Fat for Fuel: A Revolutionary Diet to Combat Cancer, Boost Brain Power, and Increase Your Energy

This is the first book that I've bought that Dr. Mercola has authored. I have to say that I'm going to have to buy more of Dr. Mercola's books. I'm glad that I preordered this book because I've had one of those conversations with my doctor about my chances of having cancer. Its not fun. For the first time in your life you will go around with the thought that what you are doing and what you are seeing may be the last things you do and see on this good ole earth. You think about how life will simply go on without you around. People will have to get used to not seeing your smiling face any more. Good Lord it can put you in a heavy place. After all, your doctor went to school to know his stuff. You didn't.Then along comes a book like this, that says you might be more in charge of your destiny than you know. You might be able to change your diet and take control of your health in a way that maybe a doctor is not able to do for you with the tool set they learned in the school they attended.This book literally gives you a tool set to tackle your health situation and try to take charge of it and maybe even turn it around.I've followed Dr. Mercola's web site and email messages for years. I can tell you that Dr. Mercola has literally dedicated his life to discovering ways that people can take charge of their health with diet, nutrition, and other natural means. I felt that he was one the best sources of the latest cutting edge information on food and nutrition that I could find. I found how to take Vitamin D3 to cut down on the number of common colds or respiratory issues I might have. I just don't get sick as often as I used to now that I take a good amount of D3 every day. I plan to start getting more D3 from direct sunlight also.I want to say this book is Dr. Mercola's master piece. But having not read any of his other works I'm just not in a position to make that judgement.What I can say is that this corroborates the findings that other doctors (like Dr. Steven Masley with his book "Smart Fats", or Dr. Sinatra with his book 8 weeks to get off Blood Pressure Medicine) are making in regards to health, aging, and our diet. Fat (good quality fat) it turns out is really good for you.I've literally observed the effects of avoiding fat with my good friend's father. My friend's father was a 26 mile marathon record holder for the age 65 and older class. At 75 years of age this man could run a 10K in less than 48 minutes. And he completely bought into the avoid fat at all costs craze that has been preached to us for decades. I remembered he cooked his own granola bars in an oven to avoid getting any fat from them. He ended up living well into his 80's but not without developing full blown dementia. It was so sad for me to watch. I wish I could go back into time and help him. You might say it was his genes that caused this but I believe because of what I knew personally about him that it was the lack of fat in his diet.I'm writing this book review before completely finishing reading the book. What I've learned already from what I've read has convinced me that this is a must read for everybody that is concerned about their health.Not everybody is going to be able to follow this. I'm going to try to follow what Dr. Mercola prescribes but I have no idea how well it will work for me. At least it is something that I can do to make an attempt to take control of my own health instead of relying on my general practice physician to apply the blunt instruments of pharmaceuticals with all of their myriad of side effects or an oncologist with their harsh instruments of surgery, radiation, and toxic chemotherapy. Also, I have the motivation of fear pushing me on. I hope nobody reading this has that as their motivation.I'm not in a position to objectively critique what is in this book. I haven't searched out any professional critiques of this work. I'm sure there are going to be dissenting opinions out there about whats in this book. After all, it goes against a lot of mainstream advice even to this day.What I can do, is give this a try myself with the supervision of my family practice doctor of course, and see if it works for me.Wouldn't it be great to be able to keep yourself healthy without having to take medication or at least minimize the amount of medication that you need? After dealing with the side effects of pharmaceuticals for 12 years, I think it would. Maybe I'll have a positive experience to report a few months from now. Or maybe, I'll be so busy living my life after conquering my demons, I won't have any time to follow up with this review. Only time will tell. Good luck to anyone reading this facing demons of their own. God be with you.

I am still reading the book. I decided to start my MMT/Keto diet immediately upon receipt of the book. As I need to lose a lot of weight, and have failed many,many, many times before, I wanted to jump right in and not stall. I have also been considering surgery, but really want to beat this beast without surgery.I'm about 8 days on a plan of 1600-2000 calories, less than 40-50 net carbs, protein at around 100 grams (calculated using his formula in the book) and the rest of calories from fat.It's amazing how well my body has reacted to this program. I have done low carb in the past and experienced good short term results but this feels different. First, I'm in ketosis--moderate ketosis (4). I purchased the ketosis test sticks on amazon (about $10) and on about my 6th day it was a medium color purple. I lost 11 lbs in my first 7 days. That's obviously really good (I don't care if its water weight--it is 11 lbs less i'm hauling around), but what is more satisfying is how hunger and cravings go away. As I'm probably a food addict, I'm never really hungry. Having the cravings shut down is absolutely what I need. I think what helped me get into moderate ketosis is that I cut out all added sugar immediately and all flour. My goal is net 40 grams of carbs, but I'm probably closer to 30grams (I track everything on an online app). I'm amazed that I'm just not craving food. HABITS is what I'm left to fight. However, without hunger/cravings, it is a lot easier to correct the bad habits that I've had for decades. I'm also doing Peak Fasting discussed in the book. It is a modified approach as I fast from 7:30PM to 9AM during the weekday of my first week, and 7:30PM to 1PM on the weekends. I'm amazed that I'm not hungry. I do have a cup of coffee with 1/2 tbsp of MCT oil each morning so perhaps it is not a 100% fast. However, it hasn't taken me out of ketosis and I keep losing weight (appox .5 to 1.5 a day). Of course that won't last forever but I'm riding that train as long as it last.My diet has consisted mainly of the following (prepared varioius ways for different meals) eggs, avocado,berries, hemp protein powder, olives, olive oil, mct oil, beef/chicken/fish, macadamia nuts, pumpkin/sunflower seeds riced cauliflower/broccoli, kale/spinach, onions and garlic and spices. Olives (Davina Organic Pitted Green Olives) have been a great snack for me (staisfying, low carb, and good fat).Again, I'm just starting out. I hope to update this review as I succeed. Meantime, the book has been great. Lots of information. Good science. Easy to read.6/15..Just a quick update. The Intermittant Fasting is fantastic. I do an 18 hr fast each day (6pm-Noon) and eating as recommended in the book makes it easy. Weight loss in less than a month is 26. No cravings, no hunger, energized and feeling motivated. Still forming the habit/life style, but it has been pretty easy.