The Lie That Keeps You Sick — gold olive branch on black, by Luke McConachy
A new book by Luke McConachy

The Lie That
Keeps You Sick

The gluten-free trap, seed oils, and the processed food making you sick — and the way back out. 36 chapters across six parts.

Luke McConachyNutrition & health
Get the book → Kindle eBook · US$12.99 — priced in your local Amazon store
Not in the US? Australia · UK · Canada · India
Prefer to read a bit first?

The whole book in one idea

The front is marketing.
The back is the truth.

On the front
What they want you to read
✓Gluten-Free
✓Low-Fat
✓All Natural
✓No Added Sugar
✓Heart-Healthy
vs.
On the back
What's actually in it

water, maltodextrin, modified corn starch, soybean oil, glycerol, mono- and diglycerides, xanthan gum, dextrose, soy lecithin, natural flavour, citric acid, sodium phosphate, potassium sorbate, carrageenan, colour (171)…

Most of what's on the back didn't exist in the food supply fifty years ago. Your body has no idea what to do with it.

A real scan · 24 June

It looks like health.
Then Frank read the label.

We scanned a bottle of a best-selling electrolyte drink — "Most Popular," five stars, "low sugar," "natural." Here's the front of the packet versus what's actually in it.

What they sell you
Marketing photo for a best-selling electrolyte drink: athlete resting by a waterfall holding the bottle, 'Most Popular' badge
★★★★★ 5 Reviews Most Popular Low Sugar Natural Hydration 4 Key Electrolytes Vegan Caffeine Free No artificial sweeteners

Beautiful bottle. Waterfall. Athlete. Every box on the front of the packet, ticked.

What Frank found
· JUNK ·
Blueberry Electrolyte Drink (Low Calorie Formulated Beverage)
scan · 24 Jun
4/10

This is a flavoured electrolyte water sweetened with dextrose (sugar) plus natural sweeteners. Despite the 'low sugar' claim, it carries 11.5g of sugar per bottle — about 3 teaspoons. It's mostly water, sugar, some minerals and a few additives.

⚠ NOT RECOMMENDED
Macros
Carbs-dominant
Protein1%
Carbs97%
Fat2%
Ingredients
Purified Water✓ Clean
Just water — the base of the drink, fine.
Dextrose✕ Avoid
Pure glucose sugar and the second ingredient. This is why the bottle holds 11.5g of sugar despite the 'low sugar' marketing.
Electrolyte Blend (Potassium, Calcium, Sodium, Magnesium)✓ Clean
Genuine electrolytes — the one legitimate feature of this drink for hydration.
Citric Acid (Acidity Regulator)✓ Clean
Common acid regulator. Harmless in this quantity but can erode tooth enamel with frequent sipping.
Sodium Citrate (Acidity Regulator)✓ Clean
Buffering salt, well tolerated.
Natural Flavours! Caution
Vague catch-all term — could be derived from almost anything and isn't disclosed.
Erythritol! Caution
Sugar alcohol sweetener. Generally tolerated but can cause bloating; some emerging cardiovascular concerns at high intakes.
Steviol Glycosides (Reb A)! Caution
Stevia-based sweetener. Plant-derived but still a processed high-intensity sweetener.
Monk Fruit Juice Concentrate! Caution
Natural sweetener — relatively benign but still an intensity sweetener.
Preservative (202 - Potassium Sorbate)! Caution
Synthetic preservative. Generally regarded as safe but unnecessary in a whole-food diet.
Gardenia Extract✓ Clean
Natural colouring agent — relatively benign.
Vitamin C✓ Clean
Ascorbic acid — added antioxidant/vitamin, fine.
🐾 Frank's Take

Don't let the white-and-blue 'low sugar' bottle fool ya — the second ingredient is dextrose, which is straight-up glucose, giving you nearly 3 teaspoons of sugar a bottle. It's basically lightly salted sugar water with a sprinkle of minerals and a marketing degree. Real hydration is water plus a pinch of salt, mate.

⚠ Put it down — eat this instead
Plain water with a pinch of sea salt and a squeeze of lemon
Sparkling mineral water (naturally contains electrolytes)
Coconut water (unsweetened) for genuine potassium
Home
Scan
More

Same bottle, three seconds. Scroll the full scan ↓

Frank's take

“Don't let the white-and-blue 'low sugar' bottle fool ya — the second ingredient is dextrose, which is straight-up glucose, giving you nearly 3 teaspoons of sugar a bottle. It's basically lightly salted sugar water with a sprinkle of minerals and a marketing degree.”

11.5g

sugar per bottle — about 3 teaspoons. The front of the label says "low sugar."

97%

of its energy comes from carbohydrates. Protein 1%, fat 2%.

2nd

ingredient is dextrose — pure glucose. Right after water.

Marketing claims and nutrition figures are taken from the product's own published page. Scan and rating generated by Frank.

You've been doing everything right. Gluten-free. Low-fat. Natural. And you're still tired, inflamed, foggy, and heavier than you were five years ago.

Here's what nobody's telling you: the label on the front is marketing. The ingredients on the back are the truth — and most of what fills a modern supermarket didn't exist in the food supply fifty years ago. Your body has no idea what to do with it.

The Lie That Keeps You Sick pulls apart the gluten-free trap, the seed oils hiding in everything, and the processed food quietly breaking you down while everyone calls it normal. Then it does what most books like it never do — it lays down the way back: a complete fasting protocol with the real numbers, a full section on sleep, and the elimination diet that finds the exact foods breaking you.

36 chapters. Six parts. 52,000 words. No fads. No supplements to sell you. Nothing to buy from anyone but the truth.

The food industry won't tell you. This book does.

A stone pyramid cracking apart, gold light through the cracks
What it pulls apart

Three lies, taken apart.

A dark supermarket aisle
01

The gluten-free trap

Strip out the gluten and something has to hold it together. What goes back in — thickeners, gums, emulsifiers, synthetic additives — is often worse than what came out. "Free from" rarely means better for you.

02

Seed oils, everywhere

Industrial oils engineered for shelf life, not for your body — hiding in bread, sauces, snacks and "healthy" foods you'd never suspect. Once you know the names, you'll see them on every label.

03

Ultra-processed "normal"

Over 70% of a Western supermarket is ultra-processed — built to sell, not to nourish. It's quietly wearing you down day after day, and everyone's been taught to call it normal.

Then the way back

It doesn't stop at the problem. It rebuilds you.

Real food laid out on dark timber
04

The fast that resets

A complete fasting protocol with the real numbers — how much salt, how much water, what happens hour by hour. Not vibes, not a challenge. The exact protocol, laid out to follow.

05

Sleep, taken seriously

A full section on the pillar nobody sells — because half of what food is doing to you shows up in how you sleep, and half of fixing your food starts the night before.

06

The elimination diet

The clean way to find out which foods were breaking you — not a list off the internet. A simple protocol, done in weeks, that ends the guessing for good.

Why it matters

Tired. Foggy. Inflamed.
And everyone calls it normal.

Fatigue Brain fog Bloating Breakouts Headaches Poor sleep Joint pain Mood swings Inflammation Stubborn weight

These aren't random, and they're not just you getting older. In most cases, it's what you're eating — and nobody's telling you.

A gold anatomical torso in the dark
The evidence

This isn't a hunch.

70%

of products in the average Western supermarket are ultra-processed — built on additives that didn't exist in the food supply 50 years ago.

32

adverse health outcomes linked to ultra-processed food — from heart disease to depression and anxiety.2024 systematic review, The BMJ

500

extra calories a day eaten on an ultra-processed diet versus whole food — even with unlimited access to both.Cell Metabolism

Who it's for

If this sounds like you, keep reading.

✓You eat "healthy" — and you're still tired, foggy, and inflamed.
✓You read the front of the packet and trust what it tells you.
✓Your bloodwork came back "normal" — but you don't feel normal.
✓You're done with fad diets and just want to understand what's actually happening to your body.
What you'll take away

Read it once. Shop differently forever.

→How to read an ingredient list in ten seconds and know if it's food or a product.
→The names seed oils hide behind — and the everyday foods they're lurking in.
→Why "gluten-free," "low-fat," and "natural" so often mean the opposite.
→The handful of additives actually worth avoiding — and the noise you can ignore.
→What to put back on your plate. Simple, not extreme. Nothing to buy from anyone.
→The complete fasting protocol — with the real salt and water numbers, hour by hour.
→How to actually fix your sleep — the pillar nobody profits from telling you about.
→The elimination diet: find the exact foods that were the problem, in weeks, for good.

The food industry won't tell you. This book does.

Get the book →
A man on his knees, laying a floor
About the author

Luke McConachy

I'm not a doctor, a dietitian, or anyone you've seen on TV. I'm someone who stopped trusting the labels, the headlines, and the experts paid to keep us confused — and went looking for the truth myself.

I watched people I love get sick from food sold to them as healthy, while an industry profited from it. I got tired of waiting for someone official to say it out loud — so I'm saying it myself, straight, with nothing to sell you but the truth.

I'm clawing my way out of where I started, and I intend to take everyone I can with me. This book is where it begins. So is Frank — a health and life companion built to help people see through the cycles keeping them sick, stuck, and sold to.

— Luke McConachy

Where to get it

Get your copy

US$12.99 on Kindle, priced in your local Amazon store. It lands in your library the moment you buy — read it on a Kindle, or in the free Kindle app on any phone or tablet. 36 chapters, six parts — the whole argument and the whole way back, for the price of a coffee.

The Lie That Keeps You Sick — the book
Get it on Amazon Kindle →
Not in the US? Australia · UK · Canada · India
Before you ask

Straight answers.

Is this another fad diet?

No. There's no plan to follow, no foods you have to buy, and nothing to give up on a timer. It's about understanding what's actually in your food so you can make your own call — no fads, no supplements to sell you.

Do I have to give everything up?

No. The goal isn't restriction — it's clarity. Once you can read a label honestly, you decide what's worth it. Most people change more than they expected, simply because they finally know what they're looking at.

Is it actually backed by science?

Yes. The book draws on peer-reviewed research — including work published in The BMJ and Cell Metabolism — and lays it out in plain English, without the jargon or the hype.

I'm not a "health person." Is this for me?

Especially for you. It's written for people who are tired of feeling off and tired of being told it's normal — not for nutritionists. If you can read a packet, you can read this.

How does this relate to Frank?

Frank is the app — a health and life companion that reads your food labels and tells you the truth about what's inside. This book is the same mission in print. You don't need one to get value from the other.

An archway opening onto gold light
Read it before you buy

Start with the first chapter — free.

Drop your email and we'll open chapter one right now — the gluten-free trap, in full. No spam, just the chapter.

Part of something bigger

Support the build

I'm building Frank — a health and life companion that tells the truth about what you put in your body, with nothing sold to you and nothing taken from you. No data selling. No engagement traps. No percentage cuts. If you want to be part of what's coming, you can support the build directly. Every dollar goes straight to the build. Completely optional — give what feels right.

Support the build
The Lie That Keeps You Sick
Get the book →
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