Good Energy

Means recounts getting berated by patients seeking opioid refills. Many people threatened to file complaints which are included on performance ratings and which impact doctors’ wages. Means compares opioid addiction to the addictive properties of highly processed foods. She argues the issues could be easily rectified by promoting healthy, unprocessed diets, but she notes that there is widespread confusion over what a healthy diet is. To help, Means suggests foods be analyzed according to their “molecular components.” Means stresses the importance of food, emphasizing that food becomes the human body and that it can impact human genetic expression.

Means covers her six principles of healthy eating. The first is the idea that food dictates the structures and functions of cells, including those of the microbiome. She provides multiple examples, including how cell membranes require facts, how food molecules can serve as messages that impact oxidative stress and inflammation, and how food impacts the microbiome.

The second principle Means describes is the idea that people should eat according to their cellular needs. She refers to eating as a “matching problem”—”If we don’t properly match inputs with needs or if we put in damaging substances that the body shouldn’t be exposed to, we get symptoms and disease” (122). Modern foods, Means asserts, are filled with toxic substances and contain less nutrition than they did in the past. She advises readers to eat unprocessed foods, which can better meet cellular needs.

In her third principle, Means argues that food is how people can communicate with their bodies. Certain foods send certain messages, such as cruciferous vegetables warning the body of “tough” times or magnesium promoting relaxation. Similarly, principle four states that food cravings are feedback that cells are not receiving proper nutrients. Food cravings are intensified by food companies, which intentionally make processed foods more addictive, contributing to food cravings.

Means’s fifth principle to foster good energy is to ignore diet fads and eat unprocessed foods. Diet philosophies that are correlated with good health, such as vegan diets or low-carb diets, work because they incorporate more whole foods. She examines a few key nutrients to show that nutrition comes from unprocessed foods rather than specific diet philosophies.

The final good energy principle is the suggestion to eat mindfully and find “awe” in food. Means shares her personal reflections on food, saying: “I reflect that all the energy stored in the cellular bonds of the plants I’m eating was originally a packet of photon energy that started in the sun” (134). She suggests both individuals and society, in general, can benefit from this approach to eating.

Means reflects on her education, informing readers that she was not required to take nutrition courses while at Stanford Medical School. She also notes that many of the nutrition studies she was exposed to during her schooling were funded by food companies and thus had a conflict of interest. These conflicted studies are then used to inform policies, including school lunches and food subsidies.

Means suggests that people in the U.S. would be healthier, happier, and more prosperous if they ate organic ore regenerative, unrefined or minimally refined whole foods, including wild-caught fish and pasture-raised meat, dairy, and eggs. Means argues that grains are unnecessary in the human diet, they can have harmful effects, and they can be easily replaced. In two asides, Means addresses the importance of clean water and the differences between conventional, organic, and regenerative foods. Then, she categorizes and defines the levels of food processing, including unprocessed or minimally processed foods, culinary ingredients, processed foods, and ultra-processed foods. The first category includes whole foods and those that are minimally processed (like dried herbs), which Means considers healthy. She defines culinary ingredients as foods that are generally used as ingredients, like oil, syrup, salt, and butter. These foods are “unbalanced,” although she believes some are healthy in moderation.

Processed foods are those that have been altered with culinary ingredients, like breads, tomato sauce, or cured meats, and ultra-processed foods are those that have been manufactured from “extracted and adulterated parts from different foods with synthetic ingredients” (148). According to Means, processed and ultra-processed foods should be avoided. To help clarify, Means includes an extensive list of food products that are ultra-processed including items like nondairy milk, cake mixes, granola, flavored yogurt, deli meats, fruit snacks, ketchup, and canned soup. She notes that some processed foods are now available in healthier options, like cauliflower-crust pizzas. Along with being unhealthy, ultra-processed foods also impact the environment negatively:

Ultra-processed foods also have a massive environmental cost. For example, a one-liter bottle of grapeseed oil requires about 120 pounds of tiny grape seeds to produce, or about one ton of grapes. Frequently, ultra-processed foods are stored in plastic and other unsustainable materials that go into landfills. Most ultra-processed foods are made from crops that are grown conventionally, so on top of decimating our health, these foods are environmentally devastating and wasteful (153).

Means addresses price difference between processed and unprocessed foods, arguing people can either pay more for healthier foods, or they can pay medical bills later. She advises readers on how to stock their kitchens, recommending buying in bulk and freezing, cooking large batches of food, buying foods that are on sale, and reducing meat and fish consumption. She also recommends that people should eat foods with plenty of micronutrients, antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, fermented foods, and protein, with accompanying lists of nutrient-dense foods. She includes types of foods to avoid, focusing on those with refined sugar, refined vegetable and seed oils, and refined grains, and she advises readers to avoid all liquid calories. In her discussion on grains, Means also provides alternatives for common foods, such as replacing bread with sweet potatoes or tortillas with lettuce wraps. By avoiding ultra-processed foods, people can lower their intake of toxic chemical additives. Means discusses how the U.S. allows many toxic chemicals in foods that are banned elsewhere.

One of the most important factors, according to Means, is stabilizing glucose levels throughout the day. Ultra-processed foods cause significant fluctuations in glucose levels, and erratic glucose levels can have negative health consequences. Means offers nine methods of stabilizing glucose levels, advising readers to avoid eating high-carb foods by themselves, eat carbohydrates after eating the proteins and fats, eat carbs earlier in the day, keep a short daily eating window, avoid liquid sugar, eat additional fiber, use additives like vinegar that lower glucose responses, walk after eating, and eat mindfully.