Book

Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine

Publish date:

May 4, 2021

Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine

The New York Times bestselling author of Fat Chance explains the eight pathologies that underlie all chronic disease, documents how processed food has impacted them to ruin our health, economy, and environment over the past 50 years, and proposes an urgent manifesto and strategy to cure both us and the planet.

Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric neuroendocrinologist who has long been on the cutting edge of medicine and science, challenges our current healthcare paradigm which has gone off the rails under the influence of Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government.

You can’t solve a problem if you don’t know what the problem is. One of Lustig’s singular gifts as a communicator is his ability to “connect the dots” for the general reader, in order to unpack the scientific data and concepts behind his arguments, as he tells the “real story of food” and “the story of real food.”

Metabolical weaves the interconnected strands of nutrition, health/disease, medicine, environment, and society into a completely new fabric by proving on a scientific basis a series of iconoclastic revelations, among them:

Medicine for chronic disease treats symptoms, not the disease itself
You can diagnose your own biochemical profile
Chronic diseases are not "druggable," but they are "foodable"
Processed food isn’t just toxic, it’s addictive
The war between vegan and keto is a false war—the combatants are on the same side
Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government are on the other side

Making the case that food is the only lever we have to effect biochemical change to improve our health, Lustig explains what to eat based on two novel criteria: protect the liver, and feed the gut. He insists that if we do not fix our food and change the way we eat, we will continue to court chronic disease, bankrupt healthcare, and threaten the planet. But there is hope: this book explains what’s needed to fix all three.

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I read the full book and would recommend it - however it does have lots of advice to eat fiber despite citing the Stefansson 1928 study where two people survived without fiber.

Authors

Image	Author	Author Website	Twitter	Author Location
	Robert Lustig

Topics

	Man The Fat Hunter	Man is a lipivore - hunting and preferring the fattiest meats they can find. When satisifed with fat, they will want little else.
	Veg*n ideology	Veg*n encompasses anyone not eating animals or animal products based on ethical reasons.
	Ketone Bodies	Ketone bodies, also known as ketones, are a group of molecules produced by the liver during the breakdown of fatty acids. Ketone bodies are produced in the liver through a process called ketogenesis. This occurs when the body's carbohydrate intake is low, such as during periods of fasting, prolonged exercise, or when following a low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diet. The three main ketone bodies produced by the liver are acetone, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB).
	Dietetics	The Dietetics industry is woefully behind the study of metabolic syndrome and the usage of ketogenic and carnivore diets to reverse chronic disease. r/DietitiansSaidWhatNow is a subreddit that displays examples of this.
	High Fructose Corn Syrup	HFCS stands for High-Fructose Corn Syrup. It is a sweetener that is derived from corn starch and widely used in processed foods and beverages. HFCS is composed of glucose and fructose, similar to table sugar (sucrose), which is also a combination of these two simple sugars. HFCS gained popularity in the food industry in the 1970s as a cheaper alternative to sugar. It became widely used in soft drinks, baked goods, condiments, and other processed foods because it is cost-effective, easy to blend, and has a long shelf life.
	Health Statistics	Health statistics are used to understand risk factors for communities, track and monitor diseases, see the impact of policy changes, and assess the quality and safety of health care. Health statistics are a form of evidence, or facts that can support a conclusion.
	Obesity
	Low Carb Study
	Facultative Carnivore	Facultative Carnivore describes the concept of animals that are technically omnivores but who thrive off of all meat diets. Humans may just be facultative carnivores - who need no plant products for long-term nutrition.
	Hunter-Gatherer	Hunter-gatherer societies refer to a way of life that prevailed for most of human history, where people relied on hunting wild animals, fishing, and gathering edible plants, fruits, and nuts for their subsistence. This lifestyle was common before the development of agriculture around 10,000 years ago.
	Science
	7th Day Adventist Church	The 7th Day Adventist (SDA) Church is a Christian sect that became popular in the 1850's and promoted a vegetarian diet due to the hallucinations of Ellen G White.
	Corporate Takeover of Nutrition	The nutrition science community have been widely laughed at as being co-opted by corporate interests to push their products as marketing. Evidence that leads to these conclusions.
	Registered Dietitian Industry
	Big Sugar	Big Sugar is based on organizations like ILSI and The Sugar Association. They promote sugar as part of a healthy, balanced diet, but ignore many of the cons of sugar consumption.
	Big Cancer	Big Cancer describes the large Cancer industry that generally supports the Somatic Theory of Cancer. Due to this, they typically use surgery, chemo, and radiation to remove cancer, which costs a great deal of money and typically kills the patient faster.
	Big Healthcare	The Healthcare or Sickcare industry is huge in modern countries and controls poor advice given to people with chronic disease.
	Low Carb Against the World	Refers to the concept that low carb diets must fight an uphill battle against myths and misconceptions.
	Diet-Heart Hypothesis	The diet-heart hypothesis, also known as the lipid hypothesis, proposes that there is a direct relationship between dietary fat intake, particularly saturated fat and cholesterol, and the development of heart disease. It suggests that consuming high amounts of these fats leads to an increase in blood cholesterol levels, specifically low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which in turn contributes to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the arteries. Some consider this hypothesis nothing more than wishful thinking.
	Ketogenic Diet	The ketogenic diet involves eating high fat, low carbs, and moderate protein. To be in ketosis, one must eat less than 20 grams of carbohydrates per day.