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Food and Nutrition
What Everyone Needs to Know
Food and Nutrition (2018) looks at the science behind what we eat. Based on only the best and most thorough studies, it cuts through the noise and fads to reveal what we really know about healthy eating.
- Anyone interested in what actually constitutes a healthy diet
- Foodies who want to make better choices
- People curious about sustainable farming
P.K. Newby is a self-described “recovering academic.” She has a doctorate from Harvard, a couple of master’s degrees from Columbia, and has served on the faculty of both Harvard and Boston University. Since 2012 she’s been a writer and entrepreneur focused on debunking junk science and helping people make better decisions about what they eat. Her other books include Superfoods (2016) and Foods for Health (2014).
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Food and Nutrition
What Everyone Needs to Know
- Read in 15 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 9 key ideas
Synopsis
Food and Nutrition (2018) looks at the science behind what we eat. Based on only the best and most thorough studies, it cuts through the noise and fads to reveal what we really know about healthy eating.
Key idea 1 of 9
Making the right food choices affects both you and the planet.
Is what you eat really that important? The answer is, of course, yes. That’s the easy bit. Explaining why, on the other hand, is much harder. Conversations about healthy eating can quickly get confusing – and personal.
But it is possible to cut through the noise.
The key message here is: Making the right food choices affects both you and the planet.
First of all, what you choose to eat directly impacts your health. Biochemists and nutrition scientists agree that up to 80 percent of chronic diseases can be prevented through healthy lifestyle choices. Obviously, your diet plays a large role in this.
But there’s more. What you buy at the supermarket also directly impacts the planet. Currently, the way we produce food is very harmful to our land, sea, and air. The food industry creates a lot of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, which directly contribute to climate change.
We’re now producing more food than ever before, and it’s helping in the global battle against hunger. Over the last 23 years, the rate of hunger in developing countries has fallen by more than 10 percent.
But we’re also wasting food on an epic scale. Every year, around 1.3 billion tons of perfectly edible food are thrown away. And it’s not just about vegetables and meat. It’s also a huge waste of money, resources, and energy.
So what does this all mean? Well, for one, we should be more aware of what we’re eating. And two, we need to be more mindful of how much food we need, where it comes from, and how it’s produced. Every time we buy food we’re making choices – and whether or not we’re consciously thinking about them, these choices reflect our personal values about the world we want to live in.
We theoretically know how to produce enough food to feed everyone on the planet. We also have the technology to build sustainable, eco-friendly food systems. So what are we waiting for? Now is the perfect time to reconsider the kind of food systems we’re supporting with our current food choices.
Key ideas in this title
- Making the right food choices affects both you and the planet.
- Modern farming practices are efficient, but they aren’t good for the planet.
- Meat has nutritional value, but there are dangers in eating too much red and processed meats.
- There is a spectrum of processed foods, and it includes both healthy and unhealthy items.
- Food labels are sometimes confusing, or meaningless, but they can still help you make better choices.
- There are still misconceptions around dietary cholesterol and GMOs.
- Not all fat is bad for you, and good bacteria can create a healthy microbiome in your gut.
- When choosing a weight-loss diet, scientifically consider the calories involved.
- Final summary
