21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nutritionist Exposes USDA Con Job, January 2, 2006
This review is from: What to Eat: The Ten Things You Really Need to Know to Eat Well and Be Healthy (Paperback)
Is it any surprise to learn that American consumers are being conned by the USDA? Dr. Luise Light's book, "What to Eat; The Ten Things You Really Need to Know to Eat Well and Be Healthy", reads like a detective novel, exposing scathing secrets of corporate and government malfeasance. During her career as the nutrition director for the USDA, Light witnessed the blatantly cozy relationships that existed between the USDA and the food and agricultural lobbies and lobbyists. Not only did she witness the cover-up of an important study linking diet with major chronic diseases, she also witnessed dangerous changes that were made to the 1992 US Food Pyramid Guide to satisfy corporate interests rather than to protect the public's health. In fact, she warned the USDA that those very changes would cause an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, a warning that looks more like prophesy, today. According to Light, "One thing I learned working in the government was that there are no gratuitous acts. Actions and reactions are designed to control the agenda, limit public access to potentially dangerous (to lobbyists) information, and protect under-the-radar arrangements between commercial interests and government agents."
In her new book, Light explains the connection between nutrition and many of the life-threatening chronic diseases prevalent today. Now that she is no longer held back from exposing the truth, she describes the numerous illnesses that are connected to what she calls, "nutritional malaise," including memory loss, loss of balance, depression, sadness, anxiety, pessimism, "road rage", low energy, "mind freeze", eye strain, generalized aches and pains, migraines, abdominal discomfort, frequent colds and flu and massive weight gain. According to Light, these are all indications of "biochemical chaos" that can be corrected with good nutrition. The choice is clear -- you can start eating a balanced diet, based on real food, or you can let your symptoms progress and develop into devastating chronic conditions such as, heart disease, obesity, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, osteoporosis, asthma, arthritis and many others.
Light has her own testimonial to share about her struggle to regain her health after collapsing with a chronic, disabling illness. Her very inspirational story helps to reinforce her message about the interconnection between nutrition and physical and mental health. Her story will resonate with many individuals struggling today with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, hypothyroidism, depression and unexplained, massive weight gain.
Even though the book tackles a very serious subject, Light manages to imbue it with humor, pointing out the irony of conventional medical approaches. "Don't worry about your diet, we have a pill for that!" Light's book offers practical advice not placebos to cut through the confusion about what's good to eat.
Light assures you that you're not alone if you're having problems understanding the convoluted messages of the government's Dietary Guidelines. She offers simple but easy to understand science-based guidelines of her own, such as these three (out of ten) lucid examples, along with the rationales behind them: Eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables; eat whole-grain pasta, rice, breads, and cereals; eat certified organic foods.
Also, she provides her own food pyramid, which is much easier to follow than the one published by the government. Her book is loaded with solutions the USDA didn't offer in their own Food Pyramid issued in 2005. You will learn how to transition to real food in her chapter, "Your Diet Makeover Tool Kit". And, if you're at a loss for how to prepare real food, she also has several, quick, idiot-proof, delicious recipes in her chapter, "What to Cook".
Although her book gives a detailed, easy to grasp account of the problems inherent in the American food system (pesticides, GMO's, acrylamide, MSG, processed foods etc...), she also manages to focus on straightforward and realistic solutions-from what to stock in your larder, to a week's worth of menus, meals and recipes, and practical tips on eating on the road and dining out. Light assures us that real food is not only more nutritious than food out of a box or bag, it tastes better and is more pleasurable and satisfying. Food is meant to be enjoyed, she reminds us.
If you're wondering how our food system deteriorated to the current level, you'll be asking the questions that Light asks and answers in her book, and then wonders, "Why isn't national nutritional improvement getting as much of our attention as a space launch or fighting terrorists?" As a nutritionist she's as upset and disappointed with the situation as you are. She points out what you can do on a personal and community level. Get involved, she says, to protect and preserve your health and your community. Many people are doing just that. Much to the dismay of highly paid lobbyists, efforts are underway to get the junk food out of schools. Some schools are even feeding children fresh, home cooked, organic foods. Imagine that! Despite the myths, children will eat and even come to prefer delicious fresh foods, and reject factory-made fast foods, given the chance, Light tells based on her experience.
For seventy years, the USDA has stood by the theme that "All food is good food". As more and more "chemicalized" foods line our supermarkets shelves, it is less and less true. Light's book is a very fresh and reasoned account of why this concept is flawed and why we need to go back to the basics, choosing whole nutritious foods instead of synthetic designer food products that are designed to sit on a shelf for seven years. Eating well is the solution to many of the health problems we face today, says Light. Buy this book and become part of the growing consumer lobby that is rising up and reclaiming what is rightfully ours - nourishing food.
This book will give you chills but also give you hope that you can eat better, feel better and finally, get straight talk about nutrition.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book of monumental importance, January 15, 2006
This review is from: What to Eat: The Ten Things You Really Need to Know to Eat Well and Be Healthy (Paperback)
I first met Luise Light several years ago after I wrote a paper criticizing the USDA's Food Pyramid. Perhaps it was to be expected that the "Department of Agriculture" would come up with a diet guideline based on a foundation of "6 to 11 servings" of starchy grain products a day. This "advice," I wrote, seemed to be both ridiculous and dangerous to one's health. Luise saw my article and dropped me a note introducing herself as the nutrition expert hired by the USDA to create the Food Pyramid. I was momentarily taken aback, but Dr. Light quickly reassured me that she agreed with what I had written. She explained that the Food Pyramid given to the unsuspecting public bore little resemblance to the real Pyramid she and her team of experts had created.
The real Pyramid called for a diet based on fresh vegetables and fruits. Instead, this Pyramid was altered prior to being published. The altered Pyramid suggested a cheap, starch-filled diet, but the resulting protests from Luise and her team fell on deaf ears. While the starch-based diet would create healthy profits for the grain and cereal industry, the Americans following such diet guidelines would pay for it with something more than mere dollars. They would pay for it with their health.
Luise's information was stunning and it served as somber affirmation of a long-denied suspicion: that "official government approval" was indeed being swayed by corporate interests. Here was evidence that, in its official capacity, the government had participated in one of the most monumental and far-reaching lies in US history - a lie that predictably resulted in the current epidemic of obesity and ill-health in America.
Luise Light's timely book, "What to Eat," not only bravely exposes the corruption she witnessed, but it does so in a constructive and informative manner. Her book contains the simple ingredients necessary for a healthy diet to truly live by, and shining through this book are the kindness and integrity of a woman who has devoted her life to teaching others the simple rules of proper nutrition so that they might enjoy the good health that is their birthright.
It seems that the old saying is true: we are what we eat. At this time, approximately two-thirds of American adults have eaten their way into a state of ill health or obesity, through no particular fault of their own. "What to Eat" should be in every household in America, it should be used as a teaching tool in all schools, used as a planning guide in all cafeterias and lunch rooms, and it should be required reading for all healthcare professionals.
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