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

Marx de Salcedo (Combat-Ready Kitchen) is a food and science writer living with multiple sclerosis. While learning about her disease and weighing treatment options, she found that exercise helped prevent her flare-ups. Inspired, she went on to examine human metabolism and how exercise affects both humans and animals. Her book mixes conversations with friends, interviews with researchers, and bits of scientific data written conversationally. It concludes that exercise is, for many, the most important factor in maintaining health and preventing disease. Marx de Salcedo writes that MS has both metabolic and autoimmune components, and cites studies showing that physical activity and alcohol in moderation helped control MS and that people with high levels of LDL (“bad cholesterol”) and triglycerides had more MS attacks than those with high levels of HDL (“good cholesterol”). The book has footnotes and a bibliography and makes an important point about exercise, but its notion that diet is not important is problematic. Marx de Salcedo cites literature from reputable journals, but some is cherry-picked to support her stance.