Melissa Hartwig

"It is not hard. Don't you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard." Well, that really resonated with me...I have many friends who have or are fighting cancer and I hope to never be one of them. So, this was not hard. I feel much better than I did when I started. You can do anything for 30 days and as it turns out, you can change your lifestyle so that food does not run your life. I appreciated the matter-of-fact show more approach the writers use. So glad I did it. show less

Two Melissa Hartwig audiobooks down, and 45 days following her food advice, and I have to say, I'm a fan! I've read a lot of diet and nutrition books, but I don't think I've ever laughed so often while reading one. Granted, I listened to this, and part of it is her deadpan delivery, but you've gotta love a woman who says, "if you want your next meal to be vodka and ice cream sandwiches, it can be!" (or words close to that) She says this in the context of explaining a 12-step-like, show more one-meal-at-a-time approach to "food freedom," that seems to make a lot of sense. Tough love a whole lot of compassion = win, win, as far as I can tell. But, I guess I'll continue to find out, one meal at a time. show less

This book is packed full of information and honestly, it was too much information for me to fact check. I didn't take it as gospel because it's obvious that it's a biased opinion, but it did get me to rethink what I'm eating and how it affects me in mind and body. That's the real point of the book anyway.

The book gets scientific, which I like and it's organized well with diagrams, charts and recipes thrown into the mix. There are even some color photos of some delicious healthy meals. The show more Whole30 program sounds extreme since you can't consume sugar, dairy, grains or legumes for up to 40 days (10 days is part of the reintroduction phase), but it's only for 40 days. It's not a permanent lifestyle change; it's a nutritional reset.

I personally would love to do a reset. I was eating very clean for a while and feeling great, but then I fell off the wagon as they say and now I physically and emotionally feel like crap. I'm tired a lot and I have more mood swings than I ever did while eating clean. I'm tired of feeling blah, so I'm hoping this program will help me get back on track.

By the way, if you decide to try the program, be prepared to hear a lot of negativity from the people around you. People will try to talk you out of it and they'll give you a thousand reasons why they're right and you're wrong, but decide for yourself. It's your body.

Anyway, there are many great quotes in the book, but this is one of my favorites:

"Genetics loads the gun, but environment pulls the trigger."

I love this quote because I want it to be true, but I keep wondering if this is just another nutrition "expert" who's just playing the blame game a little differently. Or, maybe they're trying to teach us accountability.

I've decided that I'm not going to get hung up on the minutiae of this book, but to focus on how I can use the program to help me feel better. I want to have full control over my health, both mentally and physically, and not feel like it's some sort of health lottery. It'll be a challenge giving up certain food groups for 40 days, but I'm up for it. I'm considering it a personal experiment to test the validity of their theories. No harm in that. I'll still get all of my nutrients.

I'm just going to listen to my body. If my body starts asking me, "Hey, what the heck are you doing to me?" then I'll just stop and resume my old eating habits. But there's a good chance that I'll feel incredibly awesome afterwards and realize that my so-called healthy eating wasn't as healthy as I thought. Bon Appetit! show less

If you read Richard Dawkins for fun, this isn’t the book for you. While I agree with most of the message, the presentation didn’t work for me. I LIKE science (or cloyingly, science-y stuff, as the authors put it). I UNDERSTAND science. My brain works. Not to say that this book is written for dumb people, but it certainly has been dumbed down, over-simplified and presented in a way that if you are comfortable with just taking people’s word for it, will work for you. I don’t think show more I’m the right audience for this book. If Good Calories, Bad Calories scared you off, start here and see if you can apply the principles to your life. You’ll feel better for sure.

Anyway...it isn’t all bad and before I get to some of what I didn’t like, I’ll tell you what I did. I liked the parts that dealt with the gut and the problems that can happen there. Intestinal permeability was well illustrated and explained, albeit like they were trying to explain it to a 6-year-old. I also liked the build your plate section and some of the meal planning and shopping advice. I think books like these ought to give people ideas about what to buy and how to put it together, not just focus on what you can’t buy or eat any longer. Also their enthusiasm for the subject is quite intense and that shows through. Finally, this is not another “caveman” diet book. Those have been done to death and some have even been detrimental to the credibility of the paleo/primal/ancestral eating movement. That aspect is kind of refreshing if you can choke down the pithy little bon mots.

So let’s talk about the writing and the tone for a sec. It reads pretty strangely to me with lot’s of ‘see, this is what’s going on’ and, ‘ok, are you with me here’ and cutesy little asides that I suppose are their idea of creating a conversational tone, but really were just annoying. Also, they must think their audience is stupid because just a few pages from explaining something, they explain it again, like I must have forgotten it already. When it comes right down to it, these folks really do know how to suck all the fun out of the room despite the fact that they are trying to be bouncy and cheery all the time. They are rule makers. Scolders. Finger-wagglers. They are those people who would remind you to wipe your feet when you came inside. Ugh. Maybe that works for some people, but it really turned me off.

Also they seem to think that common knowledge has changed or that the majority of researchers agree with their claims; they casually say things like scientists now believe, or studies now show, without stating that only fringe scientists really believe this and that precious few studies are actually done that prove anything about this diet. I’m not saying there are none of either, but common knowledge has not changed. Dieticians are still advocating high-carb diets for diabetics. Doctors are still recommending statins for anyone with cholesterol over 210. Health “experts” are still advocating whole grains and skinless chicken. Nothing’s changed. I think they’d like things to change, and have seen studies disproving this “wisdom”, but the tone of ‘it’s already happened’ got to me.

And the over-simplifications did, too, not to mention outright omissions or mistakes. Maybe it is a result of just reading Good Calories, Bad Calories which is scientifically dense and journalistic of tone, but a lot of things made me go ‘hmmmm’. Most of the online research I can find does agree with what they’ve said, but the way they said it made me wonder. That’s not good. At least not for a reader like me. Between the tone and the over-simplified science it has a faddish air about it that lacks heft. Which is sad because as I said, the overall plan is right on target and it works. Hopefully it doesn’t get shelved with other fad diet books as a result.

It’s pretty clear they’re not into science-y stuff because often they’d drop something in without explaining it or referencing why. Like categorizing PUFA lipoproteins as fragile. That’s it. No explanation or description of why they’re fragile. I guess they need counseling or something. Again, I’m clearly not the right audience for this book, but it’s still sloppy. As are their assumptions about lactose intolerance, alcohol abuse and people actually liking their food. Over and over again they warned that eating this or that might cause an unhealthy psychological reaction and you might eat too much. You mean, I might LIKE my food!!?? No way, your food must not make you too happy. I found that to be a bit overplayed. Ditto with the alcohol component. Most of that was a stretch and I actually laughed out loud when they compared the neurotoxin in alcohol with other neurotoxins like lead, botulism and formaldehyde. I mean, seriously...you need to hyperbolize that much to make us fear alcohol? Um, those toxins we can’t metabolize into harmless substances, alcohol we can, and do. Often. Sure it can be abused, but basically the no-booze rule for them is based on what OVERCONSUMPTION does to a person, not everyday, normal consumption. Hilarious.

Well this turned out to be harsher than I intended and I’m sorry for that. It Starts With Food explains the reasons why the Standard American Diet is killing you, (in an albeit condescending way), talks anecdotally and a tiny bit scientifically and gives you some concrete steps to take after you’ve eliminated the food that is making you fat and sick. Overall, for the right person, this could be a nice introduction to a whole foods eating plan (oh and don’t forget to do your Whole30, which is really the whole point of this book...a sales pitch for their re-formulated diet intro). Don’t let them fool you - it’s a sales pitch and there’s a address to their website every few pages. Not to say it’s bad, Mark Sisson did the same thing in Primal Blueprint, but I found it more overt in this book. Still, the principles and overall concept are good and not unheard of. Eat whole foods. Eat real foods. Eliminate sugar, refined-flour and other grains from your diet and your health will improve. Don’t fear fat. Don’t get too mental. Play with the foods you eat a bit to see where your specific intolerances are and you’ll find the optimal plan. Just don’t break any of their rules. show less