What is the main message of Deep Nutrition?

The main message of Deep Nutrition is that our health and well-being are heavily influenced by the food we eat.

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The reading time for Deep Nutrition varies depending on the reader's speed. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

Health & Nutrition

Deep Nutrition Book Summary - Deep Nutrition Book explained in key points

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Deep Nutrition summary

Name: Deep Nutrition
Rating: 4.1 (130 reviews)
Author: Catherine Shanahan and Luke Shanahan

Catherine Shanahan and Luke Shanahan

Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food

4.1 (130 ratings)

16 mins

Brief summary

Deep Nutrition by Catherine and Luke Shanahan is a nutrition guide that explores how traditional diets can prevent and reverse diseases while promoting optimal health. It emphasizes the importance of whole, nutrient-dense foods and provides practical advice for improving diet and lifestyle.

Topics

Aging Diet

Table of Contents

Deep Nutrition
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Boost your health through simple and traditional food.

Have you ever had a diet phase in which you were obsessed with those low-calorie, low-fat, pre-packaged “health” foods, like breakfast bars? Did the diet succeed? Probably not.

Now try to think – were such foods around when your grandparents were growing up? Of course not, but health and nutrition are not improving today, despite these innovations. Industrially made, processed foods like those breakfast bars contain a huge amount of sugar and are far removed from the natural, whole foods eaten by people back in the day.

These blinks explain how we can overcome modern eating habits and return society to a healthier state.

In these blinks, you’ll learn:

why although the average lifespan is lengthening, this might be misleading;
how vegetable oil is not as healthy as vegetables; and
the mechanism that makes fresh foods more nourishing than processed.

Despite incredible developments in medicine, our health is declining.

Our grandparents’ generation is living longer than just about every generation before them, but, unfortunately, that doesn’t mean we can count on such longevity.

While the octogenarians of today benefited from breakthroughs in modern medicine such as the development of antibiotics, the health of younger generations is not maintaining this upward trend. Rather, people today are experiencing age-related medical issues from a younger age than their parents and grandparents.

For instance, through her practice, Catherine, one of the authors, encounters people as young as 40 who are already mired in cardiovascular issues and joint problems. The parents of these patients didn’t have to deal with such ailments until they were much older.

So, why is this happening?

In large part, it’s because prior generations ate more healthily. Their diets consisted of more natural foods and they had fewer of the processed options available to us today. Fundamentally, because of the industrialization of food production, and a misplaced fear of saturated fat and cholesterol, we’ve slowly replaced natural foods, like eggs, cream and liver, with processed, nutrient-poor options that are high in sugar and other detrimental components.

A good example is the way we’ve replaced butter, which is loaded with beneficial fats, with margarine made out of artificial trans fats. These trans fats have been linked to a variety of health issues like atherosclerosis.

Furthermore, nowadays we put more faith in artificially produced vitamins and supplements for our health, than in getting these necessary substances from beneficial food. This is not surprising, given that medical schools don’t teach their students a single useful thing about nutrition.

Rather than learning how to identify the cause of problems, prospective physicians are simply taught to treat issues as they arise. Because of this, lots of doctors don’t pay attention to the power of nutrition and are quick to recommend artificial vitamin supplements instead of nutritive food.

But the good news is that, by eating foods that people ate in the past and skipping the industrial food products of modern times, you can treat the very root of your wellbeing problems. In the next blink, you’ll learn how.

Traditional eating habits were developed for health and for a long life.

Today, many countries are absolutely overrun by illnesses from cancer to heart disease. But while these medical issues represent an absolute epidemic among certain groups, there are others who hardly suffer from them at all.

Traditional cultures don’t have to deal with diseases like cancer since they know and apply the power of food. Just take an example from the beginning of the twentieth century, when explorers discovered that among the Hunza, a partially nomadic tribe of Afghanistan, cancer was non-existent, nobody needed glasses and it was not uncommon for tribal members to live beyond the age of 100.

Your brain has a natural antioxidant system, but vegetable oils disrupt it.

Everybody knows that vegetables are good for your health. But vegetable oil is a different story, and the unhealthy nature of this common food product affects your brain. Here’s how.

Your brain is threatened by oxidation especially in the form of free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that are missing an electron and are therefore incredibly reactive as they constantly attempt to pull electrons from surrounding molecules. As these molecules seek positively charged particles, they transform otherwise functional molecules into toxic ones that can damage cells, causing inflammation and disease.

Sugar is addictive, damages your brain and is in just about everything.

What do you think is the most dangerous drug in the world? Heroin? Cocaine? Well, sugar should be on the list as well.

This common food additive is more addictive than cocaine and causes cellular brain damage. Now you’re probably thinking, how is that possible?

Eat meat cooked on the bone and organs for a beneficial diet.

Now that you have an idea of what to avoid, it’s time to learn what you should eat. This brings us to the author’s picture of optimal nutrition: The Human Diet. This concept relies on four pillars that are essential to all traditional eating regimens.

The first is to eat meat cooked on the bone. This is not only tastier meat, it’s also more nourishing. When meat is cooked on the bone and with skin or ligaments attached, glycosaminoglycans are released.

Sprouting or fermenting your ingredients makes them more nutritious.

Lots of people today steer clear of wheat since it makes them feel poorly, but a simple switch to sprouted bread might clear up those issues. But what the heck is that?

Well, sprouting is an ancient technique that allowed humans to boost the nutritional content of their food. It’s a simple process wherein seeds or legumes are moistened over a few days to make them germinate.

The final pillar of the Human Diet: antioxidant-rich fresh plant foods.

Earlier you learned that there are two types of antioxidants: those that your body makes and those that you get from food. Now it’s time to learn about the foods that are loaded with the latter.

The good news is that lots of foods make this list, and you don’t need to buy fancy supplements or exotic berries to get all that antioxidant goodness. Many plant foods are already packed with antioxidants and are tasty to boot.

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What is Deep Nutrition about?

Deep Nutrition (2008) is about modern diets and how they’re making people sick. These blinks explain the danger of industrially produced food, what it’s doing to our bodies and how we can return to an earlier way of eating that will keep us healthier for years to come.

Deep Nutrition Review

Deep Nutrition (2017) is a fascinating exploration of the link between our diet and our overall health and well-being. Here's why this book is definitely worth reading:

Backed by scientific research and real-life examples, it helps readers understand the profound impact that nutrition has on our bodies.
The book provides practical tips and strategies for improving our eating habits, enabling us to make healthier choices and transform our lives.
With its engaging storytelling and unique perspectives on nutrition, the book is anything but boring, making it an enjoyable and informative read.

Best quote from Deep Nutrition

In 1830 the percentage of Americans who were 100 or older was 0.02 percent, in 1990 it was 0.015% percent. The expectations for today are 0.001 percent.

—Catherine Shanahan and Luke Shanahan

Who should read Deep Nutrition?

Couples who want to have kids
Sick people who can’t seem to get better
Health enthusiasts

About the Author

Catherine Shanahan, M.D is a certified family physician who has practiced medicine in Hawaii for over a decade after receiving her education at Cornell University and the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Luke Shanahan, Catherine’s co-author and husband, is a writer, lecturer and graduate of the University of Iowa’s prestigious Writers’ Workshop. His passion lies in literature, art and cooking.

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