Book Review February 2012: Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food

I finished reading  the book, "Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food," by Catherine Shanahan MD.  I found it to be a very interesting read and took away a few things to look into further.  

If I were to do a synopsis it would be, what you eat affects not only you, but potentially the physical condition of your kids and grand kids.  Pretty heady stuff if true.  Mostly because I'm not sure how well my parents or grand parent ate!  Also, I never really thought of my health habits having an impact on my future grand kids!

It basically challenges you to take control of your health through food selection for you and  your offspring.  It talks about how what you put into your body can alter gene expression.  Epigenetics essentially.  Very cool stuff.  The author goes on to examine traditional foods from all the ancient cultures from Masai to Japan and many other cultures in-between.  

She came up with what she calls the 4 Pillars of World Cuisine:

1.  Eat meat on the bone.  She then has 4 rules that talk about the type and cooking methods.

2.  Eat Organ meat and Offal.  Offal basically means everything.  Don't waste any parts.  

3.  Eat Fermented and Sprouted foods.  Explains about probiotics and cell vitamins.

4.  Eat Fresh.  Fresh vegetables, fresh milk, fresh meat.  

Avoid these two ingredients.  

1.  Vegetable oil

2.  Sugar

There is a great chapter devoted to good fats and bad fats and why Cholesterol is not evil.  Debunks many of the original Keyes research that "showed"  cholesterol is bad.  I've talked about that on a previous blog post.

There is an interesting chapter on what is called the Marquardt's Mask.  Often used by plastic surgeons to show what "perfect" facial features look like when using dynamic symmetry.   They have shown through research what baby's gaze at longer.  Regardless of race, our definition of beautiful faces often fit into this mask.   

While there are several recipes included, like how to make your own bone broth for ligament health.  I found the examples of a menu to be rather weak.  For example, a sample breakfast menu was Crepes with vanilla-extract flavored whipped cream and chopped fresh fruit.  Not sure why that is suggested or why that's considered traditional or health!

Overall, this was a fun, interesting read.  Although I listed the main points, there are some really interesting facts and research thrown in here that will keep you reading and hold your attention.