Items
Details
Table of Contents
Introduction
About this book
Conventions used in this book
What you don't have to read
Foolish assumptions
How this book is organized
Icons used in this book
Where to go from here
pt. I. The basic facts about nutrition
1. What's nutrition, anyway?
Nutrition equals life
Finding nutrition facts
2. Digestion : the 24-hour food factory
Introducing the digestive system
Understanding how your body digests food
3. Calories : the energizers
Counting the calories in food
How many calories do you need?
How much should you weigh?
4. How much nutrition do you need?
RDAs : guidelines for good nutrition
AIs : the nutritional numbers formerly knows as ESADDIs
DRI : a newer nutrition guide
No sale ever is final
5. A supplemental story
Introducing dietary supplements
Examining why people use dietary supplements
Supplement safety : an iffy proposition
Choosing the most effective supplements
Good reasons for getting nutrients from food rather than supplements
pt. II. What you get from food
6. Powerful protein
Looking inside and out : where your body puts protein
Putting protein to work : how your body uses protein
Packing back the protein : what happens to the proteins you eat
Examining protein types : not all proteins are created equal
Deciding how much protein you need
7. The lowdown on fat and cholesterol
Finding the facts about fat stuff
Considering cholesterol and you
8. Carbohydrates : a complex story
Checking out carbohydrates
Dietary fiber : the non-nutrient in carbohydrate foods
9. Alcohol : another form of grape and grain
Revealing the many faces of alcohol
Examining how alcohol beverages are made
How much alcohol is in that bottle?
Moving alcohol through your body
Alcohol and health
Heeding advice from the sages : moderation
10. Vigorous vitamins
Taking a look at the vitamins your body needs
Get your vitamins here
Too much or too little : avoiding two ways to go wrong with vitamins
Exceeding the RDAs : taking extra vitamins as needed
11. Mighty minerals
Taking inventory of the minerals you need
Getting the minerals you need
Overdoses and underdoses : too much and too little
Exceeding the RDAs : people who need extra minerals
12. Phabulous phytochemicals
Phytochemicals are everywhere
Perusing the different kinds of phytochemicals
Phorecasting the phuture of phytochemicals
13. Water works
Investigating the many ways your body uses water
Maintaining the right amount of water in your body
Getting the water you need
Taking in extra water and electrolytes as needed
pt. III. Healthy eating
14. Why you eat when you eat
Understanding the difference between hunger and appetite
Refueling : the cycle of hunger and satiety
Responding to your environment on a gut level
When your appetite goes haywire : eating disorders
15. Why you like the foods you like
Tackling taste : how your brain and tongue work together
Determining deliciousness
Changing the menu : adapting to exotic foods
16. What is a healthful diet?
What are dietary guidelines for Americans?
Controlling your weight
Making smart food choices
Keeping food safe to eat
Okay, now relax
17. Making wise food choices
Playing with blocks : basics of the food pyramids
Building your own pyramid
Understanding the nutrition facts labels
Choosing foods with MyPyramid and the nutrition facts label
The final word on diagrams and stats
18. Eating smart when eating out
Interpreting a restaurant menu
Making smart menu choices
Discovering the healthful side of fast food
pt. IV. Food processing
19. What is food processing?
Preserving food : five methods of processing
Making food better and better for you
Faking it : alternative foods
A last word : follow that bird
20. Cooking and nutrition
What's cooking
Making changes : how cooking affects food
Choosing cookware : how pots and pans affect food
Protecting the nutrients in cooked foods
21. What happens when food is frozen, canned, dried, or zapped
Cold comfort : chilling and freezing
Canned food : keeping out contaminants
Dried food : no life without water
Irradiation : a hot topic
22. Better eating through chemistry
Exploring the nature (and science) of food additives
Determining the safety of food additives
Looking beyond additives : foods nature never made
pt. V. Food and medicine
23. When food gives you hives
Finding out more about food allergies
Considering foods most likely to cause allergic reactions
Testing, testing : identifying food allergies
Coping with food allergies
Recognizing other body reactions to food
24. Food and mood
How chemicals alter mood
How food affects mood
Using food to manage mood
25. Food and drug interactions
How a food and drug interaction happens
Food fights : drugs versus nutrients versus drugs
Avoiding adverse food and drug interactions
Using food to improve a drug's performance
26. Using food as medicine
Defining food as medicine
Examining diets with absolutely, positively beneficial medical effects
Using food to prevent disease
Eating for a better body (and brain)
Delivering meds with dinner
The last word of food versus medicine
pt. VI. The part of tens
27. Ten nutrition Web sites
U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database
USDA Food Nutrition Information Center (FNIC)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
American Dietetic Association
The American Heart Association
The American Cancer Society
The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network
International Food Information Council (IFIC)
American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
Tufts University Nutrition Navigator
28. Ten (well, okay, twelve) superstar foods
Alcohol
Beans
Berries
Bison
Breast milk
Chocolate
Coffee
Fish
Nuts
White tea
Whole grains
Yogurt
29. Ten easy ways to cut calories
Switching to low-fat or no-fat dairy products
Substituting sugar substitutes
Serving stew instead of steak
Choosing low-fat desserts
Peeling the poultry
Not oiling the salad
Making one-slice sandwiches
Eliminating the high-fat ingredient
Seasoning the veggies instead of drowning them in butter
Washing the chopped meat.
About this book
Conventions used in this book
What you don't have to read
Foolish assumptions
How this book is organized
Icons used in this book
Where to go from here
pt. I. The basic facts about nutrition
1. What's nutrition, anyway?
Nutrition equals life
Finding nutrition facts
2. Digestion : the 24-hour food factory
Introducing the digestive system
Understanding how your body digests food
3. Calories : the energizers
Counting the calories in food
How many calories do you need?
How much should you weigh?
4. How much nutrition do you need?
RDAs : guidelines for good nutrition
AIs : the nutritional numbers formerly knows as ESADDIs
DRI : a newer nutrition guide
No sale ever is final
5. A supplemental story
Introducing dietary supplements
Examining why people use dietary supplements
Supplement safety : an iffy proposition
Choosing the most effective supplements
Good reasons for getting nutrients from food rather than supplements
pt. II. What you get from food
6. Powerful protein
Looking inside and out : where your body puts protein
Putting protein to work : how your body uses protein
Packing back the protein : what happens to the proteins you eat
Examining protein types : not all proteins are created equal
Deciding how much protein you need
7. The lowdown on fat and cholesterol
Finding the facts about fat stuff
Considering cholesterol and you
8. Carbohydrates : a complex story
Checking out carbohydrates
Dietary fiber : the non-nutrient in carbohydrate foods
9. Alcohol : another form of grape and grain
Revealing the many faces of alcohol
Examining how alcohol beverages are made
How much alcohol is in that bottle?
Moving alcohol through your body
Alcohol and health
Heeding advice from the sages : moderation
10. Vigorous vitamins
Taking a look at the vitamins your body needs
Get your vitamins here
Too much or too little : avoiding two ways to go wrong with vitamins
Exceeding the RDAs : taking extra vitamins as needed
11. Mighty minerals
Taking inventory of the minerals you need
Getting the minerals you need
Overdoses and underdoses : too much and too little
Exceeding the RDAs : people who need extra minerals
12. Phabulous phytochemicals
Phytochemicals are everywhere
Perusing the different kinds of phytochemicals
Phorecasting the phuture of phytochemicals
13. Water works
Investigating the many ways your body uses water
Maintaining the right amount of water in your body
Getting the water you need
Taking in extra water and electrolytes as needed
pt. III. Healthy eating
14. Why you eat when you eat
Understanding the difference between hunger and appetite
Refueling : the cycle of hunger and satiety
Responding to your environment on a gut level
When your appetite goes haywire : eating disorders
15. Why you like the foods you like
Tackling taste : how your brain and tongue work together
Determining deliciousness
Changing the menu : adapting to exotic foods
16. What is a healthful diet?
What are dietary guidelines for Americans?
Controlling your weight
Making smart food choices
Keeping food safe to eat
Okay, now relax
17. Making wise food choices
Playing with blocks : basics of the food pyramids
Building your own pyramid
Understanding the nutrition facts labels
Choosing foods with MyPyramid and the nutrition facts label
The final word on diagrams and stats
18. Eating smart when eating out
Interpreting a restaurant menu
Making smart menu choices
Discovering the healthful side of fast food
pt. IV. Food processing
19. What is food processing?
Preserving food : five methods of processing
Making food better and better for you
Faking it : alternative foods
A last word : follow that bird
20. Cooking and nutrition
What's cooking
Making changes : how cooking affects food
Choosing cookware : how pots and pans affect food
Protecting the nutrients in cooked foods
21. What happens when food is frozen, canned, dried, or zapped
Cold comfort : chilling and freezing
Canned food : keeping out contaminants
Dried food : no life without water
Irradiation : a hot topic
22. Better eating through chemistry
Exploring the nature (and science) of food additives
Determining the safety of food additives
Looking beyond additives : foods nature never made
pt. V. Food and medicine
23. When food gives you hives
Finding out more about food allergies
Considering foods most likely to cause allergic reactions
Testing, testing : identifying food allergies
Coping with food allergies
Recognizing other body reactions to food
24. Food and mood
How chemicals alter mood
How food affects mood
Using food to manage mood
25. Food and drug interactions
How a food and drug interaction happens
Food fights : drugs versus nutrients versus drugs
Avoiding adverse food and drug interactions
Using food to improve a drug's performance
26. Using food as medicine
Defining food as medicine
Examining diets with absolutely, positively beneficial medical effects
Using food to prevent disease
Eating for a better body (and brain)
Delivering meds with dinner
The last word of food versus medicine
pt. VI. The part of tens
27. Ten nutrition Web sites
U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database
USDA Food Nutrition Information Center (FNIC)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
American Dietetic Association
The American Heart Association
The American Cancer Society
The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network
International Food Information Council (IFIC)
American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
Tufts University Nutrition Navigator
28. Ten (well, okay, twelve) superstar foods
Alcohol
Beans
Berries
Bison
Breast milk
Chocolate
Coffee
Fish
Nuts
White tea
Whole grains
Yogurt
29. Ten easy ways to cut calories
Switching to low-fat or no-fat dairy products
Substituting sugar substitutes
Serving stew instead of steak
Choosing low-fat desserts
Peeling the poultry
Not oiling the salad
Making one-slice sandwiches
Eliminating the high-fat ingredient
Seasoning the veggies instead of drowning them in butter
Washing the chopped meat.