low-carb books
 

What low-carb books are you reading? What have you read and can recommend?

I'm currently almost done with Dr. David Perlmutter's Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain–for Life (2015).

I'm always on the look out for a good book to read. Since I don't watch t.v. programing, I have lots of time - lol.

I just ordered Dr. Michael Ruscio's Healthy Gut, Healthy You: The Personalized Plan to Transform Your Health from the Inside Out (2018).

Next up I have:

Keto Clarity: Your Definitive Guide to the Benefits of a Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet, Jimmy Moore, Eric C. Westman (2014)
The Longevity Diet, Valter Longo (2016)
Diabetes Epidemic & You, Joseph R. Kraft (2008)

Keto Clarity will be the first Ketogenic diet book I've read. All I know is once a while back I looked up Ketogenic diet and it said it was the same as Atkins Induction.

I know you don't need this advice, but for anybody who hasn't read it my first suggestion is still Atkins. He was talking about benign dietary ketosis before the term nutritional ketosis was coined by Phinney and Volek. The whole program was intended to be ketogenic at least through weight loss. I didn't find I could climb the carb ladder at all. People might not like the urine strips, but for people with blood ketone monitors who want a certain level of ketosis, I think it makes a lot of sense to start with induction, or if you like even a more ketogenic diet like the 4:1, and then intentionally creep up and see what it takes to stay around where you want to be.

Also Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. He doesn't intend it to be ketogenic, but for non-diabetics who don't inject insulin, it's liable to be. I think the fairly strict structure of his program is a good starting point for people who need really consistent ketosis for one reason or another. Also his 7 grams of protein per ounce of meat rule, combined with knowing some very low carb vegetable sources with a gram per ounce or two grams per ounce, and then how many ounces (or fractions of ounces) of fat need to be added to round out a meal makes things easier for stricter keto diets without having to resort to fitday before adding each ingredient.

Hi, s93. :) I'll second Teaser's recommendations. Dr. Atkins' books are easy to read, and think through, and very encouraging.

Dr. Bernstein's book explains a lot. His book was what gave me the courage to stay around 30 grams of carbs, for life.

I also like Life Without Bread, by Wolfgang Lutz. It addresses what metabolism is, how different kinds of diets change the way organs work. It's a fascinating book.

----
I have other favorites, but those three are ones I would give as presents, if someone were really interested in the how and why of the necessity of low carb living.

---

I like the books of the early low-carb pioneers, too.

Dr. Blake Donaldson's, Strong Medicine, is really good food for thought. It can be read, without charge, at HathiTrust.

Atkins' DANDR 2002 was the second book I read; the first being Gary Taubes' Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About it. Fantastic reading! I still keep my DANDR handy and refer back to the induction chapter frequently. It's uncanny how he anticipates your question and answers it. Other books you'd be looking ahead when a question pops up.

This will be way more than you asked for, but this is a Resource List kept at Dr. Westman's support group page. The order is meaningless, His books first then how the list developed as members added to it.

I would certainly put Nina Teicholz "The Big Fat Surprise" higher if this were ordered by my favorites. And all three of Gary Taubes books too. I switched from mostly vegetarian to low carb right after I read the Cancer chapter in Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories. I have read all of the books on this list except Hacking the American mind, and like these four best for their "readability".

I've read Atkins' book but at the moment I can't remember what version it was. Probably the 2nd or 3rd edition.

My favourite book of all time is Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.

My next book will probably be The Obesity Code by Jason Fung.

Richard Johnson's The Sugar Fix.

Anybody read The Ketogenic Bible? I haven't yet so can't recommend it, but it sounds like it should be good, and I've enjoyed some of Jacob Wilson's videos.

I was reading, "Ready or Not!" By Michelle Tam & Henry Fong (of Nom Nom Paleo fame) but I got bored with it and decided I had enough cookbooks already.

I'm reading and loving, "The Food Lab" by J. Kenji López-Alt. This is not a diet book but a cookbook that will teach you how to perfectly cook all manner of meat and veggies, and gives you a wealth of information about why recipes work or why they don't. There's a lot of science in this book, but it's easy to read.

He gets a little overly complex in some of his recipes (something like 30 ingredients for a Bolognese sauce - seriously?) but I love it all the same. This cookbook won a James Beard award.

Check it out Here.

Here's what I've read so far:

Why We Get Fat (2010), Gary Taubes
Good Calories, Bad Calories (2004), Gary Taubes
The Case Against Sugar (2016), Gary Taubes
The Big Fat Surprise (2014), Nina Teicholz
DANDR (2002), Dr. Atkins
The New Atkins for a New You (2010), , Eric C. Westman, Stephen D. Phinney, Jeff S. Volek
The Complete Guide to Fasting (2016), Dr. Jason Fung
The Salt Fix (2017), James Dinicolantonio
The Alzheimer's Antidote (2017), Amy Berger
The Obesity Code (2015), Dr. Jason Fung
The Diabetes Code (2018), Dr. Jason Fung
The End of Alzheimer's (2017), Dr. Dale Bredesen
Grain Brain (2013), Dr. David Perlmutter

reading Brain Maker (2015), Dr. David Perlmutter

I have read Ketogenic Bible, only because our library had ordered it. Heavy going with some of the science (you'll like it, teaser) but also he doesn’t have the journalist flair for writing. Then he goes into depth on bodybuilding and exogenous ketones, two topics with zero interest for me. maybe someday ketones will help with neurological disease, but in the meantime I skipped those chapters...and a few others.

Have a few waiting to be read.

Books:

Healthy Gut, Healthy You: The Personalized Plan to Transform Your Health from the Inside Out, Dr. Michael Ruscio 2018
The Longevity Diet, Valter Longo 2016
Cholesterol Clarity: What The HDL Is Wrong With My Numbers?, Jimmy Moore, Eric C. Westman 2013

Kindle:

The Diabetes Diet: Dr. Bernstein's Low-Carbohydrate Solution, Richard K. Bernstein 2005
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health, William Davis 2011
Pure, White and Deadly: The new facts about the sugar you eat as a cause of heart disease, diabetes and other killers, John Yudkin 1972

With that long list already read, add the Phinney & Volek Books next. They coined the term "nutritional ketosis".

The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living looks like my next purchase (none of the libraries have it). Thank you.

:)

Just borrowed this. Thanks.

:)

My library replied that they will attempt an interlibrary loan. Crossing my fingers.

I bought that one during a Kindle "special"...now it appears that they do not even offer Kindle at any price.

I've found that kindle books don't show graphics / pics that well. As one example, I started reading Grain Brain and there were these postage stamp size thumbnail pics for graphs - and if you clicked them they didn't do anything. I finally borrowed the hardcover from the library and finished it. I just purchased it for my reference copy.

Books I've read, in order. Some of these I've since handed on to people I know:

The Real Meal Revolution (2015) Tim Noakes, Sally-Ann Creed, Jonno Proudfoot. A pretty good intro to LCHF; I devoured the whole thing the weekend it arrived.

The New Atkins For a New You (2010) Eric Westman, Jeff Volek, Stephen Phinney. I was curious about Atkins after I saw how similar the "Banting" diet promoted in RMR was.

The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Living (2011) Jeff Volek, Stephen Phinney. I ordered this online at the same time as the Atkins book, to save on shipping. My favourite LC book so far; to date, the only one I've read more than once.

What The Fat? (2015) Grant Schofield, Caryn Zinn, Craig Rodger. Basically a New Zealand-oriented version of RMR. Really easy to read, clearly targeted at consumers just starting out.

Why We Get Fat (2011) Gary Taubes. Ordered this on the recommendation of a fellow lowcarber, was not disappointed although by this time I didn't really need convincing anymore. :lol:

Good Calories, Bad Calories (2007) Gary Taubes. Basically a super detailed version of WWGF, or WWGF is a simpler version of this. Took me a long time to get through it, but worthwhile for some of the details.

What The Fast! (2018) Grant Schofield, Caryn Zinn, Craig Rodger. I just finished this last week after not having done much reading for a while. A nice consumer-grade intro to intermittent fasting.

Currently reading:

The Case Against Sugar (2016) Gary Taubes. This has been my background reading while I work through some other books at the same time. Still a fairly interesting history lesson in its own right, though.

Next on my list:

The Big Fat Surprise (2014) Nina Teicholz. Given my developing interest in LC advocacy, I should probably have read this one earlier. I do have it though, and will probably get stuck in soon, now that I've finished WTF.

I have bought many of the books listed in this thread at thrift shops and library book sales, over the years. Most of those for $1 or $2.

Awesome response everyone! I am looking these in goodreads as I type.

:roll:

Here are a few that haven't been listed that are excellent information sources:

Diabetes Unpacked - Various Authors
The Cholesterol Myths - Uffe Ravnskov, MD
The Fasting Cure - Upton Sinclair
Misguided Medicine - Colin Champ, MD
The World Turned Upside Down - Richard D. Feinman
Diabetes Epidemic & You - Joseph R. Kraft, MD, MS, FCAP

Nice!
Just got my library copy - and this one bumps up to my next read. My wife has DMII and I need all of the ammunition I can get my hands on. I wish it were as easy as having her do what I do, but it's not. She has shown great improvement in her morning blood glucose reading - high 90s and mid to low 100s. Her next 3 month appointment is now scheduled for more than 3 weeks from now, and I will be there with her, and I have an extra copy of Good Calories, Bad Calories to give to her primary physician.

Ha! Read Gary Taubes intro to the shorter version, Why We Get Fat. The reason he wrote WWGF is that doctors (and the average person) don’t have the time or interest to wade through the science of GCBC. :lol: Many asked him to write an "airplane trip" length version. And add Diet guidelines...so Dr Westman's clinic Diet ended up in the back of the shorter WWGF. But GCBC is the one that started me on the LC path, good book, ..Worth a shot. :)

Aunt Em Me too, I often read a book first from the library but then am able in a few years to find the print copy... and sometimes the Used Amazon prices are worth it if it is a book later decide really want to own. People shed themselves of Diet, Health and Cookbooks sooner than others :lol:


To discuss with a Diabetes Doctor, also consider sharing the new Virta paper, published in February in a peer reviewed journal:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=478789

And this one by a large group of doctors. Dietary carbohydrate restriction as the first approach in diabetes management: Critical review and evidence base
https://www.nutritionjrnl.com/artic...0332-3/fulltext

In addition to one of the the Duke Clinics using keto for diabetes, the Cleveland Clinic offers it as an option as well. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/...-with-diabetes/

And Rob's good suggestion of Diabetes Unpacked...that is written in short chapters by different doctors and nutrition researchers around the world. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=478136

What is the best book to learn about the Paleo diet?

I may have to buy that one (library does not have it). Thank you.

There have been so many, but I still like the original Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. It was on the same library display as GCBC, so the first Paleo book I read and maybe I'm sentimental.
Robb Wolf's The Paleo Solution, the original human dietalso good with more science; The Whole 30 another variation on the theme of eating ancestral foods. Neanderthin was one of the first, more books discussed in the Paleo sub-forum. http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=107

Diabetes Unpacked has more international authors, the only marketing I remember was the Kindle deal.

Library had those two in kindle and hardcover and I'm in line to borrow - thank you. There's apparently an update: The New Primal Blueprint - that's the one I'm signed up for.

:)

"Neanderthin" by Ray Audette got me started on this journey nearly 2 decades ago. I suppose by today's standards it's pretty basic but it still informs what I eat. I guess I would call it the foundation of my eating plan.

Anyone read KETO FOR CANCER???

I have the book and I have read some of it. My granddaughter only recently completed nearly a year's worth of chemo and proton radiation treatment for Ewings sarcoma a kind of childhood bone cancer. I got the book in hopes of being able to influence her parents who were her caregivers but I soon realized that I was not going to be successful in that. Reading the book became too painful for me but Miriam Kalamian is a very credible source of information. So far so good as far as my granddaughter is concerned. There is no longer any sign of cancer in her body. Let's hope it remains that way. Now maybe I can read the book since my anxiety level is not so acute.