Spoon Fed – a highly recommended read
Do you know the story of the frog in the well? The frog lives at the bottom of the well, but only sees a circle at the top, where creatures occasionally land, or where it sometimes looks blue, with white fluffy things passing by. Sometimes the circle is grey or black speckled with bright dots. The frog doesn’t know that there’s a big huge world out there until later in the tale. Sometimes, we all have a ‘frog in the well’ moment. It’s only when we get out and explore, or read and learn new things that our limited perception of the world changes.
When I heard that Tim Spector was releasing a new book this year, I put it straight on my pre-order list. I thought, this is going to be interesting. I had read his previous book, The Diet Myth, was a good no-nonsense, straightforward read.
You might have come across Professor Tim Spector before. He is often invited on BBC and ITV programmes - like Doctor in the House, Trust me I’m a Doctor and other TV and news features where the world of eating, the microbiome and gut health are being explored.
I won’t give too much away but I would thoroughly recommend this book to anybody who wants to learn more, who has an interest in taking steps towards sorting out weight issues and who wants to improve their overall health and well-being. This is also a great book for any health professional – including doctors or nurses who are willing to keep an open-mind and question the status quo.
If we want to solve the modern-day problems of ill-health, obesity and inflammation, then it’s worth understanding a bit about nutrition and the biological processes of our bodies.
This book is very much about setting the record straight - the mis-truths and the poor quality, flawed (not so) scientific evidence that we’ve been regularly given over a number of years. Professor Spector argues each case eloquently and without heavy jargon.
He debunks the long outdated ‘calories in, calories out’ approach that government and industry advice tends to lean towards – but most importantly, he explains why.
His first chapter makes the vital point that not all diets are appropriate for everybody. We are all very different. So, why should generic advice on nutrition be the same for all?
Why haven’t I given this book a 9.5/10? – Well that’s because I’m biased when it comes to the value of exercise. His chapter, ‘On your bike’ might be hard to accept for us fitness professionals, learning to let go of some potentially flawed, industry advice. We might counter-argue that exercise, the pursuit of athleticism and its contribution to the development of a growth mindset is actually very useful when it comes to the ‘re-shaping’ of our bodies. However, this isn’t to say that I don’t agree with him. My own views on exercise and weight loss are in a separate blog here.
