Food and Nutrition ― What Everyone Needs to Know

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.

P.K. Newby is a scientist, foodie, and author with more than twenty years of experience researching diet-related diseases, studying how people make food choices, and teaching students and the public about why what we eat matters. She was one of the "best undiscovered cooks" on Nigella Lawson's team on ABC's The Taste (2014-2015). Today, P.K. spends most of her time writing, speaking, cooking, and consulting to help build a healthier, more sustainable world. She is a regular contributor at Zester Daily, an online publication promoting dialogue about what we eat and drink, and communicates with the public on her own blog, Cooking & Eating the PK Way. She is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition at Harvard University, and the author of Superfoods: Eat Your Way to Health and Longevity and Foods for Health: Choose and Use the Very Best Foods for Your Family and Our Planet.