Whole

Rethinking the Science of Nutrition

By: T. Colin Campbell PhD/PhD, Howard Jacobson

Narrated by: Don Hagen

What happens when you eat an apple? The answer is vastly more complex than you imagine.

Whole, a New York Times bestseller and an eye-opening, paradigm-changing journey through cutting-edge thinking on nutrition, is a scientific tour de force with powerful implications for our health and for our world.

Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn’t nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences—and that’s just from an apple.

Nutritional science, long stuck in a reductionist mindset, is at the cusp of a revolution. The traditional gold standard of nutrition research has been to study one chemical at a time in an attempt to determine its particular impact on the human body. These sorts of studies are helpful to food companies trying to prove there is a chemical in milk or prepackaged dinners that is “good” for us, but they provide little insight into the complexity of what actually happens in our bodies or how those chemicals contribute to our health.

In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell revolutionized the way we think about our food with the evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. Now, in Whole, he explains the science behind that evidence, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven’t changed.

©2013 T. Colin Campbell (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

" Whole makes a convincing case that modern nutrition’s focus on single nutrients has led to mass confusion with tragic health consequences. Dr. Campbell’s new paradigm will change the way we think about food and, in doing so, could improve the lives of millions of people and save billions of dollars in health care costs." (Brian Wendel, creator and executive producer of Forks over Knives)

"There are very few material game-changers in life, but this book is truly one of them. The information herein - backed up by extraordinary peer-reviewed science - has the power to halt and reverse disease, give you energy you’ve never known, and put you on a path of transformation in just about every positive way. Read it and get ready to soar." (Kathy Freston, New York Times best-selling author of The Lean)

"In this provocative book, T. Colin Campbell, based on his long career in experimental research and health-policy making, uncovers how and why there is so much confusion about food and health and what can be done about it. The China Study revealed what we should eat; Whole answers why. Read and enjoy; there’s something here to inspire and offend just about everyone." (Dean Ornish, MD, founder and president, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Sausalito)

Eye Opening, saves you 1000x its price on medical

Where does Whole rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the top books in my collection, that explains the current terrible state of our society's health, waistlines and shows its problems with the profit seeking medical, supplement and media industry.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Whole?

When Mr. Campbell took on the supplements industry, where people pay to get sick and diseases from vitamin supplements, fish oils etc.Also the money focus of the medical establishment instead of primarily focusing on the benefits for the patients.

Which scene was your favorite?

Whole foods plant based

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes, it changed my life !

Any additional comments?

This book can save you 1000 times its purchasing price on medical bills later on.I finished the book and made lifestyle adjustments. Now I am happy that with this knowledge I can make better decisions and improve my health, energy levels and overall life.

Love this. Wish it was mandatory read in school!

We, the people, is what it will take to go up against the crappy food pushers and pharma. Truly wish this was what all 5 th grade teachers read to their whole class.

WOW! You MUST read this book

I have been following health and nutrition for decades. I read a few books on the subject every year and have always been confused by the fads and how many authors espouse their opinions as fact. This book helped clear everything up and put it into perspective. If you want to learn about nutrition and how to improve your health, and have it based on decades of medical research and hundreds of peer reviewed studies then this is the book for you. This a must read in my opinion if you care about living a healthy life.

Great content harsh audio

I enjoyed the book a lot. Narrator eventually made me cringe every time he would make an "s" sound. It was probably partially the fault of the sound engineer, but it really took away from the enjoyment of the book.

Awesome book to understand good nutrition

This book gave an awesome research-based overview of what comprises good nutrition, and historical context for understanding misguided U.S. health policy.