"Sweet Poison" by David Gillespie

This book basically explains to a general (non-scientist) audience the problem with the high amount of sugar (in particular fructose) we as a general western population consume. If you don't know what I'm talking about, or think that eating a "low fat" diet is going to help you really lose weight (but are constantly surprised why you are not losing any weight), then this book would be a great place to start. I didn't learn a lot I didn't know from this book overall (but I have been reading a few things including scientific papers around this topic lately), but it did fill in some of the details and gaps and give historical perspectives and made it make more sense in easy-to-read language. If you don't want to read the book, take home over-simplified message is: Minimise/eliminate sugar from your diet, also eliminate things you might have been taught are healthy like fruit juice as it is basically concentrated sugar (fructose) without the goodness of fibre etc which would be found if you just ate a piece of real fruit. You aren't going to sit down and eat 5 apples in one sitting but you will get the same amount of sugar from a glass of juice and you still will feel hungry after the juice and go and eat more food. Plus our bodies don't have the same biochemical checks and balances to tell yourself you have eaten enough fructose, compared to similar checks and balances for consuming fats or even glucose (e.g. insulin). Also just for fun, next time you want to buy some 'low fat' product at the supermarket, compare the sugar content to the similar "normal fat" product, it's often higher in sugar. I know I'd rather have the full-fat but lower sugar version any day. I must confess I have been experimenting with the 'Paleo lifestyle' this year, and finding that i have a lot of energy, losing weight and feeling awesome. Cutting back on sugar and processed food is a big part of the Paleo lifestyle combined with cutting back/eliminating grains, so the anti-sugar/fructose message in this book definitely appeals to me.

This book is the first non-fiction book I have read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge. It is also written by a male author who was new to me, I hadnt previously read any of his books before. It's not a long book, and I think if it was the first time I came across the concepts in this book I would probably rank it higher, but I am giving it 6.5-7/10.

Started reading on my kindle: 19th October 2013
Finished: 20th October 2013.