Nutrition For Dummies, UK Edition E-Book

Nigel Denby

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 590

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

In this fully updated second edition, expert dieticians Sue Baic and Nigel Denby provide no-nonsense advice, equipping you with all the information you need to make informed decisions about your diet. The book acts as a sound reference point if you want to know the facts about food, and debunks the myths behind fad diets. 

Nutrition For Dummies, 2nd Edition provides a detailed understanding of the nutritional breakdown of different food groups and examines the relationship food has with one's physical and mental wellbeing. The book also advises you on how to establish healthy eating patterns and how to maximise the health benefits of what you eat.  

This new edition includes approx 20% new and updated material, including new chapters on nutrition in institutions and how to eat healthily on the go.  New content also includes up-to-date health guidelines and government policies, information on probiotics and over the counter weight loss drugs, plus advice on how to eat well on a budget.

Nutrition For Dummies, 2^nd Edition includes:

Part I: The Basic Facts about Nutrition
Chapter 1: What's Nutrition, Anyway?
Chapter 2: Digestion: The 24-Hour Food Factory
Chapter 3: Why You Eat What You Eat and Like What You Like

Part II: What You Get from Food
Chapter 4: Powerful Protein
Chapter 5: The Lowdown on Fat and Cholesterol
Chapter 6: Calories: The Energisers
Chapter 7: Carbohydrates: A Complex Story
Chapter 8: The Alcohol Truth: The Whole Truth
Chapter 9: Vigorous Vitamins
Chapter 10: Mighty Minerals
Chapter 11: Phabulous Phytochemicals
Chapter 12: Water Works

Part III: Healthy Eating
Chapter 13: What Is a Healthy Diet?
Chapter 14: Making Wise Food Choices
Chapter 15 : Ensuring Good Nutrition Whoever You Are
NEW! Chapter 16: Eating in Institutions
NEW! Chapter 17: Being Nutritionally Savvy on the Go

Part IV: Processed Food
Chapter 18: What Is Processed Food?
Chapter 19: Cooking and Keeping Food
Chapter 20: Weird Science: Examining Food Additives

Part V: Food and Health
Chapter 21: Food and Allergies
Chapter 22: Food and Mood
Chapter 23: Food and Medicine
Chapter 24: Food and Dietary Supplements 

Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 25: Ten Nutrition Web Sites You Can Trust
Chapter 26: Ten Superfoods
Chapter 27: Ten Fad Diets: The Truth Behind the Headlines

Leseprobe

Nutrition For Dummies, 2nd Edition®

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 Organised

Part I: The Basic Facts about Nutrition

Part II: What You Get from Food

Part III: Healthy Eating

Part IV: Processed Food

Part V: Food and Health

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: The Basic Facts about Nutrition

Chapter 1: What’s Nutrition, Anyway?

Why Nutrition Matters

You are what you eat

What’s an essential nutrient?

Other interesting substances in food

Your nutritional status

Finding Nutrition Facts

People you can trust about nutrition

Research you can trust

Chapter 2: Digestion: The 24-Hour Food Factory

Introducing the Digestive System

The digestive organs

Digestion: A performance in two acts

Understanding How Your Body Digests Food

The eyes and nose

The mouth

The stomach

The small intestine

The large intestine

Combating Digestive Problems

Alleviating common discomforts

Helping to manage irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Balancing your gut bacteria with probiotics and pre biotics

Chapter 3: Why You Eat When You Eat and Like What You Like

Understanding the Difference between Hunger and Appetite

Refuelling: The Cycle of Hunger and Satiety

Recognising hunger

Knowing when you’re full

Beating those between-meal energy lows

Maintaining a healthy appetite

Responding to Your Environment on a Gut Level

In the bleak mid-winter

Exercising more than your mouth

Nursing your appetite back to health

Tackling Taste: How Your Brain and Tongue Work Together

The four (or five) basic flavours

Your health and your taste buds

Tricking your taste buds

Determining Deliciousness

Listening to your body

Turning up your nose to tastes

Changing the Menu: Adapting to New and Exotic Foods

Part II: What You Get from Food

Chapter 4: Powerful Protein

Looking Inside and Out: Where Your Body Puts Protein

Putting Protein to Work: How Your Body Uses Protein

Piling In the Protein: What Happens to the Proteins You Eat

Examining Protein Types: Not All Proteins Are Created Equal

Essential and non essential proteins

High-quality and low-quality proteins

Complete proteins and incomplete proteins

Deciding How Much Protein You Need

Calculating the correct amount

Dodging protein deficiency

Boosting your protein intake: Special considerations

Avoiding protein overload

Chapter 5: The Lowdown on Fat and Cholesterol

Finding the Facts about Fat

Understanding why your body needs fat

Releasing energy from fat

Focusing on the fats in food

Getting the right amount of fat

Finding fat in all kinds of foods

Defining fatty acids

Cholesterol: The Misunderstood Nutrient

Cholesterol and heart disease

Living with lipoproteins

Diet and cholesterol

Chapter 6: Calories: The Energisers

Counting the Calories in Food

Empty calories

Every calorie counts

How Many Calories Do You Need?

Resting energy expenditures

Energy for work

Calculating your Body Mass Index

Measuring your waist circumference

Looking closer at the weight/height relationship

Controlling your weight effectively

Losing Weight by Controlling Calories

Chapter 7: Carbohydrates: A Complex Story

Considering Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates and energy: a biochemical love story

How glucose becomes energy

Having too much of a good thing

Other ways your body uses carbohydrates

Finding the carbohydrates you need

Some problems with carbohydrates

Who needs extra carbohydrates?

Dietary Fibre: The Non-nutrient in Carbohydrate Foods

The two kinds of dietary fibre

Getting fibre from food

How much fibre do you need?

Chapter 8: The Truth: The Alcohol Truth

Creating Alcoholic Drinks

Fermented alcohol products

Distilled alcohol products

Foods used to make alcoholic drinks

Hic! How Much Alcohol is in That Bottle?

Moving Alcohol through Your Body

Flowing down the hatch from mouth to stomach

Stopping for a short visit at the energy factory

Rising to the surface

Encountering curves in the road

Alcohol and Health

Moderate drinking: Some benefits, some risks

My head hurts! Having a hangover

Alcoholism and nutrition

Avoiding alcohol

Chapter 9: Vigorous Vitamins

Taking a Look at the Vitamins Your Body Needs

Fat-soluble vitamins

Water-soluble vitamins

Get Your Vitamins Here

Too Much or Too Little: Avoiding Two Ways to Go Wrong with Vitamins

Vitamin deficiencies

Big trouble: Vitamin megadoses

Special Circumstances: Taking Extra Vitamins as Needed

I’m taking medication

I’m a toddler

I’m a smoker

I’m vegan

I’m a couch potato who plans to start exercising

I’m pregnant

I’m breast-feeding

I’m approaching menopause or getting on a bit

I’m well but worried

Chapter 10: Mighty Minerals

Taking Inventory of the Minerals You Need

Introducing the major minerals

Introducing the trace elements

Mineral Overdoses and Underdoses

Avoiding mineral deficiency

Knowing how much is too much

Munching More Minerals: People Who Need Extra

You’re a strict vegetarian

You’re a woman

You’re pregnant

You’re breastfeeding

You’re menopausal

Chapter 11: Phabulous Phytochemicals

Phytochemicals Are Everywhere

Perusing the Different Kinds of Phytochemicals

Antioxidants

Hormone-like compounds

Sulphur compounds

Dietary fibre

Plant sterols

Chapter 12: Water Works

Investigating the Many Ways Your Body Uses Water

Maintaining the Right Amount of Water in Your Body

A balancing act: The role of electrolytes

Dehydrating without enough water and electrolytes

Getting the Water You Need

Taking in Extra Water and Electrolytes as Needed

You’ve got an upset stomach

You’re exercising or working hard in a hot environment

Part III: Healthy Eating

Chapter 13: What Is a Healthy Diet?

Introducing the Guidelines for a Healthy Diet

Stepping Out Towards a Healthier Lifestyle

Eat a variety of foods

Eat the right amount for a healthy weight

Eat plenty of food rich in starch and fibre

Let the Eatwell Plate guide your food choices

Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables

Walking Away from Unhealthy Food

Don’t eat too many fatty foods

Counting the fat calories

Don’t have sugary foods and drinks too often

If you drink alcohol, drink sensibly

Choose and prepare foods with less salt

Relaxing Once in a While

A Few Words about Activity

Calorie-burning in action

Finding activities you enjoy

Working out why you need to work out

Chapter 14: Making Wise Food Choices

Introducing the Eatwell Plate

Taking a close look at the Eatwell Plate

Tailoring the Eatwell Plate to your needs

Understanding Food Labels

Negotiating the traffic lights

Checking out guideline daily amounts

Understanding Nutritional Claims on Food Labels

Using the Eatwell Plate and Food Labels in Practice

Healthy shopping

Healthy meal planning

Healthy snacking

Eating Well Despite the Credit Crunch

Chapter 15 : Ensuring Good Nutrition Whoever You Are

Homing In on the Dietary Reference Values

I’m Trying for a Baby

I’m Pregnant

I’m Breastfeeding

I’m Weaning My Baby

Baby led weaning

My baby is vegetarian or vegan

Foods to avoid giving your baby

I’m Feeding My Toddler

My toddler is vegetarian or vegan

Foods to avoid giving your toddler

I’m Feeding My School Child

I’m a Man

I’m an Older Person

Chapter 16: Being Nutritionally Savvy for When You’re Out and About

Being Fit for Business: Nutrition in the Workplace

Telling your employer what you want

I’m an employer – what can I do?

Grabbing food at your desk

Considering what’s in your morning coffee

Watching what you drink

Fuelling Up: Nutrition on the Road

Taking food with you

Selecting from service stations

Staying alert

Feasting on fast food

Table for two?

Chapter 17 : Looking at Standards in Schools and Other Institutions

Knowing about Nutrition for Tiny Tummies

Realising the state of children’s diets

Noting the lack of nutritional standards for young children

Using a food-group approach

Finding a nursery that knows nutrition

Setting the Standard in Schools

Considering food served in schools: Lunches and snacks

Offering healthier foods with increased vitamin and mineral content

Thinking about food brought from home: Packed lunches

Serving Up Better Hospital Food: Leading by Example in the NHS

Visiting friends or family in hospital – how can you help?

Caring for Older People: Standards in Residential Homes

Eating on the March: Nutrition in the Armed Forces

Fighting fit

Drinking up

Supplementary information

Going Beyond Porridge: Dietary Recommendations for the Prison Service

Part IV: Processed Food

Chapter 18: What Is Processed Food?

Preserving Food: Five Methods of Processing

Temperature control

Removing the water

Controlling the air flow

Chemical warfare

Irradiation

Making Food Better, and Better for You

Intensifying flavour and aroma

Adding nutrients

Combining benefits

Making foods functional

Faking It: Alternative Foods

Fake fats

Substitute sweeteners

Chapter 19: Cooking and Keeping Food

What’s Cooking?

Cooking with electromagnetic waves

Cooking away contaminants

Exploring How Cooking Affects Food

Cook me tender: Changing texture

Enhancing flavour and aroma

Altering the palette: Food colour

Choosing Cookware: How Pots and Pans Affect Food

Aluminium

Copper

Ceramics

Enamelware

Glass

Iron cookware

Nonstick

Stainless steel

Plastic and paper

Protecting the Nutrients in Cooked Foods

Maintaining minerals

Those volatile vitamins

Keeping Food Fresh

Cold comfort: Chilling and freezing

Canned food: Keeping out contaminants

Chapter 20: Weird Science: Examining Food Additives

Exploring the Purpose of Food Additives

Colours and flavours

Preservatives

Some other additives in food

Determining the Safety of Food Additives

Toxins

Carcinogens

Allergens

Going Hyper: Food Additives and Children

Gene Cuisine: Debating Genetically Modified Food

Looking at the pros and cons

Knowing what’s GM and what’s not

Considering Organic Options

Seeking Sustainability

Probing provenance

Eating less meat?

Reducing food waste

Part V: Food and Health

Chapter 21: Food and Allergies

Finding Out More about Food Allergies

Investigating allergies and intolerances

Understanding how a reaction occurs

It’s all in the family: Inheriting food allergies

Being aware of the dangers of food allergies

Considering Foods Most Likely to Cause Allergic Reactions

Testing, Testing: Identifying Food Allergies

Coping with Food Allergies and Intolerances

Chapter 22: Food and the Brain

How Chemicals Alter Mood

How Food Affects Mood

Alcohol

Caffeine

Carbohydrate and protein

Looking to the Future: New Research into Food and Mood

Essential fatty acids

Selenium and folate

Breakfast

Chocolate

Linking Diet, Learning and Behaviour

Using omega 3 to help with learning difficulties

Reducing antisocial behaviour in young people?

Chapter 23: Food and Medicine

Examining Diets with Beneficial Medical Effects

Using Food to Prevent Disease

Eating to reduce the risk of cancer

DASHing to healthy blood pressure

Preventing Another Heart Attack

Easing symptoms of the common cold

Food as the Fountain of Youth

Looking after your skin

Keeping your mind young

Food and Drug Interactions

How a food and drug interaction happens

Food fights: Drugs versus nutrients versus drugs

The Last Word on Food versus Medicine

Chapter 24: Dietary Supplements

Looking at Why People Use Dietary Supplements

When food isn’t enough: Using supplements as insurance

Using supplements instead of medicine

Supplement Safety: An Iffy Proposition

Choosing the Most Effective Supplements

Pick a well-known brand

Check the ingredient list

Look for the expiry date

Check the storage requirements

Choose a sensible dose

Beware of the health claims on supplements

Good Reasons for Getting Nutrients from Food Rather than Supplements

Cost

Unexpected bonuses

Safety

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 25: Ten Nutrition Websites You Can Trust

British Dietetic Association

British Nutrition Foundation

Diabetes UK

Food and Drink Federation

Food Standards Agency

Grub4Life

Heart UK / British Heart Foundation

NHS Choices – Live Well

United States Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database

World Cancer Research Fund

Chapter 26 : Ten Superfoods

Apples

Bananas

Baked Beans

Brazil Nuts

Broccoli

Coffee

Oats

Olive Oil

Sardines

Yoghurt

Chapter 27: Ten Fad Diets: The Truth Behind the Headlines

The Atkins Diet

The ‘Bit of Your Body You Hate’ Diet

The Blood Group Diet

The Cabbage Soup Diet

Nutritionally incomplete and very much a quick fix: Detox Diets

The Hay Diet, a.k.a. the Hollywood Diet

Low Glycaemic Diets

The Maple Syrup Diet

Meal Replacement Diets

The Zone

Nutrition For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

by Nigel Denby, Sue Baic, and Carol Ann Rinzler

Nutrition For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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E-mail (for orders and customer service enquires): [email protected]

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Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England.

The Eatwell Plate, sourced from the Food Standards Agency, is Crown copyright material and is reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex

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Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Authors

Nigel Denby trained as a dietitian at Glasgow Caledonian University, following an established career in the catering industry. He is also a qualified chef and previously owned his own restaurant.

His dietetic career began as a Research Dietitian at the Human Nutrition Research Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. After a period working as a Community Dietitian, Nigel left the NHS to join Boots Health and Beauty Experience where he led the delivery and training of Nutrition and Weight Management services.

In 2003 Nigel set up his own Nutrition consultancy, delivering a clinical service to Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte’s Hospital Women’s Health Clinic and the International Eating Disorders Centre in Buckinghamshire, as well as acting as Nutrition Consultant for the Childbase Children’s Nursery Group.

Nigel also runs his own private practice in Harley Street, specialising in Weight Management, PMS / Menopause and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Nigel works extensively with the media, writing for the Sunday Telegraph Magazine, Zest, Essentials, and various other consumer magazines. His work in radio and television includes BBC and ITN news programmes, Channel 4’s Fit Farm, BBC Breakfast, and BBC Real Story.Nigel’s first book, The GL Diet, was published by John Blake in January 2005.

Sue Baic is a Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Public Health in the Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences at the University of Bristol. She has a first degree from Bristol University followed by a Master of Science in Human Nutrition from London University. Sue is a Registered Dietitian (RD) with over 20 years’ experience in the field of nutrition and health in the NHS and as a freelance consultant. She feels strongly about providing nutrition information to the public that is evidence based, up to date, unbiased, and reliable.

As a member of the British Dietetic Association she has spoken and written for the media on a variety of nutrition related health issues. Sue lives in Bristol and spends much of her spare time running up and down hills in the Cotswolds in an attempt to get fit.

Carol Ann Rinzler is a noted authority on health and nutrition and holds an MA from Columbia University. She writes a weekly nutrition column for The New York Daily News and is the author of more than 20 health-related books, including Controlling Cholesterol For Dummies, Weight Loss Kit For Dummies, and the highly acclaimed Estrogen and Breast Cancer: A warning for women. Carol Ann lives in New York with her husband, wine writer Perry Luntz, and their amiable cat, Kat.

Authors’ Acknowledegments

From ND

Thanks go to my writing partner, Sue, for always spotting my typos and for her meticulous attention to detail!

From SB

My part of this book is dedicated to my mother, Pat, who encouraged me to invest the time and effort to enable me to pursue a career that I love. I would also like to thank John and Rosie for their support while I was writing this book and for laughing at my stories even when they’ve heard them before. Thanks also go to Nigel for asking me to join him in this venture and providing encouragement and much humour along the way.

We would both like to thank the excellent team at Wiley, especially Rachael Chilvers, Alison Yates, Jo Jones and Nicole Hermitage for their part in bringing this book to fruition.

From CAR

Thanks to my husband, Perry Luntz, a fellow writer who, as always, stayed patient as a saint and even-tempered beyond belief while I was racing pell-mell (and not always pleasantly) to deadline.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Jo Jones

Commissioning Editor: Nicole Hermitage

Assistant Editor: Ben Kemble

Proofreader: Charlie Wilson

Technical Editor: Brigid McKevith

Production Manager: Daniel Mersey

Publisher: David Palmer

Cover Photo: © Wolfgang Kraus - Fotolia.com

Cartoons: Ed McLachlan

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Lynsey Stanford

Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Lavonne Roberts

Proofreader: Jessica Kramer

Indexer: Ty Koontz

Introduction

Once upon a time people simply sat down to dinner, eating because they were hungry or just for the pleasure of it. Nobody said, ‘I wonder how much trans fat is in the margarine’, or asked whether the bread had a low glycaemic index. Today, the dinner table can be a battleground between health and pleasure. For many people, the fight to eat what does them good rather than what tastes good has become a lifelong struggle.

This book is designed to end the war between your need for a healthy diet and your equally compelling need for tasty meals. In fact, armed with a little insider knowledge you’ll find that what’s good for you can also be good to eat – and vice versa.

About This Book

Nutrition For Dummies doesn’t aim to send you back to the classroom, sit you down, and make you take notes about what to eat every day from now until you’re old and grey. Instead, this book means to give you the information you need to make wise food choices – which always means choices that please the palate as well as the body. Some of what you’ll read here is about thebasics: the roles of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and even plain water. You’ll also read tips about how to put together a nutritious shopping list and how to include all the foods you enjoy as part of a healthy balanced diet.

For those who know absolutely nothing about nutrition except that it deals with food, this book is a starting point containing sound information you can trust. For those who know more than a little about nutrition, this book is a refresher course to bring you bang up to date on what’s happened in the field since you last checked.

Conventions Used in This Book

We use the following conventions throughout the text to make things consistent and easy to understand:

All web addresses appear in mono font.

New terms appear in italic and are closely followed by an easy-to-understand definition.

Bold is used to highlight key words and phrases in a list, as well as the action parts of numbered steps.

Nutritionists commonly use metric terms such as gram (g), milligram (mg), and microgram (mcg) to describe quantities of protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.

Nutritionists measure food in 100-gram portions. So ‘a portion’ in this book means a 100-gram dollop unless we state otherwise.

What You Don’t Have to Read

You want to get to the important stuff but you’re too pushed for time to read it all? We know that feeling and so we’ve tried to make it that bit easier for you. Some parts of this book are fun or informative but not necessarily vital to your understanding of nutrition. For example:

Text in sidebars: The sidebars are the shaded boxes that appear here and there. They share anecdotes and observations but aren’t essential reading.

Anything with a Technical Stuff icon attached: This information may be interesting but it’s not critical to your understanding of nutrition.

Foolish Assumptions

Every book is written with a particular reader in mind, and this one is no different. As we wrote this book, we made the following basic assumptions about who you are and why you paid out your hard-earned money for an entire volume about nutrition:

You didn’t study nutrition at school or university but now you’ve discovered that you have a better chance of staying healthy if you know how to put together a well-balanced, nutritious diet for you and your family.

You’re confused by conflicting advice on vitamins and minerals, not to mention newer dietary issues such as antioxidants and low carb diets. You need a reliable road map through the nutrient maze.

You want basic information, but you don’t want to become an expert in nutrition or spend hours digging your way through medical textbooks and journals.

How This Book Is Organised

The following is a brief summary of each part in Nutrition For Dummies. You can use this guide as a fast way to check out what you want to read first. We’ve designed this book so you don’t have to start with Chapter 1 and read straight through to the end. You can dive in absolutely anywhere and still come up with tons of tasty information about how food helps your body work.

Part I: The Basic Facts about Nutrition

Chapter 1 defines nutrition and what we mean by essential nutrients. This chapter also tells you how to read a nutrition study and how to find reliable information on nutrition you can trust. Chapter 2 is a really clear guide to how your digestive system works to transform food and drink into the nutrients you need to sustain a healthy body. Chapter 3 explores the reasons why you eat when you eat, the difference between hunger and appetite, and why you like the foods you like.

Part II: What You Get from Food

Chapter 4 gives you the facts about protein: where you get it and what it does in your body. Chapter 5 does the same job for dietary fat, and Chapter 6 looks at calories – the energy supply to your body. Chapter 7 explains carbohydrates: sugars, starches, and that indigestible but totally vital substance, dietary fibre. Chapter 8 outlines the risks and, yes, some newly proven benefits of alcohol.

Chapter 9 is about vitamins, the substances in food that control so many vital chemical reactions in your body. Chapter 10 is about minerals, substances that go to build so many of our tissues. Chapter 11 explains phytochemicals, newly identified but very important substances in food. Chapter 12 is about water, the essential liquid that comprises as much as 70 per cent of your body weight. This chapter also describes the functions of electrolytes, special minerals that maintain your fluid balance (the correct amount of water inside and outside your body cells).

Part III: Healthy Eating

Chapter 13 discusses what makes a healthy diet. This chapter is based on recent recommendations from the top nutritional organisations so you know it’s good for you! Chapter 14 shows you how to use a food balance model and read food labels to make wise choices when shopping, cooking, and snacking. Chapter 15 gives you the information to ensure optimum nutrition whoever you are. It examines the key dietary recommendations appropriate for every life stage. Chapter 16 explores how to eat well when you’re out and about – at work in restaurants or on the road. Chapter 17 discusses ways to achieve good nutrition standards in institutions like schools and hospitals

Part IV: Processed Food

Chapter 18 asks and answers this simple question: what is processed food? Chapter 19 shows you how cooking, freezing and canning affect the way food looks and tastes, as well as its nutritional value. We also take a peek inside the world of GM food. Chapter 20 gives you the lowdown on food additives – what do they do and are they safe?

Part V: Food and Health

Chapter 21 explains why people are allergic to certain foods and presents strategies for identifying and avoiding the problem foods. Chapter 22 is about how eating or drinking certain foods and drinks may affect your mood – a hot topic these days with nutrition researchers. Chapter 23 looks at food and medicine. It explores which special diets can be used to treat medical problems (as well as which can’t). It also covers how foods can interact with drugs and investigates which medications are the most likely to affect your nutritional status. Chapter 24 looks at dietary supplements: who might need them, how they’re regulated, and how to choose the most effective types.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

You can’t have a For Dummies book without The Part of Tens! This part provides ten great nutritional web site addresses, lists ten superfoods – mouthwatering foods we think have positively magical health benefits – and gives you the bottom line on ten trendy weight-loss diets.

Icons Used in This Book

Icons are a handy For Dummies way to catch your attention as you slide your eyes down the page. The icons come in several varieties, each with its own special meaning:

Nutrition is full of stuff that ‘everybody knows’. This masked marvel clues you in to the real facts when (as often happens) ‘everybody’s wrong!’

This little guy looks smart because he’s marking the place where you find explanations of the terms used by nutrition experts.

This icon alerts you to clear, concise explanations of technical terms and processes – details that are interesting but not necessarily essential to your understanding of a topic. In other words, skip them if you want, but try a few first.

Check out these snippets of useful information that you might want to bear in mind.

Bull’s-eye! This is time and stress saving information that you can use to improve your diet and health.

This is a warning icon, alerting you to nutrition pitfalls such as supplements that may do more damage than good to your health.

Where to Go from Here

Ah, here’s the best part. For Dummies books aren’t linear (a fancy way of saying that they don’t proceed from A to B to C . . . and so on). In fact, you can dive right in anywhere, say at L, M, or N, and still make sense of what you’re reading because we’ve made sure each chapter delivers a complete message.

For example, if carbohydrates are your passion, go right to Chapter 7. If you want to know how to understand food labels, skip to Chapter 14. If you’ve always been fascinated by food additives, your choice is Chapter 20. You can use the Table of Contents to find broad categories of information or the Index to look up more specific things.

If you’re not sure where you want to go, you may want to start with Part I. It gives you all the basic info you need to understand nutrition and points to places where you can find more detailed information.

Part I

The Basic Facts about Nutrition

In this part . . .

To use food wisely, you need a firm grasp of the basics. In this part, we look at why good nutrition is important and define what we mean by essential nutrients. We explore ways in which you can tell whether information about nutrition is reliable. We also give you a detailed explanation of digestion (how your body turns food into nutrients). Finally in this section, we explain why you eat when you eat – the realm of hunger and appetite – and why you find certain foods more appetising than others – the world of taste and smell.

Chapter 1

What’s Nutrition, Anyway?

In This Chapter

Exploring why nutrition matters

Understanding the value of food

Finding reliable sources of nutrition information

Making sense of nutritional studies

As you read this book you’ll follow a fantastic journey through the body – a journey that carries food from your plate to your mouth, through your digestive system and into every tissue and cell. Along the way, you’ll have an opportunity to see how your organs and digestive systems work. You’ll discover why some foods are particularly important to your health. And most importantly you’ll find out how to manage your diet so that you can get the biggest return (nutrients) from your investment (food).

Why Nutrition Matters

Technically speaking, nutrition is the science of how the body takes in and uses food. All living things need food and water just to stay alive. If you want to live well, then you need not only food but good food, meaning food with the essential nutrients. Without these nutrients:

Your bones can become brittle (not enough calcium or vitamin D).

Your gums may bleed (not enough vitamin C).

You may feel tired and short of breath (not enough iron).