Recommendations
From practical introductions to the science behind low-carb eating, these are the books Paul considers genuinely worth reading.
Paul’s shortlist
Chris van Tulleken
The most important food book of the decade. Van Tulleken, a BBC doctor and UCL professor, explains exactly how ultra-processed food is engineered to override your appetite — and what it does to your body. Essential reading before you next pick up a packet with an ingredient list longer than a paragraph.
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Eric Westman & Amy Berger
Eric Westman has been running a low-carb clinical practice at Duke University for over 20 years. This is the clearest, most practical guide to understanding how much carbohydrate restriction you actually need — and why that varies from person to person. No dogma, just clinical experience distilled into readable form.
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Allen Carr
Allen Carr's method — originally developed for smoking cessation — applied to sugar addiction. Unlike willpower-based approaches, Carr's technique addresses the psychological trap of dependence directly. Surprisingly effective if you've ever found that knowing sugar is bad for you doesn't stop you wanting it.
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Gary Taubes
Taubes is the journalist who most rigorously challenged the scientific consensus on dietary fat and obesity. This book makes the evidence-based case for why ketogenic and low-carbohydrate diets work — drawing on decades of clinical research that never made it into mainstream dietary guidance.
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Dr Rangan Chatterjee
Dr Chatterjee, the BBC Doctor in the House presenter, lays out a practical 21-day programme built around blood sugar stability, sleep, movement, and stress reduction. The dietary component is explicitly low-carb and anti-inflammatory. An accessible starting point if you want a structured framework rather than abstract principles.
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