Which Dr. Weil book(s) have you found most informative?
July 3, 2010 12:33 AM Subscribe
Hoping someone from the hive can help me sort through all the Dr. Weil books and point me in the right direction.
So I'm really interested in changing the way I eat and live in order to improve my health which at present is embarassingly poor. After researching different things I'm really interested in Dr. Weil's books. However, since he has written so many, I'm not sure which is the right one for me. So hivemind, can you please recommend which Dr. Weil book would be the best starting place? If you found more than one exceptional then please include the names of them all. I'm basically looking for a book on the basics but also one that contains menu ideas. I want a book that just says "eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner." I find a lot of my issue is that I know what I'm supposed to eat, I just don't know how to eat it. I'm unimaginative with things like that and there is only so many days in a row that I can stand to eat oatmeal with almonds and blueberries for breakfast. Also, have any of you paid to join his website for the anti-inflammatory diet? If so, what did you think of it?
I'm mostly interested in Dr. Weil's books but if you have been very pleased with any books from other authors that offer this kind of information that's based on scientific research and fact I'm up for suggestions.
So I'm really interested in changing the way I eat and live in order to improve my health which at present is embarassingly poor. After researching different things I'm really interested in Dr. Weil's books. However, since he has written so many, I'm not sure which is the right one for me. So hivemind, can you please recommend which Dr. Weil book would be the best starting place? If you found more than one exceptional then please include the names of them all. I'm basically looking for a book on the basics but also one that contains menu ideas. I want a book that just says "eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner." I find a lot of my issue is that I know what I'm supposed to eat, I just don't know how to eat it. I'm unimaginative with things like that and there is only so many days in a row that I can stand to eat oatmeal with almonds and blueberries for breakfast. Also, have any of you paid to join his website for the anti-inflammatory diet? If so, what did you think of it?
I'm mostly interested in Dr. Weil's books but if you have been very pleased with any books from other authors that offer this kind of information that's based on scientific research and fact I'm up for suggestions.
Best answer: Sorry I don't have any better recommendations right now by the way but seriously, anti-inflammatory food is my current area of expertise and dude's a quack.
posted by shelleycat at 2:51 AM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by shelleycat at 2:51 AM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Actually, scratch that I do have a better suggestion. The CSIRO in Australia (a real research organisation) have put together cook books based on decent nutrition research. You can also get shopping lists and use it as a diet plan. The CSIRO are a big government funded program with a good reputation. Anything like this, written by actual dieticians with references to good quality peer reviewed nutrition research is where you should be looking, not slick websites selling vitamin supplements.
posted by shelleycat at 2:59 AM on July 3, 2010
posted by shelleycat at 2:59 AM on July 3, 2010
Best answer: The Instinct Diet by Susan Roberts sounds like it might be right up your alley. The author is a nutrition researcher at Tufts University, and the eating plans provided are based on scientific research. There are three eating plans offered, two of them for weight loss and one for maintenance (daily exercise is also recommended for this Stage 3 diet). The Stage 1 menu covers 3 days, and then you repeat every 3 days and the Stage 2 menu covers 7 days. Stage 3 is more about how to adapt the other menus. Meat-based and vegetarian (but not vegan) menus are provided, and for each there is a cooking-from-scratch version and a version accommodating prepared foods and eating out. Recipes are provided, as well as substitution suggestions.
posted by needled at 5:34 AM on July 3, 2010
posted by needled at 5:34 AM on July 3, 2010
Best answer: As others have noted, Dr. Weil is a huge quack. Really, really famous among serious scientists and medical professionals for being a scammer whose work is in no way based on sound research or fact. Google his name and "quack" or "scam," and you'll get hundreds of results in which real experts detail the problems with his work. He does occasionally intersperse good, common-sense advice (eat more vegetables, olive oil is nice, etc.) in between recommendations of supplements and ionic foot detoxifiers, but by and large, he's full of crap.
Honestly, it sounds as though your biggest problem is simply not really knowing how to cook. I sympathize; I'm the same way. You know that you're supposed to eat more vegetables and that TV dinners aren't good for you, but when you're staring down a pile of kale and quinoa, you have no idea what to do with it.
Can I suggest that you'd be better served by learning how foods go together in recipes? You don't need someone to tell you what to eat every day (and in fact, we don't really know enough about nutrition for anyone to give sound advice beyond "eat mostly plants and don't fill your body up with processed crap"). You need the skills to figure out what you want to eat and how to make it. If you just leave the Food Network on your TV in the background while you're puttering around the house, you'll learn an astonishing amount about how foods go together and what mincing is and what a turnip should look like when it's done braising. I also picked up a few books about easy vegetarian cooking, which gave me some great, non-intimidating recipes to start from, but if you already know how to cook a little, what you'll benefit most from is learning how to think about ingredients in terms of what they might taste good with.
The more you make your own food, the more imaginative you'll become. And you won't need some scammer selling you overpriced herbs and fancy water.
posted by decathecting at 8:25 AM on July 3, 2010
Honestly, it sounds as though your biggest problem is simply not really knowing how to cook. I sympathize; I'm the same way. You know that you're supposed to eat more vegetables and that TV dinners aren't good for you, but when you're staring down a pile of kale and quinoa, you have no idea what to do with it.
Can I suggest that you'd be better served by learning how foods go together in recipes? You don't need someone to tell you what to eat every day (and in fact, we don't really know enough about nutrition for anyone to give sound advice beyond "eat mostly plants and don't fill your body up with processed crap"). You need the skills to figure out what you want to eat and how to make it. If you just leave the Food Network on your TV in the background while you're puttering around the house, you'll learn an astonishing amount about how foods go together and what mincing is and what a turnip should look like when it's done braising. I also picked up a few books about easy vegetarian cooking, which gave me some great, non-intimidating recipes to start from, but if you already know how to cook a little, what you'll benefit most from is learning how to think about ingredients in terms of what they might taste good with.
The more you make your own food, the more imaginative you'll become. And you won't need some scammer selling you overpriced herbs and fancy water.
posted by decathecting at 8:25 AM on July 3, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for the info. I read that he had an undergrad degree in biology from Harvard and also an MD degree from Harvard. I guess you can't judge a book by where it got it's degree from.
posted by GlowWyrm at 1:09 PM on July 3, 2010
posted by GlowWyrm at 1:09 PM on July 3, 2010
I think it's more about the kind of degree. I wouldn't take nutrition advice from an MD at all basically, you want a dietician instead. Selling supplements is also a huge red flag since their widescale use is never supported by scientific evidence so they're clearly just out to make money. (I'd never heard of him before btw).
You mention that you don't know how to put food together. This was a question addressing a similar problem that had lots of great answers. So maybe you can look there for resources? It takes a slightly different tack but I think with food there is no one big answer, just a series of good habits and things that work for you that you build up over time. Tracking what you eat in something like fitday is also really helpful once you get the basic meal plans going. Also make sure you eat a range of fruits and veggies, healthy fats and not too much calories and you'll have the anti-inflammatory stuff as well covered as can be done right now.
posted by shelleycat at 3:55 PM on July 3, 2010
You mention that you don't know how to put food together. This was a question addressing a similar problem that had lots of great answers. So maybe you can look there for resources? It takes a slightly different tack but I think with food there is no one big answer, just a series of good habits and things that work for you that you build up over time. Tracking what you eat in something like fitday is also really helpful once you get the basic meal plans going. Also make sure you eat a range of fruits and veggies, healthy fats and not too much calories and you'll have the anti-inflammatory stuff as well covered as can be done right now.
posted by shelleycat at 3:55 PM on July 3, 2010
Response by poster: shelleycat,
That's true. One of my degrees is in biochemistry and everyone seems to think I know all about nutrition which I don't. But I do enjoy cooking. I was looking for someone that had done all the legwork of making sure you get the right amount of carbs/prot/fat and minerals/vitamins and put the menus together for me. So far the best thing I've come up with is to just "eat the rainbow."
posted by GlowWyrm at 4:16 PM on July 3, 2010
That's true. One of my degrees is in biochemistry and everyone seems to think I know all about nutrition which I don't. But I do enjoy cooking. I was looking for someone that had done all the legwork of making sure you get the right amount of carbs/prot/fat and minerals/vitamins and put the menus together for me. So far the best thing I've come up with is to just "eat the rainbow."
posted by GlowWyrm at 4:16 PM on July 3, 2010
That post was all blogs and books with recipe lists :D
posted by shelleycat at 4:29 PM on July 3, 2010
posted by shelleycat at 4:29 PM on July 3, 2010
Jane Brody discusses some diet books she considered worthwhile because of their basis in science in a New York Times health column, which is how I learned about the Instinct Diet. Like you, I was aware of what I should be eating, but was having a hard time putting it together into meals, as well as portion size and proportions of protein/carbs/fruits & veggies. After following the eating plans in the Instinct Diet for a month, I now feel like I can draw upon my pre-diet cooking repertoire and apply it to constructing healthy meals. It was really helpful to have spelled out to me what to eat when in what amount.
posted by needled at 5:32 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by needled at 5:32 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Weil actually had a clue when he wrote about drugs. From Chocolate to Morphine is still an excellent, non-scared-straight, drugs 101 book, though now a bit dated. Sadly, he seems to have failed to have kept the skeptical approach he had to the conventional wisdom there-- or he decided not to apply skepticism to the alternatives.
posted by Maias at 7:15 PM on July 3, 2010
posted by Maias at 7:15 PM on July 3, 2010
I'll save you some time.
Fat is neutral/good for you unless it is high in Omega 6 or hydrogenated. Protein is protein, unless you are allergic to that particular type. Carbs make you fat and sick in excess -- unless consumed with lots of fiber, as in plants' natural state. So basically,
-Don't eat processed foods!
-Don't eat sugar, in all its varieties, unless its...
-In fruits or vegetables...eat as many as you want (unless you are trying to lose weight then don't gorge on fruit
-Avoid white flour
-Meat, depending on your digestive capacity, is OK...especially fish.
-Dairy is OK for some, not others... up to you and your personal reaction.
A good place to start is the book the Paleo Diet... the trend now in diet books are variations of this idea. The Primal Blueprint which I read today is pretty good.
posted by blargerz at 9:59 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Fat is neutral/good for you unless it is high in Omega 6 or hydrogenated. Protein is protein, unless you are allergic to that particular type. Carbs make you fat and sick in excess -- unless consumed with lots of fiber, as in plants' natural state. So basically,
-Don't eat processed foods!
-Don't eat sugar, in all its varieties, unless its...
-In fruits or vegetables...eat as many as you want (unless you are trying to lose weight then don't gorge on fruit
-Avoid white flour
-Meat, depending on your digestive capacity, is OK...especially fish.
-Dairy is OK for some, not others... up to you and your personal reaction.
A good place to start is the book the Paleo Diet... the trend now in diet books are variations of this idea. The Primal Blueprint which I read today is pretty good.
posted by blargerz at 9:59 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
I've read Chocolate to Morphine and The Natural Mind. These are very good books concerning consciousness, drugs, and mind/body ideas as they relate to health. I was rather surprised when Weil started going mainstream and showed up on the cover of major newsmagazines some years ago. I haven't read any of his newer stuff.
People are throwing the word "quack" around here pretty liberally, but there is a reason Weil is as prominent as he is and that is that for-profit traditional medicine sometimes cannot or will not offer cures, but will only provide profitable pallatives. Traditional medicos also have trouble thinking "outside the box" when presented with protracted, non-standard diseases. Weil encourages and promotes this very type of "alternative" thinking.
I would approach Weil with an open mind. Read especially those two books above.
One thing I don't like about Weil is that he is the guy who blew the whistle on Tim Leary and Richard Alpert at Harvard in the early 60's. But even being a squealer, he's gathered some interesting ideas.
posted by telstar at 4:49 AM on July 4, 2010
People are throwing the word "quack" around here pretty liberally, but there is a reason Weil is as prominent as he is and that is that for-profit traditional medicine sometimes cannot or will not offer cures, but will only provide profitable pallatives. Traditional medicos also have trouble thinking "outside the box" when presented with protracted, non-standard diseases. Weil encourages and promotes this very type of "alternative" thinking.
I would approach Weil with an open mind. Read especially those two books above.
One thing I don't like about Weil is that he is the guy who blew the whistle on Tim Leary and Richard Alpert at Harvard in the early 60's. But even being a squealer, he's gathered some interesting ideas.
posted by telstar at 4:49 AM on July 4, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
I'm not really seeing any of this on Dr Weil's website. I see some very expensive vitamin supplements, several mentions of other quack-based herbal supplements, some generic health advice which I could probably have come up with (the 'anti-inflammatory food pyramid' is general good eating advice), and a few things which are wrong (one page seems to conflate IBS and IBD in it's discussion of symptoms). There is some scientific terms in there sure and he probably is a Dr (although not one I'd go to). But no reference to, well references or research.
I'm finishing up my PhD looking at anti-inflammatory properties of food extracts in the context of IBD. I am very sceptical about any 'anti-inflammatory diet' because I know the state of current research. There simply are no secrets he's distilling into anything worth paying for. And I sure wouldn't be taking anti-inflammatory advice from someone who treats a really serious nasty inflammatory disease like Crohn's disease with acupuncture and 'energy work' (yikes!).
So yeah, if you want feel good home remedies and fuzzy nonsense then he looks slightly better than many out there but for scientifically researched books please look elsewhere.
posted by shelleycat at 2:50 AM on July 3, 2010 [4 favorites]