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  • Food for Life

  • Your Guide to the New Science of Eating Well
  • By: Tim Spector
  • Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
  • Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (30 ratings)

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Food for Life

By: Tim Spector
Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
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Publisher's Summary

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Tim Spector (P)2022 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Food for Life

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Whole food, carbon footprint & health for life.

Wherever you are on your journey to better health, while reducing the impact on the health of planet Earth, being mindful of the human cost to those poor & enslaved who are a part of the “food business”; and if you care about the humane treatment of animals. This is a must read for you.

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A wealth of information

Absolutely loved this book. Truly well rounded and refined and has given me a passion for nutrition that I would have never thought possible.

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A veritable tome of a book

Love Tim Spector and this latest book proves his invaluable knowledge and insights into the foods we eat. A must read (and have on the shelf too!) if you are serious about food being medicine for your good health and longevity.

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V thorough

This is a long book… v comprehensive and detailed. I normally listen to audiobooks all at once but I did spread this out over few months.

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Great book. Well written and well read.

Great book. Well written and well read. Evidence based and informative. A good read for anyone concerned with their health or the health of the planet!

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My Food Bible

I loved the book from start to finish. it was written and narrated in such a clear, calm and objective way. every sentence imparted knowledge. there was no fillers and fluff at all. will be coming back to it again and again to check my Food facts.

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Worth the listen

The information within this book provides the reader with choice on how to improve the rest of their life starting today.

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interesting

Not what I was expecting but an interesting read nevertheless. If you're looking to lose weight then this is not your book. Instead it's a general look at the variety of whole foods that we have at our disposal. This book provides the information needed to make healthy choices according to our own individual needs.

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Wow!!

If only I had this years ago. Brilliant and informative, lots of medical facts but not confusing. Great book

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  • G. Robinson
  • 04-06-2023

British Bias

There is a lot of good information, but realize that this is written by a British medical researcher so some of it does not apply to the U.S. For example, he states that tap drinking water is as healthy as purchased water. In the U.S. three chemical companies agreed on June 2, 2023 to pay over $1 billion to settle the first wave of claims for contaminated drinking water. Maybe drinking water is safe in England, but it is not safe in the U.S. I also disagree with Dr. Spector’s view on the safety of cooking with olive oil at high temperatures. Avocado oil has a higher smoke point. Olive oil’s smoke point is 320 degrees. I often set my oven at 350 degrees or higher to cook.

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  • A. J. Wind
  • 03-06-2023

Very accessible

This is a great addition to the genre. I first caught the author’s videos with Zoe on YouTube and it moved me to download and listen through this large, comprehensive and entertaining compendium.

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  • Ramona Ferrell
  • 29-05-2023

Outliers

I have heard this eating animal foods in moderation garbage over and over again and it almost made me diabetic so I don’t believe that saturated fat is good for you in small quantities even

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  • Bartosz
  • 16-04-2023

Great and Healthy listening

Thank You for a variety of facts and making me interested in guy bacteria and the proper way of choosing nutrients :)

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  • JJ
  • 10-12-2023

An insatiable barrage of fascinating knowledge and sarcasm

Just an unbelievable book for all ages, even my young 6 & 8 year olds have learned so much overhearing this on car drives. But the mic drops, sarcasm, satire and quips are to die for!

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  • Kim Brown
  • 08-11-2023

admire and love the author's podcast but...

Lot of good information, but was written for those most most interested in the scientific facts rather than those just looking looking for simple health guidance. I found myself wanting to be told the simple facts I need in order to be more healthy. Way to much fluff for me.

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  • ann debaldo
  • 25-09-2023

Excellent!

Everyone and the planet will benefit from the wisdom taught in this book! Scientifically based research and not just popular myths are used to make recommendations for foods that can lead to good health. Highly recommended!

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  • 3-1
  • 21-08-2023

Food for Life: A Feast for Your Microbes 👌.

I recently finished reading Food for Life by Tim Spector. I learned a lot from the book, including the importance of gut health and how to make sauerkraut at home. I also appreciated the author's scientific approach and the way he made the science understandable and accessible to the layperson.

One of the things I liked most about the book was the way it was divided into sections, which made it easy to find relevant information. I also liked the author's personal stories and anecdotes, which made the book more engaging.

The only thing I didn't like about the book was the author's mention of a myth related to Prophet Mohammed. I understand that the author was trying to make a point about the importance of gut health, but I believe that the myth was inaccurate and could be misleading to some readers.

Overall, I found Food for Life to be an informative and helpful book. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about gut health and making healthy food choices.

Did you know that if you spread your digestive system flat, it would cover an entire tennis court? That's a lot of space for bacteria to live! ☺️

peace ✌️.

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  • Leo B.
  • 07-08-2023

Great for beginners to the Gut Microbiome

This is a great book if you are new to the microbiome and gut health. It is a beginners guide on the why and how to keep your gut immunities healthy.

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  • KJ
  • 06-06-2023

Insightful and Great listen!!!

Learn so much and love listening to facts about your body and how it functions. Highly recommend this book to anyone that wants the truth on what is good for your body.

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  • Hayley C
  • 27-10-2022

Missing chapters

This is missing chapter 5 from the audiobook. Chapter 4 is repeated twice instead. Hopefully this will be updated.

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  • Mike
  • 27-10-2022

missing chapter

Chapter 5 missing with chapter 4 repeated instead. Will this be updated so we can hear the missing information?

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  • Dr Fiona
  • 08-11-2022

Great book with some sloppy/lazy mistakes

A ground breaking & fantastically well written book. Unfortunately, on Audible, in the publishers’ rush to make it available, there are 3 fundamental & sloppy/lazy errors:

1. There are no chapter titles! Making it impossible to navigate effectively, jump to chapters of particular interest or relisten to especially relevant ones.

2. There are no references! Usually, a pdf of references would be included and I’m certain that they will be in the book. I have no idea why the publishers omitted them and I’m sure that Prof. Spector doesn’t realise that they have.

3. There’s no pdf of the recipes or methodologies mentioned in the book. I would love to try making my own sauerkraut …. I think it’s somewhere in the middle of chapter 12! But I need a visual reference not an auditory one. Very disappointing.

The narrator does a good job, but he’s not Tim, and we’ve become used to Tim’s reassuring voice throughout the Covid crisis. Again, very disappointing.

I would still thoroughly recommend the book. The content is phenomenal. I just wish that whoever had managed the Audible contract had done a better job.


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  • Mrspatriciacherry
  • 30-10-2022

An excellent basis for health

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.

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  • Ali F.
  • 06-01-2023

It’s not ‘new science’

There’s not much ‘new’ in this book. Dr Mark Hyman wrote Food: WTF should I eat? In 2018. It pretty much says the same things. Dr Spector points out the environmental damages of eating meat but hardly touches on the damage done by mono crop agriculture, especially things like avocados and almonds. Not to mention the damage plant ‘milks’ do to the environment and your body’s microbiome as they are often highly processed. He also left out the importance of proteins especially to women as we age to retain healthy muscle tissue and bone density.

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  • Sarah
  • 01-11-2022

great book

I've read/listened to Prof Spector's other books and was very pleased to pre-order this one. I cannot understand why a publisher like Penguin would allow this book to go out with a missing chapter (chapter 5). very disappointing. other chapters are very interesting. UPDATE: Audible helped me to redownload the book in 2 parts, and the chapter 5 is now able to be listened to (albeit now labelled chapter 8). Book is extremely interesting although I can't help but feel that it will be difficult for some to afford all the recommended foods.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 31-10-2022

Fascinating and very inspiring

This book is packed with actionable advice based off credible science. Also very soothing to listen to!

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  • Riverkarann
  • 17-11-2022

Deep Dive Into Food

No issues with chapter repeating or missing.
Very detailed look at food, origins, nutrition, impact, benefits, myths and scientific data. Extremely in-depth and well researched. Informative and fascinating.

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  • Paul strickland
  • 30-10-2022

Chapter four repeated no chapter 5

Chapter 5 is either missing or the chapters in the audio book have been miss labels

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 18-03-2023

An excellent book backed by science fact

A truly informative and factual book, with life changing information backed up by scientific research.

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