Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession with Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It

by Garth Davis M.D., Howard Jacobson

Overview

An acclaimed surgeon specializing in weight loss delivers a paradigm-shifting examination of the diet and health industry’s focus on protein, explaining why it is detrimental to our health, and can prevent us from losing weight.

Whether you are seeing a doctor, nutritionist, or a trainer, all of them advise to eat more protein. Foods, drinks, and supplements are loaded with extra protein. Many people use protein for weight control, to gain or lose pounds, while others believe it gives them more energy and is essential for a longer, healthier life. Now, Dr. Garth Davis, an expert in weight loss asks, “Is all this protein making us healthier?”

The answer, he emphatically argues, is NO. Too much protein is actually making us sick, fat, and tired, according to Dr. Davis. If you are getting adequate calories in your diet, there is no such thing as protein deficiency. The healthiest countries in the world eat far less protein than we do and yet we have an entire nation on a protein binge getting sicker by the day.

As a surgeon treating obese patients, Dr. Davis was frustrated by the ever-increasing number of sick and overweight patients, but it wasn't until his own health scare that he realized he could do something about it. Combining cutting-edge research, with his hands-on patient experience and his years dedicated to analyzing studies of the world’s longest-lived populations, this explosive, groundbreaking book reveals the truth about the dangers of protein and shares a proven approach to weight loss, health, and longevity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062279316
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/27/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	401,922
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dr. Garth Davis is a leader in the field of bariatric medicine and the medical director of bariatric surgery at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center and the Davis Clinic for surgical and medical weight management. Dr. Davis is certified by the American Board of Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. He lives in Houston with his family.

Editorial Reviews

Through extensive analysis of popular protein-pushing diet plans and meticulous assessment of nutritional research, every claim and recommendation is fully annotated, making this reasoned and reasonable treatise a life changer in the truest sense of the word.

Booklist

A groundbreaking book from one of America’s leading physicians, Proteinaholic will revolutionize your understanding of your body and how to keep it healthy. Garth Davis, MD, is a medical visionary whose wisdom and wealth of experience have opened a powerful new pathway to the best of health.

Neal D. Barnard

A brilliant tour de force of how and why our ‘addiction’ to animal protein is killing us. This book just may save your life and make all of your moments healthier.

Robert Ostfeld

Through extensive analysis of popular protein-pushing diet plans and meticulous assessment of nutritional research, every claim and recommendation is fully annotated, making this reasoned and reasonable treatise a life changer in the truest sense of the word.

Booklist

Dr. Garth Davis has hit the nail on the head with this eye opening look at America’s most misunderstood macronutrient-protein. Read it and rescue yourself before it’s too late!” %COMM_CONTRIB%Rip Esselstyn

09/07/2015
Weight loss surgeon Davis (The Expert’s Guide to Weight Loss Surgery) convincingly argues that the best way to eat for health and longevity consists of a diet high in plants and low in meat. He asserts that though it might seem that “scientists are constantly disagreeing,” there actually exists “a broad consensus that including plants and limiting animals in our diets is the single best thing we can do for our health.” Davis takes on the current vogue for high-protein diets and patiently debunks the studies that appear to support them, arguing that the meat and dairy lobbies have long tried to suppress the proof behind his recommendations. Written well and with brio (“If I were to take a piece of fat from your butt, I could send it to a lab that can determine exactly what you have been eating”), the book begins with Davis’s personal transformation from meat-eater to vegan, and then moves to an examination of popular high-protein diets such as Atkins and paleo and a consideration of how diet contributes to or protects from chronic disease. Exhaustively researched and fascinating, this book also contains a handy sample meal plan with recipes. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Proteinaholic documents the simple and easy to understand truth that billions of people have died, and that life on Planet Earth faces extinction, as a direct consequence of product-promoting nutritional myths … Protein deficiency is unknown on any natural diet; protein poisoning is epidemic worldwide.

John McDougall

This is a book that will change lives. If you heed its wise and clear advice, your body will thank you for the rest of your life.

John Robbins

Dr. Garth Davis has hit the nail on the head with this eye opening look at America’s most misunderstood macronutrient-protein. Read it and rescue yourself before it’s too late!

Rip Esselstyn

Proteinaholic is a … book that will help you lose weight; keep it off; prevent lifestyle disease and even reverse it. A book every health-conscious person should own and every doctor should prescribe their patients.

Rich Roll

Dr. Davis is in the ’trenches’ applying science to patient care and a true expert. His experience and research is groundbreaking and Proteinaholic is a must read that will be the basis for reclaiming our health. This book will be in exam rooms in my clinic.

Joel Kahn MD

Proteinaholic hits the nail on the head. Our over-consumption of animal protein has lead us down the path to nutritional suicide and this wake-up call from Dr. Davis is important to save lives.

Joel Fuhrman M.D.

A brilliant tour de force of how and why our ‘addiction’ to animal protein is killing us. This book just may save your life and make all of your moments healthier.

Robert> Ostfeld

10/01/2015
Americans are obsessed with protein. A high-protein diet supposedly helps with weight control and provides energy. Davis, a weight-loss specialist and bariatric surgeon at Houston Methodist Hospital, explains why this is not true. Using his personal history as a starting point, he explains that overconsumption of protein actually increases the incidence of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and obesity. When his blood pressure and weight began to rise, the author began researching the medical literature and learned that the healthiest people eat plant-based diets. He shows readers what protein is, what it does, as well as where it comes from. He offers evidence-based information to back up his claim that plant-based diets provide ample protein without the fat that meat contains and supplies an extensive bibliography to assist further research. Davis also presents meal plans and recipes, encouraging a vegetarian or vegan diet, or, at least a reduction in the amount of animal products consumed. He feels that this is important for medical, ethical, and environmental reasons. VERDICT This title is easy to understand and, despite its infomercial-like tone, gives sound information that will motivate readers to improve their health.—Barbara Bibel, formerly Oakland P.L.

Library Journal