"1.5 stars, because there are slivers of information in here that are accurate and helpful, but I hated this book so much. I have so many thoughts but I will try to keep it clear and concise.

1) If you've ever had an eating disorder or anything close to it, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. I've never struggled with any food-related issues, but this book was even making me anxious thinking about the food I was going to be having for dinner (and I eat extremely healthily already). This book could trigger disordered eating in a lot of people, particularly with its blanket "good/bad" statements ("do not ever have anything with sugar ever. Throw out everything in your house with any form of sugar in it, except fresh fruit"; "Never eat any sort of grain, not even whole wheat or rice or quinoa or oatmeal"; "bring your own food when you go on vacation to friends' houses and pre-read menus at restaurants to make sure they have food that are 'good energy' foods that you can eat"; "never eat a seed oil"; and so on. Seriously, she must be a fun house guest, bringing her own food, demanding to cook dinner, bringing her own cleaning supplies that are toxin-free, etc.). Not to mention, most of her food advice isn't rooted in evidence and instead aligns with wellness influencer BS, and the claims she makes are refuted by pretty much all dietetics research.

2) The title and whole "Good Energy" vs "Bad Energy" feels so much like wellness influencer BS and gimmicky that it should have been a red flag from the start (and it was), but I thought maybe it was done strategically to get people to read it and then swoop in with the evidence and science to support it. Not really. It wasn't tongue-in-cheek but it was used just as the "health coaches" and "wellness gurus" use it.

3) I was hopeful because of her education and credentials that it would be more rooted in science and less broad-sweeping health and wellness marketing. Nope. Also, it's important to clarify (and she does state this in the book, to her credit) that she was an ENT surgeon. Absolutely impressive, yes. But, what lay readers may not realize, is that ENTs are not endocrinologists nor internal medicine docs, nor cardiologists. Nor is she a registered dietician. They do not specialize/train in metabolic healthcare, obesity, hormonal health, etc. That doesn't invalidate the experiences she does have in the healthcare system or that she was seeing patients who have co-morbidities like Diabetes. But, operating on nasal sinuses and some of those patients having metabolic concerns is not the same as spending 15+ years directly treating patients with hormonal/endocrinological issues for those issues. She could have certainly studied this on her own, but she has not clinically trained nor trained as a clinical researcher in this area, so I wouldn't take her word over those of experts who have devoted clinical + clinical research careers to this area. She is a self-proclaimed "tech entrepreneur" now (more on that later in this review). Of note: she has zero peer-reviewed Pubmed citations in metabolic research (and only a few from her ENT work, suggesting she is not really making a career out of research. Most med students have more publications than she does). All she has a is a COVID Diabetes letter to the editor, which is meaningless.

4) A good point: She raises very important points about problems in the healthcare system, including how being able to charge for procedures, etc. and revenue drives everything. It's a huge problem. Absolutely agree. The best interest for the patient's quality of life is not always the highest priority for a hospital if they can get the patient to agree to another procedure with an ICD-10 code that will bring in thousands of dollars when the patient only has a few days left to live. It is a problem that needs to be addressed systemically. And there is money for healthcare systems when patients are sick from preventable conditions, so putting money into prevention is not often a priority.

5) Another good point: She raises the issue of conflict of interest in research, like when cereal companies fund studies to show the Froot Loops (or whatever) is "healthier" than eggs as a breakfast for kids. Research funding has to be disclosed when publishing, of course, but that doesn't mean that people pay attention to it and it's certainly not disclosed when marketing the results of studies in the media and advertising. And as many other authors have often stated, no one is going to fund a study looking at fresh fruits, herbs, etc. and its impact on various diseases because fruits/veg/herbs can't be patented by pharma companies to make money.

6) But despite all her talk of conflicts of interest being a problem in healthcare research, she doesn't directly disclose her own: that she owns a company that profits extensively off the claims she's making in the book (like everyone should use a continuous glucose monitor because blood tests are insufficient, and she happens to have a company that makes/sells monitors, prescriptions for monitors, and an app subscription to track your data). Nor does she disclose that her brother/co-author has a healthcare company (he's an MBA, not a clinician) that also profits from the advice and recommendations in the book (and that she's an investor in his company), or that Mark Hyman, MD is the medical advisor for her brother's company and he is quoted extensively throughout her book to support her statements (and he also provided an endorsement/quote for her book separately). Or that the company she recommends readers order their own blood work from is Mark Hyman's new medical startup (and costs about 100x more than ordering your own blood work directly from a lab like Labcorp or Marek would). And after looking on her website, she is an investor in that medical startup (which I don't think she disclosed in the book itself, but I could have missed it). She also promotes basil seeds frequently throughout the book (and she happens to be an investor in a basil seed company that sells them for like $20 per bag, compared to the $2 they cost at an Indian grocer, if you happen to have one nearby). Notice a trend? "Here's a bunch of advice about what you should do, and if you need help, here are places you can go to get an app/device/nutrition/food delivery, and I happen to be an investor in each of these companies that sell these things way over market value!"

7) She raises a valid point that "normal lab values" don't necessarily mean that you're healthy because the lab ranges are based on the population averages, and the population health isn't necessarily optimal health. But, I don't think her accompanying statement to not trust your doctor is a good one. Yes, docs need more training in certain areas, particularly nutrition and optimizing biomarkers, but raising awareness is different from telling people not to trust their doc and to doctor shop (or use her recommended services. "If your doc won't give you a blood test you want, order it yourself from the company I invest in!")

8) She says, in all seriousness, something like: "If you have a pet that wakes you up at night, either train your pet to stay out of your room or rehome your pet." Yes, sleep is important, but the serious suggestion to rehome your pet if they wake you up is terrible. (Parents with young kids, you may want to rehome your kids, too, according to that philosophy.)

9) She is very anti-hormonal birth control for reasons that completely disregard medical indications for hormonal birth control. ENTs are not OBGYNs (nor are they endocrinologists nor internal/family med docs). ENTs do not prescribe OCPs nor do they treat the conditions for which OCPs are often prescribed. She sincerely suggests that folks suffering from PCOS should just go outside and spend time in nature rather than popping a toxic pill. Are OCPs for everyone? Maybe not. But, brushing off legitimate medical conditions that often require OCPs for treatment is harmful, and someone who does not treat people with PCOS for PCOS should not be giving advice about whether they should be taking medication for PCOS.

10) At one point she recommends some book Gwyneth Paltrow wrote, which is an automatic fail and has zero place in a book that is trying to promote scientifically sound health promotion.

11) She mentions "leaky gut" way too many times to be taken seriously.

Do I think there is some valid information in this book? Yes. And while it isn't pseudoscience, it is teetering on the edge through manipulation of data, emotional manipulation through identifying "good" and "bad" food lists/items, and ultimately attempting to drive people to purchase things she has a financial interest in. And because of her credentials, I think it's much more dangerous than if a random "holistic health coach" wrote it, where readers may be a bit more cautious about accepting the claims made as gospel.

She checks every box of the influencer charlatan handbook: 1) make people afraid of conventional medicine and advice by pointing out valid concerns with it and flaws in the system to make people feel heard; 2) use trendy/gimmicky language that doesn't really mean anything on its own to feel relatable and draw people in ("good energy" and "bad energy"); 3) then sell your product, but bonus points if you can sell your product without making them feel like you're selling it to them.

Okay, so much for a concise review. But, I really did not like this book and it's so very problematic.

I'm going to go eat my weight in whole wheat pasta out of spite.

Here are some much better books to read on these topics that aren't trying to sell you something and have stronger evidence behind them:
- How not to Die or How Not to Age (Michael Gregor, M.D.)
- Outlive (Peter Attia, MD)
- The Longevity Diet (Valter Longo, PhD)
- The Telomere Effect (Elizabeth Blackwell, PhD and Elissa Epel, PhD)
- Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind Over Body (Jo Marchant, PhD)
- Your Body in Balance: The New Science of Food, Hormones, and Health (Neal Barnard, MD)
- Why we Revolt (Victor Montori, MD)

And for books on women's health specifically:
- anything Jen Gunter MD has written (books and/or her blog/substack)
- It's Not Hysteria (Karen Tang, MD)"