The Fallacy of The Calorie

Why The Modern Western Diet is Killing Us and How to Stop It

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Pub Date 01 Dec 2014 | Archive Date 28 Aug 2015
Köehler Books | Koehler Books

Description

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in "The Physiology of Taste" two months before his death; “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” In the almost 200 years since its publication in 1825 we have borne witness to the ultimate veracity of such a simple observation. We have seen that truism reflected in our own modern Western diet. It is a diet that delivers us unto the disabilities and diseases of modern civilization; obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disease, neurologic disease, and autoimmune disease. Disabilities and diseases that have at their root a chronic, continuous low-level inflammation. While we have suffered the inevitable outcome of such dietary indiscretion, the cause has evaded us. And without understanding the how and the why, redemption will continue to elude us. We will continue to focus on ineffective and misguided approaches. Super foods, dieting and weight loss fads, and the seeking of salvation through deprivation have yielded us nothing but continued misery and malady.Now for the first time; Dr. Mike, cardiologist and chef, reveals the how and the why of the modern Western diet. He explains how we are hardwired to seek out sugar, salt and fat. He details how that greed to for these consumables allowed us to become the most dominant species on the planet and construct the most technologically advanced and complex social structure the world has ever known.But that progress has not come without a price. Dr. Mike identifies the changes to our food and food pathways that occurred at the onset of the Industrial Revolution and have become particularly pronounced over the last fifty to seventy-five years. Changes that have disrupted our physiology and our relationship with our symbiotic gut microbiome. Changes that have produced the modern Western diet with its dysbiosis, disabilities, and diseases of modern civilization. With the eye of a chef and a deep understanding and appreciation for the experiential nature and integral role that food and cuisine has in our society, and our own personal health and wellness, Dr. Mike crafts a prescription to break the vicious cycle of addiction at the heart of the modern Western diet. This journey to metabolic health is a "Code Delicious!"

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in "The Physiology of Taste" two months before his death; “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” In the almost 200 years since its publication in...


A Note From the Publisher

Author Bio:
Michael S. Fenster, M.D., F.A.C.C., FSCA&I, PEMBA; known to his audiences as “Dr. Mike,” is a Board Certified Interventional Cardiologist. He has taught students, interns, residents, fellows and served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the North East Ohio University College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). Dr. Mike’s culinary career began before he ever attended medical school. Starting as a dishwasher, he worked his way up to executive chef. Never one to rest on his laurels, Dr. Mike later co-managed an award winning restaurant and received his culinary degree in gourmet cooking and catering from Ashworth University where he graduated with honors. He was their alumni of the year in 2013. In addition to numerous medical lectures and presentations, Dr. Mike has lectured at the national convention of The American Culinary Federation as well as their Field to Plate series in Europe and spoken at other prestigious events like the gathering of The Chicago Culinary Historians. He has given numerous radio and television interviews on health and food both nationally and internationally. He has been a regular on The Daily Buzz morning program as well as Daytime TV, entertaining and informing during cooking segments. He has written columns for numerous publications such as Shape, Fitness and Glamour, innumerable websites, and served as a monthly columnist for The Tampa Tribune. He currently writes a monthly column for Luxuria Lifestyles, an international lifestyle magazine and Basil, a culinary magazine. "The Fallacy of the Calorie: Why The Modern Western Diet is Killing Us and How to Stop It" is Dr. Mike’s long anticipated follow up to his first book, "Eating Well, Living Better: A Grassroots Gourmet Approach to Good Health and great Food."

Author Bio:
Michael S. Fenster, M.D., F.A.C.C., FSCA&I, PEMBA; known to his audiences as “Dr. Mike,” is a Board Certified Interventional Cardiologist. He has taught students, interns, residents...


Advance Praise

The Fallacy of the Calorie provides a well-explained healing diet recommendation. A 10-step 30-day program guides the reader into new habits for lasting health. Comforting the reader, Dr. Mike reminds us, "Medicine may study populations, but healing is still an individual art." The Fallacy of the Calorie has comprehensive education and sound recommendations for fueling yourself to truly live. This book is as much entertainment as it is pregnant with facts making the mass of information deliciously palatable. Suna Senman –The Huffington Post

“Dr. Fenster is a master of the presentation, both on the plate and on the page. This book should be required reading.” –Prof. Amy Tucker, MD, MHCM, FACC, Director, Club Red, UVA Heart & Vascular Center for Women

It's rare to come across a doctor who wants to spend less time cutting into bodies and more time cutting up food, but that's exactly what this cardiologist and culinary chef wants to do. Dr. Fenster is one of the few brave doctors willing to give us a shout out about how the modern Western diet is killing us and what we can do to stop it. This book is stock full of evidence to back up his recommendations on what to eat and what not to eat. The eating "program" Dr. Fenster prescribes is a tasty and nutritious solution that anyone can adhere to. He recommends adding more fresh juice, organic fruits and vegetables, probiotics, prebiotics, and spice to our diet while subtracting modern wheat, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners. I have a gut feeling this doc is going to help tens of thousands of people live happier and healthier lives. Doctor Lorraine

As a Registered Nurse I am familiar with the importance of dietary control in cardiovascular and metabolic health. This book not only clears up the muddy waters of the pop culture "food experts" but gives solid scientific research sources for what the facts are about healthy diet and what to do, not do and what to avoid. I strongly recommend this wonderful book. It is not only useful, it is entertaining. Dr. Fenster has a quirky sense of humor that shows up like a spice throughout this book. Try it you'll like it. - a lot. Rita M. Johnson

The Fallacy of the Calorie provides a well-explained healing diet recommendation. A 10-step 30-day program guides the reader into new habits for lasting health. Comforting the reader, Dr. Mike...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781940192895
PRICE $17.95 (USD)

Average rating from 14 members


Featured Reviews

This book gives a new perspective about food and eating healthy. I strongly recommend this book.

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This was a fascinating book about how the government recommendations are consistently wrong because it doesn't address the problem is that the entire highly processed Western Diet is the problem.

Salt isn't the problem. It is the French fries that are the issue. Fat isn't the problem; it is the battered deep fried onion blossom and tempura vegetables. Meat and dairy isn't the problem; it is corn and antibiotic fed animals. Grains aren't the problem; it is the processing that strips any nutrition from the grain.

When the government recommends reducing sugars; we immediately replace it with artificial sweeteners. We don't need to eat diet pop and jello, when there are natural alternatives like tea sweetened with honey or just eat a piece of fruit.

He compares societies that still eat the traditional foods, and shows the health problems when these people abandon their food for the Western Diet.

Over the last 200 years, we have strayed so far from the healthy diet that nourished our ancestors. If people got past childhood diseases, accidents, and childbirth; they lived long lives and died of old age, rather than cancer, strokes, and heart attacks.

Dr. Fenster presents this valuable information in a humorous and easy to read book. Everything medical is explained in a manner, that those of us without medical degrees, can understand.

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