The Gluten Lie

And other myths about what you eat. By Alan Levinovitz, PHD

How do you tell good science from bad? I've thought over that question many times. It's tough to answer. Bad science often offers clarity, hope and a compelling story… if you eat the good nutrients and stay away from the bad, then your diseases will go away. Here are the studies to back it up.

Good science is more nuanced… Yes some nutrients are helpful, and too much of others can be harmful, but there is no promise that eating more of one and less of the other will ride you of your disease. Here are a bunch of contradictory studies. The science isn't settled yet.

Levinovitz spends the bulk of the book telling the history of four modern diet fads-- gluten free diets, sugar as a toxin, low salt diets and super foods. Each fad follows a familiar trajectory. In our natural past we didn't eat that thing. We were healthy and happy then. Then we became modern and started eating that thing. We got sick and obese. I returned to the natural diet of our past and stopped eating that thing. Now I am healthy and happy. That thing is evil.

That narrative goes way back. The sugar-is-a-toxin fad comes and goes a few times a century.

For most people, gluten, sugar, fat, salt are not bad. Eat them in reasonable quantities and you'll be OK.

When a disease has the same symptoms as panic or anxiety disorder, then you should suspend judgment on the causes of that disease.

Any dietary discipline is better than no dietary discipline. When you are careful with what you eat (perhaps in a misguided attempt to avoid a particular bad nutrient) then of course you will loose weight.

The book includes a bonus fake fad diet-- the unpacked diet, which the author goes over pointing out all the fallacies in. It's a fun read, but kind of unnecessary. I suspect it's only there because the auther needed to pad out the length of the book.

For most people, Polon's food rules are still our best guide… "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants."