to know how food myths work though, and it certainly was an interesting reading.
...more

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Jul 29, 2015 Marcus rated it really liked it

Excellent insight into how diet/health books and media stories cherry-pick research studies and tap into religious tropes to advance their agenda.

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Dec 15, 2019 Katharine rated it really liked it

HIGHLY recommend this book! I'm a registered dietitian who supports evidence-based, practical nutrition recommendations that support a person's unique and total (mental AND physical AND emotional) health, NOT sabre-rattling, fear-mongering, or black-and-white nutrition dogma from any nutrition professional (qualified or self-described- there is plenty on both sides) about any particular nutrient/group of nutrients for the general population. The most fascinating part of the book aside from cutti HIGHLY recommend this book! I'm a registered dietitian who supports evidence-based, practical nutrition recommendations that support a person's unique and total (mental AND physical AND emotional) health, NOT sabre-rattling, fear-mongering, or black-and-white nutrition dogma from any nutrition professional (qualified or self-described- there is plenty on both sides) about any particular nutrient/group of nutrients for the general population. The most fascinating part of the book aside from cutting through the nutri-bollucks is how the myths that propagate our current diet culture have been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. I've heard the author on a few podcasts before, and this was the part I was most excited to learn more about in the book. The author's background in religion gives this book such a unique angle.

One could definitely take Dr. Levinovitz's book as sabre-rattling, but he's sabre-rattling against poor science, poor interpretation of science, and those who promote it, which is the one kind of sabre-rattling I can get behind. He *tries* to bring nuance to the conversation about gray areas, like gluten sensitivity or the small percentage of people who truly are salt-sensitive, and I feel this book could have been co-written with a dietitian to address those who think 'ok, so now I've learned that all of these recommendations are based on myths/bias/poor science... but is there anything in this area that IS supported by science and can support general health?' I do think we as a population want to do things that support our health, but we live in a silver-bullet society AND are taught that if we have any aspect of our health that is less-than-stellar, it's OUR fault and we are REQUIRED to do something- anything- about it. This breeds attraction to the kind of black-and-white rhetoric referred to in this book, and when it fails to produce the kind of promised magic results, we have only ourselves to blame for it not working when in reality, it was bad science from the jump.

This is, of course, a MASSIVE conversation that needs to incorporate in its web a discussion of what we've been taught about weight and health to begin with (as is repeated constantly in the book: correlation does NOT equal causation), natural size diversity, the notion that going on a special diet is NOT without side effects, and that mental health is pillar of total health and shouldn't be (but often is) a casualty of any kind of restrictive diet. I feel this book would be best paired with a book that does discuss these things, like 'The F*ck It Diet' by Caroline Dooner (which I read, loved, and reviewed here earlier this year), and 'Intuitive Eating' by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD, and Elyse Resch, MS, RD.

The book is remiss in not going more into the placebo and nocebo effects of diets because it's not uncommon for people to feel better starting on a fad diet and/or eliminating a specific nutrient/food group. Addressing this more in-depth would have really strengthened the content for skeptics of the book.

My husband read the book right before I did and he also loved it. He's a PhD researcher in agricultural sciences/professional skeptic who constantly encounters myths in his own field surrounding organic food/GMOs/pesticide use and describes them as 'recommendations based on emotion, not science.' He's also a former hardcore follower of the paleo diet who, despite not being 'strict' for years, still felt a pang of guilt eating gluten-containing bread... until he read this book and finally was convinced of the literal gluten lie. He was fascinated by the parallel between these diet culture myths and the myths in his own field.

As I said in the beginning, I highly recommend this book for the general population, especially those who routinely give nutrition advice to people. Full disclosure- I'm a dietitian who practices from a weight-neutral, non-diet approach, so this book was preaching to the choir for me. But I still approached it with an open mind because I only migrated over to the weight-neutral, non-diet approach from a VERY weight-centric approach for years *because* of digging into and challenging strongly-held nutrition beliefs about 'best' practices. The theories behind many of them are debunked in this book. But if you are new to this arena and start out with this book as your first toe-dip into questioning diet culture, I strongly recommend that you read one of the books I suggested above to complement it and further challenge yourself. ...more

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Nov 02, 2017 Pete rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, science

The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths about what you Eat (2015) by Alan Levinovitz is a study of various food myths and fad diets, where they come from, how they are propagated and how they tie into long standing beliefs that are quasi-religious.

Levinovitz is a professor who studies religion and his perspective on diet is really interesting.

The book starts by looking at how Celiacs disease and Gluten sensitivity were discovered, initially under-diagnosed and then substantially over-diagnosed and glute ...more

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About Alan Levinovitz

Alan Levinovitz

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Books by Alan Levinovitz

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“We have the right to know what’s actually going on with our bodies, and we shouldn’t have to abandon our favorite foods if there’s nothing wrong with them.” — 2 likes

“To begin eating a forbidden food means becoming a member of the group you once defined as inferior and unclean.” — 2 likes

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