Metabolical

'Metabolical lays bare the depth of the relationship between the recent and profound perversion of the human diet and its overwhelming health consequences.' Dr David Perlmutter, author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Grain Brain and Brain Wash Did you know that 62% of the food in our supermarkets is not only processed but 'ultra-processed' (ingredients from other foods are combined to make something 'new', often in colours that do not exist in nature)? Did you know data shows that by eating this kind of food over time we are literally slowly poisoning ourselves? In the hard-hitting, ground-breaking tradition of his NY Times bestseller FAT CHANCE, which revealed the dangers of sugar, Dr Robert Lustig persuasively presents a stark exposé of how our addiction to processed foods (aided and abetted by the food industry, big ag, big pharma, institutional medicine and the government) is behind the lethal increase in major non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease, cancer and dementia. We have come to accept that these chronic diseases are simply part of the 'natural ageing process', but Dr Lustig makes the case that this is simply not true. The solution on both a personal and societal level is a return to unprocessed food and Dr Lustig offers a doable plan for us to heal and restore our own health and wellbeing with real food, and in the process boosting our immunity to viruses like Covid-19.

The New York Times bestselling author of Fat Chance explains the eight pathologies that underlie all chronic disease, documents how processed food has impacted them to ruin our health, economy, and environment over the past 50 years, and proposes an urgent manifesto and strategy to cure both us and the planet. Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric neuroendocrinologist who has long been on the cutting edge of medicine and science, challenges our current healthcare paradigm which has gone off the rails under the influence of Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government. You can’t solve a problem if you don’t know what the problem is. One of Lustig’s singular gifts as a communicator is his ability to “connect the dots” for the general reader, in order to unpack the scientific data and concepts behind his arguments, as he tells the “real story of food” and “the story of real food.” Metabolical weaves the interconnected strands of nutrition, health/disease, medicine, environment, and society into a completely new fabric by proving on a scientific basis a series of iconoclastic revelations, among them: Medicine for chronic disease treats symptoms, not the disease itself You can diagnose your own biochemical profile Chronic diseases are not "druggable," but they are "foodable" Processed food isn’t just toxic, it’s addictive The war between vegan and keto is a false war—the combatants are on the same side Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government are on the other side Making the case that food is the only lever we have to effect biochemical change to improve our health, Lustig explains what to eat based on two novel criteria: protect the liver, and feed the gut. He insists that if we do not fix our food and change the way we eat, we will continue to court chronic disease, bankrupt healthcare, and threaten the planet. But there is hope: this book explains what’s needed to fix all three.

The companion cookbook to the New York Times bestseller Fat Chance Fat Chance became an instant New York Times bestseller. Robert Lustig’s message that the increased sugar in our diets has led to the pandemic of chronic disease over the last thirty years captured our national attention. Now, in The Fat Chance Cookbook, Lustig helps us put this information into action for ourselves. With more than 100 recipes as well as meal plans, nutritional analyses, shopping lists, and food swaps, he shows us easy ways to drastically reduce sugar and increase fiber to lose weight and regain health – both for ourselves and for our families. Lustig also shows us how to navigate the grocery store with handy lists for stocking the pantry as well as how to read a food label in order to find hidden sugars and evaluate fiber content. Accessible, affordable, and geared toward lasting results, The Fat Chance Cookbook will be a fun and easy roadmap to better health for the whole family.

New York Times Bestseller Robert Lustig’s 90-minute YouTube video “Sugar: The Bitter Truth”, has been viewed more than three million times. Now, in this much anticipated book, he documents the science and the politics that has led to the pandemic of chronic disease over the last 30 years. In the late 1970s when the government mandated we get the fat out of our food, the food industry responded by pouring more sugar in. The result has been a perfect storm, disastrously altering our biochemistry and driving our eating habits out of our control. To help us lose weight and recover our health, Lustig presents personal strategies to readjust the key hormones that regulate hunger, reward, and stress; and societal strategies to improve the health of the next generation. Compelling, controversial, and completely based in science, Fat Chance debunks the widely held notion to prove “a calorie is NOT a calorie”, and takes that science to its logical conclusion to improve health worldwide.

"Explores how industry has manipulated our most deep-seated survival instincts."—David Perlmutter, MD, Author, #1 New York Times bestseller, Grain Brain and Brain Maker The New York Times–bestselling author of Fat Chance reveals the corporate scheme to sell pleasure, driving the international epidemic of addiction, depression, and chronic disease. While researching the toxic and addictive properties of sugar for his New York Times bestseller Fat Chance, Robert Lustig made an alarming discovery—our pursuit of happiness is being subverted by a culture of addiction and depression from which we may never recover. Dopamine is the “reward” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we want more; yet every substance or behavior that releases dopamine in the extreme leads to addiction. Serotonin is the “contentment” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we don’t need any more; yet its deficiency leads to depression. Ideally, both are in optimal supply. Yet dopamine evolved to overwhelm serotonin—because our ancestors were more likely to survive if they were constantly motivated—with the result that constant desire can chemically destroy our ability to feel happiness, while sending us down the slippery slope to addiction. In the last forty years, government legislation and subsidies have promoted ever-available temptation (sugar, drugs, social media, porn) combined with constant stress (work, home, money, Internet), with the end result of an unprecedented epidemic of addiction, anxiety, depression, and chronic disease. And with the advent of neuromarketing, corporate America has successfully imprisoned us in an endless loop of desire and consumption from which there is no obvious escape. With his customary wit and incisiveness, Lustig not only reveals the science that drives these states of mind, he points his finger directly at the corporations that helped create this mess, and the government actors who facilitated it, and he offers solutions we can all use in the pursuit of happiness, even in the face of overwhelming opposition. Always fearless and provocative, Lustig marshals a call to action, with seminal implications for our health, our well-being, and our culture.

Documenting the science and the politics that has led to the pandemic of metabolic syndrome - whose symptoms include obesity, diabetes and heart disease - Robert Lustig exposes for the first time how changes in the food industry and in our wider environment have affected our collective metabolisms and waistlines.

In the newest edition of The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the U.S. government has – for the very first time – limited the amount of sugar that it is safe for us to consume. Yet sugar hides behind many names on ingredient lists, making it sometimes impossible to discover. Although "evaporated cane juice" might be easy enough to puzzle out – what about “diastatic malt” or “panocha?” In Sugar Has 56 Names, Robert H. Lustig, MD, bestselling author of Fat Chance and The Fat Chance Cookbook, provides a list of ingredient names that food manufacturers use to disguise sugar content as well as a rundown of common grocery store items and their total sugar content. Concise and direct, Sugar Has 56 Names is an essential tool for smart shopping.

Drawing on her experience in addictions treatment, and on many personal stories of addiction and recovery, Dr. Vera Tarman offers practical advice for people struggling with problems of overeating, binge eating, anorexia, and bulimia. Food Junkies is a friendly and informative guide on the road to food serenity.