The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What You Eat

By Alan Levinovitz

An incendiary work of science journalism debunking the myths that dominate the American diet and showing readers how to stop feeling guilty and start loving their food again—sure to ignite controversy over our obsession with what it means to eat right.

FREE YOURSELF FROM ANXIETY ABOUT WHAT YOU EAT

Gluten. Salt. Sugar. Fat. These are the villains of the American diet—or so a host of doctors and nutritionists would have you believe. But the science is far from settled and we are racing to eliminate wheat and corn syrup from our diets because we’ve been lied to. The truth is that almost all of us can put the buns back on our burgers and be just fine.

Remember when butter was the enemy? Now it’s good for you. You may have lived through times when the Atkins Diet was good, then bad, then good again; you may have wondered why all your friends cut down on salt or went Paleo; and you might even be thinking about cutting out wheat products from your own diet.

For readers suffering from dietary whiplash, The Gluten Lie is the answer. Scientists and physicians know shockingly little about proper nutrition that they didn’t know a thousand years ago, even though Americans spend billions of dollars and countless hours obsessing over “eating right.”

In this groundbreaking work, Alan Levinovitz takes on bestselling physicians and dietitians, exposing the myths behind how we come to believe which foods are good and which are bad—and pointing the way to a truly healthful life, free from anxiety about what we eat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Release date: Apr 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781941393789

Alan Levinovitz

Alan Levinovitz is an assistant professor at James Madison University. His writing has appeared in Slate, Salon, Wired, The Believer, and The Millions, as well as academic journals. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with his wife, his daughter, and a cat. Fake cheese is his one food taboo.

Reviews for The Gluten Lie

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining look at food fads and why we shouldn't take them too seriously. As a gluten-sensitive person I know all about actual food issues and this book is a good antidote to a lot of the food paranoid books I've read over the last while. Sometimes I think he doesn't see that sometimes people's paranoia is justified. That monocultures of foods in order to make the maximum profit is putting our food in danger and that sometimes a little paranoia is a good thing. Still it was a good read and I liked the Diet and it's breakdown.

[heduanna · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have to say, first off, I really hate the packaging on this book. You look at it, you see the title, the cover, and you think this is another fad-diet debunking book. Which would be awesome: fad-diet-debunking books are generally fun. But this is not your run-of-the-mill diet-myth book. Levinovitz's Ph.D isn't in biochemistry or anything like that: it's in religion (he's a professor of Chinese religious traditions), and he starts the book off with another group who disdained grains: ancient Chinese monks. He knows his mythologies.There is a heavy emphasis on proper scientific research in this book, but also an historical context to the ways that our food mythologies have played out over time, including a 55-page analysis of a sample fad-diet promo. I think he could have done better: the emphasis on the science is so heavy that I felt it displaced some of the unique expertise that Levinovitz brings to the space (perhaps he felt he needed to prove the legitimacy of his perspective?). Still, it is an excellent book.

[ingrid98684 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I love gluten, fat, sugar and salt, and think dieting and cleansing are a crock, so this seemed right up my alley. However, as a work, it was just so disjointed and slapped together...it's like the author just keeps repeating his same "truths" over and over and over and over and over and over (yeah, just like that). It's also very clear this isn't a scientific work, in that the author has a clear and obvious bias. He's not trying to be neutral or impartial - he's got an axe to grind, and boy does he grind away. Wish I had thrown in the towel after chapter one rather than wading through the rest of this toxic mess.