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Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health Hardcover – May 14, 2024
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A bold new vision for optimizing our health now and in the future
What if depression, anxiety, infertility, insomnia, heart disease, erectile dysfunction, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, dementia, cancer and many other health conditions that torture and shorten our lives actually have the same root cause?
Our ability to prevent and reverse these conditions - and feel incredible today - is under our control and simpler than we think. The key is our metabolic function - the most important and least understood factor in our overall health. As Dr. Casey Means explains in this groundbreaking book, nearly every health problem we face can be explained by how well the cells in our body create and use energy. To live free from frustrating symptoms and life-threatening disease, we need our cells to be optimally powered so that they can create “good energy,” the essential fuel that impacts every aspect of our physical and mental wellbeing.
If you are battling minor signals of “bad energy” inside your body, it is often a warning sign that more life-threatening illness may emerge later in life. But here’s the good news: for the first time ever, we can monitor our metabolic health in great detail and learn how to improve it ourselves.
Weaving together cutting-edge research and personal stories, as well as groundbreaking data from the health technology company Dr. Means founded, Good Energy offers an essential four-week plan and explains:
- The five biomarkers that determine your risk for a deadly disease.
- How to use inexpensive tools and technology to “see inside your body” and take action.
- Why dietary philosophies are designed to confuse us, and six lifelong food principles you can implement whether you’re carnivore or vegan.
- The crucial links between sleep, circadian rhythm, and metabolism
- A new framework for exercise focused on building simple movement into everyday activities
- How cold and heat exposure helps build our body’s resilience
- Steps to navigate the medical system to get what you need for optimal health
Good Energy offers a new, cutting-edge understanding of the true cause of illness that until now has remained hidden. It will help you optimize your ability to live well and stay well at every age.
- Print length400 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAvery
- Publication dateMay 14, 2024
- Dimensions6.25 x 1.21 x 9.31 inches
- ISBN-100593712641
- ISBN-13978-0593712641
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- Disease isn’t some random occurrence that might happen in the future. It is a result of the choices you make and how you feel today.Highlighted by 2,665 Kindle readers
- Good Energy is also known as metabolic health. Metabolism refers to the set of cellular mechanisms that transform food into energy that can power every single cell in the body.Highlighted by 2,550 Kindle readers
- Our body has simple ways to show us whether we have brewing metabolic dysfunction: increasing waist size, suboptimal cholesterol levels, high fasting glucose, and elevated blood pressure.Highlighted by 2,176 Kindle readers
From the Publisher


Editorial Reviews
Review
- Mark Hyman, MD, 15x New York Times bestselling author and senior advisor for Cleveland Clinic for Functional Medicine
“Here are the keys to the kingdom for regaining and maintaining optimal health.”
- David Perlmutter, MD, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Grain Brain and Drop Acid
“Good Energy is a powerful vision for a brighter future—for both people and the planet. Dr. Means presents an empowering action plan for health of the mind, body, and spirit that everyone can benefit from.”
—Jay Shetty, #1 New York Times bestselling author and host of the On Purpose podcast
“Good Energy is a life-changing book full of accessible science and practical strategies for metabolically healthy living and blood sugar control. Dr. Means's book is unique in connecting the dots on diverse aspects of health from the cellular level to the spiritual, and from soil biodiversity to healthcare incentives. Readers will be inspired and empowered by her hopeful message on the key strategies and tools for how to thrive. People at all phases of life benefit from a metabolic framework to feel their best, and Casey paints a clear case for why, and how to achieve it."
- Sara Gottfried, MD, author of the New York Times bestselling The Hormone Cure
"In Good Energy, Dr. Means challenges the conventional dogma of healthcare and presents a compelling case for a metabolic-focused approach to longevity, health, and weight management. Good Energy is full of actionable steps to be mentally and physically strong, and revitalize your life.”
- Dr. Gabrielle Lyon author of the New York Times bestselling Forever Strong
“For too long we have created a 'health care' system that is really a 'sick care' system. Its outcomes are too often marginal in improving our overall and long term health. Improving the metabolic health of Americans is an urgent national security priority. We are in a health crisis in our military and our nation. The path prescribed herein optimizes our metabolic habits while modernizing our health system to fix the root causes. Brilliant, timely, and remarkably impactful. Read this book. Tell your friends.”
-Mike Mullen, Admiral USN (Ret.), 17th Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
“An empowering book which argues we have much more control over our health than we’re led to believe.”
- Max Lugavere, author of the New York Times bestselling Genius Foods
"Good Energy should be required reading for every medical student and healthcare practitioner. As a system and as individuals, we must adopt a metabolic, mitochondria-focused lens for health and vitality. Autoimmunity — along many other chronic illnesses — are closely tied to metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance. Foundational to better energy and health outcomes is getting metabolic health and blood sugar under control. Dr. Means shows readers how."
- Terry Wahls, MD, author of The Wahls Protocol
“Fitness and healthy food should be at the center of how we think about preventing and reversing disease and obesity — but they aren't. Good Energy explains why this is the case and provides readers tactical tips to take their power back. Calley and Casey Means are bold siblings on a mission who communicate timeless and accessible metabolic principles that anyone can implement."
- Jillian Michaels, fitness and nutrition expert and author
“Dr. Casey Means slid down the rabbit hole — malfunctioning mitochondria, dinosaur doctors, fake food, pharma failure, health harms, and political payoffs. Good Energy tells the story of a medical system run amuck, and yet how you can be the good you want to see in the world.”
- Robert H. Lustig, MD, author of Metabolical, and emeritus professor of pediatrics, UCSF
“In Good Energy, Casey and Calley Means powerfully explain how we can use metabolic health tools and strategies to support our own health and that of our children and families.”
- Kelly Leveque, nutritionist and author of Body Love
“In Good Energy, Dr. Means makes a bold case for why food — and particularly regenerative agriculture — must be at the very center of healthcare. She has emerged as one of the strongest physician voices teaching doctors and patients that we will never achieve optimal human health without optimal soil health and biodiversity — a message that the healthcare system would be wise to pay attention to. Dr. Means makes it clear that we can't drug our way out of a broken food system.”
- Will Harris, regenerative agriculture leader and owner of White Oak Pastures
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Separation defines modern medicine. Starting from my first year of medical education, I funneled from a broad perspective on the body to increasingly narrower and narrower ones. When I picked a premed major in college, I left the study of physics and chemistry behind to focus solely on biology. In med school, I memorized all the facts on human biology, no longer focusing on other biologic systems like plants and animals. As a resident, I was focused on performing surgeries on one specific area: the head and neck, and thought little about the rest of the body.
Had I completed five years of that training, I would have been eligible to zero in even further on a subspecialty within that specialty. I could have become a rhinologist (focused solely on the nose), a laryngologist (focused solely on the larynx), an otologist (focused solely on the three tiny bones of the inner ear, plus the cochlea and eardrum), or a specialist in head and neck cancer (among other options). The primary goal for my career would have been to become better and better at treating a smaller and smaller part of the body.
If I were really good at what I did, maybe the medical establishment would even name a disease of a body part after me, as they did for the dean of Stanford Medical School-a world-renowned otologist named Dr. Lloyd B. Minor, who focused his entire career on about three square inches of the body. In the condition named after him, Minor's syndrome, microscopic changes in the inner ear bones are thought to lead to various balance and otologic symptoms. Dean Minor represented a physician's ultimate model of success: stay focused on your specialty and climb the ladder. You also protect yourself that way: for the average clinician, staying in your lane ensures you don't incur liability for incorrectly treating something out of your scope of practice.
By my fifth year, I was the chief resident in otology, a subspecialty of head and neck surgery, focusing on those three square inches of the body around the ear that control hearing and balance. I frequently saw patients like Sarah, a thirty-six-year-old woman who visited the otology clinic gripped with intractable migraine, with attacks occurring more than ten times per month. Since dizziness and auditory symptoms can be a feature of this debilitating neurological condition, sufferers often find their way to this specialized department as they make their way through a labyrinth of providers. After a decade of bad migraine episodes, Sarah's world had shrunk dramatically in scope. As she was living on disability and largely housebound, her existence revolved around her condition. She was so light-sensitive that she always wore wraparound sunglasses and walked with a cane due to her inflammatory arthritis. A support dog always stood by her side.
Reviewing her hundred pages of faxed medical charts, I discovered she had seen eight medical specialists in the past year to address a larger cluster of persistent and painful symptoms. A neurologist had prescribed medications for her migraine attacks. A psychologist had prescribed a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) for her depression. A cardiologist had prescribed hypertension medication. A palliative care specialist had prescribed additional remedies for the unremitting pain throughout her joints. Despite all these interventions and medications, Sarah was still suffering.
Carefully paging through the documents, I felt stunned. What could I possibly offer this woman that she had not already tried?
As part of my routine migraine intake questions, I asked if she had had any success with trying a migraine elimination diet. She had not heard of it. That surprised me. Printed handouts on that very subject were readily available in our clinics to give to patients like her. But nutritional intervention hadn't registered as important enough for my colleagues to mention. Instead, she had been sent for testing, undergone expensive CT scans, and was prescribed psychoactive and other medications-one on top of the other. She visibly balked when I described the hopeful possibilities of a diet that would eliminate migraine trigger foods. If such a mundane thing as food could have helped, her body language suggested, the medical professionals would have told her long ago. She wanted to try another medication.
Sarah's case was not the first time I had encountered such a scenario. Patients often came in with stubborn cases of chronic disease, toting stacks of paperwork. But Sarah was cruelly young for this amount of suffering, and she'd bounced between so many different specialists so quickly that her case made the system failure especially upsetting. She was sick and getting sicker, living with not just one chronic illness but multiple ones. Unbeknownst to her, but evident to me, her life span was almost certainly shortening. She was frustrated with the care she'd received, yet she was still reliant on it-clinging to it, even.
I tried to hide my discomfort. How could I dole out another prescription without encouraging Sarah to try some simple strategies with significant data to back them up? My stomach churned at the knowledge that another prescription drug would not be the magic bullet that would radically change her life. She and I could go through the charade of engendering hope in a new medication, scheduling a follow-up six weeks out to see how it worked, and leaving our meeting feeling satisfied that we'd done the best we could. But at some level, we both knew a "medication deficiency" was not why Sarah had illness expressed throughout her entire body.
I could do what the other doctors entrusted with her care had done-and what I was explicitly expected to do: name the condition according to symptom-based criteria, rule out serious life-threatening issues, attach a prescription, input billing codes, and move on. That would be practicing respectable medicine. But Sarah, and the other complex cases like hers, made me want to work differently, to look upstream, and question why those symptoms might be there.
Peeling Back the Layers: What Causes Disease?
Invisible Inflammation: Everywhere, All at Once
When in doubt, always start by asking questions. And the obvious one in Sarah's case was the following: Were her different conditions so separate after all, or did something connect them that my colleagues and I couldn't see?
Looking through her labs, I noticed one of her inflammatory markers was high. I vaguely recalled learning in med school that this marker was high in conditions like diabetes and obesity. I noted that Sarah also had inflammatory arthritis. Chronic inflammation was at play here. So I asked another question: Could inflammation have a role in causing migraine? Surprisingly, a quick PubMed search offered over a thousand scientific papers connecting the two.
I knew well that inflammation refers to the swelling, heat, redness, pus, or pain created when immune cells rush to a site of injury or infection. All these symptoms are helpful: they indicate that a robust and coordinated defense is occurring to contain, resolve, and heal damaged or endangered tissue. The immune system is always looking for anything foreign, unwanted, or injurious and will jump to respond this way within seconds of detecting something wrong. After the problem is resolved, the immune system turns off the inflammation, and everything returns to normal. The heat, redness, swelling, and pain go away.
But Sarah's physical checkup and other lab markers were confounding. She had no injury, no overt infection I could see. Nothing was temporary about the phenomenon in this case. Her inflammatory response was switched on-and left on-to the point that it was causing collateral damage to her body. Why would the immune system stay so activated and remain in such a persistent state of alarm and defense-chronically inflamed-outside of acute situations, even to the extent of causing collateral damage to the body's tissues?
When I reflected on what I was treating as an ENT surgeon, something struck me: it was almost all inflammation. In medicine, the suffix -itis means inflammation, and our practice was made up of sinusitis, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, otitis, chondritis, thyroiditis, tracheitis, adenoiditis, rhinitis, epiglottitis, sialadenitis, parotitis, cellulitis, mastoiditis, osteomyelitis, vestibular neuritis, labyrinthitis, glossitis, and more. I was an inflammation physician, and I didn't even realize it! As an ENT, my job revolved around putting out inflammation wherever it appeared in the ear, nose, or throat. Often the process included using oral, nasal, intravenous, inhaled, and topical anti-inflammatory medications: Flonase spray, compounded steroid nasal irrigations, prednisone creams, IV Solu-Medrol, and inhaled nebulizers of steroids-all kinds of things to address the immune system getting so revved up in these bodies.
Suppose the medications failed, as was the case with my sinusitis patient Sophia. In that case, we might go to the next level in surgery: creating holes in a patient's body to reduce obstruction caused by inflammation and let inflammatory fluid drain. Sometimes we would intervene mechanically to force the anatomy out of the way of swelling. We might insert tubes through the eardrum to let fluid drain, drill through the skull bones to release trapped pus, or insert a balloon to enlarge an airway narrowed by chronic inflammation.
The medications and surgery would temporarily turn the inflammation off or minimize its effects-like subduing the invader with a tactical jujitsu move to the floor-but the tissues would often swell again or the pus would collect once more in whatever area was blocked. It wasn't in our job description as medical professionals to look for why inflammation kept returning.
But once I began peeling back the onion, the whys wouldn't stop. Why were the immune systems of my patients like Sophia and Sarah so chronically revved up? Why were cells that should be healthy sending out "fear" signals to recruit helper immune cells to come to their aid? I couldn't see or detect an obvious threat like a cut or an infection, nor could my patients. So why were these cells so frightened on the microscopic level?
I reflected on Sarah's labs and the inflammatory marker that I knew was strongly associated with chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, and autoimmune diseases. And suddenly it struck me. Could all her symptoms-not just those under my purview as an ENT-be driven by inflammation? Is one mechanism driving so many different disease states? Was every part of her body responding fearfully to the same invisible threats? From my point of view today, that truth seems utterly self-evident. Research has shown that chronic inflammation is a crucial instigator of all kinds of diseases and conditions outside of the ear, nose, and throat-from cancer and cardiovascular disease to autoimmune diseases to respiratory infections to gastrointestinal conditions to skin disorders to neurological disorders. Yet it was not part of the institutional medical culture to focus on those connections nor to go deeper to ask why all that inflammation is there.
Then I began to realize how much I knew. Ever since I had fulfilled my required histology coursework and gazed at hundreds of slides of human tissue and flesh under a microscope, I had been in awe of the nearly forty trillion cells that make up the human body. I felt awe at their complexity and tiny importance as life's very foundation and how all that we are is a collection of cells. They hold so much information inside. Each cell is a little universe of buzzing work and activity. And the result of all that activity, simply put, is our lives.
Our cells cannot talk or tell us what they fear. But incredibly, if we look from the perspective of the cell, the answers to the whys are there-complex, yes, but not nearly as baffling, complicated, or specialized as some might want us to believe.
After I left my position as a chief resident at OHSU, an opportunity for discovery opened before me. Free to fill the gaps my conventional education had left-and feeling infinitely healthier and more energized-I excitedly leaped into advanced training in nutritional biochemistry, cell biology, systems and network biology, and functional medicine, expanding and revolutionizing my understanding of health and disease. I got to know dozens of physicians who, like me, had exited prestigious institutions in pursuit of better medicine in the quest of learning to help patients actually heal rather than be managed. Reinspired and reinvigorated, I soon opened a small medical practice in the Pearl neighborhood of Portland, happily settling into a coworking space with sunny windows and many plants. I let a few friends and colleagues know I was doing something different: instead of offering sick care, I focused on generating health. Instead of managing diseases from the pinnacle of medicine as an esteemed surgeon, I would work to restore and maintain good health from the pyramid's base, via having deep conversations and creating personalized plans. Together, my patients and I would build the foundations of a solid and healthy body from the ground up. Word got out: my schedule was quickly full.
Many patients came to see me with clusters of chronic and intractable-seeming conditions like Sarah's and Sophia's. But this time, we started treating the problem from a different place: the foundational cellular level. I put the onus on giving the cells what they needed to do their jobs and removing what was blocking them, with a focus on nutritional changes, lifestyle changes, and overall cellular support. The results my patients achieved were different, too-often, transformative. Stubborn problems-weight gain, lousy sleep, unshakable pain, chronic conditions, high cholesterol, and even reproductive issues-began to resolve, sometimes in weeks, sometimes months. Inflammation began to disappear, never to return. Patients often reduced, and even eliminated, their medication regimen. Hope and optimism about what life could feel like returned in the dedicated people I was fortunate to help. Often, the results came from doing far less. They occurred from doing the opposite of what I had always learned, which was to add the next medication and add the next intervention.
I learned many things through practicing medicine in this new way. Not the least was that inflammation-which leads to disease, pain, and suffering-takes root because core dysfunctions occur inside our cells, impacting how they function, signal, and replicate themselves. Something became blatantly clear: if we truly want to restore general health in body and mind, we must look one layer deeper than the mechanism of inflammation alone and into the very center of the cells themselves.
Product details
- Publisher : Avery (May 14, 2024)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0593712641
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593712641
- Item Weight : 1.4 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.21 x 9.31 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Nutrition (Books)
- #2 in Longevity
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find this book incredibly informative, with great detail about the science and practical tips for healthier eating. Moreover, the book is written in easily understandable terms and analogies, making it a must-read for healthcare professionals. Additionally, they appreciate its motivational content and spiritual grounding, with one customer noting how it weaves personal experiences with system issues. However, customers disagree on the value for money, with some finding it worth the price while others consider it a waste of money.
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Customers find the book incredibly informative, providing great detail about the science and breaking down information effectively.
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Customers report feeling more energized after reading the book, with one noting it provides detailed solutions for feeding cells good energy.
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"...what we can do to change it, as well as provided a practical guide for creating good energy...." Read more
Customers find the book motivational, filled with passion and spiritual grounding.
"...I can confidently say that Good Energy by Dr. Casey Means is the most profound and transformative books on health I have ever read...." Read more
"Good Energy is a compelling and timely read that delves into the growing health crisis in the U.S., particularly related to metabolic syndrome and..." Read more
"This book was incredibly informative and still engaging...." Read more
"...say at some points it is a bit too sciencey and was hard for me to have the energy to understand. However she is a doctor so it makes sense...." Read more
Customers find the book's storyline inspiring and relatable, with one customer noting how it weaves personal experiences with system issues.
"...to break down complex concepts in a way that is both accessible and inspiring...." Read more
"...is so open about her experiences in medical school, gives so many real life examples, and best of all, provides actionable useful information for..." Read more
"...is tackling these issues on multiple fronts is both comforting and inspiring. Together, you are waking people up to the truth...." Read more
"...Casey's journey is inspiring and her joy is infectious...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the book's value, with some finding it worth the money while others consider it a complete waste of money.
"...Bottom line: this book is worth the time/money to invest in and will pay you back in spades!" Read more
"...In addition- many of her recommendations I consider to be impractical and just unaffordable (wearing only organic clothing?) for most patients." Read more
"...If you are serious about being healthy, this is totally worth the money no matter what Party affiliation you are...." Read more
"...These are the reasons the prices are so high with organic. It costs a lot to produce it. There is no way we can just switch over all at once...." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2025I have never recommended a book to anyone as much or as strongly as I recommend this one. It is the single best book you can read to finally own your health rather than continuing down the typical American path of chronic illness and feeling like garbage. This book explains the problem thoroughly, teaches you how to find out where you fall in the spectrum of the problem, and then how to correct the problem. As a midwife, I have helped several women I know learn their numbers and get on the right path. Personally, I lost 17 pounds in the 3-4 months after I read this book by implementing her program. Those were baby weight pounds I'd hung on to for over 10 years (and I'd given up on losing) and now they're finally gone with so little effort it's kinda ridiculous! I saw this book sitting on a table at a friend's house just yesterday and she said she had spent $300 to get a copy for every member of her family around Christmas. It's that good. It is written by a surgeon who left her career because she was tired of never truly fixing anybody -- she wanted to find out what was really going on with all the sickness in our society and she's nailed it down and explains it so well. Get this book NOW!
- Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2025As someone who has spent years studying health, nutrition, and longevity, I can confidently say that Good Energy by Dr. Casey Means is the most profound and transformative books on health I have ever read. This book is not just another wellness guide, it’s a paradigm shift in how we understand the root causes of disease, the power of metabolic health, and what it truly means to thrive. Even more so, her insight into regenerative agriculture, spirituality and environmentalism is profound.
Dr. Means masterfully weaves together cutting-edge science, ancestral wisdom, and practical strategies to help readers reclaim their health at the cellular level. Her insights on mitochondrial function, inflammation, and how our modern lifestyle is hijacking our well-being are eye-opening. Unlike many health books that focus on quick fixes, Good Energy provides a holistic framework for sustainable vitality, one that is empowering, deeply researched, and actionable.
What sets this book apart is Dr. Means' ability to break down complex concepts in a way that is both accessible and inspiring. She doesn't just tell you what to do, she explains why it matters, making it impossible to ignore the profound impact our daily choices have on our long-term health. Whether you're a seasoned health enthusiast or just starting your wellness journey, this book will change the way you think about food, movement, stress, and sleep.
I’ve read countless books on health, but Good Energy stands out as the best. It’s not just a book, it’s a blueprint for a life filled with energy, clarity, and true well-being. If you care about your health, this is a must-read.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2025Absolutely fabulous book. The authors are so incredibly knowledgeable. I saw them in several interviews and I was so impressed i decided to purchase their book. This bsister and brother duo and going to make a difference in people’s health if they read this book.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2025Good Energy is a compelling and timely read that delves into the growing health crisis in the U.S., particularly related to metabolic syndrome and the detrimental effects of industrialized foods. Dr. Casey Means does an excellent job of simplifying complex topics in human physiology and nutrition, making them accessible to a broad audience. She effectively links the rise of chronic health issues, like obesity and diabetes, to the widespread consumption of processed foods, particularly seed oils, refined carbohydrates, and low-nutrient "junk" foods.
One of the book’s most valuable contributions is its re-framing of metabolic syndrome, a condition affecting millions of Americans. By introducing the concept of "Good Energy," Dr. Means makes metabolic health more relatable and actionable, encouraging readers to rethink their relationship with food and energy. The book also provides practical tips for healthier eating, including recipes that demonstrate how to incorporate nutrient-dense foods into everyday meals, which can help readers make meaningful changes to their diet.
However, as informative and practical as the book is, its impact is slightly diluted in the final chapters. Dr. Means introduces speculative ideas about lifestyle changes—such as the use of psilocybin—which, while interesting, seem out of place in a book focused on tangible, evidence-based solutions. This shift toward unproven or controversial suggestions may detract from the book's primary message and could undermine its credibility for readers looking for concrete, sustainable advice.
Despite this, Good Energy remains an invaluable resource for anyone interested in improving their health through better nutrition. Its focus on metabolic health and the dangers of industrialized food systems is timely and important, making it a must-read for those seeking to understand—and address—the root causes of the ongoing health crisis in the U.S.
Top reviews from other countries
- Beatriz SismeiroReviewed in Spain on January 14, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Properly packaged and delivered.
I am so excited to read this book. I am 36 and still healthy. However, I wanted to open my mind to be the best version of myself. For those who are healthy now, you never know. Might as well educate yourself in advance to be able to prevent such diseases and how can we live a healthier and happy life. I believe this book will give valuable information towards it. Thank you for the fast delivery!
Beatriz SismeiroProperly packaged and delivered.
Reviewed in Spain on January 14, 2025
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- slim oneReviewed in Canada on September 18, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Help Your Health
Good Energy written by Casey Means offers a deep dive on the deteriorating of health of North Americans.
Means paints a picture of horrible health outcomes noting statistics like, “six out of ten adults are living with a chronic illness” and “Seventy-four percent of adults are overweight or have obesity.” Means notes that “preventable lifestyle conditions are responsible for 80 percent of modern human deaths.”
To Means what ails us isn’t a complicated mystery but a clear byproduct of lifestyle. Our choices have consequences. She notes that many of the health problems share a common element: metabolic dysfunction. Healthy metabolic function or what Means considers Good Energy is the goal for happy health. Means defines metabolism as “the set of cellular mechanisms that transform food into energy that can power every single cell in the body.”
Over the past 100 years, the types of foods we consume, quantities, and our living environments have changed dramatically, not for the better. Means points out that “we are consuming astronomically more sugar (i.e., up to 3,000 percent more liquid fructose), working in more sedentary jobs, and sleeping 25 percent less. We’re also exposed to over eighty thousand synthetic chemicals in our food, water, and air.” There are consequences to these exposures. Our metabolic markers are reflective of our health. “93 percent of Americans are in the danger zone on at least one key metabolic marker.” Means points out, “No animals in the wild suffer from widespread metabolic conditions, nor did humans as little as seventy-five years ago.”
We’re consuming 20 percent more calories and eating too many processed foods. The average adult now eats 70% of their calories from processed food. We’re missing numerous necessary nutrients and our metabolic function is compromised as a result. Coupled with increased calorie intake is our decreased activity. We eat more and do less. We get fatter and sicker as a result. Additionally, our lifestyles are also more stressful. This has hormonal impact which impacts our health.
The costs of making catastrophic choices is calamitous. Means notes, “more than 75 percent of deaths and 80 percent of costs are driven by obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other preventable and reversible metabolic conditions we have today.”
Means takes her readers on a detailed description of each of these areas highlighting what the consequences are to the body of negative choices.
Unfortunately, virtually all aspects of healthcare are incented to manage disease as opposed to promote health. Money is made by treating ailments not in having a healthy population. From medical schools to hospitals to insurance companies and pharmaceutical businesses, all benefit from managing disease as opposed to preventing it. Means writes, “Every institution that impacts your health makes more money when you are sick and less when you are healthy.”
Means suggests the solution lies in owning responsibility for our health. Know this NOCLYS: No One Cares Like You Should. Your health is yours. Don’t leave it to the hands of experts or professionals. Care enough to care about your own healthcare. Medical intervention is great for acute emergencies like broken bones. However, we can take greater ownership of “regular” healthcare. Means writes, “You are the primary person in charge of understanding your body.” This is easier now with technology. We can get real time information about what’s going on inside.
Means presents five accessible bio-markers we can seek to have tested by our doctors: blood sugar, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, blood pressure, and waist circumference. She provides values or targets for these bio-markers that are much “stricter” than what the medical industry considers normal.
Means writes of the importance of nutrition to our health. “What we put into our bodies is the most critical decision for our health and happiness.” Food is what drives everything inside of us. All of our bodily functions require energy. That energy comes from the nutrients we consume. Unfortunately, what most of us are consuming is not ideal. Our choices as to what to consume are compromising our health.
“Refined added sugar causes astronomically more deaths and disability per year than COVID-19 and fentanyl overdoses combined. We need to see refined added sugar for what it is: an addictive, dangerous drug that has been included in 74 percent of foods in the U.S. food system and for which the body needs zero grams in a lifetime.”
Amidst the backdrop of deteriorating health of the average person, Means offers an optimistic path forward. She suggests technology and knowledge is available to help us help ourselves. Seek to have the bio-markers she suggests measured by your physician and work to improve these to target levels Means sets out. Then patiently work to integrate more of her suggestions into your daily life. Means suggests monitoring food intake by keeping a food journal, setting nutritional goals like consuming 50 grams of fiber daily, adding fiber to each meal, eating more of daily calories earlier in the day, seeking to narrow the number of hours a day in which food is consumed down to a goal of ten, and to aim for a fifteen-minute walk after eating. She suggests three “rules” of nutrition: avoid refined sugars, refined grains, and seed oils. This narrows down food choices away from processed to natural foods.
Sleep, too, becomes a key factor supporting our health. Our sleep quantity and quality has been impaired over the years. We should be aiming to get seven to eight hours a night of quality sleep. Keeping our bedrooms dark, phones far away, and controlling temperature are all factors to assist the quantity and quality of sleep we enjoy.
Sleeping and eating better will provide a boost to our energy which can be further enhanced by making movement a part of our day. We’re moving much less than past generations. Means suggests more frequent bouts of exercise throughout the day are more valuable than one vigorous session. We don’t have to go full out to get benefits. Moderate activity works wonders. Moving for a minute or two here and five minutes there several times during the day adds up to material health. There is no right way to exercise. Anything that you’ll do regularly is ideal.
Beyond eating, sleeping, and exercising, avoiding chemicals becomes a goal. Chemicals from air, water, packaging, cosmetics, and other hygiene products can all contain things which we either know little about or are developing evidence that exposure over time leads to negative health consequences.
Reducing exposure to stress, too, will help our bodies. We become a byproduct of our inputs. The information we absorb has biological impact. Most news is negative and causes cortisol to swim around our bodies resulting in health consequences. Means writes, “A cell living in a body experiencing chronic fear is a cell that cannot fully thrive.” Technology can be addictive which fragments our attention and impacts our bodies as well.
Good Energy is a worthwhile read that will give you as much insight as you want to explore related to the threats to our health our modern world offers as well as a detailed and practical approach to taking responsibility for and regaining our personal health.
- poolieReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book
I’d read Metabolical by Dr Lustig (another brilliant book).
This has overlaps, and I hesitated because if that, but a friend who lectures on nutrition recommended it so I bought it. (And subsequently bought another as a gift for a friend).
It’s a great book for anyone wanting to get a lot healthier.
It doesn’t just tell you how to do it, but gives all the science behind the advice right down to cellular level. At the same time, it’s not a difficult read. It’s well explained and easy to follow. Dr Means also gives pertinent examples from her medical career and personal life.
Extremely well-researched, and is a positive life changer.
If you have kids you really must get this.
- Renata SantanaReviewed in Mexico on October 26, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars My mom loved it
" Excellent book "
- mpinter85Reviewed in France on June 11, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars A true gem!!
I wish everyone read this book....!