The Cheese Trap: How Breaking a Surprising Addiction Will Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Get Healthy

Written in the usual jaunty style American medical books seem to use nowadays with stories of Martha or Bob to illustrate a point, how life came good for them when they gave up eating such and such. I’m intelligent, I don’t need things explained to me in this way, but then my background is in food and nutrition and has been for over 40 years. However, lest you think the book is no good, you would be wrong; quite the reverse, I have opened in a negative manner because the style irritates me personally, but it’s great for those who know nothing about food, health and nutrition. The book explains everything in an easy to read and understand form; this is what is required to educate the public in general. The book is actually packed with information, well backed up and presented in an accessible manner for the average person who knows little about dairy & how potentially their body may be affected by it. It’s a great informative read for the masses and one you should use to educate yourself about dairy and cheese. Breast cancer, prostate cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes, allergies, osteoporosis & the relationship between dairy and these diseases is covered well. Milk is designed to make a baby calf into a heavyweight beast in no short time; we, on the other hand, do not require milk from some other animal that has no connection with the human body, to fatten us up fast. Times are changing, and I marvel at the variety of plant milks available at the supermarket nowadays, it was not so 20 years ago when I gave up milk. Demand has clearly sparked these plant-based milks appearance. People are at last taking note that milk and dairy are not good for us humans. Cheese, in particular, being concentred milk (and milk proteins) with lots of added salt is a no, no. No revolting detail is left out of the cheese making process, it’s certainly more colourful than the usual “how cheese is made” story with people wearing white coats and hair nets, all la dee daa nice country cheese making story. Your cheese addiction may be rather flagging by the books end. I highly recommend the book if you would like to take control of your own body and want to know why you should avoid dairy. There are some hard to swallow parts regarding the treatment of dairy cattle and goats, otherwise nothing too ghastly, other than what is in your cheese. I am currently taking the online Rouxbe.com Professional Plant Based Certification Course, organised by Chad Sarno. You’ll see Chad mentioned in the book and how diet adversely affected his body in his youth before he went plant-based. There are some good plant-based recipes - Nacho Dip, Luscious Fettuccine Alfredo, Spinach-Sweet Potato Lasagne, So-Simple Lentil Pasta Sauce - at the end of the book too, which will help fill the void cheese can leave. If you still have not heard about the China Study book, you should read that too, it will change your outlook on food forever.

Good book, gave a friend and will buy one for me too! Many good facts and it's a must buy not just to vegans.. I highly recommend

With so much affluent driven disease in the western world this book is a must read for anyone who wants to try and reduce their risk.

I bought this as a challenge to myself, when I joked with a friend online that I couldn't give up cheese & he sent me the link. Well, having read it I am seriously considering it... or at least considering cutting right back on it. I don't generally follow the American pattern of eating pizza or the UK Velveeta equivalents (Dairylea? Babybel?) but I am fond of cambazola and chaource as well as cheddar. I also know that a lot of milk upsets my stomach. Barnard has produced a very readable book which seems to present evidence that cheese is a villain in a yellowy, smelly disguise. He's honest about inconclusive findings, but argues that there is more evidence than not that cheese, and dairy products in general, are bad for us, and it's convincing. Where I'm less sure is his reiterated argument that milk 'must' be bad for us because it's produced to nourish a calf and therefore too rich. Well ok, but strawberries aren't produced to satisfy human hunger either and on the whole they don't tend to kill us. I think there's enough data about what is actually in milk, and especially in the man-made product of cheese, to argue his case without any additional surmising. I buy the trace-of-opiate argument too, since nature is generally very well designed and all infant milk is a must for any species. Barnard covers all bases with the animal welfare, or lack thereof, that goes into producing our alternative desserts and sandwich toppings, too. In a word, it's cruel. However, I am perturbed by the thought that if people don't want diary products, how many cows and goats, and to an extent sheep, will we have left? I usually have trouble with health books, because this year's fad is next year's discredited theory, and I don't have enough science to be sure of my own conclusions, but given the strength of his main arguments above, as well as the ethical ones around the environment (we grow a huge acreage of feed for livestock that we could use for human crops, and cows produce methane that is a major cause of climate change) I would say if you have health problems and/or worry about your weight, it is worth trying to cut out meat and dairy for a couple of months to see how you feel, albeit with a doctor's say-so. There are lots of case-studies to read and compare here.

Livre bien documenté et agréable à lire. A recommander à toute personne souhaitant ne plus manger de fromage pour raisons éthiques ou de santé.

After reading this I decided not to eat cheese ever again. Didn’t last long though. However if you’re stronger than me this book will put you off for life. I’m off to eat some Brie.

It was accessible science. Fascinating how such a common food can be so addictive. It reaffirmed my commitment to shunning all dairy, as I have for years.

This book is the bible of all things dairy-free living. If you'd like to know more about how certain industries work and manipulate us to consume of their products - all under the umbrella of health while not at all caring about our health - this is YOUR book!

I really enjoyed reading this brilliant book by Dr. Barnard, it's very interesting and informative but never boring. The writing style is funny, not preachy at all. I think everybody should check out this book!