Calley Means

I have mixed feelings about this book—there were very informative sections, and then there was the rest of the book. The connections between our modern world and poor health are not new to me; this is a subject that I’ve read and pondered for many years now. This book includes connections I hadn’t come across yet, so that was good. But many of her solutions. . .are not compatible with real life. Get rid of a pet because it wakes you up? I can’t help thinking of the many sleepless show more nights of early motherhood. Wear trackers and analyze your every move, even while sleeping? I have a feeling that would disrupt my sleep, although I do think my insulin resistant husband could benefit from some time with a CGM. Eat at least 30 different plant foods each week but also buy most of your food at a farmer’s market? Where I live, and perhaps in most places, there are not usually that many plants in season at the same time.
This did reinforce my commitment to eating local, to spending more time outside, and to working on my activity level. show less

After watching a very compelling interview with the author that was linked from a cancer newsletter I subscribe to I was really excited to read this book and learn more about her research, particularly coming off my read of The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee which got me very interested in how cells interact with each other, power themselves, and impact health in general. Means argues that many of the chronic diseases we deal with in the US are related to difunctional metabolic show more health which causes inflammation, weight gain, etc. And that the ways we monitor and treat metabolic disfunction are not effective and just give more money to pharmaceutical companies, surgeons, and specialists.

While there are definitely some good tidbits in the book (the parts that get into mitochondria and cell function are particularly good), the writing style, which is infomercially and very Millennial / tech bro / lifehacky, leaves a lot to be desired. Means also leans heavily into absolutes -- never eat any grain (even whole grains, oatmeal, etc.); throw away anything with sugar in it in your house right now; get rid of your pet (!!!) if they have to sleep in bed with you since they will disrupt your sleep. Sorry, ma'am, I am not going to eat all my tacos in lettuce leaves from now on and my cat Loretta can wake me up if she wants to because she is amazing. She also runs a company that sells continuous glucose monitors and an app for monitoring results (which she really pushes in the book).

While most of her argument focuses on food, she also touches on things like getting enough sunlight, spending time outdoors, sleeping well, avoiding toxic cleaning and beauty products, and unplugging from technology. Those parts of her argument, which aren't tied to her business, hit me a little better, although her recommendations for pretty much anything in the book are also geared to rich people who don't mind inconveniencing everyone in their lives. She makes some good points about the medical industry in the US, but good in the way that about 10% of RFK, Jr.'s ideas about the health care industrial complex are good. Overall this book is pretty annoying, occasionally enraging, but also somewhat interesting. show less

Normally I am very liberal rating books, giving them 4 or 5 starts, but I am giving this one a 3. Not that I did not learn anything; there are a few things I picked up that I am going to use to change my lifestyle - get a water filter, take a cold shower and get a fit bit (finally - I probably get 1ok steps in, but its not bad to measure it). But there are a few things about this book that I really do not like: (1) the author's conflict of interest (2) the unnecessary meandering into complex show more explanations of cellular biology (3) the overcomplication of the message - she suggests so many impractical day-day things (4) the reliance on pseudoscience for some of her arguments and worst of all (5) her unabashed support for RFK Jr for HHS secretary. This tells me that her thinking is not all there. Overall there are many good pointers that I found corroborated elsewhere but if you read this book, please do not take everything as gospel show less

Good science mixed with suspect book recommendations and a neurotic program to individualize the reality that capitalism is anti-human without ever saying it. All of the recommendations are almost exclusive to the PMC.