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Trick and Treat: how healthy eating is making us ill
Do you practice "healthy eating", consuming your "five portions of fruit and vegetables" per day and shunning fats in favour of complex carbohydrates?
Then you could be doing exactly what is most harmful to your health and helping to support one of the world's biggest and most lucrative industries - the healthcare industry.
Trick and Treat asks the key questions:
- has "healthy eating" coincided with a reduction in health problems and health spending?
- who benefits from the effects of "healthy eating"?
- what is the evidence to support the principles of "healthy eating"?
- if "healthy eating" isn't healthy, what is?
Bringing together over a century of relevant findings, including classic papers and the latest research. Barry Groves examines each of these issues in depth and concludes that there is a simple, evidence-based alternative approach that will allow us all to take charge of our own health.
Then you could be doing exactly what is most harmful to your health and helping to support one of the world's biggest and most lucrative industries - the healthcare industry.
Trick and Treat asks the key questions:
- has "healthy eating" coincided with a reduction in health problems and health spending?
- who benefits from the effects of "healthy eating"?
- what is the evidence to support the principles of "healthy eating"?
- if "healthy eating" isn't healthy, what is?
Bringing together over a century of relevant findings, including classic papers and the latest research. Barry Groves examines each of these issues in depth and concludes that there is a simple, evidence-based alternative approach that will allow us all to take charge of our own health.
550 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
29 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 8, 2012
This book has so many important things to say. Not just about weight loss, but also about health and about our health system.
This book explains that while it is our responsibility to make healthy choices, to make a choice first we have to understand that there is a choice. We need accurate information. Unforunately the current food guidelines are based on myths and wishful thinking rather than science.
The author goes on to say:
* The health industry is one of the most lucrative in the world and so the focus has become wealth rather than health.
* Many published drug studies are no more than infomercials. Journals, doctors and academia have been bought by the drug companies and many patient ground that claim to be grass-roots groups are in fact 'astroturf' groups; faux advocacy groups.
* The NICE Guidelines in the UK are heavily lobbied by drug companies and not at all based on good science. Guidelines by committee are disastrous, especially when vested interest groups are involved.
* Mild symptoms of illness such as tiredness and aches and pains have been normalised in our society but they are not normal and are related to our current poor dietary advice and diets.
* The pharmaceutical industry is not focused on cures but on treatments which can be sold to the patient over and over again. Not only is this industry not the one to look to for real cures (as so many still do), but they help the cures we do have often remain unused and ignored. For example, type 2 diabetes has been curable since the 1970s, yet many patients are still just given drugs to take for life to minimise some of the symptoms of the condition.
* Early detection of disease is being twisted and presented as it it is the same thing as preventing a disease, which of course it is not. The early detection push is primarily about increasing the market for various drugs. Don't donate to the big cancer and MS charities etc. if they don't support prevention measures and instead focus on mere early detection.
The author writes about diet, that:
* The advice to cut down on sugar but to eat lots of grains makes no sense.
* Low fat, high-carb and low calorie diets are not healthy and not the best diet for weight loss.
* High levels of glucose (as with a high-grain and high-carb diet) compromise the immune system.
* Grains are not as high in nutrients as we have been led to believe and in fact these foods can leach nutrients from the body if not properly prepared. The same is true of legumes.
* Excess fibre can cause problems for some people and fibre from grains is not necessary. Bran flakes are not a health food, but a faddish waste of money.
* The bioavailablity of nutrients is much lower in raw produce compared to cooked.
* Low salt diets have not been tested for safety and the scaremongering about salt is not scientific.
* Healthy low carb diets must be high in fat and NOT protein.
* The Paleo diet is very relevant today. Good macronutrient ranges by calories are 10 - 15% carbs, 15 - 25% protein and 60 - 70% fat.
* Saturated fat is a healthy traditional fat.
* The ideal figure for carbs has been found to be around 50 - 75 grams a day, and this is the maximum a person with diabetes should eat. This amount is a good one to start with and some people will feel best making it slightly lower or higher.
* People that are very ill (eg. MS patients) may do better starting with around 110 carbs a day before gradually going down to 70 grams a day. Going too low or too low too fast may make such patients more ill.
* It is a good idea to lower your carbohydrate intake gradually, so as to make the transition less stressful for the body. Going from a high-carb diet to just 20 grams of carbs a day is too much of a shock, and not necessary.
* It is not healthy to get glucose from protein long-term. It is wasteful and puts a strain on the liver and kidneys.
* A BMI of 25 - 30 is still a healthy weight and may even be the healthiest weight range.
* The idea that traditional foods are causing all our modern diseases is ludicrous.
Important authors such as Abram Hoffer, Adele Davis, Weston A. Price and Shanahan are quoted. Good information is also given about the dangers of some vaccinations and soy products and of fluoride, why humans are not designed to run, why excessive exercise can be harmful and pain and injuries should not be ignored.
The author has been following a low carb diet since 1962 so he really knows his stuff.
The authors advice and views tally very well with my own. I have a severe neurological disease with some similarities to MS and I have found that a very low carb diet of 20 grams or so of carbs a day, makes me feel unwell after a few months. It seems like maybe my liver and kidneys cannot handle the extra strain. I have felt so much better staying around the 50 - 75 gram mark. It is also a far more pleasant diet to eat by far. This lower-carb diet also greatly helps my hypoglycaemia symptoms, makes me feel more satisfied after meals (and not starving hungry right after each meal due to blood sugar surges) and has treated my PCOS as well. I also do far better avoiding grains, legumes and dairy products too. I am using this style of diet, along with other supplemental nutrients and detoxification methods, to slowly improve my severe neurological disease - which had been slowly worsening for more than a decade.
My only issue with this book is the authors assertion that we need to eat only 2 serves of fruit or vegetables daily and that claims we need 5 or more are unsupportable and quite silly. The sugar content of fruit is discussed, and the author claims that fruits and vegetables deliver few antioxidants. But the issues of taste, enjoyment, vitamins and phytonutrients are not discussed at all. What about the important detoxification aids and cancer-fighting nutrients present in brassica vegetables? What about all the folate and other nutrients in leafy greens? What about all the bioflavanoids present in foods like capsicums? None of this is even mentioned. It is a very strange part of the book, not remotely up to the standard of the rest of the book. This section is so poorly done it risks detracting people from the rest of the book, which is of a high standard and well reasoned, argued and researched. Best to just skip the anti-vegetable chapter I think.
This one quibble aside (plus the lack of good basic supplementation information), this is a wonderful book on diet and a great achievement by the author. This book is just as well written and researched as his book on the dangers of fluoride in our water supply, the first book I read by this author. That book is well worth a read as well.
To read more about why we need to eat the traditional foods we evolved to eat and why proper nutrition is so important to health and treating disease books such as Deep Nutrition and Primal Body Primal Mind are excellent extra reading. These are two of the most important books there are for anyone dealing with serious disease; along with Detoxify or Die and any of the high quality vitamin C books by Dr Thomas Levy and others.
A great quote from this book:
"There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action." Bertrand Russell.
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E. (HFME)
This book explains that while it is our responsibility to make healthy choices, to make a choice first we have to understand that there is a choice. We need accurate information. Unforunately the current food guidelines are based on myths and wishful thinking rather than science.
The author goes on to say:
* The health industry is one of the most lucrative in the world and so the focus has become wealth rather than health.
* Many published drug studies are no more than infomercials. Journals, doctors and academia have been bought by the drug companies and many patient ground that claim to be grass-roots groups are in fact 'astroturf' groups; faux advocacy groups.
* The NICE Guidelines in the UK are heavily lobbied by drug companies and not at all based on good science. Guidelines by committee are disastrous, especially when vested interest groups are involved.
* Mild symptoms of illness such as tiredness and aches and pains have been normalised in our society but they are not normal and are related to our current poor dietary advice and diets.
* The pharmaceutical industry is not focused on cures but on treatments which can be sold to the patient over and over again. Not only is this industry not the one to look to for real cures (as so many still do), but they help the cures we do have often remain unused and ignored. For example, type 2 diabetes has been curable since the 1970s, yet many patients are still just given drugs to take for life to minimise some of the symptoms of the condition.
* Early detection of disease is being twisted and presented as it it is the same thing as preventing a disease, which of course it is not. The early detection push is primarily about increasing the market for various drugs. Don't donate to the big cancer and MS charities etc. if they don't support prevention measures and instead focus on mere early detection.
The author writes about diet, that:
* The advice to cut down on sugar but to eat lots of grains makes no sense.
* Low fat, high-carb and low calorie diets are not healthy and not the best diet for weight loss.
* High levels of glucose (as with a high-grain and high-carb diet) compromise the immune system.
* Grains are not as high in nutrients as we have been led to believe and in fact these foods can leach nutrients from the body if not properly prepared. The same is true of legumes.
* Excess fibre can cause problems for some people and fibre from grains is not necessary. Bran flakes are not a health food, but a faddish waste of money.
* The bioavailablity of nutrients is much lower in raw produce compared to cooked.
* Low salt diets have not been tested for safety and the scaremongering about salt is not scientific.
* Healthy low carb diets must be high in fat and NOT protein.
* The Paleo diet is very relevant today. Good macronutrient ranges by calories are 10 - 15% carbs, 15 - 25% protein and 60 - 70% fat.
* Saturated fat is a healthy traditional fat.
* The ideal figure for carbs has been found to be around 50 - 75 grams a day, and this is the maximum a person with diabetes should eat. This amount is a good one to start with and some people will feel best making it slightly lower or higher.
* People that are very ill (eg. MS patients) may do better starting with around 110 carbs a day before gradually going down to 70 grams a day. Going too low or too low too fast may make such patients more ill.
* It is a good idea to lower your carbohydrate intake gradually, so as to make the transition less stressful for the body. Going from a high-carb diet to just 20 grams of carbs a day is too much of a shock, and not necessary.
* It is not healthy to get glucose from protein long-term. It is wasteful and puts a strain on the liver and kidneys.
* A BMI of 25 - 30 is still a healthy weight and may even be the healthiest weight range.
* The idea that traditional foods are causing all our modern diseases is ludicrous.
Important authors such as Abram Hoffer, Adele Davis, Weston A. Price and Shanahan are quoted. Good information is also given about the dangers of some vaccinations and soy products and of fluoride, why humans are not designed to run, why excessive exercise can be harmful and pain and injuries should not be ignored.
The author has been following a low carb diet since 1962 so he really knows his stuff.
The authors advice and views tally very well with my own. I have a severe neurological disease with some similarities to MS and I have found that a very low carb diet of 20 grams or so of carbs a day, makes me feel unwell after a few months. It seems like maybe my liver and kidneys cannot handle the extra strain. I have felt so much better staying around the 50 - 75 gram mark. It is also a far more pleasant diet to eat by far. This lower-carb diet also greatly helps my hypoglycaemia symptoms, makes me feel more satisfied after meals (and not starving hungry right after each meal due to blood sugar surges) and has treated my PCOS as well. I also do far better avoiding grains, legumes and dairy products too. I am using this style of diet, along with other supplemental nutrients and detoxification methods, to slowly improve my severe neurological disease - which had been slowly worsening for more than a decade.
My only issue with this book is the authors assertion that we need to eat only 2 serves of fruit or vegetables daily and that claims we need 5 or more are unsupportable and quite silly. The sugar content of fruit is discussed, and the author claims that fruits and vegetables deliver few antioxidants. But the issues of taste, enjoyment, vitamins and phytonutrients are not discussed at all. What about the important detoxification aids and cancer-fighting nutrients present in brassica vegetables? What about all the folate and other nutrients in leafy greens? What about all the bioflavanoids present in foods like capsicums? None of this is even mentioned. It is a very strange part of the book, not remotely up to the standard of the rest of the book. This section is so poorly done it risks detracting people from the rest of the book, which is of a high standard and well reasoned, argued and researched. Best to just skip the anti-vegetable chapter I think.
This one quibble aside (plus the lack of good basic supplementation information), this is a wonderful book on diet and a great achievement by the author. This book is just as well written and researched as his book on the dangers of fluoride in our water supply, the first book I read by this author. That book is well worth a read as well.
To read more about why we need to eat the traditional foods we evolved to eat and why proper nutrition is so important to health and treating disease books such as Deep Nutrition and Primal Body Primal Mind are excellent extra reading. These are two of the most important books there are for anyone dealing with serious disease; along with Detoxify or Die and any of the high quality vitamin C books by Dr Thomas Levy and others.
A great quote from this book:
"There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action." Bertrand Russell.
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E. (HFME)
March 7, 2012
Trick and Treat is not a diet book. It is a book about what we are told to eat and what is really good for our health. It is a book about the modern "healthy diet" and all the business around health and food.
To sum up Barry Groves' ideas, he states that we should eat much more animal fat through meat, eggs, butter, full fat milk etc. and cut down the carbs to a minimum. To prove his point, he goes through a large variety of modern diseases (diabetes, cancer, heart attacks, alzeimer's...) and explains the relation between these and our modern diet, with studies to support his claims.
The amount of research and documentation inside this book is just incredible, but at the same time it is quite easy to read. Although it is hard to figure out the truth between all these diet/healthy food books, this one is quite convincing as it appeals to both common sense and hard evidence. It also shows how we are conditioned to believe what we are told without questioning it.
I am not sure if I agree completely with everything Barry Groves states in here, but it really gives a good starting point to really form a personal opinion about what we pass our lips. I would recommend any person concerned with their health to read this book.
To sum up Barry Groves' ideas, he states that we should eat much more animal fat through meat, eggs, butter, full fat milk etc. and cut down the carbs to a minimum. To prove his point, he goes through a large variety of modern diseases (diabetes, cancer, heart attacks, alzeimer's...) and explains the relation between these and our modern diet, with studies to support his claims.
The amount of research and documentation inside this book is just incredible, but at the same time it is quite easy to read. Although it is hard to figure out the truth between all these diet/healthy food books, this one is quite convincing as it appeals to both common sense and hard evidence. It also shows how we are conditioned to believe what we are told without questioning it.
I am not sure if I agree completely with everything Barry Groves states in here, but it really gives a good starting point to really form a personal opinion about what we pass our lips. I would recommend any person concerned with their health to read this book.
April 23, 2009
I'm finding it hard to go along with Mr. Grove's assertion that we don't really need to eat fruit. I have seen him state in other articles that it's a myth that fruit is full of vitamins and minerals. I don't even eat much fruit, my fruit bowl currently contains my ipod, camera and a nest of computer leads, so I don't know why this worries me so much, but it just doesn't sit right with me.
There is a lot in this book to think about, ranging from corruption in the medical drug industry to pointing out that bran was a worthless by-product of the milling process until we were conned into eating it. What a handy and profitable way to dispose of it.
Barry Groves is into a low carb high fat diet but he explains it so well and cites so much research it makes sense. Even so, my last forray into the low carb world left me so depressed I'm reluctant to go there again. Maybe when I understand the book more I can adjust my diet appropriately.
There is a lot in this book to think about, ranging from corruption in the medical drug industry to pointing out that bran was a worthless by-product of the milling process until we were conned into eating it. What a handy and profitable way to dispose of it.
Barry Groves is into a low carb high fat diet but he explains it so well and cites so much research it makes sense. Even so, my last forray into the low carb world left me so depressed I'm reluctant to go there again. Maybe when I understand the book more I can adjust my diet appropriately.
August 29, 2013
It is an eye-opener on many things. Definitely quite "alternative" on some view points but great for being so. I did learn a lot from reading it and even decided to implement some of the learnings from the book into our every day lives. The reason I did not give it 5 stars is because it sometimes lacks pointing to actual sources for the information provided - however, it is obvious from the writing (and printing style) that the book is a "homemade" project made after decades of research by a very passionate man for the topic at hand.
January 28, 2020
This is the go to book with documented evidence to find out where nutrition has gone wrong and how to fix it. Highly recommend to anyone wanting any nutrition knowledge.
May 2, 2014
Amazing. And so important. How to eat in a way that's truly healthy: (please note, everything here is oversimplified based on my memories of the book - everyone should read this for themselves if they're concerned about their own health in any way):
Eat fats, meat, fish, eggs, full fat dairy (grass fed), full cream unpasteurised milk, nuts, butter, etc. Natural foods. Veg is ok, fruit less so. (It's been artificially screwed with to make it sweeter and palatable, but the sugars in it aren't great. It's not a natural food now.)
Processed carbs destroy health. Oh, and drugs do too. So many nuggets of info I found amazing in this book, and all backed up with the results of medical studies. People who have cancer treatment don't live longer than those who don't get treatment. Carbs cause a shitload of our diseases BECAUSE WE WEREN'T DESIGNED TO EAT CEREALS. Food manufacturers sell shit that IS NOT FOOD and poisons us - and it's legal. Drug companies sell us medicines for everything and by the admission of the head of one of the big pharmas, drugs are completely ineffective in most people anyway. And there are a bunch of studies here that show they actually can kill you faster than not taking them at all. Fab. Oh, and the medical industry flat out LIES about things that are healthy - eg, cholesterol. Turns out, 'high' cholesterol helps old people live longer. Lowering cholesterol has never been shown to benefit anyone's health or to prevent heart attacks or furring up arteries. Lying fuckers. (So angry about this.)
But out of all this, the bit that makes the most intuitive sense to me is that we evolved for a long time eating what we could catch and find. Which wasn't cereals or bread or ready meals. It was animal fat and meat and eggs and fish. And when I lost 50kgs, that's mostly what I was eating because that's what I wanted to eat. And the weight fell off, and the doctor said he'd never seen bloodwork look so good. So yeah, it's also personal experience that tells me this guy is onto something.
Post scrips; what also pisses me off is that it's now so hard to find real food - eg, most meat is not grass fed, it's grain fed. Most eggs are from battery hens fed with grain. It's all but impossible to buy natural, full fat, unpasteurised milk. GRRRRRRRRR.
Eat fats, meat, fish, eggs, full fat dairy (grass fed), full cream unpasteurised milk, nuts, butter, etc. Natural foods. Veg is ok, fruit less so. (It's been artificially screwed with to make it sweeter and palatable, but the sugars in it aren't great. It's not a natural food now.)
Processed carbs destroy health. Oh, and drugs do too. So many nuggets of info I found amazing in this book, and all backed up with the results of medical studies. People who have cancer treatment don't live longer than those who don't get treatment. Carbs cause a shitload of our diseases BECAUSE WE WEREN'T DESIGNED TO EAT CEREALS. Food manufacturers sell shit that IS NOT FOOD and poisons us - and it's legal. Drug companies sell us medicines for everything and by the admission of the head of one of the big pharmas, drugs are completely ineffective in most people anyway. And there are a bunch of studies here that show they actually can kill you faster than not taking them at all. Fab. Oh, and the medical industry flat out LIES about things that are healthy - eg, cholesterol. Turns out, 'high' cholesterol helps old people live longer. Lowering cholesterol has never been shown to benefit anyone's health or to prevent heart attacks or furring up arteries. Lying fuckers. (So angry about this.)
But out of all this, the bit that makes the most intuitive sense to me is that we evolved for a long time eating what we could catch and find. Which wasn't cereals or bread or ready meals. It was animal fat and meat and eggs and fish. And when I lost 50kgs, that's mostly what I was eating because that's what I wanted to eat. And the weight fell off, and the doctor said he'd never seen bloodwork look so good. So yeah, it's also personal experience that tells me this guy is onto something.
Post scrips; what also pisses me off is that it's now so hard to find real food - eg, most meat is not grass fed, it's grain fed. Most eggs are from battery hens fed with grain. It's all but impossible to buy natural, full fat, unpasteurised milk. GRRRRRRRRR.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2015
An incredible book that opens your eyes to the conflicting relationships between medicine, research, the pharmaceutical companies, health and profit. The bottom line is that, because of vested interests, orthodoxy and dogma we are actually being advised to eat all the wrong foods, and this is making us chronically sick. For Groves the right food is a low carbohydrate diet with lots of saturated animal fat.
Whether or not you would subscribe to his recommended diet, his discussions are enough to make you think twice about government recommendations and so called nutritionists or health experts. He would also have you proceed with caution as far as doctors are concerned because of their ridiculous targets and their relationship to the pharmaceutical companies. Treat your doctor like a lawyer; consult them make your own mind up about what they prescribe as treatment.
He manages to turn the health understandings that we currently have all topsy-turvy and to be frank, I believe there must be more than a slither of truth in his conclusions. For all our so called medical understanding and professionals in the field of health, in the past thirty years all I have seen is people looking sicker. We are increasingly unable to prevent or cure illness or disease - all we can do is treat it and that involves expensive drugs. There is no medical alternative. So, if diet is important, and I think it is, it's worth taking a look at Barry groves' views.
Whether or not you would subscribe to his recommended diet, his discussions are enough to make you think twice about government recommendations and so called nutritionists or health experts. He would also have you proceed with caution as far as doctors are concerned because of their ridiculous targets and their relationship to the pharmaceutical companies. Treat your doctor like a lawyer; consult them make your own mind up about what they prescribe as treatment.
He manages to turn the health understandings that we currently have all topsy-turvy and to be frank, I believe there must be more than a slither of truth in his conclusions. For all our so called medical understanding and professionals in the field of health, in the past thirty years all I have seen is people looking sicker. We are increasingly unable to prevent or cure illness or disease - all we can do is treat it and that involves expensive drugs. There is no medical alternative. So, if diet is important, and I think it is, it's worth taking a look at Barry groves' views.
September 16, 2012
Very good. Learned a lot.
September 4, 2013
fantastic and thought provoking
just makes me realize how unquestioning I have been for 42 years - but no longer, my eyes have been opened
just makes me realize how unquestioning I have been for 42 years - but no longer, my eyes have been opened
February 16, 2017
Contains a great deal of history and not much new actionable information.
Author also is incredibly biased.
Author also is incredibly biased.
Currently reading
February 14, 2016Recommended by a colleague - whilst not being a subscriber to conspiracy theories, I thought it would be worth a look.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews