Press/Events
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Peter Gibson, MD, Director of Gastroenterology at the Alfred Hospital and Monash University
"As a gastroenterologist who has spent many years actively researching the effect of diet on gut problems, I can say that this is a factually accurate and highly entertaining work. It provides an effective counter to the fearmongering and false promises purveyed by ‘sensationalists’ masquerading as scientists. This book should be essential reading for anyone who contemplates following a restrictive diet and for all health practitioners who use diets as the central platform of their therapeutic approach."
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Harriet Hall, MD, Associate Editor, Science Based Medicine
“Levinovitz puts modern diet fads into historical perspective, showing how humans have always been susceptible to food myths and have repeatedly been persuaded to avoid certain foods because a myth has demonized them as unhealthy or morally bad. With a thorough and incisive investigation into what science really tells us about gluten, fat, sugar, and detox, he argues persuasively that we can stop worrying about what we ‘should’ eat and concentrate on enjoying food that appeals to our palate. Well-written, entertaining, solidly referenced, and perhaps the best debunking of popular diet myths ever.”
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Philip Zeitler, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine
“While experts in nutrition continue to argue about the best approaches to a healthy diet, an expert in Chinese religion and mythology provides illuminating insight into the fundamental source of these arguments and the ancient, and near religious, foundation of so many deeply held dietary beliefs. By revealing the magical thinking that underlies so many arguments and beliefs about diet, Levinovitz shows us how to stop being afraid of food. Everyone truly interested in nutrition should read this book and get back to the joy of eating.”
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Jen Gunter, MD, author of The Preemie Primer
"The cure for Dr. Oz-itis and Oprah syndrome. Well-researched and incredibly informative."
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Jennifer J. Thomas, Ph.D., Co-Director, Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital; Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
"The Gluten Lie reveals the deep-rooted societal mythology that supports the perennial emergence of gluten-free, fat-free, sugar-free (and taste-free!) diets. In witty, incisive prose, Alan Levinovitz explores how our collective mistrust of modernity and nostalgia for an idealized past underlies the food fads that we blindly follow in the name of health, while taking care to validate the experience of those who must keep special diets to manage disease. A must-read for dieters, disordered eaters, and anyone who has been coveting that bowl of pasta from atop their plate of steamed kale."
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Tim Caulfield, Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta, author of The Cure for Everything
“While Professor Levinovitz is a big fan of science, this engaging book uses history as the primary debunking tool. This allows Levinovitz to bring a unique and thoroughly enjoyable perspective to the analysis of food myths and the social forces that allow pseudoscientific beliefs to persist. The Gluten Lie is a fun and evidence-based inoculation of clarity into an area permeated with confusion and controversy. It is a must read for anyone fed up with all the noise surrounding nutritional advice.”
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Nortin M. Hadler, MD, Emeritus Professor of Medicine & Microbiology/Immunology UNC, Chapel Hill, author of The Last Well Person and Worried Sick
“When a professor of East Asian philosophy and religion compares dietary myths that are expressed in religious terms with such myths dressed up in clinical terms, the result is a fascinating read. Both can have a grain of truth. Both can appeal far more broadly than that grain of truth supports. Our challenge is to discern when our gullibility, and not the grain of truth, is causing us to be compliant, anxious, or ill. Professor Levinovitz uses the saga of gluten sensitivity as one of several compelling object lessons.”