The Calorie Myth: How to Eat More, Exercise Less, Lose Weight, and Live Better Hardcover – December 31, 2013

Before I get into the review, please know that I never thought I would be writing something like this. I didn't "believe" that what I ate could help heal my body, I completely bought into the calorie model of weight loss, I figured the major heart and diabetes associations knew what they were talking about. If they didn't recommend it, I didn't take it seriously. I had never heard of the insulin theory, and figured I would be morbidly obese until I died young because I didn't have enough "will power" to starve myself and work out all the time.I began the Calorie Myth/Smarter Science of Slim way of eating 6 months ago.My reason for starting was just to help control my blood sugar, sure I hoped to lose weight but I didn't think it would actually happen. I have lost an even 40 pounds without being hungry at all. I have not counted 1 calorie or macro nutrient. I have only exercised 4 times in those 6 months, which is not recommended, but I was focusing on nutrition first. As I lose more weight, I hope to exercise more, but the fact that I can loose 40 lbs without starving or doing aerobics for hours has been life changing for me.Even if I had not lost 1 lb. I would continue to eat this way for the following reasons...#1. EXTREME FATIGUE - Getting out of bed was a chore every morning. I was ready to go back to sleep by noon and was almost in tears many days because fighting through it to stay at work was so difficult. I had to sleep 'til noon on weekends to make up for "only" sleeping 8-9 hours on weekdays. I have been called lazy my whole life. I thought it was sleep apnea. I couldn't imagine how people had a job and kids and hobbies and friends. I wasn't able to function like that at all. Within 2 days of eating this way, that feeling evaporated. I'm still not the most energetic person I know, but I can make it through an entire day without wishing I could just go to sleep. I can think about doing things with my life that I never thought I would be able to do. I now know it was blood sugar issues and I had several other signs of hypoglycemia (extreme thirst, mood swings) which have gotten progressively better over the months. I used to wake up 9-10 times a night to drink water. Now I am down to 0-1 per night.#2. SKIN - This may be TMI for some, so if you are squeamish, please skip. I have had an autoimmune skin condition for about 17 years. I tried taking Prednisone, I tried band aids with antibiotic ointment all over my back, I tried a "skin diet". It itched, bled, and never healed. Nothing made any difference. I gave up. I have worn dark, long sleeved shirts for 10 years. Then about 2 months into eating this way I noticed that my back, scalp, and arms were 80% healed. I didn't expect this and still can hardly believe it. I never thought I would be rid of this condition. There was 1 month during the 6 that I went back to eating things like cheesecake and lots of fruit and some pizza, after 2 weeks of this I had a major flare up, new bumps formed and itched like crazy. I went right back to eating correctly and the itching stopped and the bumps are healing.#3. FOOD ANGST - Once I got through the first 2 weeks or so of irritability, strong cravings, etc. it was like a whole new world. I no longer start thinking about lunch right after finishing breakfast, I no longer have to "will" myself to not eat the donuts at work or the pizza that always seems to be around. (This never worked anyway, I always gave in. I thought I was just weak.) These foods honestly do not appeal to me very much now that the addiction/dependence is broken. I thought I could not live without cheese, but I can. I love the food I eat and have found a deep new appreciation for simpler foods.I highly recommend this book AND the Smarter Science of Slim podcast to anyone who wants better health and/or weight loss. This information has helped me change my life and my outlook on life.

Prior to reading this I read The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health. While I take nothing away from the China Study's author, Dr. Campbell, I do feel that the China Study's premise of a purely, plant based, whole foods, low fat, none-animal diet is somewhat lacking from a satiety aspect.Many years ago, I went on a Paleo diet and I lost weight quickly and felt wonderful. I was eating meat or fish with every meal and the rest of my plate was none starchy vegetables. Honestly, I felt powerful and satisfied. I was about 52 years of age and felt like I had the energy of someone many years younger. Sadly, I lost my way in life and slipped back into my old habits. I've always "tried" to watch what I ate but I had no plan. Looking at something bad, I'd make a mental assessment of the food and focus in on the one thing among all the bad that was good, and eat it. Consequently I wasn't in the best of shape.About 6 months ago, after a series of bad blood tests, I came back to my senses and started researching again. I read/watched a ton of information and decided whole foods, plant based just made all the sense in the world. I already knew this but this time I decided to truly change my life. No two ways about it, whole foods, plant based, no meat/fish will truly make you feel and look better but, maybe this is just me, I always feel like there's something missing.The SANE calorie myth, if you take out the dairy and legumes, is, to me, the Paleo diet by another name, even down to the exercise recommendations, high energy, low duration. Whole foods, plant based in abundance with clean sources of nutrient dense protein in the form of meat/fish. It's this protein that addresses the satiety aspect I find to be missing from purely a plant based diet. One point that hammers it home for me is plant based only advocates will be deficient in an essential nutrient, B12 and, maybe Vitamin-D creating the need for supplementation. If your diet is right, supplements aren't necessary. SANE/Paleo does not require supplementation, therefore, in my opinion, this way of eating is superior.OK, so, I'm in. At age 56, I already feel good due to the plant based lifestyle I've been on for a few months. Now, I want to feel better. My eating plan will be majority, whole foods, plant based with some meat or fish but, my instincts tell me, I should keep the animal proteins low.Summary: Very well laid out lifestyle plan aimed at dispelling the "calories in/out" myth that has insidiously been ingrained in our psychs. The arguments are top notch and backed up by research findings and logical analyses. Worth your time and worth your money.

Don't get me wrong - this book is somewhat helpful and interesting. Personally, I found out new way to exercise and am going to read into this. In my opinion, author is biased towards his program and haven't said a word about alternatives - fasting or keto-diets. His message is somewhat confusing, at one point he says that fat makes you fat, at another, that we should eat it to slim down... scientific basis is weak for me personally. Author also uses personal stories, which always suspicious. Its like those success and get rich gurus cherrypick dozen people out of tens of thousands, for whom their advices were "helpful". You are better off with book by Jason Fung in my opinion...

I found this to be a quick and interesting read, and was excited to do as the book said and go online to find all the "free resources" to help me on my journey. What do you know, everything I can find related to this book is all private groups and plans for purchase. If I wanted to buy a book just to have to buy more things... well, I wouldn't buy the book. I do like that it lists all the references for papers and studies that it uses and the general idea of the things it says.

When you get to the end of the book there is a link to the Sane website where you are invited to watch (supposedly take part in) a webinar (???) 3 and a half hours of repetition and sales pitch to guide you to sign up for $350 a month or $2,100 or 'for today only... the first 15 people....' (you know how that goes) $1,497. A snip at half the price. So then you can access all the secret recipes and get a few phone calls. Of course if you don't take him up on the kind offer you can still use the web site to buy OTT priced sweeteners and cocoa powder at what are probably three times the price of generic versions of the same thing that don't carry the SANE brand. The book basically says eat lots of protein and non starchy veg... The biggest message is to forget starvation and let adequate amounts of healthy food heal your metabolism.

This book goes much further than just busting the myths about the "eat less, exercise more" treadmill that fails us over and over.... It also opens up the way to a new reality of lasting natural health and fitness, based on the scientific facts about how our bodies actually work. Jonathon Bailor deserves a Nobel Prize for the decade and more he has devoted to sifting through the deep science to bring us the truth, presented here in a clear way that is a joy to read. And it is all distilled into a Five Week Plan that anyone can implement. A true labour of love ... and I love it! Thank you, Jonathon.

This was the longest awaited missing part of a puzzle that just was not making sense. Industries and diet 'gurus ' were the only people benefiting from the ' low fat,high exercise ' diets being thrown at everyone.The physiology and biochemistry is all sound, with eminent professors to support the research findings.If we just stood back to think for a moment, of course a calorie is not just a calorie, it depends upon the 'quality'of the calorie. The whole calorie counting myth created was a waste of time and energy.We were never meant to eat all this processed sugary stuff the companies call 'food'.Let's show them how to eat SANEly, and as it used to be until the 'low fat ' diets and all this sugar was introduced.We cannot wait for the government to wake up.....it's up to us to make the healthy choices.Thank you Jonathan for a reminder of what we had forgotten: basic science and common sense.

Like just about every other book on nutrition, the calorie myth encourages people to eat more natural foods and to stop eating crap. This book goes a step further though and explains the importance of lowering the metabolic set point for long term weight loss and I think that this is where this book shines.By taking an approach based on hormones, weight loss is achieved in a way that is healthy and sustainable.There is enough science to give the advice credibility but not so much that you get bogged down by it.My only criticism of the calorie myth, is that the exercise portion of the book, for me, was overly simplistic. And whilst we are encouraged to eat in a way that is natural, the weights program is far from natural. 'Negative' reps have their place but I have yet to see anyone produce anything close to a decent physique using this protocol for only 10 mins a week. (And I've worked in a gym that had negative machines exclusively)!That aside, I would highly recommend this book

A must read if you are a calorie counting prisoner or if you just want to understand how the body works. Some important myths are being explained and debunked, information that will blow your mind.I high recommend reading this book!

A great read and introduction in to the biology of our body and how we process food, the only downside is that I feel that it repeats itself a lot and goes on for quite some time when I really just want to jump in and find out what I should be eating and how much. Also the recipes seem quite complex. Would rather just a list of all foods on one page where I can easily just pick what to eat.

I read the book with great interest as an ex yo-yo dieter. I have recently embarked on a a low carb high fat diet and this is proving to be successful, the information in this book really helped me to understand why, and what I could to sustain this for life.Brilliantly informative using science not myth.Thank you!

I've gained a lot from this book. It's starts to go into a fixed diet idea which I don't think is helpful as it's the wrong mindset for long term healthy eating. The information about hormones and how to balance for health eating for health is very useful.

The must read book if you are looking some answer about diet and how our body process food!I love every bit of it because is based in plain common sense and it is not a extreme diet book.It is a healthy and intellingent way of leaving!

So clear! Explains why diets do not work and how to help yourself. I bought this publication on Kindle and am sorry about that. Will be buying the book as the tables and research were too tiny on my kindle screen. I now have a way forward that I feel confident will work for me.

Read it, read it again and then read it once more. It all makes sense and living and eating this way becomes so simple. Take feeling so much better on top of it all and you're on to a winner. I don't have a weight problem per se, but I don't want one. Neither do I want to suffer from so many of the so called age-related diseases of this modern age. Bring on a long and healthy old age, (although not the old age bit just yet, thank you very much)

Essential reading for anyone who ever wondered if the current 'calorie counting' system really works. Also great, scientifically backed advice on what you should be eating and why the government recommendations are so wrong.

Literally never felt so good after reading a book,Don't let a childhood memory of reading a science text book from school put you off from buying this book. Bailor's analogies simplify what is obviously a technical subject making it an easy read but at the same time reassuring you this guy has done his homework.If you have ever dieted or gone on a mad exercise spree and still wondered why the fat keeps coming back, this book helps to explain why and helps you to get in to the right mindset to stop that from happening again.A calorie is not just a calorie!

This book is a must read for anyone who has been told they need to count calories or assign points to food to lose weight or be healthy. Backed by up-to-date scientific research Bailor explains, in a very readable way, how to approach eating for health and wellbeing with the side effect being that you will move naturally to a healthy weight and body composition and stay there. It's a sustainable approach that works.

Really good read. I liked the fact it was based on literature review of years worth of randomised controlled research papers and how that was then linked to how we ate before mass food production and now. I highly recommend a read of this book as it truly does blow myth out of the water.