Today marks the release of the book for which you’ve all been waiting patiently or impatiently (I’ve got the emails to prove it!), and with it a very special limited-time offer (see details below). But first, let me tell you how we got to this point.
About three years ago, Denise Minger – a statistics-savvy English major in her early 20s – set the nutrition world ablaze with her careful, methodical parsing of the data behind The China Study. As your probably know, The China Study is that “authoritative” tome that vegans and vegetarians carry around as an instant comeback to any omnivore who dares assert the healthfulness of consuming things with faces. I was very impressed with her ability to take otherwise overwhelming data sets and pull out conclusions that were equally – if not more – valid than what the research scientists were culling from their own studies. Her China Study takedown was the capper. We met for lunch and I pitched her this idea of a book that would inform and educate the general public as to how we have been misled by the “authorities” (public policy makers and researchers) and which would deconstruct the precise history and point out the failed logic, so that anyone could see what a disaster the pyramid was. I wanted it to appeal to everyone – not just Primal/Paleo – as an empowering tool. Death by Food Pyramid is the long-awaited result, and it more than succeeds in achieving its goals.
On these very pages, you’ve seen her dissect the flawed science pointing the finger at red meat’s homicidal tendencies and a low-carb diet’s predisposition to give you heart attacks. You’ve marveled at her witty deconstruction of the purportedly inevitable conclusions to a high-fat diet – type 2 diabetes and breast cancer - as well as the claimed life-extending effects of whole grains. And when you worried whether fish oil would give you prostate cancer, Denise was there to quell your concern. Now, with this book, she sets her sight on the disastrous, farcical USDA Food Pyramid, exposing the twisted liaisons between government and industry that enabled it and dismantling the shoddy science and erroneous conclusions supporting it.
Ultimately, Death by Food Pyramid is about empowering you, the consumer, the eater of food, the arbiter of what goes in your mouth, to make the right choices and bypass the middlemen when it comes to interpreting science. That’s what Denise has been doing throughout her short but eventful career, and now she’s giving you guys – the readers – the keys to the kingdom.
Of course, empowerment doesn’t come easy. It’s not instantaneous. Troubling emotions will arise as you read. You’ll feel shock – at what passes for evidence-based nutritional guidelines. You’ll get angry – at the entrenched special interests shaping government policy and deciding what humans should be eating. You’ll be sad – when you realize how far back the experts have set us. You’ll be confused – as to how we could have gotten things so terribly wrong even with all the evidence standing right in front of us, waving its arms frantically, and jumping up and down. But you’ll also be informed. This stuff stinks, and it shouldn’t be like this, but ignoring it won’t make it go away or render it impotent. You have to face it. Luckily, you’ll come away with the ability to spot the inconsistencies, the bad science, the misleading interpretations that fool so many people (citizens, politicians, doctors, and researchers alike).
Who This Book Is For
Who’s this book for? Anyone currently relying on exogenous sources of nutrients for sustenance – whether you’re in the United States, subject to the Food Pyramid and its related offshoots, or living abroad and bearing the brunt of similar policies. Tragically, the US-borne “fat bad, meat bad-ish, animal fat lethal, sugar mostly-harmless, grains good” message has disseminated globally. No one is totally free from it, and it’s important to know how it started, and what we can do to reverse its damage and take control of our health.
What You’ll Learn from This Book
How our current nutritional guidelines evolved and entered the realm of accepted truths
How the worst kind of collusion between government and industry sent us down the low-fat, Frankenfood-laden path to obesity
How to read and parse a scientific study, think like a scientist, and sniff out bad science
How to decode confusing science jargon and understand studies relevant to your health
How to determine whom and what to trust for health information
How to spot a charlatan and run for the hills away from poor nutritional advice
Why the most confident and self-promoting “health experts” are often the least competent
How “artery-clogging” became forever wedded to “saturated fat” – and whether that marriage was truly legitimate
Why cholesterol, both in food and in your blood, became the bad guy in the flawed “lipid hypothesis” heart disease saga
The limits – and strengths – of epidemiology
How to discern between causation and correlation (and why the latter isn’t always totally useless)
Why nearly everyone, including those in the low-carb and Primal/Paleo communities, misunderstands the truth about researcher Ancel Keys
What the media will never tell you about the “real” Mediterranean diet
How the rise of vegetable oil killed lard and coconut oil (and is killing us!)
How Crisco captured America’s heart (in an embrace tight enough to impair the heart’s pumping)
How 20 years of Big Agra industry interference prevented the release of research condemning trans-fats
How the much-ballyhooed controlled trials appearing to show the heart health benefits of vegetable oils over animal fats are deeply flawed and inaccurate
How the way we treat, cook, and select our meat may not be doing us any favors – even if we’re Primal
How to minimize the formation of carcinogens when cooking meat
Vegetarianism’s long and fascinating history in America, rooted in one woman’s brain trauma and one man’s quest to kill the nation’s libidos
How vegetarian and vegan diets may actually be healthy despite - not because of – their avoidance of animal foods
Why some people do better on high-starch diets than others – and why you can blame your parents for it
How to get the best of both plant-based and omnivorous diets
Where seemingly disparate dietary paradigms intersect, and what we can glean from their commonalities
The big takeaways from the work of Weston A. Price, particularly the diversity of diets that can sustain human health
How to transcend conventional (and not so conventional) nutritional advice to find a style of eating that works for you and your body
Read an excerpt of Death by Food Pyramid:
Why You Should Pick Up a Copy Right Now
If everything you’ll learn above isn’t reason enough to grab a copy right now, I’m offering you some fantastic free gifts through Tuesday, Dec. 31, 11:59 pm PST.
Order one or more copies of Death by Food Pyramid and receive:
1. A “Primal Coupon Book” – A collection of gift certificates and coupons from popular Primal/Paleo retailers just in time for holiday shopping, including:
$10 Gift Certificate to PrimalBlueprint.com. Spend it like cash and order whatever you want, perhaps a copy of The Primal Blueprint to go with Death by Food Pyramid? Or use it to try a Primal Essentials Kit, Primal Fuel or Master Formula on for size!
10% Off Coupon for a Focal Mogo from FocalUprightFurniture.com. A mobile, telescoping stool that’s perfect for switching things up at your standup workstation.
20% Off Coupon from PaleoTreats.com. Yes, there is such a thing as a paleo peanut butter cup.
10% Off Coupon from PrimalPacs.com. Organic, grass-fed, grass-finished beef jerky, dried mango, roasted and salted macadamia nuts, marcona almonds and dried cranberries? Umm… yes please.
25% Off Coupon for a Soft RAD Roller from RadRoller.com. The next best thing to a personal masseuse.
50% Off Coupon for a Vejibag 3-Pack from Vejibag.com. No more slimy vegetables!
20% Off Coupon for Nicks-Sticks.com. Not just any old sticks. Grass-fed beef sticks.
15% Off Coupon for NikkisCoconutButter.com. This stuff is like manna from heaven.
20% Off Coupon for PrimalLifeOrganics.com. Organic, paleo, gluten-free, vegan skincare for 21st century cavemen and women.
2. A personal invite to a private Live Webcast Q&A Session with author Denise Minger.
Spend two hours with Denise on Wednesday evening, January 8, from 6:00pm-8:00pm PST for a live Q&A discussion. Ask Denise anything you want via in-browser instant message. She’ll be answering as many questions as she can about the problems in both conventional and “alternative” wisdom, how to individualize your diet for optimal health, and how to understand the scientific findings we hear every day in the news.
3. Your name entered to win one of several prizes totaling $1,800 in value:
One lucky winner will receive a grand prize $1000 gift certificate to Tropical Traditions. Order up to $1000 of grass fed meat, wild Alaskan fish, organic coconut oil, organic dark chocolate, natural skin care products and household cleaners, or anything else from Tropical Tradition’s large range of primal products and get it all for free if your name is selected.
Three lucky runners-up will receive 10 packs of Tendergrass Farms pastured pork franks ($100 value). These are not your average hot dogs. Tendergrass sent me some of these and let me tell you, they are delicious. They’re also sugar-free, nitrite-free, GMO-free, and 100% pastured pork, and only contain these seven ingredients: Pastured Pork, Salt, Coriander, Nutmeg, Garlic, Red Pepper in real pork casings.
Five lucky runners-up will receive a Focal Mogo ($100 value). As I shared in my “How-To: Standup and Mobile Workstations” article, I use a Focal standup workstation at my home office. This is your chance to win a Mogo: a telescoping stool of sorts you can use to take some of the weight off while at your standup desk.
So what are you waiting for? Grab your copy of the riveting new book Death by Food Pyramid for just $24.95 (plus FREE S&H) and claim all of these free gifts today!
Thanks in advance to everyone that orders a copy and participates in this special offer. Grok on!
Fine Print
Unlike previous retail channel promotions, this one is simple: You order the book directly from PrimalBlueprint.com and we send you all the free bonus items. No worries, no hassles!
You will receive an email within an hour of placing your order that will provide you with all of your coupon codes and instructions on how to access the Live Webcast. This email is separate from your email receipt.
This special bonus offer ends at 11:59 pm, Dec. 31, 2013 (PST).
Only orders placed on PrimalBlueprint.com will receive the bonuses.
Death by Food Pyramid is not yet available on Amazon.com or at other retail locations.
Sweepstakes winners will be randomly drawn and announced on Jan. 1, 2014; a great way to start the new year!
Both domestic (U.S.) and international orders are eligible for the bonuses, but keep in mind that only Mogo, Vejibag and Rad Roller ship outside of the United States.
Only domestic orders receive free shipping and handled on Death by Food Pyramid book orders. A handling fee is added to international orders.
All coupons expire on or after Jan. 15, 2014.
The PrimalBlueprint.com gift certificate expires on January 31, 2013, and is valid for a single use.
The “Primal Coupon Book” is not an actual physical coupon book. All coupon codes will be sent to you via email.
Read all sweepstakes fine print here.
Get Your Copy of Death by Food Pyramid Today!