The Big Fat Surprise

Posted on 10 May 2017 by Nina Teicholz

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.For decades, we have been told that the best possible diet involves cutting back on fat, especially saturated fat, and that if we are not getting healthier or thinner it must be because we are not trying hard enough But what if the low fat diet is itself the problem What if the very foods we ve been denying ourselves the creamy cheeses, the sizzling steaks are themselves the key to reversing the epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease In this captivating, vibrant, and convincing narrative, based on a nine year long investigation, Teicholz shows how the misinformation about saturated fats took hold in the scientific community and the public imagination, and how recent findings have overturned these beliefs She explains why the Mediterranean Diet is not the healthiest, and how we might be replacing trans fats with something even worse This startling history demonstrates how nutrition science has gotten it so wrong how overzealous researchers, through a combination of ego, bias, and premature institutional consensus, have allowed dangerous misrepresentations to become dietary dogma.With eye opening scientific rigor, The Big Fat Surprise upends the conventional wisdom about all fats with the groundbreaking claim that , not less, dietary fat including saturated fat is what leads to better health and wellness Science shows that we have been needlessly avoiding meat, cheese, whole milk, and eggs for decades and that we can now, guilt free, welcome these delicious foods back into our lives. Read The Big Fat Surprise – kino-fada.fr Original review on June, 2014, after the first read For two years now, I have been in the camp of Ornish and Essylstne on nearly zero fat vegan diet I had been diligent and scrupulous in my diet and exercise, toeing the line from my previous education in biostatistics, also inspired by vegan converts such as Bill Clinton My overall health has improved significantly, but the reasons may not be what I thought Suffice to say that I have come to this book with a critical mind to ...I start this review with a disclaimer I am a registered dietitian, the nutritionist profession that Teicholz spends 336 pages discrediting, berating, and I d go so far as to say vilifying It was a little hard not to take it personally after the umpteenth snide comment dripping with condescension With that being said, Teicholz does not miss the mark entirely, and there are many reasons to praise this book The research, though problematic at times we ll get to that , is thorough, and for a I start this review with a disclaimer I am a registered dietitian, the nutritionist profession that Teicholz spends 336 pages discrediting, berating, and I d go so far as to say vilifying It was a little hard not to take it personally after the umpteenth snide comment dripping with condescension With that being said, Teicholz does not miss the mark entirely, and there are many reasons to praise this book The research, though problematic at times we ll get to that , is thorough, and for a book that is literally comprised of 300 pages of scientific review, Teicholz does an impeccable job of keeping the reader focused and engaged She has made nutrition research accessible to the masses, only getting bogged down in complicated but necessary physiological and chemical processes a small handful of times.She s also not wrong Keys research on saturated fats and heart disease WAS flawed low fat diets ARE absurd trans fats, interesteri...What can I say I m blown away by the impeccable research and fact presentation in this book At first, I thought this would be a mildly interesting book with some interesting insight Nope Nina Teicholz brought out the big guns She lays out her well substantiated thesis and systematically digs in She specifically avoided relying upon summary reports which tend to pass along received wisdoms and she went back to read all the original studies in some cases seeking out obscure data In ot What can I say I m blown away by the impeccable research and fact presentation in this book At first, I thought this would be a mildly interesting book with some interesting insight Nope Nina Teicholz brought out the big guns She lays out her well substantiated thesis and systematically digs in She specifically avoided relying upon summary reports which tend to pass along received wisdoms and she went back to read all the original studies in some cases seeking out obscure data In other words, she meticulously lays out the evidence, slam dunking the point fat ain t bad.My first instinct for a book that venerablizes one food would villainize another This sort of happens here those villains being sugar, white flour, and refined carbohydrates Most modern health articles seem to easily coincide with this More...This book has turned my world upside down Since my dad was diagnosed with high cholesterol in his 40s, and his sister and I vied for highest cholesterol counts in the tristate area, the family went low fat At that time, low fat was horrible tasting Horrible All the joy was sucked out of eating Now comes Nina Teicholz to review the data, all the data, and expose the low fat lie I am so disappointed in every cholesterol heart disease guru who pushed this regimen, every doctor I have seen in This book has turned my world upside down Since my dad was diagnosed with high cholesterol in his 40s, and his sister and I vied for highest cholesterol counts in the t... The Big Fat Surprise is a dense, but interesting, compilation of information documenting why the low fat heart healthy diet hypothesis is not based on solid scientific study In fact, it may cause many of the problems it was developed to prevent The author goes through an exhaustive review of the history and studies how the low fat diet became the basis of what is considered to be a preventive measure to diet related heart disease Even today, this is the fundamental treatment for preventing he The Big Fat Surprise is a dense, but interesting, compilation of information documenting why the low fat heart healthy diet hypothesis is not based on solid scientific study In fact, it may cause many of the problems it was developed to prevent The author goes through an exhaustive review of the history and studies how the low fat diet became the basis of what is considered to be a preventive measure to diet related heart disease Even today, this is the fundamental tr...stars rounded down to 4 stars I purchased The Big Fat Surprise on 27 Jan 2015 it stayed on Mt TBR for 1 year, 3 months.I want to start this review with a little information about me I am currently an omnivore and I consume all foods with the exception of bananas allergy I do have a rather severe lactose intolerance but I can consume cooked milk products and most other forms of dairy in limited amounts.Historically, the women in my family have lon stars rounded down to 4 stars I purchased The Big Fat Surprise on 27 Jan 2015 it stayed on Mt TBR for 1 year, 3 months.I want to start this review with a little information about me I am currently an omnivore and I consume all foods with the exception of bananas allergy I do have a rather severe lactose intolerance but I can consume cooked milk products and most other forms of dairy in limited amounts.Historically, the women in my family have long, healthy lives on both sides My great, great grandmother died age 120 when I was about 8 years old Her daughter my great aunt lived to be 105 My mother s mother is still alive at 89 With the exception of my father s mother, none of the women in my family have had any real non genetic health issues Both my grandmother and aunt were mentally agile until very close to death, maintained a decent ...This is an excellent book Nina Teicholz digs deep to uncover the truth about nutrition as we ve known it for 60 years revealing how fats aren t the bad guy.What I liked the most about this book was that it was confirmation of what I have learned on my own experiment, party of one, me I ve always been a student of healthy eating When the low fat high carb recommendations came out, I was right there No fat Even better What did that get me A big bu...Ok, so you know that vegetable fats like margarine and canola oil are good for you, right And animal fats like butter, tallow, and lard are horrible for you of course they are, because that s what nutritionists and the American Heart Association and the USDA have told us our whole lives But have you ever stopped to wonder what this advice is based on It turns out that they are based on a whole bunch of pretty shoddy evidence Nina Teicholz, a food writer, sets out to examine why scientists Ok, so you know that vegetable fats like margarine and canola oil are good for you, right And animal fats like butter, tallow, and lard are horrible for you of course they are, because that s what nutritionists and the American Heart Association and the USDA have told us our whole lives But have you ever stopped to wonder what this advice is based on It turns out that they are based on a whole bunch of pretty shoddy evidence Nina Teicholz, a food writer, sets out to examine why scientists began vilify...This book exceeded my expectations in both form and content The author assembles a devastating case against the low fat diet that has been recommended by doctors and government agencies as a way to prevent heart disease My interest was piqued because my family dutiful compliers with health advice, one and all zealously partook of the low fat carb fest that was the 1980s through 1990s Several of my family members now have serious health conditions that I can hardly say were caused by this This book exceeded my expectations in both form and content The author assembles a devastating case against the low fat diet that has been recommended by doctors and government agencies as a way to prevent heart disease My interest was piqued because my family dutiful compliers with health advice, one and all zealously partook of t... The Big Fat Surprise is revelatory I consider this essential reading for anyone interested in health and modern diet It offers a powerful challenge to the governing paradigm that a low fat high carb diet with lots of fruits and vegetables is the healthiest way to eat.The goal of this book is to look closely at the history of the science behind that low fat high carb diet and determine if the data actually supports it Especially impressive is the fact that Ms Teicholz doesn t simply rely on s The Big Fat Surprise is revelatory I consider this essential reading for anyone interested in health and modern diet It offers a powerful challenge to the governing paradigm that a low fat high carb diet with lots of fruits and vegetables is the healthiest way to eat.The goal of this book is to look closely at the history of the science behind that low fat high carb diet and determine if the data actually supports it Especially impressive is the fact that Ms Teicholz doesn t simply rely on summaries and abstracts of the numerous studies conducted on this subject over the years she read all of the original research, the complete published papers, and dug through the full data sets I know some readers of this book will disagree with me, but I found her analysis of this science to be fair and even handed She didn t embark on...

English
10 May 2017

Nina Teicholz