Eat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horse: How Food Fights Hijacked Our Health and the New Science of Exercise

(Hardback)

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There is no magic pill. There is no perfect diet.Could itbe that ourunderlyingassumptionthat what wereeating is making us fatand sickis just plain wrong

Toaddress the rapid rise of lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart disease,scientists have conducted a whopping 500,000 studies of dietand another 300,000 of obesity. Journalists have written close to 250 million newsarticles combinedabout these topics.

Yet nothing seems to halt the epidemic. Anastacia Marx de SalcedosEat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horselooks not just to data-driven science, but to animals and the natural world around us for a new approach.What she finds will transform the national debateabout the root causes of our most pervasive diseasesand offer hope of dramatically reducing the number who sufferno matter what theyeat.

It all began with her ownmedical miracleshe has multiple sclerosis but has discovered that daily exercise was key to keeping it from progressing.And now,new research backs up her own experience.This revelation promptedMarx de Salcedo toask what would happen if people with lifestyle illnesses put physicalactivityfrontand center in their daily lives

Eat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horse takes us on afascinating journey that weaves together true confessions, mad(ish) scientists,and beguilinganimal stories. Marx de Salcedo shows that we need to move beyondour current diet-focused model toanew, dynamic concept of metabolismas regulated by exercise. Suddenly theanswer to good health is almost embarrassingly simple. Dont worryabout what youeat. Worryabout howmuch you move.

Inafew years time,adhering toafinickyKeto, Paleo, low-carb, orany other special dietto stay healthy will beasantiquatedasusing Daffys ElixirorDr. BonkersCelebrated Egyptian Oilpopular medicines from the 1800sto cure disease.And justas the 19th-century health revolution was based onanew understandingthat the true cause of malaria,tuberculosis,and cholerawas microorganisms, so the coming 21st-century one will be based on our new understanding that exercise is the only wayto metabolic health.Fascinating and brilliant,Eat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horseis primed to usher inthat new era.

Reviews

Advance praise for Eat Like a Pig, Run like a Horse:
"The thesis of this book is sound: regular physical activity is more important for good health and longevity than your weight and diet. Marx de Salcedo denounces 'the false prophets of diet-focused health.'She constructs her case for exercise's crucial role in interviews with researchers and experts and briefly reviews relevant information on nutrition, metabolism, and aerobic fitness...As a population, we generally move much too little and eat too copiously, an unfortunate formula for developing chronic diseases and shortened lives. Regular exercise enhances physical and mental health. The benefits of simply moving your body are potentially life-changing." * Booklist *
We wouldnt eat the way we do, Anastacia Marx de Salcedo argues, if it werent for the Army. She has a fascinating tale to tellof technology and ingenuitybefore arriving at her doubts. The reader of Ms. Salcedos chronicle is likely to look at our daily fare with a fresh sense of appreciation. * The Wall Street Journal *
Arollicking, yet encyclopedic, look at the Army's role in everything from industrialized meats to energy bars." * VOX *
A well-researched effort that will undoubtedly add to general readers' knowledge about the food they consume on a daily basis. * Kirkus Reviews *
Ever wonder why you can buy frozen pizza that stays fresh for five-plus months Thank the U.S. military, which has outsize influence on the contents of our modern-day grocery carts, writes Anastacia Marx de Salcedo. * TIME *
An engaging, wide-ranging investigation * Discover Magazine *
Meticulous, exhaustive, andfair-minded. * PRI The World *
Insightful.

* Mother Jones *

Author Bio

Anastacia Marx de Salcedo is a nonfiction writer whose work has appeared inthe Atlantic, Salon,Slate, Vice, and on PBS and NPR blogs. She has worked as a public health consultant, news magazine publisher, and public policy researcher. She is the author ofCombat-Ready Kitchen: How the U.S. Military Shapes the Way You Eat, also published in Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese,and lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Visit AnastaciaMarxdeSalcedo.com.