Pizza, pasta, hamburgers, sushi, tacos, and french fries . . .
whether our ancestors were born in Madrid, Malaysia, or Mexico, chances
are our daily food choices come from all around the globe.
Unfortunately, we have taken some of the worst aspects of our varied
ancestral menus to turn healthy cuisine into not-so-healthy junk food.
Where did we go wrong?
Why is it that non-Western immigrants
are so much more susceptible to diabetes and other diet-related chronic
diseases than white Americans? How is it possible that relatively poor
native populations in Mexico and Africa have such low levels of the
chronic diseases that plague the United States? What is the secret
behind the extremely low rate of clinical depression in Iceland—a
country where dreary weather is the norm? The Jungle Effect has the life-changing answers to these important questions, and many more.
Dr. Daphne Miller undertook a worldwide quest to find diets that are
both delicious and healthy. Written in a style reminiscent of Michael
Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver, this book is filled with inspiring
stories from Dr. Miller's patients, quirky travel adventures,
interviews with world-renowned food experts, delicious (yet authentic)
indigenous recipes, and valuable diet secrets that will stick with you
for a lifetime.
Whether it's the heart-healthy Cretan diet,
with its reliance on olive oil and fresh vegetables; the antidepression
Icelandic diet and its extremely high levels of Omega 3s; the
age-defying Okinawa diet and its emphasis on vegetables and fish; or
the other diets explored herein, everyone who reads this book will come
away with the secrets of a longer, healthier life and the recipes
necessary to put those secrets into effect.
