 A Thumbs Down Book Review
Big Fat Lies
By Glenn A. Gaesser, PhD
Review by Sally Fallon
If you think this is a book that challenges the lowfat school of thinking, you're in for a big surprise. According to Gaesser, it is "absolutely clear" that cholesterol causes heart attacks and that the lowfat diet is "extremely healthy." He advances the American Heart Association agenda by telling readers that anyone with cholesterol levels over 200 is at risk--170 is desirable, he assures us, even though study after study shows a correlation of increased cancer, intestinal diseases, depression, stroke and suicide among individuals with cholesterol levels in that range.
He does admit, however, what has become increasingly obvious: The lowfat, high-carbohydrate diet will not help you lose weight. On the contrary, Americans are, on average, eight pounds heavier than they were ten years ago, before the real push to "cut out fatty foods." The Big Fat Lie, he says, is that it's healthy to be thin!
Most of the book deals with ways to be fat and fit.
The real irony is that the author begins Chapter Two "How Obesity Got Such a Bad Name" with a quote from Dr. George Mann: "This evil view of obesity has come from four places, the insurance industry, the medical moralizers (usually themselves thin), the drug industry and the docile, unquestioning nutritionists who are too often dupes of the faddists and hucksters." Mann has been a leading voice of criticism against the "lipid hypothesis" that Gaesser declares is absolutely proven. "The diet-heart hypothesis has been repeatedly shown to be wrong. . ." says Mann. "The public is being deceived by the greatest health scam of the century."
About the Reviewer
 Sally Fallon Morell is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (with Mary G. Enig, PhD), a well-researched, thought-provoking guide to traditional foods with a startling message: Animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels.
She joined forces with Enig again to write Eat Fat, Lose Fat, and has authored numerous articles on the subject of diet and health. Through her New Trends Publishing label, she publishes books on nutrition and health, such as The Fourfold Path to Healing (by Dr. Tom Cowan), Honoring Our Cycles (by Katie Singer), The Untold Story of Milk (by Ron Schmid) and The Whole Soy Story (by Kaayla Daniel). The President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and founder of A Campaign for Real Milk, Sally is also a journalist, chef, nutrition researcher, homemaker, and community activist. Her four healthy children were raised on whole foods including butter, cream, eggs and meat.
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