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The Fallacy of the Calorie

The Fallacy of the Calorie

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in The Physiology of Taste, two months before his death, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” In the almost two hundred years since its publication in 1825 we have borne witness to the ultimate veracity of such a simple observation.

We have seen that truism reflected in our own modern Western diet. It is a diet that delivers us unto the disabilities and diseases of modern civilization: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disease, neurologic disease, and autoimmune disease. Disabilities and diseases that have at their root a chronic, continuous low-level inflammation.

Now for the first time, Dr. Mike, cardiologist and chef, reveals the how and the why of the modern Western diet. He explains how we are hardwired to seek out sugar, salt, and fat. He details how that greed for these consumables allowed us to become the most dominant species on the planet and to construct the most technologically advanced and complex social structure the world has ever known.

But that progress has not come without a price. Dr. Mike identifies the changes to our food and food pathways that occurred at the onset of the Industrial Revolution and have become particularly pronounced over the last fifty to seventy-five years. Changes that have disrupted our physiology and our relationship with our symbiotic gut microbiome. Changes that have produced the modern Western diet with its dysbiosis, disabilities, and diseases of modern civilization.

With the eye of a chef and a deep understanding of, and appreciation for, the experiential nature and integral role that food and cuisine have in our society, and our own personal health and wellness, Dr. Mike crafts a prescription to break the vicious cycle of addiction at the heart of the modern Western diet. This journey to an intestinal revolution to metabolic health is a “Code Delicious™!”

Pages: 284
Pub Date: 12-01-2014
Softcover: 17.95 978-1-940192-89-5
Ebook: 2.99 978-1-633930-38-4

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The reviews are in…

“Dr. Fenster is a master of the presentation, both on the plate and on the page. This book should be required reading.”


–Prof. Amy Tucker, MD, MHCM, FACC, Director, Club Red, UVA Heart & Vascular Center for Women

Michael S. Fenster, M.D., FACC, FSCA&I, PEMBA; known to friends and fans simply as “Dr. Mike,” is America’s culinary interventionalist. He is a board-certified interventional cardiologist and professional chef. He currently holds faculty cross appointments at The University of Montana College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences as well as The Missoula College Culinary Arts Program of the Department of Business Technology. In addition to his clinical practice, he hosts a weekly national radio show, Code Delicious with Dr. Mike, on RadioMD with podcasts available there, on iheart radio and on iTunes. He currently serves the national spokesperson for the Food as Therapy program for those suffering from neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). He has appeared as an expert guest on many national radio and television programs; including The Doctors, and Fox National News, where he serves as a national contributor. He has taught and explored the relationship between food and health through international workshops, seminars, lectures and cooking demonstrations. He currently writes a regular column for Psychology Today and has authored several books; Eating Well, Living Better: A Grassroots Gourmet Guide to Good Health and Great Food (Littlefield and Roman, 2012) and The Fallacy of The Calorie: Why the Modern Western Diet is Killing Us and How to Stop It (Köehler Books, 2014). Ancient Eats: Age-Old Wisdom for Modern Health (Volume I: The Greeks and Vikings) is his latest endeavor. He spends his free time between wandering the beautiful Montana mountains and the Florida Gulf; where he passively pursues his dream of a simple pirate’s life. He can be found on Twitter as @WCWD, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/whatscookingwithdoc and at www.cardiochef.com. He can be reached at info@cardiochef.com.

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