A hilarious autobiography of one couple's journey into and finally away from veganism. Less of a "this is a step by step guide to your new diet," and more of a "let me tell you a funny story about my last colonoscopy" book. ( )

I've just finished arguing my way through The Meat Fix, a frustrating yet thought provoking book. The first half reads like an evening with an obnoxious and slightly drunk uncle with whom it's impossible to get a word in edgeways, let alone disagree with. In his anger at having been duped by "healthy eating advice" for so many years, Nicholson rails against absolutely everything. Suddenly saturated fats are good, vegetables are overrated, meat is glorious, doctors are all morons and you're a dickhead if you think otherwise. He is aggressive, entertaining and irritating all at once. If there is any good evidence for his case it is largely obscured by vitriolic anecdotes. And don't look for any angst over the morality of eating animals either, that's a non issue. It's all dripping and duck lard here.

Make it to the second half of the book, however, and things start to settle down. He cites a few studies to support his grumpiness. By the final chapters he almost begins to sound reasonable. If you only read one chapter I'd recommend the second to last, called "Life is a carnival, believe it or not", in which Nicholson outlines his general position on different foods. Perhaps the most important paragraph here - and the one which I can most easily agree with - is this:

"I've emerged from this adventure being totally against all forms of processed food. By eating them you are handing over the control of what keeps you alive to someone else ... Remember it's not their job to make healthy food for you, it's their job to make profitable food for themselves - the rest of it is just marking bullshit."

So, having closed the book, I feel like I've left the dinner party after several hours of being regaled by the aforementioned drunk uncle. For most of the night I just wanted him to shut up but I am forcing myself to look beyond his ego-centric presentation and allow that he might actually have a few valid points to ponder.

I would never let The Meat Fix be the last word on nutrition but it's a lively launch into the larger conversation about how we should operate in the world of modern food. I can't decide if The Meat Fix is an important contribution to that larger conversation or if it is just an annoying one. It has got me thinking about some foods in a different way, particularly the proliferation of soy products, so I'm going to vote for 'important'. ( )

Interesting theory but the style is too polemical and the author fails to tackle the question of whether his "cure" is likely to work for the majority of people. ( )

its a good account , very personal in nature, of a man's journey from vegan to meat eater and how he got healthier for it.
his description of his first meat meal is absolutely enticing, and brings to mind how mouth watering a good steak can be.
it makes me want to rush out and buy one and eat it.
we all have heard of the hi protein , low carb diet, and this is a full on close up view of a person who had done the journey and how it helped him.
i did not know horsechestnut pills can help piles, but it seems it did for him.
i wonder when the high carb diet was established as good for health. dont recall we were told that was good for us. in fact, i was told what we should aim for is a balanced diet of meat, veg, rice is good. in asia we dont eat a lot of bread or milk or cheese.
then somewhere along the line, high carbs are good and eat less meat to no meat became the advise.
yet when i was young, we all ate rice, lots of it and very little meat. were we so unhealthy in those days? there were not many overweight people as far as i could remember. maybe we never got fat because there just was not enough to eat. not like nowadays when people overeat.

so maybe when u are half starved it does notmatter what your diet, but when u always overeat, than maybe eating a lot of carbs is more bad than eating lots of meat. ( )