Diet Recovery: Restoring Hormonal Health, Metabolism, Mood, and Your Relationship with Food (Diet Recovery Series Book 1)

I’ll start with the bad stuff and end up with the good stuff to leave the reader with a positive feeling.First, there are a lot of tall tales in this book starting with Matt’s autobiographical comments regarding his own lifestyle. On page 32, he indicated that for a long time, he biked 140 miles and hiked 15 miles per day, 7 days a week. The key here is the “and” word stating that he combined both activities on the same day every day. It just does not make sense. With voluntary and involuntary stops, if you cover 18 miles per hour in average on a bike that is pretty fast. So, the biking already takes close to 8 hours a day. When you hike, covering 3 miles per hour is actually pretty fast. That’s another 5 hours of exercise. So, Matt supposedly managed to do 13 hours of exercise per day, 7 days a week! I don’t think Lance Armstrong at his peak of steroidal enhanced performance could have done that. I don’t think anyone can do that.Another tall tale (that seems benign by comparison) is his walking 10,000 miles over the past 14 years. That’s 2 miles in average per day. Let’s say because you actually have a life, you don’t walk every day but only a day out of two that would be an average of 4 miles per day in average for 14 years straight!When you move away from the tall tales, Matt has a total disregard for the scientific method. Given that you have to take whatever he says with a grain of salt. On page 21 he states: ”I don’t rely on “cheap” tactics like using scientific studies to prove a pre-asserted hypothesis. Instead, I incorporate reasoning, logic, history, observation, and more.” But, that’s exactly how doctors using blood letting as a universal cure thought just a few centuries ago. That is utter madness. Granted many health studies are flawed, or the data is misinterpreted, etc. Critical thinking entails evaluating the quality of the studies, uncovering the biases, revealing the underlying data, etc. An outstanding example of that is Uffe Ravnskov in “The Cholesterol Myths” ‘Exposing the fallacy that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease’. Ravnskov studied the studies in detail and uncovered all their omissions and misinterpretations of the results. By doing so, you can confirm the results of good studies and reject the ones of not so good studies. That’s completely different than what Matt does where he rejects arbitrarily all scientific studies as “cheap tactics.”Matt’s lack of acceptance and understanding of the scientific method is really problematic. Occasionally, he will state shocking contrarian stuff just to appeal to the gullible reader only too willing to accept his seductive message. For instance, he states on pg. 111: “In fact, in the U.S. at age 70 and above, those with Level 1 obesity (BMI 30 -35) have the lowest rates of degenerative disease and greatest longevity statistics.” And, he does not provide any scientific reference for this assertion. So, I researched it. And, predictably I found that Matt’s statement was plain wrong. An authoritative meta analysis study of 1.46 million adults in the U.S. (the meta analysis entailed a statistical aggregation of 19 separate studies) published in the New England Journal of Medicine conveys very different hard facts. The 70 year old and over with a BMI 30-34.9 have a mortality risk that is 24% greater than the ones with a BMI under 25. If you consider for this same age group BMI of 35 to 39.9, the mortality risk jumps by 59% over the risk of the ones with a BMI under 25. Yet, this study was published in 2010 a full three years before Matt published this book in 2013. In other words, he should have known the relevant facts from a reliable source.Continuing on the bad to not so good stuff, there are many things among his recommendations that do not seem to make any sense. Just to mention a few, the concept that you should force yourself to not do any exercise for a month at the same time that you should force yourself to overeat during that period (pg. 74) seems ludicrous. Additionally, during that same time you should sleep at least 8 hours a night (that is fine). But, that people who got the best results slept 12 to 14 hours a day (pg. 76) also does not make sense. In summary, Matt suggests the reader trusts his own logic in the absence of any supporting scientific evidence (yes that is what “cheap” scientific studies represent). Yet, Matt will defy anyone’s common sense over and over.Matt’s recommendations can include some contradictions. Throughout the book, he pretty much tells you can eat anything and in abundance as long as it is of good quality (not processed) and it is not high in Omega 6 polyunsaturated fats. He also rails against vegetarians. However, out of the blue on page 82, he pretty much contradicts his entire book message by now recommending you eat only a pretty small quantity of animal-source protein (dairy, egg, meat) because the latter have anti-thyroid amino acids. On the very next page 83, he again strongly recommends those same animal-source protein as rich protein source (a good thing). That type of dissonance just can’t make for a coherent and authoritative book on nutrition.Moving on to the cool stuff, Matt throws out there a lot of very interesting counterintuitive concepts. Many of them seem to make good sense.Any dieting, caloric restriction efforts do not work and are not healthy. They just contribute to impairing your thyroid function, lowering your metabolism, increasing your fat % mix within your body tissue, weakening your immune system, etc.Cholesterol is not the health problem we think it is. That is actually very well supported by Ravnskov, mentioned above. As long as you have a healthy thyroid function and have an adequate ingestion of Vit. B6, you will healthy convert cholesterol into health enhancing hormones. In other words, cholesterol is actually essential to a healthy life. And, a healthy thyroid function is one of the many positive side effect of having a high metabolism. It is only when the thyroid function is impaired that cholesterol accumulates in the arteries.Carbohydrates and saturated fats are not problematic. As long as they are of good quality, they enhance your health. Among carbohydrates, he especially recommends resistant starches (legumes, beans, whole grains, root vegetables, and bananas. Those resistant starches are rich in butyric acid that contributes to rapid fat digestion, gain control, and high metabolic rate.He even advances that salt is really good for you, and is also not the problem we think it is (pg. 82). And, he states that you can read all about the health benefits of salt in his bestselling book “Eat for Heat.” Given the erratic quality of this one book, I am just fine relying on several studies from the New England Journal of Medicine that confirms that current low-salt intake recommendations are ill founded.His focus on reducing our intake of Omega 6 polyunsaturated fat is good. His related Appendix II at the end of the book detailing the amount of such fats that various foods have makes for an excellent reference on the subject.His all take on metabolism is very interesting. And, I don’t think is controversial. His tying metabolism to the thyroid function that is such a critical element of overall health function (including the conversion of cholesterol into healthy hormones).His chapter on exercise is fascinating (MAXercise chapter). I do practice the type of fairly moderate pace, long duration endurance exercise he strongly recommends against. And, he makes some interesting points that make me rethink my sport activities to some degree. Strangely enough, fairly recently a study compared the cardiovascular risk reduction of various sports and long distance running had no benefit. Meanwhile, playing tennis had the best risk reduction. Matt recommends doing very intense cardio (on a gym bike or elliptical machine) for just 5 minutes (not counting the recovery time) just every other day or at least twice a week and you are good. Is that too good to be true (just 10 minutes of intense exercise a week)? Or maybe he is on to something.

Here are the issues I had:- waking up in the middle of the night- constant cold hands and feet- frequent peeing (which I didn't know was an issue and thought it was just what was "normal" - I mean like going every other hour)- thinning hair- constant cravings- dry mouth/eyes- vision getting worst- horrible pms (another thing I thought was just "normal" despite sometimes not being able to get out of bed).- trouble concentrating doing anything- emotional problemsHere are the diets I did in the past:- Aktins- Paleo (to the T - I mean like I had free range, organic and the like. Only had sweet potatoes, etc)- Keto- Semi Raw-Vegan- McDougall- Blood Type Diet- Gluten Free- Somerzing- Juicing (only lasted a few days)- Warrior Diet- Intermittent Fasting (tried this on and off many times)That was within the last 10 years. So, needless to say, I've been yo-yoing my diet. During this time, my weight ranged from 170+ to 130 and this meant several pants sizes. So, when I turned 29, I was said "NO MORE! I cannot do this anymore!" I quit dieting to lose weight and just wanted my hair to stop falling out. And I looked back at the last 10 years and realized I wasted my life. I had terrible mood swings, which was added to my seasonal depression that I had since I was in elementary school. I lost my normal brain function in that I just couldn't concentrate and do well in college (what a waste!) or any other work that came my way. I had constant fatigue and kept feeling like I was ill. People around me ignoring my complaints, thinking that I was just vain and wanted an excuse to not eat certain foods. I came across this book after googling a bunch of stuff like "All Diets Fail" and the like. After reading this and some of Matt Stone's other works, I increased my sodium, I decreased my beverages, and made sure I ate breakfast every day (and whatever else he recommended). I ate whatever I felt like, knowing that I would gain weight. I thought that I would balloon up but I only went from 147 to 155. It's been about 1 1/2 to 2 months of recovery and I am so happy to report that my hair is growing thicker and, although it is still falling out, a lot of thick hair growth is replacing it. All the symptoms I noted above have improved with the most noticeable being that I have WAY better concentration, PMS symptoms, and my frequent urination stopped. I really wished that I hadn't ruined my life in my 20s with all this dieting because I feel like I would have been able to make better decisions in life and do better in college. But I'm just glad I figured it out now and not when I'm 39.Basically, what happened to me was that I craved everything and ate everything and slept a lot but I was still careful in that I didn't eat too much of anything with PUFAs, was too processed or anything. And I tried to make sure the animal products were free range or grass fed. It came out to a lot of grass-fed cheddar, free range/pastured eggs, Mama Noodles (I ate a lot of these lol), brown rice, white rice, pasta, Chipotle Burritos, etc. I tried to make sure the quality was good. But gradually, I stopped craving junk and started craving juicy fruits, avocados, hearty bread, rice and occasionally noodles, pasta, eggs and cheese. I also began to cook, cool and cook my starches for more resistant starch. I very, very occasionally crave meat but now those cravings are gone. Without trying to do so, I've basically eating a vegetarian (and sometimes vegan) diet. But I wouldn't advise anyone to do any strict diet EVER. I just found myself eating this way so I just wanted to put that out there as a caveat. Everyone is different - my husband feels better when he has meat in his diet - especially poultry. And that's just the way it is. And if I crave meat, I don't say no (though I'm pretty strict on eating free-range) but I rarely do because it doesn't digest well with me. And when I started craving healthy foods, I started to crave exercising. I honest-to-God started having dreams where I was exercising so that was strange but I took that as a sign that I'm ready.During the time I started, I measure my temperature and went from about 96 degrees to an average of 97.5.By the way, since hitting a high of 155 pounds, I've came down to 153 average. I think this is due to my naturally eating healthier and exercising. But it doesn't feel forced. It feels effortless. And when I don't feel like exercising, I don't. This morning, I weight 152.4 lbs. I don't really expect to lose weight but it's happening so... I suppose this experiment isn't done.Update: August 22, 2015 - It's been about 4 months of recovering. I'm eating clean still - a lot of oats, flaxseed, fruit and grassfed meat (very little meat), occasionally a few pastured eggs. My calories range from 2300-3200, with the average being around 2600. My health still feels amazing, my concentration is increasingly good, and I'm better at handling stress and emotional issues. Despite everything being awesome, I wanted to do an update to say that I have gained 12 pounds since starting recovery. This is not meant to discourage anyone but rather to say that there may be some weight gain depending on (I suspect) how bad your yo-yo dieting past was. For me, it was 10 years of yo-yo dieting. I don't know what my "true" weight is, all I know is that my health is still really good so I'm going to just go along for the ride.About 2 months ago, I started lifting weight. I was initially doing some cardio but my body started to dislike the stress it caused. Weight lifting doesn't cause the same stress response in my body. And my stress response, I mean, waking up in the middle of the night and constantly peeing throughout the day as well as being more emotional. I lift 0-3 times a week. So the 12 pounds may not be fat. I also suspect that since I'm eating a lot of carbs, it may also be water and glycogen stores. I've been keeping track of my results with pictures and I don't see any visible increase in size. This obviously is a faulty method of keeping track so I started to use a tape measure. Will update later.

Are you confused by the conflicting diet advice you're getting? The two opposing approaches these days are keto vs vegan - both are crazy, if you ask me. This is where I agree with the author of the book Diet Recovery, who takes on both these tribes. However, this book is far from giving you a balanced view on nutrition - instead it only adds to the confusion! The main idea is that you should stop "dieting" - agreed, however, then he falls on the other side of the horse, suggesting that you overeat in order to kickstart your metabolism and increase your body temperature. (I'm wondering how menopausal women would be affected by this with their hot flashes and already increasing BMI?) I attach a sample page from the Kindle edition page 86 where the author shares his meal plan for a day (though he admits he doesn't eat every day like this). Something like this would send a pre-diabetic straight into diabetes! Two bowls of oats with 4 bananas just for breakfast and another bowl of oats a few hours later, plus two baked potatoes with a bowl of fruit for supper – and lots of full fat milk to wash it down – seriously? Although the author points out that this is his own meal plan and people should listen to their own bodies, but I’m afraid this sends out the wrong message. I mean, just how big are those bowls we’re talking about? Anyway, I’m all for oats and bananas, but I’m thinking this is way over the top! Where I do agree with the author is that we need to cut out – or at least dramatically reduce processed food and refined carbs. The jury is still out on the damaging effects of seed oils and the Omega 6 issue – but by cutting out processed food, you’ve already reduced your intake of those significantly.Otherwise, the book itself is not very well written – it’s unscientific for starters (although that could also be a good thing) and it flutters around with not much structure or logic to it. It was written as you would write a series of blog post, not a book. I guess I got it for free, so I shouldn’t complain but if I had paid for it, I would be very disappointed. All in all, I would say it’s good to have a different perspective to the whole keto vs vegan debate – but why take it all the way to the other side? Has everyone forgotten about the idea of moderation?

I turned to this book because Slimming World was no longer working for me, and because it was free! But I'm so glad it was. This book gave me a whole new way of thinking about food and my relationship with food, and explained to me why diets just don't work. Even Slimming World, which I found to be one of the best ones and taught me how to cook (thank you SW) did not work because I was still not allowed certain foods, had to weigh and measure, and 'treats' had a negative value attached to them, which I would count up and feel terribly guilty and then binge some more because I'd blown the diet anyway.This book completely changed that thought process for me. I can now eat whatever I want, whenever I want. The difference is the food I now want is generally very healthy. I am now nourishing my body instead of shovelling in crap.The only thing I would say is that this book is aimed at people who are gym goers and diet fanatics. The tips on what exercise to do mentioned an exercise bike in your home (which I don't have, can't afford, can't fit) or using equipment in the gym (which, as a single mother, I can't get to). So I was left wondering what I could do in my living room with no equipment. I've got lots of exercise videos etc, but he describes a specific type of exercise.Having said that I have still given five stars because this book really did help me to feel differently about food and has definitely had an impact. I know he says not to worry about what the scales say but I weighed myself after a week of calling an end to the diets and I had lost 4 lbs! In the past six months doing SW I have only lost 5 lb and then put it back on! So this was a big deal for me. More importantly though, I feel healthier and happier, I'm loving food again and you can't put a price on that.

As a reformed dieter myself, who has probably done about as much reading and research as Stone in the area (let's be honest, what ex-dieter hasn't?) I found Stone's arguments make a lot of sense. For me, diet recovery boiled down to these simple 'rules':1) Eat and drink what you want - not what you think you should want, or what you think is good for you.2) Eat when you're hungry - not because it's time to eat, or because you're bored/upset or whatever else.3) Stop eating when you're no longer hungry - although Stone would encourage you to take a few extra bites to reassure your metabolism there's food in abundance.4) Drink when you're thirsty - learn the difference between thirst and hunger, stay hydrated, but don't try to chug down pints of water because someone else says you should.For Stone, it's all about metabolism, and raising your core temperature. Although he does a good job of debunking the reasoning behind restrictive diets, he does tend to demonize Omega6, which I find a little counterproductive. Still, if you have to have something to focus on and cut out, I guess it's as good a target as any.Some readers may be offended by Stone's writing style, which includes the odd obscenity and crude humour, but if you take his advice to chill out, read his pitch and then come to your own conclusions, you should find it a worthwhile read.

Very important and interesting which should help many people sort out their weight issues once and for all. Everyone has to eat it is just how you do it

If you have been low carb or low calorie for any length of time you have probably messed up your metabolism. Matts take on restoring metabolism makes a lot of sense. I have increased my body temp by almost a degree by using his ideas and feel much better for it.