99: Nina Teicholz - The Big Fat Surprise

# 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