Nutrition for Dummies

Once upon a time, people simply sat down to dinner, eating to fill up an empty stomach or just for the pleasure of it. No longer. Today, the dinner table can be a battleground between health and pleasure. You plan your meals with the precision of a major general moving his troops into the front lines, and for most people, the fight to eat what's good for you rather than what tastes good has become a lifelong struggle. This book is designed to end the war between your need for good nutrition and your equally compelling need for tasty meals. In fact (listen up, here!), what's good for you can also be good to eat - and vice versa. Nutrition For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is for anyone who wants to: Prepare quick, nutritious meals Understand why some diets work and others don't Interpret nutritional labels Distinguish "good" fat from bad Nutrition For Dummies, 2nd Edition, isn't going to overwhelm you with a strict regimen of what to put on the table every day from now until you are 104 years old. Instead, this book means to give you the information you need to make wise food choices - which always means choices that please the palate and soul, as well as the body. This book covers all these topics, and more: Figuring out how many calories you need How your body uses protein, fat, and carbs Whether or not to take vitamin and mineral supplements Maintaining the right amount of water in your body Understanding why you eat when you eat How an allergic reaction occurs Using food as medicine This book will also introduce you to the newest flash in the nutrition sky: phytochemicals, a group of fascinating compounds in plant foods. You may already be familiar with one such substance, carotene, the deep yellow pigment in fruits and vegetables that your body can convert to a form of vitamin A. Nutrition For Dummies, 2nd Edition, can help you become more aware of this and other areas of the latest nutritional research.

Carol Ann Rinzler is the author of 16 books on health, food, and nutrition, including the critically acclaimed The Complete Book of Food and The Complete Book of Herbs, Spices, and Condiments. She wrote a column on folk medicine for American Health magazine and her informative articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Family Circle, Glamour, Health, Ladies' Home Journal, and Redbook. Carol is a supporter of the National Women's Health Network, a member of the National Association of Science Writers, and has an MA from Columbia University.