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Food for Life

Your Guide to the New Science of Eating Well

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Food for Life

By: Tim Spector
Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Food is our greatest ally for good health, but the question of what to eat has never seemed so complicated. In his new book, Tim Spector creates a unique, thorough, evidence-based guide to the real science of eating. Moving away from misleading notions of calories or nutritional breakdowns, Food for Life empowers us to make our own food choices based on a deeper understanding of the true benefits and harms that come from our daily transactions with the foods around us.

Combining cutting-edge research with a personal insights, and taking a wide angle lens on everything from environmental impact and food fraud to allergies and deceptive labelling, Spector takes a deep dive into each food type. Food for Life also includes easy-to-implement action points and useful tables as practical tools in our everyday food decisions, presented in a novel and comprehensive format. Ultimately, this book encourages us to fall in love again with food and celebrate its many wondrous properties, which science is still only just beginning to understand.

Audio updated as of November 2022

© Tim Spector 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

 Diets, Nutrition & Healthy Eating Environment Fitness, Diet & Nutrition Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Healthy Diet Nutrition Food Science Health Food Truck

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Critic reviews

Tim Spector makes healthy eating exhilarating, empowering and achievable. (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall)
A brilliant deep-dive into how food affects our wellbeing – and more importantly, what we can do about it. Enlightening and empowering (Liz Earle)
Spector writes as a food lover... Every person's ideal diet is different, and should be based on sensible choices from a position of knowledge. Food for Life is a feast of that knowledge... A valuable reference book to keep on a kitchen shelf.
The nutrition revolution is well underway and Tim Spector is one of the visionaries leading the way. His writing is illuminating and so incredibly timely. (Yotam Ottolenghi - praise for SPOON-FED)
[A] weighty and detailed guide to modern living... [Spector] explains how to boost your microbiome and tailor your diet.
No fads, no nonsense, just practical, science-based advice on how to eat well.
Food for Life is a fascinating tour d'horizon, deftly drawing on recent research... Well written [and] informative.
Tim Spector has been exploding the myths around food and health for years... Here he continues the demolition job in a rigorously academic book that welcomes the layperson with open arms.
Tim's book is a revelation. With his years of experience and engaging writing, he navigates the fascinating and complicated relationship between food and health. A must-read for anyone seeking a respected and trustworthy guide through the murky world of nutrition (Dr Rupy)
A life-changing book (Davina McCall)
All stars
Most relevant
After my own experience of dieting, research and writing about food and health, I found this book to be so informative.

It also dispels many myths thot have built up over the years, due to mainly the Food Industry whom we have relied on too much.

Tim has written this with no bias and leaves every reader with the necessary information to design their own diet and way of eating.

I have just finished the audiobook version, but will now buy the paperback for reference. And it will be well used.

Thanks Tim. I also listen to the ZOE podcasts regularly.

An excellent basis for health

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I am a doc myself. This is all valuable balanced info.
More than 99% of the other advice is not based on science. Read or listen and believe it. Simple valid advice .

Excellent

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Dr Tim Spector uses his knowledge and scientific scrutiny to dispel myths and help the reader to make informed healthy food choices. No flannel just good science. Banish diets for good and eat fresh, whole foods. Brilliant read !!!

Brilliant

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I wondered how I will completely listen through the whole book when I first started listening, but it was extremely informative and not one second of it was dull. I highly recommend this book, it will definitely have an impact.

Captivating and informative

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Very useful, taught me a lot!

I am a nerd of health and nutrition, and I have always felt that we as a species was missing something important somewhere.

I was correct! The gut and the environment inside it!
We have been missing some HUGE aspects of health that I feel, and Tim Spector and other researcher's like him are discovering are vital both to life quality, but also immunity, LENGTH of life AND (more importantly in my opinion) the viability of our species too!

It's a shame that short-term profit-oriented people get to choose what our species focuses on researching and developing first, ahead of what we would genuinely benefit much more first.

Anyways, this book has been that great leap forwards on my nutrition knowledge that I was so fed-up of being denied before now.

If you're reading/hearing this in your early 20's I envy you. Kombucha alone has really helped me feel great all by itself, let alone the high increase of plants in my diet

Very useful, taught me a lot!

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