I’ve always been a fan of books written various Harvard Schools.  Perhaps it’s the business student in me, but they always seem to be well written, informative, thorough and objective.  So when I saw a national best seller nutrition book written by a pair of Harvard professors, I figured I’d pick it up and see what the fuss was all about.  What I found was a bit more and a bit less than what I expected.

What It’s All About

The authors of Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating have a problem.  They see the new food pyramid that the USDA has come up along with the accompanying dietary guidelines and, instead of seeing a good plan to follow, they find it to be a disaster in the making.  They have a variety of issues with the USDA information, the most important of which are:

• They are not based on science
• They are based on the lobbying of the US agriculture industry
• They don’t make distinctions between good and bad components of the same food group.  Good and bad fats for example.

I tend to agree with all of these issues, especially the second one.  I urge people to remember that the purpose of the United States Department of Agriculture is to promote agriculture.  It is NOT to promote good health.  Most folks I talk to tend to believe that the USDA has their best interests in mind.  The truth is that it does not.  The USDA is not the department of health, nor is it an organization concerned with good nutrition.  It is an arm of the government concerned with the promotion and success of US farmers, cattle ranchers and other food producers.  As such, its dietary guidelines are written in a way which makes them seem healthy but in fact they’re written to promote US farming products.

The authors have gone a step further and identified what they say are the worst issues with the USDA guidelines:

1. All fats are bad – This is wrong, there are many good fats.
2. All carbohydrates are good – Again, wrong.  There are good carbs and bad carbs.
3. All protein sources are created equal – No true at all.  Organic chicken for example is far better than factory produced pork.
4. Dairy products are essential – Not true.  Man kind did not evolve to consume a huge amount of calories from the milk of cows.
5. Eat your potatoes – This is a horrible idea for most people and yet a large majority of Americans consume many of their calories from potatoes.
6. No guidance on weight, exercise, alcohol or vitamins – The USDA pyramid and most of the USDA’s information has no advice on these important items.

That said, the authors have decided to come up with a better food pyramid and a better set of dietary guidelines overall.  They themselves admit that nutrition research has been a confusing issue over the past few decades.  Nutrition research comes and goes and what was bad yesterday may be good tomorrow.  This is all true, although they make a strong case for most of the flip flops being based on bad science and rumor rather than good science and research.  At the same time, they have collected an amazing amount of data from a variety of sources.  So while this information may change as we learn more about food and the human body, it does represents some of the best science we have today.

The Core

Out of all the data and research which the authors collected, they have come up with a few basic rules for a good eating plan.

• Watch your weight – Yep, it seems almost too basic to be mentioned but it’s worth noting that even the best diet will be bad for you if you eat too much.
• Eat fewer bad fats and more good fats – The book reviews a variety of good fat sources such as fish, nuts and more.  Meats are treated fairly and the book also provides vegetarian options.
• Eat fewer refined grain carbs and more whole grain carbs – I know many of you think carbs in general are evil, but it’s hard to argue with this rule.  If you eat less white bread and more whole grain bread you’re definitely taking a step forward.  Sure, you can take a bigger step by lowering grain consumption overall but one small step at a time.  The authors provide a variety of tips on grains and how to eat them.
• Choose healthier sources of protein – Yes, this goes out to all of you who think your bacon wrapped steaks are a good idea   It’s not!  Protein is good.  Healthy protein sources are better.  A reasonable consumption level of healthy protein sources is best.  I liked the authors rankings of protein sources and they also provide a good set of ideas for vegetarians who may struggle to get enough protein in their diets.
• Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits but hold the potatoes – I don’t really need to go into detail on this one, do I?  The authors do and they give a good amount of information about other root vegetables which we may want to avoid like potatoes.
• Use alcohol in moderation – Yep, one small drink a day is good for you.  Note the emphasis on small.  This is not an excuse to drink a six pack a day.  A small drink is a glass of wine or a single beer.
• Take a multi vitamin for insurance – Even assuming you follow their guidelines, the authors believe you should still take a multivitamin every day, just as insurance.  I have to agree.  Considering the cost is around 10 cents a day and there are no negative side effects, I can’t see how this is anything but a good thing.

The rest of the book goes into detail on these rules and gives a whole lot of information on how to implement them.  It also has sample recipes and menus, all of which sounded really tasty.

So Is It Worth Buying?

Depends.  Are you interested in the details or is the quick summary above enough for you?  For most people, I think this book is a bit too much.  You can read the rules above and get 80% of the books value.  Sure, the rest is interesting but it’s very detailed and might bore a lot of people.  For me, it was fascinating, but that’s because I appreciate reading all the little details.

If you’re a beginner looking for ways to improve your diet, this is not the book for you.  You’re better off with something like Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram Your Genes for Effortless Weight Loss, Vibrant Health, and Boundless Energy or YOU: The Owner’s Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition: An Insider’s Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger.  Those are excellent books for beginners looking to learn more about their bodies.  However, if you’re into the fine print of how your body works and want to learn a lot more about proper nutrition, then Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating is an excellent source of information.