Page 55 - Fall2012

All Thumbs Book Reviews

trial fats and oils is marred by the introduction soy can be part of a healthy diet; that the only source of CLA is milk fat
of a new term, “megatrans,” to describe the (all the fat of grass-fed animals contains CLA); that liver is the best source
toxic brew of byproducts in modern cooking of vitamin D (ruminant liver contains very little vitamin D); that Gaelic
oils. The term is not used by biochemists and Islanders built their houses of grass.
is inappropriate because these oils, however Most seriously, she misinterprets the work of Francis Pottenger, who
dangerous, contain very little trans fats. Those she says “gives us valuable insights into the potential long-term conse-
they do contain are created by the deodorizing quences of overcooking." What Pottenger’s research showed was that
process, not by heating as she claims. any cooking is bad for cats, and by implication, humans need some raw
Shanahan jumps on sugar with a mighty animal foods in their diets. But raw meats are not included in any of her
hammer, providing several interesting examples four pillars
of patients whose health improved after eliminat- Many statements in the book require references, such as the claim
ing sugar, but again with little heed to accuracy. that gut bacteria can produce all the vitamins we need except for vitamin
For example, just reducing sugar consumption D, or that first-born girls get “blunted uterine estrogen signals.”
in pregnancy will not guarantee a perfect face Shanahan believes that the rich are eating healthy traditional foods
in offspring, as she claims. She says that eating denied to the poor. In fact, the diet of the rich in America is equally as bad
sugar coats our cells in sugar, but our cells are as that of the poor. George Bush may have enjoyed a sumptuous White
supposed to have a coating of sugar molecules. House inaugural dinner but his favorite food was Butterfingers candy
The key problem with this chapter is the bars crushed up on his cold breakfast cereal. The privileged do not “eat
insistence that sugar and starch have the same the way we all used to” as she claims; in fact most wealthy women suffer
effect on the body. Sugar breaks down into glu- under the self-imposed agony of permanent lowfat diets.
cose and fructose while starch breaks down into The real breakdown in Deep Nutrition comes at the end, with dietary
glucose alone (she mistakenly says that grain is a suggestions that go against large portions of her text. Dinner suggestions
source of fructose); studies carried out by Meira include starchy foods like spaghetti, pizza (homemade, but with the crust),
Field at the USDA found that at 30 percent of rice and potatoes. Nut butters are high on her list, but they are never
calories, only fructose had deleterious effects in mentioned in the main text. Drinking a lot of pasteurized, homogenized
rats. In fact, many traditional diets were some- “organic” milk is fine if you can’t get raw milk, she says. And then there are
what high in starches, in the form of grains and the sweets that she warns against so passionately—sweet wine, homemade
tubers. Starch does not raise the blood sugar as cookies and chocolate. One breakfast suggestion is crepes with whipped
precipitously as sugar, as Shanahan shows on the cream and fresh fruit.
very same page as her claim that starch is as bad Only two recipes are provided, one for broth and one for liver. Where
as sugar. In the context of a healthy diet contain- are the recipes for Filipino dishes like pigs knuckle soup she describes so
ing plenty of fat-soluble activators, the adrenal eloquently? Or the Filipino-style salmon head soup? or paté? or the beef
gland can easily handle the gradual influx of heart strips topped with bone marrow medallions that she and her husband
glucose into the bloodstream from starchy foods. enjoy? This book needs much more attention to the practical aspects of
Along with sugar, Shanahan should inform her traditional diets and the recommendations need to be consistent with
readers that coffee can also raise blood sugar and Shanahan's text.
stress the adrenal gland; but Shanahan thinks It's a shame we have to give this book a Thumbs Down. Shanahan
coffee is fine. has the potential for becoming an important voice in the traditional diet
The book contains numerous factual errors: movement. But she needs to spend some real time and thought on a sec-
B deficiencies lead to weak bones, diabetes and ond edition, working with a knowledgeable editor who has a sharp eye
more, she says, but the reference for that state- for inconsistencies, hyperbole, conjecture and mistakes. Many of the il-
ment is about vitamin D; Shanahan calls retinoids lustrations need reworking as well. Shanahan's rich text and cornucopia
(not carotenes) vitamin A precursors, but later in of ideas deserve a long life, but it won't happen unless she makes major
the book she gets it right; she claims that whole revisions. Review by Sally Fallon Morell
Wise Traditions FALL 2012 FALL 2012 Wise Traditions 55

101665_text.indd 55 9/14/12 1:33 AM