Food

January 1, 2018
Hyman (Eat Fat, Get Thin), a bestselling health author and practitioner of the “functional medicine” approach, revisits the topic of his earlier books: why a lack of understanding about good nutrition, coupled with misleading, conflicting media hype, leads to poor food choices and makes people sick and out of shape. Thus, Hyman recycles his diet plan once again. It remains a sensible, anti-inflammatory, whole-food/“real food” approach. Now called the Pegan Diet, it’s intended to combine the best of the paleo plan with a vegan regimen. Pegan is a silly, paradoxical misnomer: no diet can be simultaneously paleo (meat, fats, and few vegetables/fruit) and vegan (with no animal products whatsoever). However, the diet’s recommendations are basically sound: fresh, locally sourced, preferably organic food; nothing refined or processed; and a focus on not raising blood sugar. Adding to the impression that Hyman’s book itself is less than fresh, he spends some time recapping the “10-Day Detox” from his earlier book The Blood Sugar Solution as a lead-in to the Pegan plan. The result is nothing new, but it should prove as popular as Hyman’s earlier efforts with health enthusiasts who believe in the promises of functional medicine.

February 1, 2018
Every week there's a new food revelation. Eggs drive up your cholesterol; eggs are a wonder food. Eat vegan; we need meat. Hyman (The Eat Fat, Get Thin Cookbook, 2016) sets out to dispel rumors and focus on food as a substance that heals and energizes us. He dissects major food groups, including beverages and sweeteners; begins each segment with a quiz to test the reader's nutritional IQ; then moves on to what experts got right or wrong. He sifts through studies and recommends which foods to eat and which foods to avoid. Not surprisingly, Hyman's strongest criticisms are pinned to overprocessed products, commercially raised meat and vegetables, sugar, and carbohydrates. But he also warns against fruits and vegetables that raise blood sugars, fish that are farmed, and nonorganic products that harm the environment. He finishes with a discussion of food additives and his pegan diet, an eating plan that falls somewhere between vegan and paleo diets (recipes are included). There's a lot of information here, but it's packaged in readable prose, and health-conscious eaters will be intrigued.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)