Lee Goldman (1)

This book was enjoyable but only told me what I already knew in a lot of cases (I am dieting right now in an attempt to lose weight, so I do know a bit about all of this). The book explains how the survival traits of hunger, thirst, fear, and blood clotting are more detrimental to us in the modern age. They used to be traits that helped us to survive and live long enough to mate and reproduce, thereby spreading along our genes. Since the Industrial Era, we have needed these evolutionary advantages less and less. This has resulted in skyrocketing rates of obesity, hypertension, depression, and vascular diseases.

When it comes to solutions, Dr. Goldman isn't exactly putting his trust in human willpower. This makes sense, given the numbers of obese people that try to lose weight but fail. Changing a habit is really difficult to do seeing as how so many people yo-yo their weight back and forth. So another thing he suggests is that medical science will have to step up to the plate. As he says, we have survived for around 200,000 years before, and we can adapt to take care of it. So I suppose you could say it ends on a positive note.… (more)

Evolution adapted us to survive in a harsh environment...at least long enough to reproduce. But we don't live in that environment any more. Our world is less violent, food and water are readily available (for most of us), childbirth is far safer, and we're less likely to die prematurely from injury or disease. The genetic adaptations that once helped protect us from starving or bleeding to death are now contributing to obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and (the author argues) anxiety, and depression. In this book, Lee Goldman points out some genetic traits that are now seemingly maladaptive and what we can do to live with them. It's well-written and informative.… (more)