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Nutrition Nutrition reading recommendations

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Chrisdavisjr

Chrisdavisjr

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Can anyone recommend a solid, unbiased book on human nutrition (either in general or as it pertains to sports/athletic performance)?

While there are thousands of 'diet' books out there, it seems that a solid source of trustworthy, up-to-date nutritional science is hard to find. I'd be very grateful for any recommendations.

Cheers!
 
Chrisdavisjr said:
Can anyone recommend a solid, unbiased book on human nutrition (either in general or as it pertains to sports/athletic performance)?

While there are thousands of 'diet' books out there, it seems that a solid source of trustworthy, up-to-date nutritional science is hard to find. I'd be very grateful for any recommendations.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Nutritional Science

Chris, there really no one book that will provide a "solid source of trustworthy, up-to-date nutritional science".
The issues are...

1) Outdated Information: Book are essentially 5 years out of date when published.

Current research article provide the most up-to-date data.

As an example, Dr John Ivy's book, Nutrient Timing, found that ingesting a workout beverage before, during and after training was the most effective method of increasing muscle mass.

New research by Dr Brad Schoenfeld's has determine Ivy's finding to be incorrect. Of greater importance is your daily nutritional eating plan.

2) Different Perspectives: Experts in nutrition have a difference of opinions.

As an example, there is the High Carbohydrate Vs Ketogenic Diet debate with nutritional researchers on both sides with "up-to-date nutritional science" that support their position.

In the High Carbohydrate camp are...

a) Nutrient Timing: Dr John Ivy

b) Sports Nutrition Guidebook: Nancy Clark

In the Ketogenic Diet camp are...

a) The Art and Science ofr Low Carbohydrate Performance: Drs Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney

b) 'The Effects of Ketogenic Dieting on Body Composition, Strength, Power, and Hormonal Profiles in Resistance Training Males".

This research article just came out (April 2017) in the National Strength and Conditioning's Research Journal.
Drs. Jacob Wilson and other provide fascinating information on how Ketogenic Diet athletes increased muscle mass while maintaining performance.

Another camp is the Intermittent Fasting groups...

a) Lean Gains [Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health] Martin Berkhan examines how to decrease body fat and increase muscle mass with various Intermittent Fasting protocols.

b) The "Intermittent Fasting: Science or Fiction" podcast: Dr John Berardi hour presentation provides "up-to-date nutritional science" on Intermittent Fasting.

c) Other great source on Intermittent Fasting are: Brad Pilon's Eat-Stop-Eat", Dr Mike T. Nelson's "Metabolic Flexibility" [ Metabolic Flexibility | T Nation], etc

Answering Your Question

Chris, I am not trying to be evasive in answering your question. I have a small library of book that have examined all of the various diet mentioned above. I also have a small library of article, as well.

As per Alwyn Cosgrove (Strength Coach), "No one ever got dumber from reading a book" (reading anything).

"There ain't no free lunch."

There are a multitude of good book; those that I mentioned above are good choices.

Reading the divergent perspectives allows you to build a better foundation of knowledge on how to manipulate the various diet protocols as a means of eliciting a positive training effect; increasing sports performance.

Summary

1) There's no one answer (one book).

2) Books are great learning tools for building a foundation. However, like computers they are out of date the day you purchase them.

3) Current Research Article provide the most "up-to-date nutritional science".

4) Diversity Increases Knowledge: Reading and experimentation with the various diet listed above will provide you with a greater overall knowledge about "nutritional science".

5) "Earn While Your Learn": Reading and experimentation are time consuming, so be patient. However, there nothing that surpasses research knowledge combined with practical first hand experience.

Kenny Croxdale








 
kennycro@@aol.com said:
Nutritional Science

Chris, there really no one book that will provide a "solid source of trustworthy, up-to-date nutritional science".
The issues are...

1) Outdated Information: Book are essentially 5 years out of date when published.

Current research article provide the most up-to-date data.

As an example, Dr John Ivy's book, Nutrient Timing, found that ingesting a workout beverage before, during and after training was the most effective method of increasing muscle mass.

New research by Dr Brad Schoenfeld's has determine Ivy's finding to be incorrect. Of greater importance is your daily nutritional eating plan.

2) Different Perspectives: Experts in nutrition have a difference of opinions.

As an example, there is the High Carbohydrate Vs Ketogenic Diet debate with nutritional researchers on both sides with "up-to-date nutritional science" that support their position.

In the High Carbohydrate camp are...

a) Nutrient Timing: Dr John Ivy

b) Sports Nutrition Guidebook: Nancy Clark

In the Ketogenic Diet camp are...

a) The Art and Science ofr Low Carbohydrate Performance: Drs Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney

b) 'The Effects of Ketogenic Dieting on Body Composition, Strength, Power, and Hormonal Profiles in Resistance Training Males".

This research article just came out (April 2017) in the National Strength and Conditioning's Research Journal.
Drs. Jacob Wilson and other provide fascinating information on how Ketogenic Diet athletes increased muscle mass while maintaining performance.

Another camp is the Intermittent Fasting groups...

a) Lean Gains [Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health] Martin Berkhan examines how to decrease body fat and increase muscle mass with various Intermittent Fasting protocols.

b) The "Intermittent Fasting: Science or Fiction" podcast: Dr John Berardi hour presentation provides "up-to-date nutritional science" on Intermittent Fasting.

c) Other great source on Intermittent Fasting are: Brad Pilon's Eat-Stop-Eat", Dr Mike T. Nelson's "Metabolic Flexibility" [ Metabolic Flexibility | T Nation], etc

Answering Your Question

Chris, I am not trying to be evasive in answering your question. I have a small library of book that have examined all of the various diet mentioned above. I also have a small library of article, as well.

As per Alwyn Cosgrove (Strength Coach), "No one ever got dumber from reading a book" (reading anything).

"There ain't no free lunch."

There are a multitude of good book; those that I mentioned above are good choices.

Reading the divergent perspectives allows you to build a better foundation of knowledge on how to manipulate the various diet protocols as a means of eliciting a positive training effect; increasing sports performance.

Summary

1) There's no one answer (one book).

2) Books are great learning tools for building a foundation. However, like computers they are out of date the day you purchase them.

3) Current Research Article provide the most "up-to-date nutritional science".

4) Diversity Increases Knowledge: Reading and experimentation with the various diet listed above will provide you with a greater overall knowledge about "nutritional science".

5) "Earn While Your Learn": Reading and experimentation are time consuming, so be patient. However, there nothing that surpasses research knowledge combined with practical first hand experience.

Kenny Croxdale
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comprehensive reply: There's some great looking sources in there and plenty to keep me occupied on my train journeys to and from work. Very much appreciated!
 
@Chrisdavisjr I've always found nutrition to be quite overwhelming and have tried experimenting with various approaches over the last few years with varying success.

I recently read an e-book called: "The Muscle & Strength Pyramid - Nutrition" by Eric Helms and for me it was one of the best things I have read on nutrition but it might be too basic for others. Details on their website: Buy The Muscle & Strength Pyramids

Alan Aragon has some pretty detailed and great peer review research papers on the subject.

Lyle McDonald is another good source for you to read, he has various e-books.
 
I would recommend The Perfect Health Diet, by Paul and Shou Ching Jaminet. It's an easy read, for how comprehensive it is, and it very well researched (as one would expect from a couple of PhDs). They also have a blog and forum to help answer questions. I think their approach is a good example of using an ancestral approach (like Paleo) as a guiding philosophy, then refining it using comprehensive, up to date research. It's the only diet book I've ever actually bought and given to people.
 
In terms of broad principals there is some great material in Strong Medicine.

In fact it is just an all round good read.
 
krg said:
In terms of broad principals there is some great material in Strong Medicine.
Click to expand...

I finally ordered it today, after months of wanting to. It sounds like it will provide me with enough reading material for the whole summer :)
 
Snowman said:
I would recommend The Perfect Health Diet, by Paul and Shou Ching Jaminet. It's an easy read, for how comprehensive it is, and it very well researched (as one would expect from a couple of PhDs). They also have a blog and forum to help answer questions. I think their approach is a good example of using an ancestral approach (like Paleo) as a guiding philosophy, then refining it using comprehensive, up to date research. It's the only diet book I've ever actually bought and given to people.
Click to expand...
"up to date research"? Did you actually check that?
They use studies on high-fructose corn syrup to show why too much fruit is bad for you (leads to cancer and other claims). None of the studies are about fruit, they are all about HFCS and they still use them to justify their claims.
I'd stay away from that book.

I stopped reading books about nutrition, because of things like the one I just pointed out about the Perfect Health Diet. People come up with claims and theorys and base them on research and studies that they falsified to support their claim or use studies about different things (e.g. the ones mentioned above) and apply them to their theory.
There are people who say you need to stay away from carbs and than come up with examples of the inuit who get little to no carbs at all. Others say you need to be completely vegan and support this by some indigenous tribes that mostly eat plants and fruits. Both, the tribes and the inuit, don't suffer from a lot diseases, have low rates of cancer and stuff like that. Maybe that's because of their overall lifestyle and not just because they don't eat carbs or animal protein?
I love dairy products and have absolutely no problems digesting them, the chinese guy on the other hand gets sick from dairy. The inuit don't eat fruit and are totally fine, the tribes don't eat animal products and are totally fine, too.
People and the things they can tolerate or even thrive on when it comes to diet are so vastly different that no diet will ever be able to be the best for all of them.
The only takeaway from all of them is to stay with natural, unprocessed food - that's it!
Just follow that simple guideline and then experiment a bit (e.g. cut dairy for a month, increases/decrease the amount of fruit you eat for a month) and see how you feel. That way you can come up with the perfect diet for you and only you.
 
Kettlebelephant said:
They use studies on high-fructose corn syrup to show why too much fruit is bad for you (leads to cancer and other claims). None of the studies are about fruit, they are all about HFCS and they still use them to justify their claims.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure they ever claimed that fruit causes any ailments, or cancer specifically, although I could have missed that bit...I do think they set them selves up for easy criticism since they try to advise "optimal intakes" for different kinds of fats, carbs, protein, vitamins, minerals, etc. I think a lot of that specificity just comes with their heavily academic background. I certainly don't follow their intake recommendations to the letter, but I think they do a very good job of illustrating of why we do or don't need certain nutrients without getting too into the weeds, and how to most easily incorporate them into your diet (which I see as two of the very valuable parts of the book). Their recommended "doses" are a good place to start for someone who isn't sure what to do, but certainly not the only way to go.

I think they do cite more studies than they need to, again, due to their backgrounds, and some of of those studies are isolated nutrient studies, animal studies, etc, which are way less than ideal. The field of nutritional research in general is in a pretty poor state; if we throw out every book that uses a sub-par study to make a point, I think we will soon run out of nutrition literature.

Kettlebelephant said:
The inuit don't eat fruit and are totally fine, the tribes don't eat animal products and are totally fine, too.
People and the things they can tolerate or even thrive on when it comes to diet are so vastly different that no diet will ever be able to be the best for all of them.
The only takeaway from all of them is to stay with natural, unprocessed food - that's it!
Click to expand...

Right!? Fundamentally, human are omnivores. Period. Real food, with a little variety, is all that we really need. I think the PHD is, again, a good foundation to build from, since marketing (at least in the US), tells us that there's nothing more natural than whole grain products, heart healthy corn oil, and chickens that have breasts the size of my head. If I can go off on a politically incorrect tangent, I think there is a significant genetic component that dictates how we respond to food. For instance, if you come from a lineage that has consumed mostly animal products for a few dozen generations (natives of the far north and arid plains/deserts), you'll probably do well on a high fat/high protein diet. Anyone in the tribe who didn't do well on that diet probably became sickly and weak, and their genetics died out. By the same token, if you put a northern European and an Inuit on the the same processed, high carb diet, they will both get sick. However, the norther European will typically fair much better. Tangent over.

Kettlebelephant said:
I stopped reading books about nutrition
Click to expand...
I'm aaalllmost there. I think once you have a good understanding of how the body responds to food in general, and how your body specifically responds to certain food groups/macro-nutrients, there's not much point in getting wrapped around the axle about the latest (probably highly flawed) study, or far out food philosophy. That being said, most people need to read a handful of nutrition books first, in order to put things in perspective, understand the underlying commonalities between different eating methodologies, and know what to look for when they eat certain things. I would recommend a couple "hunter gatherer perspective" books (I would put PHD in this category), one that promotes a vegetarian diet, one or two books about fasting/intermittent fasting, maybe one that's just plain wacky, aaaaand I reserve the right to add book types to this list ;)
 
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