cover image Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: A Pioneering Heart Surgeon's Simple but Revolutionary Program to Lose Weight, Reverse Disease and Restore Health

Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: A Pioneering Heart Surgeon's Simple but Revolutionary Program to Lose Weight, Reverse Disease and Restore Health

Steven R. Gundry, . . Crown, $24.95 (290pp) ISBN 978-0-307-35211-8

Thoracic surgeon Gundry has invented many devices now commonly used in heart surgeries. Here, he shows readers how to avoid such surgeries as well as obesity, high cholesterol and blood pressure levels, diabetes and even cancer by outsmarting a genetic code set for survival when food was scarce and physical activity strenuous. Our culture, technology and lifestyles may have changed, Gundry says, but our genes have not. The first part of his three-phase diet aims to break reliance on high-carb, sugar-laden foods. In phases two and three, readers can broaden their eating plans somewhat, but the emphasis is on nutrient-dense, calorie-sparse greens. Some may wince at the “Gundryisms” that pepper the text (“If it's white, keep it out of sight”; ”If it's beige, better behave“), but many will find them easy to remember. User-friendly exercise and meal plans, as well as recipes for some unusual foods (among them Chicken Under a Brick; Angelic Jungle Princess with Chicken, a Thai recipe adapted from a dish served at a restaurant on Oahu; and “pasta” dishes made with low-cal, high-fiber shirataki noodles) round out this surprising take on the epidemic of obesity-related diseases. (Mar.)