An Apple a Day: The Myths, Misconceptions, and Truths About the Foods We Eat

An Apple a Day: The Myths, Misconceptions, and Truths About the Foods We Eat

by Joe Schwarcz
An Apple a Day: The Myths, Misconceptions, and Truths About the Foods We Eat

An Apple a Day: The Myths, Misconceptions, and Truths About the Foods We Eat

by Joe Schwarcz

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Overview

An entertaining exploration of the myths, claims, and misconceptions surrounding our obsession with diets, nutrition, and weight, from a renowned nutrition expert and chemistry professor

A clear, no-nonsense nutrition guide with advice for the organic-obsessed, the diet-depressed, and the everyday food lover

You have to be a nutritional scientist these days before you sit down to eat—which is why we need An Apple a Day. In this entertaining guide to the food we eat, Dr. Joe Schwarcz has taken his knowledge of food chemistry and applied it to our top food fears, trends, and questions.

Organized in short, easy-to-reference chapters on dozens of different food topics, Dr. Joe looks at how food affects our health and explains what’s happening in our bodies when we eat—how do the hundreds of compounds in a single food react when we put something in our mouths?

He investigates how we manipulate our food supply, delving into the science of food additives such as MSG and sweeteners both artificial and natural. Which nutritional supplements might actually do you good?

Dr. Joe also clears up the confusion about contaminants, examining everything from pesticide residues, remnants of antibiotics, the dreaded trans fats, and chemicals that may leach from cookware. Finally, he takes a studied look at the science of calories and weighs in on popular diets.

With Dr Joe’s advice, readers will be armed with the information they need on how to eat well, how to make better food choices, and how to avoid diet hype.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781590513286
Publisher: Other Press, LLC
Publication date: 01/13/2009
Sold by: Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format: eBook
Pages: 368
File size: 306 KB

About the Author

Dr. Joe Schwarcz is director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society in Montreal. He teaches courses on nutrition and the applications of chemistry to everyday life. His informative and entertaining public lectures range from nutritional controversies to the chemistry of love. Dr. Schwarcz has received numerous awards, including the Royal Society of Canada's McNeil Award, and is the only non-American to win the American Chemical Society's prestigious Grady-Stack Award. He is the author of numerous books, including Let Them Eat Flax. He was also the chief consultant for the blockbuster titles Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal and The Healing Power of Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs. A regular guest on Canadian television, and the host of weekly radio shows in Toronto and Montreal, Schwarcz also writes a weekly column for The Gazette in Montreal, where he lives. Visit him at www.joeschwarcz.ca.

Read an Excerpt

Is there a better subject with which to begin a discussion of the relationship between food and health than apples? After all, doesn’t “an apple a day keep the doctor away”? Maybe it does, if you throw it at her! There are no single foods that have magical health properties. There are good diets and there are bad diets. It is certainly possible to have a good diet and never eat apples, just as it is possible to gorge on apples and have a horrible diet. What really matters in terms of nutrition is the net effect produced by all of the chemicals that wend their way into our bodies from the food we eat. Yes, chemicals. I can practically see those eyebrows being raised. It may seem unusual to see the word “chemical” without an adjective like “poisonous,” in front of it. Actually, without appropriate context, “toxic chemical” is a meaningless term. . . . Everything in the world is made of chemicals, and if you restricted yourself to a diet free of chemicals, you would be dining in a vacuum! With that in mind, let’s investigate the chemicals in an apple. So tell me, would you like some nail polish remover in your diet? Or rubbing alcohol? Then have an apple! Yes, all apples contain acetone and isopropanol. And if these don’t sound toxic enough, you can throw in some cyanide. It’s there too. Added by nature, not by humans! Should you then be worried about eating apples? Of course not! The amounts of these chemicals are too small to be of any consequence. Apples, as already mentioned, contain over 300 naturally occurring compounds, and whatever effect the fruit has on our health is a reflection of all of these.

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