Reading up on a new dietary regime that I’ve commenced, I stumbled across “Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well,” by a doctor who has become an epidemiologist and had previously written about the gut biome and common dietary myths. Most mass-market diet books are selling the reader a concept, so they oscillate between explanation and rhetoric. Few indeed are genuinely honest. So Tim Spector’s approach is a refreshing change. His canvas is wide, moving from general dietary issues to a brilliant, fascinating run-through of all the major food sources and food. His approach is always evidence-based (every such book claims this, few deliver, but this one does) and straightforward. The writing style is fresh and clear, pulling the reader through the book. Even where he disagrees with a few aspects of my new diet, I found that I treasured his opinion and read every word carefully. I cannot think of a more useful, more engaging, more philosophically sound modern book on food and what we should eat. Food for Life would make an ideal Christmas gift for many.
Book, movie/show, and album reviews
It turns out food and diet are explained by science. In What Einstein Told His Cook, by Prof of Chemistry Robert L Wolke, and in The Science of Cooking, by science and health writer Dr Stuart Farrimond, every fad and myth peddled on these topics is calmly and clearly explained away by basic chemistry and physics. For example, sugar is sugar and salt is salt, no matter how derived, from whatever source and however branded.