Food, Nutrition, and Diet
Resources

What to Eat   (by Dr. Luise Light)

The Ten Things You Really Need to Know to Eat Well and Be Healthy

If you're a health-conscious consumer, one of the hardest questions you face is "What should I eat?" Former USDA nutrition director Luise Light answers with this basic, balanced, and user-friendly food plan that cuts through the confusion and controversy of the latest fad diets, federal guidelines, and agribusiness propaganda. Its ten simple rules are also adapted for a wide variety of nutritional needs—including weight loss, fibromyalgia, diabetes, and gastrointestinal disorders.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

A Natural History of Four Meals   (by Michael Pollan)

Michael Pollan asks the seemingly simple question: What should we have for dinner? Tracing from source to table each of the food chains that sustain us—whether industrial or organic, alternative or processed—he develops a portrait of the American way of eating. The result is a sweeping, surprising exploration of the hungers that have shaped our evolution, and of the profound implications our food choices have for the health of our species and the future of our planet.

Fast Food Nation

The Dark Side of the All-American Meal   (by Eric Schlosser)

Fast food has hastened the "malling" of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. Fast Food Nation tears into the juicy underbelly of the greasy beast, unearthing a trove of fascinating, unsettling truths—from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to the seismic changes the industry has wrought in food production, popular culture, and even real estate.
Also available: Fast Food Nation movie

The Eco-Foods Guide

What's Good for the Earth is Good for You!

If we literally are what we eat, we certainly would want to eat the most nutritious foods possible. Fresh, local crops and organic crops are often nutritionally superior, and they're better for the environment too. Explores those ideas and many related topics. (by Cynthia Barstow)

Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism

Marion Nestle illuminates us on how food safety has become as much about economics and special interests as about protecting us from unsafe food, wild gene-manipulation schemes, unwholesome production practices, and food-fouling terrorists. Find out if lobbyists are really the biggest threat to the safety of our food supply. (by Marion Nestle)

Four Seasons in Five Senses: Things Worth Savoring

David Mas Masumoto raises organic peach and raisins. He is passionate about them, talking about organic farming and the resulting bounty of fruit in a manner that ranges between wonder, zeal, and sometimes near-indecency. If you've come to appreciate "slow food," this book will likely suit your palate.

Why Grassfed Is Best!

The Surprising Benefits of Grassfed Meat, Eggs, And Dairy Products

Explains the advantages of products from animals that have been raised on pasture (as opposed to dirty, smelly, cramped feedlots, hog pens, and chicken houses). The benefits accrue not only to animal welfare, the environment, and small family farms, but also to human nutrition. Includes a state-by-state listing of suppliers of grassfed products. (by Jo Robinson)

Eating in the Dark

America's Experiment With Genetically Engineered Food

Most Americans aren't aware that the corn and soy they eat is genetically modified, or whether that even matters. But there is a battle being waged for big profits and market domination, and the consumer is intentionally being left out of the discussion. Find out why you should care. (by K. Hart)

Fat Land

How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World

Is overeating a personal weakness? Genetic predisposition? How about government agriculture policies and fast-food supersizing? Greg Critser covers the multitude of factors that lead people onto the path of overconsumption, which often leads to increased health problems.

How the Cows Turned Mad

Learn how mad cow disease relates to diseases like scabies, chronic wasting disease, and similar diseases in humans.
(by Maxime Schwartz)

Lords of the Harvest

Biotech, Big Money, and the Future of Food

Agricultural biotechnology is quietly marching onward, surrounding your dinner plate. The campaign, led by Monsanto, has been underway for two decades. You may currently have little idea where your food comes from, but ignorance may not be bliss. (by Dan Charles)