Earlier I wrote an enthusiastic review about the English edition based on Dr. Wolfgang Lutz' Leben Ohne Brot (1967) [in English the German would be rendered "life without bread'] based on his experience regarding his own well being and the effect on his patients to whom he strongly recommended a very low carbohydrate diet. The English edition I read and reviewed on Amazon was titled Life Without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life (2000) in which Christian Allan is a co-author (though Amazon seems only to credit Allan in their database, at least so far their author look-up seems to reflect).
However, I would give this book - by two life long researchers in the area of low carbohydrate dietary regimens and their effects on those who follow such a regimen, including high performance athletes - eight stars if possible to show how I feel about its value compared to 'Life Without Bread' despite the high esteem I still have for that book and Dr Lutz' work [I gave Dr Lutz' book five stars].
Serious athletic training is an area in which Drs Phinney and Volek both have strong interests and have done a great deal of research. Their comments about errors in a number of the often cited medical papers in this area (which ground the high carb, very low protein, low fat axe so in fashion for a good while) I found very helpful and interesting.
This is, I would say, a must read book for anyone interested seriously in low carb eating. It also as I imply above addresses questions about how this affects athletes in sports from bicycle racing to power lifting (my impression was that Dr Phinney had a strong personal as well as professional interest in bicycle racing, Dr Jeff Volek in power lifting). This is especially helpful as most discussions of low carb eating tend not to be addressed to those involved in regular strenuous physical activity where the concern is not losing fat but enhancing performance.
Among things I had never come across before was an explanation for how keto stix did not always reflect one's true state of ketosis but could fail to flag a ketone commonly found in many who had been on keto adapted diets for a long enough time, e.g beta- hydroxy butyric acid or BOHB so one could pretty much be running on ketones (as desired) but not have it flagged by the ketostix.
Also it contains a very interesting discussion of problems with excess protein consumption and what might constitute excess protein consumption. As part of this discussion not merely results in experiments attempting to verify just how much protein could be utilised by the body and how much beyond that likely was of no benefit, but also acknowledgement was made of subjective comments in certain athletic communities... e.g. comments made by some power lifters about higher levels of protein that they felt worked for them even though this did not seem to be implied by the studies. The book does not suggest that anyone follow what is implied by such comments but notes them, which I feel truly reflects well on the book.
[A problem with studies and experiments is that in attempting to express the results, outliers may be ignored.. just looking at the numbers in a number of bio medical papers can be disconcerting. One cannot escape the feeling that not merely are our statistical tools too awkward to catch what may be happening very often, the way results are presented tends to require some assumptions about the nature of what is being observed ... an experimental result published may in effect screen out outliers .. but the outlier may not be a result of 'noise' in the recording of the data, so to speak, but actual differences in individuals... ]
Volek and Phinney feel like true scientists in that while they have written a number of papers published in peer reviewed journals, they give context to the issue being discussed and do not just play the game of sophistry with Abstracts from published papers (which can really lead one astray) ... When one examines published papers it can be most disillusioning how 'shaped' the results can be and how misleading it can be if one outside the area tries to come to understanding just going over Abstracts [as testimony to this one need only look at the changing fashions of thought about healthful eating; the controversies now in process about the risk benefit analyses of various screenings formerly widely urged on the public for their supposed value in 'the war [dreadful name] against cancer'; and just what significance blood cholesterol figures have, just to name three matters that at present seem in a state of flux]
(For those biassed in the direction of attributing more to an MD degree than I think warranted, Stephen Phinney is an MD [Stanford] as well as a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry [MIT] ; Jeff Volek has a PhD [Penn State] in exercise physiology and nutrition and is an Associate Professor in the #1 ranked Department of Kinesiology at the University of Connecticut where he teaches and leads a research team that explores the physiologic impact of various dietary and exercise regimens and nutritional supplements. I quote the blurb on Dr. Volek from Amazon's biography page for convenience but I recognised names of people he worked with and am not surprised the U of Connecticut Depart of Kinesiology is rated so high.
I think these guys are the real thing, so to speak. Their book is definitely the real thing.
Nothing is all one ever would want to look at.. the world is too rich to be simply caught in words... So I would also recommend the neurologist David Perlmutter's book 'Grain Brain' and Gary Taubes' book 'Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health'
Taubes' book is of great interest I felt for his presentation of the history behind what has seemed widely accepted ideas on good and safe diets solidly based on science and which turns out to be too often what seems political smoke I am afraid.. How this happened is presented by Taubes in a way I felt very clear and unbiassed to me and makes his book impressive as a study of human behaviour aside from what he has to say about science, politics, misinformation and factors that can influence who gets heard and whose work is ignored.
[Volek and Phinney touch on the political aspect in science but briefly... Taubes' book is worth reading even if one were an alien whose metabolism was totally different from ours and completely unconcerned with what seems to be good for humans to eat or to avoid eating, it is a fascinating document about human behaviour.]
For those interested in trying a keto adapted life or considering it, aside from what may be behind all the smoke and turmoil in this dispute, I would recommend Volek and Phinney most highly. I also was struck at things I had not come across elsewhere that I found in David Perlmutter's 'Grain Brain' .
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Top reviews from other countries
tthomas j.
art and science of low carb living
Reviewed in Australia on July 31, 2023Pat in comox
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Reviewed in Canada on September 17, 2023
THeimdall
A lot of good but old theroy, not very practical, brainwashing included
Reviewed in Germany on January 27, 2023
