A lot of us have been reading labels for a while, but now it has a whole new meaning. I finished this book last night and couldn't stop thinking about it this morning.

It's a fresh and fun read. A man's experiment is 30 days with zero UPF. Then, 30 days with 80% of calories being UPF. With metabolic tests and brain MRI at test points.

80% of calories from UPF is incredibly common. They lack grocery stores and cooking facilities and money itself. Now the fast food places have apps to reward free food when they purchase.

I've already seen a lot of screaming denial from people who do not have the deep understanding of food we have, those of us who have been working at our health. I saw a review claim the book "doesn't explain anything" but it couldn't be clearer.

A food can be constructed to have a similar nutrition profile, yet at the 80% UPF level a month of it had put enough weight on him. That had he kept eating that way for a year, he would have doubled his body weight. And you do want to know what only 30 days of this diet did to his brain.

A wild twist to this is how he lives in the UK, but has an identical twin living in the US. Who weighs more. The irony is how the way he ate, which kept the excess weight in check, was actually normal/good by our standards. Black coffee for breakfast, a sandwich, crips, and soda lunch, but then a cooked dinner for themselves and two small children. He always added a dessert, which is what he blamed for his excess, though stable, weight.

Most of the time. But being busy and relying on takeaway is also "normal." When it was all added up, his daily was UPF at a 30% of calories range.

I also found a great deal of perspective from reading this book, especially since many have been distressed by the spate of news claiming terrible things about artificial sweeteners. Forget that packet for the morning coffee, people, because it really does seem to be a case of just how much we want to confuse our bodies, and when.

The book concludes with a "why real food really is best" in a way that magnifies our own low carb experience. Remember that realization that so much of what we were eating wasn't food? Not food in a sense that our body could use, and poison in the sense that it was why were were suffering from its effects?

It turns out, we were right. More than we ever thought possible. Spoilers below... because it is a fun read. Go get this book and then give it to someone who needs to know.