Review: Fat for Fuel by Joseph Mercola

I have been following Mercola’s blog for a number of years now and recently saw the release of his new book Fat for Fuel. Given I’ve been practicing the “Primal Blueprint” lifestyle for some time I wanted to read this book to understand Mercola’s perspective as well as learn about the latest trends and research.

What I liked about this book is it takes you through the aspects of nutrition and why certain foods impact you both positively and negatively. Yes you have probably read this in other health and wellness books however “Fat for Fuel” takes it to the next level; the Mitochondria. Mercola centres the book around Mitochondria Metabolic Therapy and how to integrate this in your lifestyle. This way you can benefit both in the short term and the long term.

“Fat for Fuel” can be a little technical at times however you are warned by the author in the beginning. Mercola does explain a lot of the concepts and terms, therefore if you do have a basic level knowledge of nutrition and how the body works you should be okay.

I would definitely recommend this book to those looking to de-toxify, get healthy, lose weight and perform the necessary maintenance our bodies need in this day and age!

Three key takeaways from the book:
1. The Warburg Effort: Mitochondria in cancer cells are dysfunctional and can’t use oxygen to burn fuel efficiently; they cannot metabolise fat. Therefore feeding ourselves on fat vs. carbohydrates can be a good approach for someone with cancer
2. You shouldn’t have more than 25 grams of protein in one meal as our body’s ability to effectively use these amino acids and put extra burden on our kidneys
3. Mercola isn’t an advocate of healthy people fasting more than 18 hours at a time. Note fasting is not starving yourself.