The Magic of Food by Michael T. Murray

The Magic of Food by Michael T. Murray ISBN-13: 9781451662979 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Atria Books Released: Oct. 3, 2017

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from NetGalley:
Food affects our body, mind, and health in many remarkable ways. And certain foods are almost magical. Michael Murray’s years of research and clinical experience have led to a definitive understanding of how specific foods affect us. He presents his findings on phytochemicals and other nutrients and why they’re the new “vitamins”; discusses specific healing foods; and explains the principles to follow for eating the most magical foods every day. Here also are practical and prescriptive recipes and helpful guidelines for better and delicious eating.


My Review:
The Magic of Food is basically another "follow my healthy diet" book. I'm interested in "foods that act together to produce a total effect...that is greater than the sum of the individual foods" (from the ARC book description). However, what I got was a list of individual foods and the research done on the health benefits of that food or phytonutrient that food contains. And the book was very scientific; he even explained the chemical structure of fats and the structural differences between Omega-3, Omega-6, and Omega-9 fats.

The author started by looking at several societies that live long, healthy lives and briefly explained what foods he thought contributed to that health. Then he looked at good fats versus bad fats, superfood fruits and veggies, and the health benefits of various common spices and herbs. He explained his recommend eating habits then provided some sample meal plans and some recipes. He recommended eating more (and a variety of) plant foods, more fish and less red meat, and eating 3 meals and 3 snacks each day. At the end, he included a list of some health problems (like anemia, constipation, hives, MS, and RA) along with some studies about what foods might help that condition.

While he recommended avoiding GMO canola, for some reason he didn't talk about other GMOs like soy when he suggested foods like tofu and soy milk. He spent some time talking about Glycemic Load and strongly recommended eating low GL foods, then he recommended juicing fruits and veggies (which removes the fiber and makes them into higher GL foods). And then he suggested using a fiber supplement to get enough fiber in your diet. So that didn't seem logical to me. Overall, though, the information was good.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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