The Big Fat Surprise Audiobook By Nina Teicholz cover art

The Big Fat Surprise

Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet

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The Big Fat Surprise

By: Nina Teicholz
Narrated by: Erin Bennett
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About this listen

A New York Times bestseller
Named one of
The Economist’s Books of the Year 2014
Named one of
The Wall Street Journal’s Top Ten Best Nonfiction Books of 2014
Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Books of 2014
Forbes’s Most Memorable Healthcare Book of 2014

In
The Big Fat Surprise, investigative journalist Nina Teicholz reveals the unthinkable: that everything we thought we knew about dietary fat is wrong. She documents how the low-fat nutrition advice of the past sixty years has amounted to a vast uncontrolled experiment on the entire population, with disastrous consequences for our health. Dish up the red meat, eggs, and whole milk!

For decades, Americans have cut back on red meat and dairy products full of “bad” saturated fats. We obediently complied with nutritional guidelines to eat “heart healthy” fats found in olive oil, fish, and nuts, and followed a Mediterranean diet heavy on fruits, vegetables, and grains. Yet the nation’s health has declined. What is going on?

In The Big Fat Surprise, Teicholz reveals how sixty years of nutrition science has gotten it so wrong: how overzealous researchers have made basic scientific mistakes that, through a mix of ego and bias, allow dangerous misrepresentations to become dogma, and how scientists who dared oppose this consensus have been ostracized. For eight years, Teicholz has pored over the massive research literature and interviewed hundreds of leading experts to unravel the shockingly distorted claims of nutrition studies. She brings these researchers to life and shows how their ambitions, loyalties, and rivalries have undermined a field of research already full of difficult pitfalls.

With a lively narrative style akin to Michael Pollan’s in The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the scientific rigor of Gary Taubes in Good Calories, Bad Calories, Teicholz convincingly upends the conventional wisdom about all fats. Her groundbreaking claim is that more dietary fat leads to better health, wellness, and fitness. Science shows that reducing the saturated fat in our diets has been disastrous for our health as a nation, and we can, guilt-free, welcome these “whole fats” back into our lives.

©2014 Nina Teicholz (P)2014 Blackstone Audiobooks
Anatomy & Physiology Diets, Nutrition & Healthy Eating Popular Culture Inspiring
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What listeners say about The Big Fat Surprise

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Most accessible book on the most screwed up field.

I've read a lot of books on nutrition, having dealt with weight problems my entire life. It wasn't until I started learning the actual science of nutrition that I was able to lose weight, keep it off, and become healthy. There are a handful of books I would recommend as starting places for others who want to follow that path, and, at the top of the list, is The Big Fat Surprise.

Understanding why we are so healthy requires a 50 year dive into history as scientists decided how they thought the world was, stretched the numbers in their experiments to make it look like they were right, then used political persuasion to push those beliefs in an experiment on hundreds of millions of people. The low fat diet, so beloved by dietitians and nutritionists everywhere, was NEVER tested in a controlled fashion before being dumped on the American people, and, with half of the country obese, the results speak for themselves.

Erin Bennett does a great job narrating, keeping the material fresh and interesting throughout. Reading this book is much like peeking behind the Wizard's curtain, and, once you do, you can never look at nutrition the same again.

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42 people found this helpful

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2 reasons this is a must read!

Like many MDs across the country I have been astounded at the research that is invalidating the low fat diet dictum that has been embraced for so long. Ms Teicholz' book admirably and accurately shows us the validity of the low carb approach to improved health, but just as importantly shows us how we came to embrace such a misguided viewpoint about saturated fat consumption. Science is valid, but we quickly come to realize how easily it is manipulated by competing interests and agendas. You must read this book for your health, your family's health, and the health of mankind. Mark Zumhagen MD

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19 people found this helpful

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Solid Information; Must Read

I confess that I thought the author might just be trying to ride on Gary Taubes' coat tails, and was a little skeptical, but she covered a lot of details that Taubes didn't and really delved into some of the more interesting facts behind the political wrangling over the various kinds of oils, etc.

It's a must read for anyone that is truly interested in the facts and detailed history of how the current public health situation became so badly disorientated.

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INSPIRING!

If you are straddling the fence as to “should I or shouldn’t I” eat a high fat diet, read this for some definitive answers. It seems to me that, nutritionally, we are living in primitive times. Nina Teicholz, along with a growing body of intelligent, concerned intellectuals, is taking us one more step towards enlightenment. We have got to do something about the obesity and diabetes epidemic and Nina has certainly done her bit towards that end. Highly recommended!

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Spectacular

Such a clear book… Written with such common sense. Every chapter was enjoyable. It will certainly change the way you think, unless you're leaning towards a Paleo diet already

It's amazing to think that there's so many answers here, and really nobody is listening up until now

This is certainly one of my favorite books I will listen to it a few more times as well. I recommend you purchase

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A must read

Her sources appear impeccable, and what she has to say is shocking.

Read it for your health, and the health of your children.

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Finally the truth. It was always there.

As usual, politics dominates what we read and hear. it takes someone with a clean start to find the truth.

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Phenomenal research

I really have nothing but good to say.

The narrator was very good.

I really loved listening to it and will probably re-listen over and over...and read it too. 🙂

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Another amazing review of the history of nutrition

Not quite as good as the book "Why we get fat", but in many ways easier to understand for the average person. Overall excellent.

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Great Listen

I recommend this to everyone! It is frustrating how people have been essentially brain washed by scientists unsuccessfully attempting to prove a hypothesis.

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