Page 70 - Summer 2019 Journal

All Thumbs Book Reviews
dietary staple. It is addictive for the same reasons and through the same mechanisms as alcohol. Metabolic syndrome (including heart disease, hypertension, blood lipid problems, type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and chronic kidney disease) is on the rise mostly because of this rather new dietary staple.
Lustig also covers some of the government policies that have put the interests of corporations before people and helped bring us to the level of illness that we are experiencing as a nation. The Supreme Court was instrumental in allowing the “relentless marketing of products.” The ap- pointment of Justice Lewis Powell to the Supreme Court in 1971 was a game-changer for personal rights, with the end result that corporations now have both the rights of corporations and the rights of individuals.
In the mid-1970s, Justice Powell voted with the majority on some very important cases, including Va. State Pharmacy Board v. Va. Citizen Consumer Council (1976), which allowed for the drug ads that we now see on television; Buckley v. Valeo (1976), which did away with limitations on campaign spending and individual donations in elections; and First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978), for which Powell wrote the majority opinion. This latter case basically said that corporations could say whatever they wanted and could vote with their dollars.
Lustig also reports the good news that we can take back control and offers some strategies to do so. These include connecting through religion, social support and conversation; contributing through altruism, volunteerism and philanthropy; coping through sleep, mindfulness and exercise; and cooking. In fact, his final conclusion, which weaves together all of the strategies, is the part I love most (emphasis his): “I offer to you
my single most important key to happiness:
cook real food for yourself, for your friends, and for your family. It’s connection in that you will be sitting down with people you like (and maybe even love); it’s contribution because you are making something worthwhile; it’s focusing so it’s easier to cope and unless you spike with something, it’s non-addictive.” By cooking real food, Lustig adds, “You may lose weight, and you will definitely reduce your risk for all of the chronic diseases of metabolic syndrome. And you will be sticking it to the companies who are trying to addict you and your family.”
I wish this could be an unqualified Thumbs Up, but unfortunately, the food Lustig wants us to cook is the “Mediterranean Diet,” with lots of fish, beans and greens, and not much beef, bacon, butter or broth. I love the emphasis on cooking, but if Lustig cooked a Wise Traditions diet, he would be so much happier!
Nevertheless, my thumb is UP! And my hat is off to Dr. Lustig for writing such an informa- tive book that unravels so many of the threads that have brought us to this point of crisis as a nation.
Review by Nancy Teas-Crain
BOOK REVIEWS IN Wise Traditions
The Weston A. Price Foundation receives two or three books per week, all of course seeking a Thumbs Up review.
What are the criteria we use for choosing a book to review, and for giving a Thumbs Up?
• First and foremost, we are looking for books that add to the WAPF message. Dietary advice should incorporate the WAPF guidelines while adding new insights, new discoveries and/or new therapies.
• We are especially interested in books on the fat-soluble vitamins, traditional food preparation methods and healing protocols based on the WAPF dietary principles.
• We look for consistency. If you talk about toxins in vaccines in one part of your book but say you are not against vaccines in another part of your book, or praise fat in your text but include recipes featuring lean meat, we are unlikely to review it.
• We do not like to give Thumbs Down reviews. If we do not agree with the major tenets expounded in a book sent to us, we will just not review it. However, we feel that we have an obligation to point out the problems in influential or bestselling books that peddle misinformation, and for these we will give a negative review. We also will give a negative review to any book that misrepresents the findings of Weston A. Price.
• If you want us to review your book, please do not send it as an email attachment. Have the courtesy to send us a hard copy book or a printout of your ebook or manuscript in a coil binding.
68 Wise Traditions
SUMMER 2019