Book Review: “Good Energy”
Good Energy: The Surprising Connection between Metabolism and Limitless Health is a book that was published this May 14, 2024. At the time of this writing, it is number 5 on the NYT best sellers list for Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous Books and it’s in its 31st week on the list. I first heard about the book via a Facebook group book and Dr. Casey Mean’s podcast interview with Tucker Carlson.
Secondarily, I’ve had multiple clients recently who have read the book or expressed interest in reading the book.
Based on this, I thought that reading the book and crafting a thoughtful book review would be of benefit to those who are interested in reading it in the future or generally curious on what my thoughts/take on the book are as a Registered Dietitian/Nutrition professional.
The book, not suprisingly, is all about how to build “Good Energy” and improve your health; Dr. Means also reviews what produces “Bad Energy” and how to avoid the causes of “Bad Energy.” Dr. Means argues that we are set up in an environment in American/Western culture that encourages producing “Bad Energy” and to adopt everyday “Good Energy” health habits is quite counter cultural.
Dr. Means discusses strategies to encourage “Good Energy” in your body, this is primarily via what you eat, but also focuses on tracking your health with labs and fitness wearables, healthy movement/exercise, enough sleep, light, elimination of environmental toxins and decreased stress levels.
Eating: The basis of her eating pattern is to focus on a diet with real, whole, unprocessed foods: wild fish, game meats, farm produced meats raised on a primarily plant based diet and produce raised with organic and/or regenerative farming practices are at the center of her eating plan.
Dr. Means’ “Good Energy” meals come from the following food categories: foods rich in micronutrients/antioxidants, fiber, protein, omega-3 fats and fermented foods. Grains are left out of her suggested eating plan on account of not being nutrient dense enough.
What I loved about the book:
No nonsense eating plan to focus on unprocessed food and focusing on locally produced foods as able.
Emphasis on added importance of managed stress, exercise and adequate sleep as all being part of the picture to promoting good health.
Generally, the book seems supported with researched, although I did find it annoying that you are directed to her website for the bibliography. Having a bibliography online is great because it can be updated as new supporting research comes out, but it also felt a bit like a funnel/sales tactic to get me to go to her website.
Dr. Means focuses on first adopting healthy habits before splitting hairs over the exact “how.” When it comes to diet, she talks about working on adopting a diet filled with her food categories THEN doing a deeper dive (if needed) into more specifics such as the exact micronutrient distribution you should be adhering to. She suggests doing blood work and using wearables to get curious about your own body and individual needs.
Dr. Means takes the same approach to exercise. She talks about how we have the most gyms per capita but are still getting heavier and sicker. She also talks about how we’re far more sedentary on the whole than we were 100+ years ago and how that is a large part of the problem. She talks about adding more movement to your work day. Again, she talks about adopting healthy movement habits before splitting hairs on the “what.” She talks about how whole podcasts are dedicated to deep level nitty gritty of exercise, when the reality is most of us don’t spend enough time moving. She discusses that regular movement is important and movement to build/maintain muscle mass is important (especially for those over 35). She discusses that choosing the exercise you enjoy and can stay consistent with is the most important thing.
Dr. Means spends time discussing the natural world and finding awe in its paradox between being so simple and complex. From food being something so seemingly simple, but actually packed with complex cells and microorganisms that are the building blocks to what give us life and nourishment throughout our daily lives.
What I didn’t love so much about the book:
The thing that bothered me most about the book was that “Good Energy” and “Bad Energy” are capatalized throughout the book and it seems like they’re being given the status of being a god and demon at times. Overall this book has a spiritual theme to it, I’m not totally clear on what the object of what Dr. Means faith and spirituality is, but I am quite certain we would disagree. This quote most describes her theology:
“Modern life is an assault on our mitochondria, which means it’s an assault on our ancestors and our mothers, an assault on the creative, generative force of the feminine in all of us, an assault on our animating life force. It’s an assault on the miraculous flow of cosmic energy from the sun, through the soil and plants, through bacteria in my gut, through my cells’ mitochondria to create the energy that sparks my consciousness and the statistical near impossibility of me.”
To me, the truths of the improbability of life as we perceive it today points to The divine creator of life (God), that we aren’t here on accident. To Dr. Means the improbabilities of life seem to point to a divine femininity and worship of nature and woman? We aren’t all going to agree on matters of spirituality and God and in the context of this book, that’s ok. However, the book just isn’t purely about research and healthy habits, it’s also about Dr. Means’ personal belief system which is in the forefront at times. Ultimately, your spirituality is up to your own convictions, not Dr. Means.
Part of the book did tend to feel a bit like a sales tactic for Dr. Means company she co-founded, Levels, or for the company her brother co-founded TrueMed. Once you get to page 100, Dr. Means dedicates 6 pages to continuous glucose monitoring, why it’s helpful even for those who aren’t diabetic and it felt like a direct sales plug for her company. Levels is a Med-Tech company that specializes in CGMs for everyone. I believe a CGM may be helpful for some, but not for others. Getting into this deep of a level of how food affects your blood sugar for a non-diabetic can be really helpful for some, but also anxiety inducing for others.
The one month plan to good energy is maybe a good place to start, but the recommendations in this book are comprehensive, would take an extremely long time to fully implement and are generally would be very expensive to implement. To be fair, Dr. Means does state: “the goal of this plan isn’t to commit to all habits all at once; it is to instill a mindset shift and embark on a path of curiosity that is sustainable.”
I didn’t find many of the recipes to be practical beginner recipes, many of the recipes had strange ingredients you probably don’t have in your pantry at current or would even be able to find in a local grocery store.
Overall, I found Good Energy to be an interesting and comprehensive book. I would recommend it with caution to those who are interested in a comprehensive health plan, but have reservations as laid out above.
If you’re looking for a book that has practical recipes along with a well researched eating plan, I find myself going back to the books “Always Hungry” and “Always Delicious” both by Dr. David Ludwig. Reviews on those books coming soon….
