The Perfect 10 Diet, by Dr. Michael Aziz, MD, is one of the most interesting books I have read on health and diet, recently.  You should know from the outset that I have some definite opinions about diet and health and they rarely follow guidelines set out by our government’s regulatory agencies.  My opinion is that if God created it for food, it is ultimately much more healthy than any man-made, chemically altered alternative.  Sugar substitutes have had multiple side effects on our family and at best, I am suspicious of artificial fats and chemically processed oils.  For about the last year or so, I have tried to avoid purchasing things that are labeled non-fat, low-fat or sugar-free unless we will be having guests I know are more comfortable with them.  (Do you have any idea how difficult it is to purchase full-fat yogurt at a traditional grocery store?  Who knew?)  : )  Something just didn’t make sense when I listened to what was being said about these products and then saw their results in my family and on the whole, in our nation.

I also believe that the term “organic” is thrown around very loosely in our country and that being certified by a government agency as “organic” does not make a product healthier, or for that matter, even organic.  The only true guarantee we have of obtaining organic food is to grow it ourselves or have personal knowledge of, and trusting relationships with, the people who are growing it for us.  I’m sure any of you that grew up on farms and in rural communities, as I did, understand that the best intentions of one farmer to grow organically can only be as good as the wind direction and drift of the pesticides sprayed on the farm field across the road from him.  No one knows how much pesticide or chemicals have leeched into the water table that are used to water so-called organic crops.  It simply is not verifiable.  We are all better off to rely on our own common sense, rather than reports from government agencies, food corporation research and private certifying groups.  I’m not advocating going off on some radical tangent, but I AM advocating doing some personal research.  As a perfect example, do any of you recall that just a handful of years ago, eggs were basically poison and we were all going to die from eating them? When science proved that “certified” claim to be patently false, it was no longer trumpeted, but neither was the mistake acknowledged or apologized for.

Dr. Aziz’s book is the first one I have seen that calls mainstream dietary ideas into question.  He brings the science to back up what I suspect many of us have intuitively understood for some time, now.  If low-fat, no-fat, sugar-free is better for us, why since their introduction into our diets have Americans progressively increased in weight until a frightening percentage of us are now obese – even our children?  Why have diseases like cancer and diabetes continued to be on the rise?  The American people aren’t actually as ignorant as mainstream media would have you believe.  Many of us may be misinformed and may have become too reliant on untrustworthy sources for our information.  What would be the driving force to mislead us?  Your guess is as good as mine, but at first glance, I would say, “Follow the money.”  The food industry is a multi-billion dollar business.  They have a lot at stake in making us “need” their products.

I also have a direct investment and interest in diet as it relates to health because of health issues in our own family.  My husband’s grandfather died of diabetes related illness, his mother was a diabetic, as are both his only siblings.  Eleven years ago, my cousin succumbed to the ravages that diabetes had railed against his body.  His sister, my cousin, who just sponsored the Crop for a Cause fundraiser for Juvenile Diabetes Research, is also a type one diabetic, as is her young nephew.  Several of my aunts and uncles are type two diabetics and our own daughter is insulin resistant (pre-diabetic) which has contributed to another disorder called PCOS.  I have a younger sister who was recently diagnosed with MS.  Needless to say, diet and what it does to harm or improve our health is of tremendous interest to me.  It is not enough for me to take the word of others any more about what will work.  I need to know why and how it will work; and I need the information to be reliable.  So, now that you know my own biases that could influence this review, I hope you will weigh all the information for yourself and look for the best healthy options for your family.

This book will run so contrary to what you have been told about diet and health, that you will find yourself shaking your head and asking, “Can it be true?”  I would encourage you to keep reading.  I honestly believe the health of a nation could turn on some of the information provided here.  While the primary focus of the book is to help people lose weight, I consider the primary value to be what it can do for our health.  Dr. Aziz explains in simple, laymen’s terms how many of today’s most popular diet programs and foods react in our body and affect ten key hormones.  These ten key hormones when out of balance can account for many of our modern day diseases.  (Did you know insulin is a hormone?  And did you know it can have a profound effect on not just your blood sugar, but other body systems as well?  I didn’t until I actively pursued information about my daughter’s illness.  Insulin is only one of the ten key hormones Dr. Aziz teaches about in this book.  The other nine are just as critical to your health.)  Eating in a way that re-balances these hormones  can have a major impact on your health and weight.  The book includes sample menus, recipes, testimonials and tons of research and science that can help us learn how our bodies work and why what we put in them can alter the way they function.

I don’t have all the answers.  I don’t believe the government or any one entity does either.  I do think we have to have the wisdom to sift through what’s available and utilize everything we find that common sense tells us is trustworthy.  God gave us the minds to discern and evaluate information and with His help we can find the answers we need.  I highly recommend The Perfect 10 Diet as one resource you consider as you make a healthy eating plan for your family.  As I stated previously, I would not agree with every point, but would never want to ignore the enormous amount of valuable information to be gleaned.

I received a complimentary copy of The Perfect 10 Diet from Sourcebooks.com.  No compensation was received for this review and the opinions are strictly my own.