It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways

It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways cover
Good Books rating 3.5

Technical:
  • ID: 952
  • Added: 2025-09-23
  • Updated: 2025-09-23
  • Reviews: 2
Reviews
abebooks.co.uk · Unknown · 2025-09-26
great 4.50

It Starts with Food by Melissa & Dallas Hartwig advocates for a Whole30 diet, encouraging readers to cut out sugar, carbs, dairy, beans, and alcohol, focusing instead on meats, nuts, and vegetables. The book emphasizes the benefits of this diet, such as increased energy, better sleep, and weight loss, and challenges readers to try it for 30 days to experience the positive effects.

It Starts with Food by Melissa & Dallas Hartwig is a comprehensive guide to the Whole30 diet, which promotes eating like our caveman ancestors by focusing on meats, nuts, and vegetables while cutting out sugar, carbs, dairy, beans, and alcohol. The book provides scientific research to back up its claims and challenges readers to try the diet for 30 days. The first few days are about cleansing the system, and over the following weeks, the body adapts to the diet, leading to increased energy, better sleep, and weight loss. The authors argue that this diet can help regulate hormones, reduce cholesterol, and improve overall health. They also emphasize that eating fat is not the problem; the issue is eating fat along with carbs and sugars, which prevents the body from burning fat efficiently.


Quick quotes

    The first few days are all about cleansing your system, while in the last couple weeks your body gets used to the diet and you’re able to see all the positive effects that come from eating like a caveman.

    Sugar can be broken down by the body and used for energy more easily than fat. If there’s sugar in your system your body will break that down, meaning your body is not breaking down fat.

    The Hartwigs also advocate cutting out dairy, beans, alcohol, and everything else that isn’t ‘meat, vegetables, nuts, and maybe a little fruit’.

goodreads.com · Unknown · 2025-09-26
skeptical 2.50

The reviewer initially found the book fascinating due to its scientific discussion on digestion but became skeptical of its logic and arguments. They found the elimination diet helpful for their health but questioned the practicality and moderation of the diet's restrictions.

The reviewer was initially drawn to the book by its scientific approach to discussing digestion and the role of hormones. However, as they delved deeper, they found the logic and arguments to be inconsistent and questionable. The authors discredited studies supporting whole grains and dairy by citing financial interests, but the reviewer pointed out that the same could be said for the studies the authors used. The book's attempt to address the cave man diet's shortcomings was also found to be flawed. The reviewer found the elimination diet beneficial for their health, experiencing improved breathing, energy, and digestion, but they questioned the practicality and moderation of the diet's strict restrictions. Overall, the reviewer was left doubting the book's conclusions and was not convinced to give up certain foods entirely.


Quick quotes

    I was fascinated in the beginning with the scientific-like discussion of things like hormones' role in digestion.

    However, when it got past the discussion of how sugar isn't good for you, the logic became a little fuzzy.

    Realistically, their research hasn't even convinced me to swear off chocolate.