Why calories count [electronic resource] : from science to politics / Marion Nestle and Malden Nesheim.

ISBN:

9780520952171

Title:

Author:

Nestle, Marion.

Personal Author:

Nestle, Marion.

Publication Information:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2012.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 pages) : illustrations.

Series:

California studies in food and culture ; 33

Contents:

Introduction -- Part One. Understanding calories: It all starts with the science: 1: What is a calorie?; 2: The History: from ancient Greece to modern calorie science; 3: Foods: how scientists count the calories; 4: Bodies: how scientists measure the use of calories -- Part Two. Why you need calories: survival, warmth, and work: 5: Metabolism: how the body turns food into Energy; 6: The first use of calories: basic life functions; 7. The second use: heat losses while metabolizing food; 8. The third use: physical activity -- Part 3. Calorie intake and Its regulation: 9. How many calories do you need?; 10. Calorie confusion: The struggle to estimate intake; 11. Secret calories: alcohol; 12. Calorie regulation: The body's complex weight management system -- Part 4. Too few calories: 13. Starvation and Its effects on the body; 14. Individuals, communities, Nations: calories and global hunger; 15. Could restricting calories prolong human life? -- Part 5. Too many calories: 16. An introduction to obesity; 17. Calories and weight gain: Another complex relationship; 18. Do excess calories make some people gain weight faster than others?; 19. Are all calories created equal?; 20. Do some kinds of diets work better than others? -- Part 6. The politics of calories: A closer look: 21. Today's "eat more" environment: The role of the food industry; 22. More calorie confusion: portion distortion, health halos, and wishful thinking; 23. Calorie labeling: science and politics; 24. Alcohol labels: industry vs. consumers; 25. Will calorie labels help fight obesity? -- Conclusion: how to cope with the calorie environment -- Appendix One. Selected events in the history of calories, 1614-1919 -- Appendix Two. The respiratory quotient (RQ) -- Appendix Three. frequently asked questions.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Nutrition.

Diet.

Obesity -- Prevention.

Food industry and trade.

Added Author:

Nesheim, Malden C.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2012

Publication Information:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2012.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
613.2	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Calories--too few or too many--are the source of health problems affecting billions of people in today's globalized world. Although calories are essential to human health and survival, they cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted. They are also hard to understand. In Why Calories Count, Marion Nestle and Malden Nesheim explain in clear and accessible language what calories are and how they work, both biologically and politically. As they take readers through the issues that are fundamental to our understanding of diet and food, weight gain, loss, and obesity, Nestle and Nesheim sort through a great deal of the misinformation put forth by food manufacturers and diet program promoters. They elucidate the political stakes and show how federal and corporate policies have come together to create an "eat more" environment. Finally, having armed readers with the necessary information to interpret food labels, evaluate diet claims, and understand evidence as presented in popular media, the authors offer some candid advice: Get organized. Eat less. Eat better. Move more. Get political.

Author Notes

Nestle Marion :

Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and Professor of Sociology at New York University. She is the author of What to Eat and, from UC Press, Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health; Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety ; and Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine . Malden Nesheim is Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. He is coauthor (with Marion Nestle) of Feed Your Pet Right: The Authoritative Guide to Feeding Your Dog and Cat and (with Ann L. Yaktine) of the Institute of Medicine report Seafood Choices: Balancing Benefits and Risks .

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

Surprise! Why Calories Count is not one of the many diet books promising weight loss that have, ironically, appeared during the last 50 years of undiminished increases in obesity and numbers of overweight individuals. The book does not provide kitchen advice nor does it identify any faddish food as the miracle for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. This is really a nutrition text, for students and the public alike, that centers on the calorie concept, ranging from historic details through physiological phenomena to nutrition labeling and consumer education. Nestle (NYU) and Nesheim (emer., Cornell) are eminent scientists and excellent communicators. Their key message is "eat less," "eat better," and "move more." But what clearly differentiates this book from all others of its kind is the additional admonition for everyone to help "politicize" calories, thereby making all people winners in the war against the obesity epidemic and its debilitating afflictions. This means that people should call on policy makers to have them more effectively enter the "calorie environment" and intervene into consumers' food choices. It also means that people should try to pressure all other stakeholders in the food marketplace to make changes. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. M. Kroger emeritus, Pennsylvania State University, University Park Campus

Library Journal Review

Neither a diet nor a weight-loss book, this scholarly, seriously researched work assists readers in evaluating diet claims, formulating strategies to lose, gain, or maintain weight, and learning how to make healthy food choices. Nestle (Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, & Public Health, New York Univ.) and Nesheim (nutrition, emeritus, Cornell Univ.) focus on the history of the calorie and its relationship to body weight, the science behind metabolism, how to estimate calories in a given portion, and-what will probably be of most interest to the general reader-the role of big business in creating calorie-laden food and why it's less politically controversial to recommend exercising than cutting back on calories. VERDICT Readers who appreciate the book's scientifically grounded and historic approach to understanding calories will find value here, although it's not easy reading. Libraries that own Gary Taubes's Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It may want to supplement it with this title because of the books' differing viewpoints.-Martha Stone, Treadwell Lib., Boston (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.