I found this book to be well written and fascinating. There is a LOT of great information. I took so many notes. Worth the read.

This book is perfect for anyone who wants to know more about eating a nutritious diet without judgment or rules!

I have been interested in nutrition and dieting for most of my life. I have tried so many diets in an effort to lose "weight", resolve health issues, etc. I have only recently realized how problematic diet culture is in our society and have shifted to an anti-diet culture mindset. At the same time, I want to know that I'm providing myself and my family with the nutrition we need to best support our dietary needs.

Dr. Ballantyne's book is a fascinating, data-based look into how we can eat to supply our bodies with all of the nutrients they need. She does a beautiful job of explaining current science in accessible ways. The Nutrivore framework is about eating in ways that best support our dietary needs, with flexibility and an understanding of the importance of food as an important part of life outside of "health" in terms of enjoyment, traditions, and convenience. Foods are prioritized based on a Nutrivore score- calculated based on nutrients provided per calorie, and she also emphasizes the importance of incorporating a diversity of foods.

The book is divided into several categories, and it's a great read in chronological order, but you can also feel free to pick and choose the information that is most relevant to you at a particular moment in time.

Part 1- Why Nutrivore talks about the Nutrivore philosophy, the science regarding nutrient insufficiencies in most Americans' diets, and ways to start incorporating Nutrivore into your ways of eating.

Part 2- Nutrients and Your Health provides an in-depth, science-based analysis of the importance of macronutrients, minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients for overall health and specific health concerns (such as joint pain, gut health, PMS, headaches, high blood pressure, allergies, cancer risk, autoimmune disorders, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain health, and more!

Part 3- Nutrivore in Practice explains important food groups to incorporate and bust common myths surrounding what we eat/how we eat. There is also a chapter on how to apply Nutrivore principles in clear steps, including recommendations for weekly servings of key food groups. And a chapter with ideas for nutrient-dense "master" recipes that are easily adaptable for whatever you have on hand/is in season to make easy delicious, nutritious foods.

The last section is the appendices, including a brief list explaining how to approach healthy and sustainable weight loss (this is NOT a focus of the book as a whole), charts showing links between specific nutrient insufficiencies, diseases, and symptoms, and a full list of average Nutrivore scores for over 700 whole foods!

I received an ARC e-book from Simon Element Publishing and Netgalley.com. I look forward to receiving my preordered hard copy so I can make lots of highlights, notes, and tabs for the wealth of information contained. Note that if you preorder the book before its publication date on May 14th, you can go to nutrivore.com and download a bunch of bonus materials to get started with learning and applying the ideas in the book. You will be very happy to have them!

Thank you Simon Element, S&S/Simon Element, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this great book. This is a very well researched guide that clearly explains nutritional benefits and density of various foods, providing clear, easy to follow steps to improving one’s health.

This could be a good reference book. It would fall into the health encyclopedia category for me. Very detailed scientific data on food sources. I found it a little overwhelming in the amount of information and the way it is presented. This is one book I would want a physical copy of so I could easily find the food items I'm interested in.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to preview this book.

There’s a lot I loved about this book. I appreciate that the author is a doctor and backs up everything with studies and references. I appreciate that she crunched the numbers to determine which foods give the most nutrients of all types (fiber, anthocyanins, minerals, etc.) and not just a few vitamins or benefits. I appreciate that she teaches that you don’t need to avoid any foods but to prioritize getting lots of the foods with huge benefits and lots of variety. I also appreciate that she recommends all foods and doesn’t have an agenda towards any diet.

A lot of what she says is not new, but it’s a good reminder of how powerfully important healthy foods of all kinds are for maintaining good health. Her statistics are startling about the difference all different nutrients have statistically on everything from MS to colon cancer to dementia to diabetes to mortality in general. She also has charts at the end where you can track that you are eating enough different types of food every week, enough of all kinds of especially helpful foods like berries, etc.

There were a few instances where she didn’t convince me. She doesn’t have any problem with any additives, glyphosate, omega-6 oils, etc. She also looks just at nutrition and its impact, not at possible harm from contaminants like arsenic in rice or lead in cassava flour. She says not to worry about mercury in fish, MSG, food dyes, BPA, microplastics, etc. These can be harmful for pregnant women and children in particular but it seems to be completely missing in her priorities.

All that said, it was a good read and it reinforced what my goal for myself and my family has been for a long time— filling our meals predominantly with nutritious, whole foods. Some of the foods with the highest numbers surprised me and I will definitely be adding more of them to our meals.

I read an advance copy of this book for review.

Nutrivore isn't a term I was familiar with before reading this book, but it's a common sense approach to eating and nutrition. The author provides a ranking of her 'best' foods, based on nutrient levels, as a guide for healthy eating. The focus is on nutrient-dense foods, and unsurprisingly there's a big focus on eating whole foods. If you can get through the facts and science in the first part of the book, there are some real-world suggestions, helpful printables, and recipes included at the back of the book.

Nutrition research can be quite overwhelming. Thankfully, Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, author of Nutrivore, provides a comprehensive and flexible approach to healthy eating. She shares her ranking of foods based on nutrient density, a template for healthy eating, and ways to get all of your nutrients through food.

The title, "Nutrivore" seemed familiar to me, and I was right! I have heard a similar term before from Dr. Fuhrman, a physician and nutrition expert, who coined the term "Nutritarian" to identify nutrient dense foods. Where Fuhrman and Ballantype differ in their approach is that Fuhrman promotes a whole-food plant-based diet, while Ballantyne incorporates all foods. Even their mathematical approach to assigning each food a score is surprisingly similar.

In addition, Dr. Ballantyle offers a weekly checklist of foods to incorporate into one's diet which, again, is shockingly similar to Dr. Michael Greger's "daily dozen." Again, Dr. Greger advocates for a whole-food plant-based diet, whereas Ballantyne advocates for all foods.

With the similarities to other books aside, I did find her approach refreshing. The chapter, "Busting Myths on What, When, and How to Eat," left me feeling a bit of relief about my food choices. The master recipes at the conclusion of the book offer a mix and match approach to creating nutrient dense meals and snacks; I look forward to using these flexible meal guides. While the sheer amount of information in this book can be daunting, the author does provide key takeaways that can be used everyday.