Lore of Nutrition: Challenging conventional dietary beliefs

You're reading this review and wondering why five stars? Is this book really that good? Why?Where do I begin? I started researching the idea of eliminating processed foods, limiting carbohydrates, and upping fats back in January 2016 when an online friend was doing really well with it. I was baffled to be honest and thought she was crazy. I mean, eating fat to lose fat is ridiculous, isn't it? And carbs! I love my carbs and can't imagine living without my sweet treats and my bread treats. Anyway, my research took me to the vast "online" where I found many, many people like me (obese, aching, miserable, desperate to lose weight but failing for decades) who had found an answer that worked for them. So, come March 2016 I committed to trying LCHF for one month. Also known as banting in some countries, after the man (William Banting) who wrote a book in the 19 century about cutting down on carbs to lose weight and improve health.I am still eating LCHF today, some 20 months later. Why? Because it works. Today I am a "normal" weight, wearing "normal sized" clothes which I buy in normal shops (not the outsize ones). I have no aches anywhere, take no medication whatsoever and have no depression either. All I did was cut out processed foods, sugary things, bread and starch. I still eat protein (offal, meat, fish, cheese etc) and veg (grown above ground, green mostly) and natural unprocessed fats; olive oil, lard, cream, coconut oil, butter, plus the odd glass of red wine. I only need to eat twice or sometimes once a day because I am never hungry and haven't had the need for a snack between these meals since I began. Wow!So, while I was researching I read about many professional people; doctors, scientists and dietitians, who had been targeted and prosecuted for publicising the idea of limiting carbohydrates, particularly to reduce the horrific impact of type 2 diabetes on their patients. Tim was one of these people being persecuted and, knowing what I had learned about the benefits of limiting carbs, I was shocked baffled about WHO was behind this persecution and WHY?I watched every single youtube video of the "trial" and I urge you to do the same too. Yes, it is a lot of time to spend doing this but I guarantee that you will feel compelled (as I did) to watch the drama and the science unfold. I was delighted when I heard that Tim and Marika were writing an account of his persecution and the trial and knew I would be buying the book for my collection.I am happy to say that I have the book and reading it has been a real pleasure. Beautifully written and fair, it explores the organisations and individuals who want to keep the status quo of low fat high carb dietary advice to the world's population. The authors talk in detail about the history of dietary advice and exactly how we came to eat low fat, processed and carbohydrate rich foods as the norm. It explains clearly how today whole populations face devastating health issues like heart disease, diabetes and obesity, conditions that rarely existed in the past, but have become epidemics today due to dietary advice that includes "eat low fat foods" "fill up on carbs", when the opposite is the case. Breaks my heart to see colleagues at work eating fat free/low fat carbohydrate rich diet foods all day, feeling hungry all the time and eating snacks to get by. That used to be me. Not any more, thank heavens.So, I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in their health, their family's health,their country's health; to anyone with an interest in learning about the history to dietary advice and food and how it became hijacked by the food and pharma industry; to anyone who wants to understand what happens when someone sticks their head over the parapet in order to try and shine a light on dogma that is making whole populations sick.

I suppose I have been a medical dogma sceptic for many years. It all started off with Malcolm Kendrick and Cholesterol. I have been following what I used to call The Atkins Diet, and I now call ‘Banting for Health’ for some 5 years. During that time I have brought my blood sugar strictly under control, reduced my blood pressure from its highest of 220/140 to low / normal, lost 25kg in weight, eliminated GERD and am now medication free, except for an anticoagulant. So I suppose I am another ‘anecdote’ which the sceptics who will say is no evidence that the LCHF diet is effective or advisable for people.Prof Noakes is my hero! Even after seeing what going against mainstream advice has done to the careers and credibility of others, he felt that he had no alternative to share the truth that he had discovered with the wider public, to try to contribute to halting the Public Health disaster that is a world wide issue.I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it is written in an entertaining style, but reveals the great hurt and distress that the Prof endured. Marika Sboros, who did a great service to the LCHF community and also to the cause of justice and transparency, in reporting the shady goings on of the witch-hunt trial against Prof Noakes, makes an excellent contribution to the book, reflecting on the twists and turns in the prosecution case and putting all the evidence in perspective.Prof Noakes and Marika Sboros are to be applauded for this book, it is a good read, insightful and informative. I finished it in 2 evenings and thoroughly enjoyed it. For anybody suffering from a huge variety of inflammatory conditions, type 2 diabetes of course, but many others, this book will help you to understand the influence that big food, but also big pharmaceuticals have, in keeping us ill. Their motivation is to make profit, not to help us to get well. Highly recommended!

I had been meaning to read this for a long time but delayed due to late publication in the UK. The best books are always based on actual events and as Tim Noakes is a runner like myself I could empathise with this. I had a similar revelation on LCHF in 2010 when I lost 44lbs in three months and have successfully kept the weight off since with a commensurate improvement in running.I didn't realise till well into the trial that Tim Noakes had a much larger battle than I had ever faced. The food and pharma industry (with some government and charities onboard) have been dishing up outdated and unproven dietary information for decades and the tide is now turning against this advice. As you might expect against such a behemoth, they are not about to see their huge profits threatened and won't go without a fight. But if they thought Tim Noakes was just going to back down and let them carry on. They were wrong...Dead wrong!Whilst I recognise the stresses the inquiry case brought to Tim Noakes and family, it is a compelling read right from the acknowledgements, preface and introduction and you would think it was fiction based on what went on. Well done to co-author Marika Sboros for recording the case. Thoroughly recommend this and I will probably read it again.

Great read, anyone interested in their health needs to read this

This is an account of the action taken against TN by a medical body in South Africa because of his promotion of the Banting diet, and although it was necessarily one-sided I appreciated the description of the proceedings and evidence of both sides. Better than the average diet book!

This is an excellent book. It’s shocking how the powers that be can persecute someone for having an opinion. It’s a bit repetitive at times but keep with it.

Outstanding account of a struggle against the odds and the real science behind diet. It gives hope to those failed by the current dietary guidelines

When I saw that I could get the Kindle version of this book now I could not wait. I am currently only 27% of the way through the book but have to extend full kudos to Prof Noakes and Marika Sboros for writing this book. I have had several laughs at the absurdity of those in opposition of Prof. Noakes. The groundswell of support and evidence for LCHF is incredible to watch and be part of at this time. I have been eating a LCHF ketogenic diet for about 1.5 years and it is the best thing I have ever done for myself. On behalf of the 10's of thousands of people who have been helped by this way of eating already, I wish to say Thank You Tim Noakes for having the integrity and the stamina to stay the course and for remaining strong in helping to get this message out to the people of your country and many other countries around the world!

If you want to learn about the science behind healthy eating, this is a great book. If you also would like to know why you have been misinformed by the establishment (medical agencies such as AHA and ADA, governmental agencies such as NIH, institutions of learning, the media, the pharma industry, and big agri business, and others) about what constitutes health eating and why, and how the establishment will go to extraordinary lengths to continue to misinform us to protect their revenue stream, then this book will tell you in vivid detail. What you will learn will probably shock you unless you are already accustomed to such nefarious behavior as portrayed in this book. The two authors of this book, Dr. Noakes and journalist Marika Sboros take you on a journey of deceit and betrayal of the worst kind to try to discredit a man who has devoted his life to the advancement of science and who earned an enviable reputation as a top sports medicine authority. Why? Because he dared to question the conventional wisdom being taught by the Australian institutions of learning. This was blasphemy, and needed to be stopped, akin to the religious driven inquisitions of history. Only the Establishment lost. Fascinating reading, page turner, better than fiction.

A cracker of a read. The best non fiction, who done it, I've consumed in many a year. Tim and Marika have put together a clear, pacy document that covers the situation and subject matter in a clear and easily digested format. Their enemies, and dogma handy capped critics, have much to fear from this treatise. My fond hope is that this story, one day, unfolds on the big screen and is watched by millions.

after the lore of running, I expected a book with lots of indebt details about nutrition. Instead it’s a book that describes in great detail Noakes’ legal battels with his scientific adversaries. If you interested about that, it’s a great book, I guess. If you expect detailed explanation bout ketogenic diet you will be disappointed.

There was some heavy reading involved in this book, but it was a fascinating read none the less. Intense legal drama mixed with intriguing scientific investigation and social unrest.