The Harvard Guide to Healthy Living (Hardcover)

Review: Like Sugar Busters! this book takes a serious look at overcoming the tendency for having too many fast-absorbed carbohydrates (whether as baked potatoes or as a soft drink) overload your blood with sugars and depress your metabolism. Unlike the "avoid fat at any cost" diets, this one says to avoid bad fats (especially trans fat and saturated fats) and to use helpful fats (like unsaturated fats that are liquid at room temperature). You are also encouraged to seek out nuts as a source of vegetable protein. There is also a good discussion of the healthiest ways to acquire your protein. The beef v. chicken v. fish discussion is especially helpful. He is skeptical about the need for much in the way of dairy products (I was shocked to realize how much glycemic loading, creating sugar in your blood, is caused by skim milk), but favors vitamin supplements as inexpensive insurance. He shows that calcium supplements may not do as much as you think to avoid fractures. Exercise and not smoking are encouraged. Raw foods and ones that are slow to digest (whole wheat, for example) are encouraged among the fruit and vegatables, in particular.

The pyramid is contrasted to the one that the USDA adopted in 1992, which seems to be almost totally wrong. Apparently, it was developed based on a very limited research base. Since then, much has been learned.

I enjoyed reading about all of the long-term studies being done now to understand the connections among eating, lifestyle, and health. The next 10 years should radically revise the lessons summarized here, as Dr. Willett is quick to point out. The conclusions in this book, for example, are based on individual studies of eating, drinking, exercise and health rather than the long-term studies that he supervises and follows. So even those studies may show new things.

In one part of the book, he discusses the pros and cons of some of the popular diets. Some simply have not been tested for health effects, and he is candid in sharing what is not known as well as what is.

This book will be especially valuable to those who like to get their information from highly credible sources, especially from within the medical community. I think I'll give a copy to my physician, who has been advising me to reduce fats in the wrong way!

Although I don't consider myself very helpful in shopping for or preparing food, I learned a lot from the book about how our family can acquire better building blocks for a healthier diet. After you finish reading this book, think about where else in your life you may be following outdated information. How can you check? A good example is probably related to what you think it costs parents for children to go to graduate school and get a Ph.D. In many schools, all the costs are subsidized, and the students even get a living wage. How does that change your plans for encouraging your children's education?