Food and Nutrition : What Everyone Needs to Know

Description

"From gluten-free to pile-on-the-meat Paleo, GMOs to grass-fed beef, our newsfeeds abound with nutrition advice. Whether headlines from the latest scientific study or anecdotes from celebrities and food bloggers promulgating today's diet du jour, we are bombarded by "superfoods" and "best ever" diets promising to help us be healthier, smarter, happier, fight disease, lose weight, or live longer. At the same time, we live in an over-crowded food environment filled with tasty, convenient, and cheap fare that makes it easy to eat, all the time. The result is an epidemic of chronic disease amid a culture of nutrition confusion-and copious food choices that challenge everyday eaters trying to eat a healthy meal. While some controversies do exist in nutrition, as in any discipline, we know an astounding amount about how food impacts our health. A staggering 80% of chronic diseases are preventable through modifiable lifestyle changes such as diet, which is the single largest contributing factor. At the same time, we are producing food in a way that is degrading our individual communities and shared planet. But there is hope: a plant-based diet promotes health and longevity and prevents disease-and uses far fewer natural resources to bring dinner to your table. Change is possible, and one size (diet) doesn't fit all. And sorting nutrition science from nonsense and food fact from fiction is the key. In Food and Nutrition: What Everyone Needs to Know®, nutrition scientist and gastronome Dr. P.K. Newby provides a sweeping overview of the many interrelationships between humans, land, and food. What are today's major global nutrition problems-and are they preventable? Is it possible to retrain the palate to prefer healthier foods? How exactly do our dietary choices impact the land, water, and air that surround us? And what's the best way to live to 100, and beyond? In 147 stand-alone questions spanning 20 chapters, Newby examines topics including key nutrition concepts behind good eating; the technology, biology, and psychology of food choices; how diet affects our health and environment; and evidence-based tips for creating lasting behavior change. At the same time, Newby debunks popular myths and food folklore, challenging readers to "learn, unlearn, and relearn" the fundamentals of nutrition at the heart of a health-giving diet. Her passion for all things food shines through it all, as does her love of the power of science, technology, ingenuity, and engineering to help create healthier, more sustainable diets for everyday eaters and students of nutrition alike."-- "It seems that practically every day there is news about some new super-nutrient, super diet, or super food that promises to help us to be healthier, smarter, happier, fight disease, lose weight, or live longer. Some of this information propels temporary food or diet fads, some of it is subsequently discredited, and some becomes staid wisdom of healthy eating. It structures the way we eat and consume, the research agendas of food scientists, and the ways in which food companies market their products -- and therefore the ways in which the global food system is built. It also affects the environment, food and animal ethics, political and social movements, public policy, and, of course, our health. This volume of the What Everyone Needs to Know series will look at food systems globally and also historically to explain how food production, diets, and nutrition science have changed across time and space. It will begin with a chapter on food revolutions (from hunter-gatherers, to the birth of agriculture, the industrial revolution, the green revolution, and genetic and food technologies); followed by chapters on basic concepts in nutrition science; food choices; the politics of food environments (farms, supermarkets, restaurants, farmers markets, community farms, and food trucks); modern food production and health (conventional v. sustainable agriculture, the meaning of 'organic' and 'whole' foods; food packaging); the environmental costs of food production; animal-based diets; beverages; plant-based diets; and nutrition guidelines and food labels. The book concludes with a chapter on food technology (personalized diets, 3D printing of food, the food supply, and the future of hunger)"--  Read more... Cover Food and Nutrition Copyright Dedication Contents Preface: Why Is Nutrition Confusing, and What Can Be Done About It? Acknowledgments Part I Why What We Eat Matters: Farm to Fork 1 Framing Today's Food and Nutrition Issues What's this book about? Who should read this book? Is a science background necessary? How do traditional and contemporary diets differ around the world? Who runs the food system? Who produces and provides our food? What are the major food and nutrition challenges impacting human and environmental health? How can we solve food and nutrition problems? Revolution, or evolution?2 Global Food and Nutrition Challenges: People and Planet Who is affected by hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition? What is obesity, and why is it a health problem? Who suffers from chronic diseases, and what are the leading causes of death globally? What are the causes of food poisoning, and how can it be reduced? How do agriculture and food production contribute to climate change? Are fertilizers farming friend or foe? What's the problem with pesticides? What is agriculture's role in water pollution and dead zones?What is the state of seafood, and why does overfishing matter? What are the causes and impacts of food waste? Part II Dining Throughout Human History: Science, Technology, Eater, Environment 3 How Revolutions, Discoveries, and Inventions Shape Our Diet: Paleo to Present What is the Paleolithic diet? What did hunter-​gatherers actually eat? What is the Neolithic Revolution, and how did diets change after the birth of agriculture? How and why did the Industrial Revolution impact food production? What is the Green Revolution, and how did it impact human health and the environment?What is the Genetic Revolution, and how did it affect food production? How have the Digital Revolution and information age impacted our diet? What are the top food inventions and technologies that have shaped how we eat and drink throughout human history? 4 Contemporary Food Production, Buzzwords, and Pop Nutrition: Fact or Fiction? What are "processed" foods, and how do they fit into a healthy diet? Do red and processed meats cause cancer? Are canned and frozen foods inferior to fresh? Are "natural," "raw," and "clean eating" concepts science, or nonsense?What's the difference between "organic" and "conventional"? Is "eating local" important for human health and the environment? OMG GMO!? Why is food genetically engineered? Is "grass-​fed" beef healthier and more sustainable than "grain-​fed"? How does "wild-​caught" salmon compare to "farmed"? Is sugar addictive? What are "good bacteria," and how are they related to "probiotics," "prebiotics," and the "microbiome"? Why is breastfeeding important? How does infant formula compare to breast milk?