What is good nutrition? The answer to that question is the most important and widely discussed health-care and life-style issue of the day. Now Jane Brody has written the soundest and most comprehensive guide to nutrition yet available for the layperson. Among the many questions she answers are: Do we really need vitamin supplements? Is fast food junk food? What foods are best for our children? Is protein the vital ingredient in our diet or have carbohydrates gotten a bad press? And many, many other pertinent questions which are vital to this important issue. With calorie and nutrient charts, sample menu plans for special dietary needs, and over fifty delicious and healthful recipes—many Brody family favorites—Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book is vital reading for everyone concerned with good eating and good health. A pleasure to read and to use, it will take its place on the bookshelf and in the kitchen, with other classic and indispensable books on food and health.
Industry Reviews
An intelligent guide to coping with all the major problems of the modern American diet - complete to menus and recipes. In the distinctive style familiar to readers of her "Personal Health" column in the New York Times, Brody tackles: the newly rearranged basic food groups; "non-caloric nutrients" (such as fiber, vitamins, salt); what to drink; weight problems; considerations of each age group; and additives. She does a masterful job of sorting out our dilemma - the available food is pretty lousy, and the choice is often among the least of many evils - and then pointing us in the right, not-always-obvious direction. For example: "People lambaste 'chemicals' in our foods and overlook the fact that major nutrients like fat and sugar are actually doing the most damage." Some general principles, strategic tips, and curiosities: fiber is not an essential nutrient, so we should first attend to the basics and then see how fiber can be included in our diets; the U.S. Recommended Dally Allowances are not nutritional requirements, but rather estimates that exceed the requirements of most people; eating breakfast has repeatedly been shown to improve daily performance; athletes and vegetarians do not require outlandish diets; and, matched for weight, drinking history, and previous food intake, women get drunker than men, on less liquor. Brody includes the often-ignored "later years" in her discussion of age-group needs: according to her statistics, one third or more of the elderly in the US are malnourished for such reasons as socioeconomic problems, loneliness, depression, and physical disabilities; and she has suggestions to help. Wide-ranging, thorough, and sensible - unsurpassed as a guide for individual action. (Kirkus Reviews)