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WITH ARI MEISEL

Ep.99

Nina Teicholz – The Big Fat Surprise

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# Episode 99

**Summary:** In Episode #99, Ari hosts Nina Teicholz, author of _The Big Fat Surprise _and a former journalist for a variety of publications including _Gourmet_, _Men’s Health_, the _Economist_ and the _New York Times_. During their conversation, Nina and Ari chat about the common misconceptions surrounding saturated fat. Their ultimate conclusion?—Saturated fats are an important, if not essential, component of a healthy diet.

**Sponsored By:** [Cognitea](http://www.cognitea.com/) – An all-natural tea designed to be smarter, healthier alternative to coffee and energy drinks

**Time Stamped Show Notes:**

– 15:05 – Introduction of Nina Teicholz

– 15:10 – _The Big Fat Surprise_

– 15:25 – An introduction into Nina’s background

– 15:58 – What turned Nina on to the subject of transfats

– 16:57 – Nina’s thesis: Saturated fats are _not_ bad for health

– 17:55 – What sparked the misconception surrounding saturated fats?

– 19:55 – The problems with the Dean Ornish study

– 21:57 – _Dean Ornish is a genius of PR, not medicine_

– 23:12 – The basic, government recommended diet of low-fat _does not work_

– 24:55 – The main issue at the heart of the current nutrition debate is: Should you reduce animal fat and saturated fat to minimize the risk of heart disease?

– 27:07 – Ari references his dietary renaissance and how he came to his own conclusions about nutrition

– 28:32 –Nina’s transition from vegetarian to omnivore

– 30:36 – How Nina responds to the question: “Isn’t saturated fat bad for you?”

– 31:40 – Saturated fats were condemned based on faulty evidence from 50 years ago

– 32:00 – Saturated fats cannot be said to cause heart disease

– 32:45 – Saturated fats are really _good_ for you

– 34:54 – Saturated fat is the only kind of fat that raises HDL (good) cholesterol

– 35:45 – Oxidation, in the case of vegetable oil, produces numerous toxic byproducts

– 37:15 – Nina’s thoughts on the importance of cholesterol levels

– 38:05 – Women over 50 are likely to live longer the _higher _ their cholesterol is

– 40:19 – The details surrounding triglycerides

– 42:10 – What are your top 3 pieces of advice for people who want to be more effective

– 42:31 – Reducing carbohydrates and eating more fat is a great strategy to better health

– 42:45 – Avoid heated vegetable oils

– 42:59 – Be kind, loving and nice – 43:30 – WWW.TheBigFatSurpise.COM **7 Key Points:**

1. Saturated fats are _not _bad for health

2. The notion that saturated fats are bad for health is rooted in antiquated and inaccurate science

3. Of and in themselves, low-fat diets do _not_ work at reducing heart disease and obesity

4. Saturated fats actually raise HDL cholesterol

5. Overuse of vegetable based cooking oils can result in oxidation-based toxin exposure

6. Women over 50 live longer with higher cholesterol

7. Keep carbohydrate intake _LOW _and fat intake _HIGH_

**Resources Mentioned:**

– [Nina Teicholz](http://www.thebigfatsurprise.com/) – Ari’s guest and author of

_[The Big Fat Surprise](http://www.thebigfatsurprise.com/)_ – [Dean Ornish](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Ornish) – The current champion of the “animal fat is the enemy” movement

– [Triglyceride](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triglyceride) – A composition of glycerol and fatty acids linked to sub-par coronary health

– [HDL](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-density_lipoprotein) – The “good” cholesterol

– [Cognitea](http://www.cognitea.com/) – An all-natural tea designed to be smarter, healthier alternative to coffee and energy drinks

– [Getting Kids to Sit Properly](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/07/the-right-and-surprisingly-wrong-ways-to-get-kids-to-sit-still-in-class/) – A Washington Post article talk — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lessdoing/message