Great book!

I read a book called "Ultra Metabolism" by Dr. Mark Hyman. The material was not new to me at all, many of the things I have blogged about. He also discusses the issues of chronic inflammation, stress, metabolic disorders, etc. I have been blogging about how I feel that many parents with children on the Autism Spectrum should look at themselves since many of the problems their children have, they do too! I have started taking some supplements that we have Matthew on. This book talks about many of them. So, if I were to refer a person looking to improve their own health, I would definitely suggest this book. It even has recipes to help get you started, and there is a whole seperate book of recipes that he has written as well. I got both books at the library but am thinking of buying them, that's how beneficial I think they are. I think many people have the same problems present in children with Autism, just not to the level where they have interfered with their development or manifests so strongly in their behavior. And, this book is not even focused on Autism! He has great advice about why we NEED fats in our diet, daily (YES, including dark chocolate, how can you NOT love a book like that). He talks a lot about this not being a diet but a lifestyle change. I got some great reminders out of it and yes, have even made some changes myself. This is not about deprivation, the fact is if you do not consume enough calories, your body goes into starvation mode which then means loss of muscle, then you go off of the "diet" because it doesn't work and you gain all the weight (and then some) in all fat. It is a cycle that so many are on. He states you need to eat at least enough to fuel your resting metabolic rate (RMR) which generally is your body weight times 10. So, if you weight 150, you need to at least consume 1500 calories. If you try and restrict your caloric intake to 1200 calories per day, you are actually doing yourself no good in the long term. As your weight goes down, so will your caloric need. But, it is about feeding your body the right stuff to spark that metabolic fire and addressing issues like mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation which all impede your metabolism. I loved this book, I agreed with what he said and it made so much sense!! And, from what I have learned about the body and all of these problems (inflammation, mito dysfunction, etc) it was great to see this presented to the general public, not just the Autism community. He talked about nuts, seeds and legumes that give us great fat and protein that our body recognizes, understands and can process. And, if you add into that soaking and dehydrating of nuts that I have recently shared, you get even MORE of a protein boost! I think adding in some raw food principles here work really well with his advice. Overall, 2 thumbs up!! Do yourself a favor and read his book!! You won't regret it.

Here's a link to his site http://www.ultrametabolism.com/