Fresh vegetables on a fork with Earth in the background.

Food and Nutrition:
What Everyone Needs to Know

Table of Contents

PREFACE. Confused About What to Eat for Good Health and a Green Planet? The Truth is Out There.

PART I. Introduction to the State of Food, Nutrition, and the Environment

  1.  Setting the Stage: Who Grows Food, What are We Eating, and Why is Science So Important? >
  2.  Diet and Disease: New and Continuing Public Health Threats >
  3.  Big Food Costs: Environmental Damage, Resource Depletion, and Climate Change> 

PART II . Dining Throughout Human History: Science, Technology, Eater, Environment

  1.  How Revolutions, Discoveries, and Inventions Shape our Diets: Paleo to Present >
  2.  Contemporary Food Production: Eating Local to Ultra-Processed Foods >
  3.  Pop Nutrition and Buzzwords: Sorting Science-Based Evidence From Misinformation >
  4.  Taste, Cost, and Culture: Cooking and Eating in Today’s Food Environment >

PART III. Nutrition 101: Essential Chemical Building Blocks, Ecological Context

  1.   Water: Hydration, Fluoridation, and Plastic Contamination >
  2.   Vitamins, Minerals, and Phytonutrients: Are You Getting Enough? >
  3.   Crash Course on Carbohydrates, Sugar, and Fiber >
  4.   On Fats: Fiction, Facts, and Environmental Impacts >
  5.   All About Protein: Animal, Plant, and Are You Sure You Need More? > 
  6.   Alcohol and Drinking: Heart-Healthy or Cancer Risk Factor? >

PART IV. Food, Glorious Food: The Powers and Pleasures of Plant-Based Diets

  1.  Spilling the Beans on Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate >
  2.  Vegetables and Fruits: Devour the Rainbow > 
  3.  Whole Grains, Refined Grains, and Gluten-Free Diets >
  4.  Nuts, Beans, and a Shout-out to Soy >

PART V. All about Animal Foods: Megafactory Farm to Fork

  1.   Making the Meat You Eat: There’s Nothing Natural About It >
  2.   Meat and eggs: Are some choices better than others? >
  3.   Milk, Dairy, and Yogurt: Nutritional Benefits and Risks >
  4.   Fishy Matters: Wild-Caught, Farmed, and Health Considerations >

PART VI. The Food Revolution: Creating Healthy and Sustainable Diets for All

  1.  Solving Food and Nutrition Problems: Strategies, Goals, and Gaps >
  2.  Best Evidence for Losing Weight and Living Longer >
  3.  Step Up Your Food Game and Stay in the Know >
  4.  The Intertwined Future of Food and Nutrition >

Notes

Selected References

Index