Chapter 1 - What on Earth Did We Eat?

One of the abiding principles on which The True You Diet is based is that a ‘healthy’ diet is one comprised mainly of the foods that, through the process of evolution, we have become best adapted to.  In the first chapter of The True You Diet, we start by taking a trip back in time to explore our evolutionary path and the ‘primal’ diet that we ate along the way. This chapter reveals that, until relatively recently, the foods we subsisted on were those found naturally in nature, such as meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and nuts.

Chapter 2 – Where Did it All Go Wrong?

From about 10,000 years ago, many of our ancestors chose to turn their back on their hunter-gather past, and began instead to settle down, grow their own foods and, later on, to herd animals.  On the face of it, this development seems to be a huge step forward for our species in that it would have helped secure a more reliable supply of food. But is it possible that this fundamental change in our way of life turned out to be a big step back in terms of our health?  This chapter explores the evidence of the negative health changes that came when, as a species, we diverted from the primal nutritional path.

Chapter 3 – All Change

Taking a look at the typical Western diet, it’s difficult to see any real resemblance to the primal diet we evolved on. In this chapter, we take a long, hard look at the modern-day diet, and compare it to the diet we ate prior to the dawn of civilisation. In particular, this chapter focuses on the on the place that grains, refined sugar, dairy products, refined and processed vegetable oils, alcohol and salt have in our diet. The chapter ends with a shocking statistic regarding how much our diet is made up of these relative nutritional newcomers.

Chapter 4 – Against the Grain

Grain-based foods such as bread, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals are staples in the Western diet, and are often promoted on account of the fact they provide valuable energy for the body whilst being naturally low in fat. However, the fact that grains, particularly refined ones, are a relatively recent addition to the diet means that we might question the notion of using them as a staple in our diet.  If primal nutritional theory holds true, then grain-based foods might not be the superfoods they’re cracked up to be.  In this chapter we ask if grains really are the staff of life. This chapter takes a science-based look at the nutritional attributes of grains, including their influence on blood sugar and insulin balance, their nutrient content, and their ability to induce unwanted ‘food-sensitivity’ reactions.

Chapter 5 - Sweet and Sour

Refined sugar is famed for its ability to rot our teeth, but evolutionary theory would suggest that this very new addition to the diet might have similarly corrosive effects deeper within the body.  In this chapter we look at the science that suggests our modern-day ‘sugar habit’ appears to be having on our health. Increasing awareness about the hazards of refined sugar has led to increasing consumption of artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose. This chapter also examines whether these substances are really the ‘healthy’ alternative to sugar their image suggests.

Chapter 6 - Slaying the Sacred Cow

Along with grains, dairy products such as milk, cheese and yoghurt, represent a major foodstuff in our diet.  Many of us will have had impressed on us the importance of these foods for health, and in particular, bone development and growth in childhood and the prevention of osteoporosis in later life.  Yet, while the benefits of dairy products and their supposedly ‘essential’ role in the diet are often quoted, the relatively recent addition of these foods into the human diet should perhaps cause us to question the need for dairy products in the diet.  This chapter takes a scientific look at the supposed ‘benefits’ of dairy products, and reveals some of the adverse effects on health they can have too.

Chapter 7 – Oil Crisis

Compared to our evolutionary diet, the modern-day diet contains far more in the way of vegetable oils that have been extracted from foods such as sunflower seeds, rapeseed, corn and soya beans.  Also, these fats can often end up being processed in a way which gives rise to chemical entities known as ‘partially hydrogenated’ or ‘trans’ fats that had no place in the diet until a few decades ago.  In this chapter, we look at the nature of these fats, and see if their addition to our diet might help to explain the rise in the rates of chronic diseases including obesity and diabetes we have seen in recent times.

Chapter 8 – Lean Times

While dietary advice can vary over time and sometimes seems to blow in the wind, at least one consistent message we’ve had from health professionals over the last few decades is the importance of cutting back on fat.  The fat on which most attention has been focused is so-called saturated fat - a constituent of foods such as red meat, dairy products and eggs.  Eating saturated fat, we are assured, is one sure way to pile on the pounds and increase our risk of so-called 'cardiovascular' conditions such as heart attack or stroke.

However, if the primal theory that underpins the dietary advice in this book holds true, then it doesn’t make sense for saturated fat to be the toxic foodstuff its image suggests. So, either saturated fat is not the dietary spectre it’s so often made out to be, or the primal theory on which this book is based is just plain wrong. This chapter reveals the truth about the impact saturated fat and another fat – cholesterol – have on health. As this chapter shows, these naturally-occurring fats are simply not the dietary spectres they are so often made out to be.

Chapter 9 - Animal and Vegetable

In this chapter, we extend our examination of major evolutionary foodstuffs to meat, fish and seafood, eggs, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds.  Once the nutritional attributes of each of these foods is explored, this chapter goes on to examine the evidence (or otherwise) for the widely-held notion that vegetarian or vegan diets are inherently healthier than those that are more omnivorous in nature.  

Chapter 10 – Fluid Thinking

Healthy nutrition isn’t just about what we eat, but also what we drink.  In this chapter, we take an in-depth look at the major fluids in the modern-day diet, and examine what effects they have on health.  The chapter starts with water – the most fundamental of fluids - before moving on to other popular beverages including coffee, tea and alcohol. 

Chapter 11 – Graze, Don’t Gorge

What we should eat for optimal health and wellbeing is important, but so is when we eat it.  This is because our pattern of eating can influence the efficiency and balance of basic biochemical processes that affect weight and other aspects of health. And regular eating can be vitally important for keeping our appetite in check and stopping it running riot. As this chapter reveals, for some individuals looking for improved weight loss and wellbeing, the secret can be to not eat less, but more.

Chapter 12 – One Man’s Meat…

While both science and common sense allow us to make broad conclusions about what it means to eat a healthy diet, we also know from experience that our response to specific foods and what therefore represents our ‘ideal’ diet are individual affairs.  In this chapter, we examine the scientific evidence for the variations in our internal biochemistry, and reveal how it is that we can be ‘hunters’, ‘hunter-gatherers’ or ‘gatherers’ at heart.

Chapter 13 – A World of Difference

Not only do different diets seems to suit different ‘types’ of people, but certain characteristics tend to be shared by those of the same type.  In this chapter, we take a closer look at the typical physical and mental characteristics of each of the three main types of individual described in The True You Diet.  

Chapter 14 – Take the Test

In this chapter, the characteristics explored in chapter 13 are used as the basis of a comprehensive questionnaire that reveals whether you are a ‘hunter’, ‘hunter-gatherer’ or ‘gatherer’.

Chapter 15 – What Is There To Eat?

Once you have discovered your ‘type’, this chapter explores the sorts of foods and meals that are going to best suit your needs. This chapter starts with some broad dietary recommendations for each type. After this, tables that summarise this advice are provided for easy reference. Finally, recipes have been included to help you integrate these dietary suggestions into your life.

Chapter 16 – Looking to the Future

While The True You Diet draws on the past, it is important to look to the future too if its principles are going to be successfully employed in our lives in the long term. In this final chapter, the common pitfalls of ‘dieting’ are described, along with constructive and practical advice about how to combat them. The chapter ends with the one single, simple concept that, when borne in mind, can help keep you eating healthily not just now, but for the rest of your life.