Nutrition For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Part 1: Nutrition 101: The Basic Facts about Nutrition 5 Chapter 1: Nutrition Equals Life: Knowing What to Eat to Get What You Need 7 Discovering the First Principles of Nutrition 8 Breaking nutrients into two groups 9 Looking at essential nutrients 10 Protecting the Nutrients in Your Food 12 Knowing Your Nutritional Status 13 Fitting Food into the Medicine Chest 14 Finding Nutrition Facts 14 Nutrition people 14 Questions to ask about any study 15 Chapter 2: Digestion: The 24/7 Food Factory 21 Introducing the Digestive System 21 Digestion: One Step at a Time 23 Your brain, eyes, and nose 23 Your mouth 24 Your stomach 25 Your small intestine 25 Your large intestine 27 Chapter 3: How Much Nutrition Do You Need? 31 RDAs: Guidelines for Good Nutrition 31 Proteins, vitamins, and minerals: The essentials 32 Recommendations for carbohydrates, fats, dietary fiber, and alcohol 32 Different people, different needs 33 AIs: The Nutritional Numbers Formerly Known as ESADDIs 34 DRI: The Totally Complete Nutrition Guide 35 Chapter 4: Bigger But Not Better 41 The Obesity Epidemic 42 Observing the Obesity Map 42 Determining How Much You Should Weigh 44 Weight charts and tables 44 The BMI: Another way to rate your weight 46 Understanding What the Numbers Really Mean 48 Increasing the odds of accuracy 49 Seeing red flags on weight and health 49 Facing the Numbers When They Don’t Fit Your Body 50 Chapter 5: Calories: Powering Up the Body 53 Counting the Calories in Food 54 Empty calories 55 Every calorie counts 56 Determining How Many Calories You Need 57 Resting energy expenditure (REE) 57 Sex, glands, and chocolate cake 58 Energy for work 60 Calculating Your Daily Calorie Needs 61 Part 2: The Good Stuff in Your Food 63 Chapter 6: Protein Power 65 Understanding How Your Body Uses Proteins 65 Moving Proteins from Your Dinner Plate to Your Cells 67 Differentiating Dietary Proteins 68 Essential and nonessential proteins 68 Evaluating proteins 69 Figuring Out How Much Protein You Need 73 Calculating the correct amount 73 Dodging protein deficiency 74 Boosting your protein intake: Special considerations 74 Avoiding protein overload 75 Chapter 7: Facing Facts on Fat and Cholesterol 77 Discovering How Your Body Uses Fats 77 Understanding what fats do for you 78 Pulling energy from fat 78 Defining Fatty Acids and Their Relationship to Dietary Fat 80 Focusing on the Fats in Food 82 Looking at the fatty acids in food 82 Identifying the foods with fats 84 Getting the right amount of fat 84 Considering Cholesterol and You 87 Cholesterol and heart disease 87 Lipoproteins 88 Diet and cholesterol 90 Chapter 8: Carbohydrates: A Complex Story 93 Checking Out Carbohydrates 93 Simple carbohydrates 94 Complex carbohydrates 94 Dietary fiber 94 Carbohydrates and Energy: A Biochemical Love Story 95 How glucose becomes energy 96 How pasta ends up on your hips when too many carbs pass your lips 97 Other ways your body uses carbohydrates 97 Finding the Carbohydrates You Need 98 Some people have problems with carbohydrates 98 Some people need extra carbohydrates 99 Dietary Fiber: The Non-Nutrient in Carbohydrate Foods 101 Defining the two kinds of dietary fiber 101 Getting dietary fiber from food 102 Determining how much fiber you need 102 Chapter 9: Alcohol: Another Form of Grape and Grain 109 Creating Alcohol Beverages 110 Fermented alcohol products 110 Distilled alcohol products 110 The foods used to make beverage alcohol 111 Checking How Much Alcohol Is in That Bottle 112 Following Alcohol through Your Body 112 Understanding How Alcohol Affects Your Health 114 The physical effects of excessive drinking 115 Alcoholism: An addiction disease 116 Who shouldn’t drink 117 Alcohol and age 118 Advice from the Sages: Moderation 119 Chapter 10: Validating Vitamins 121 Understanding What Vitamins Your Body Needs 121 Fat-soluble vitamins 123 Water-soluble vitamins 126 Discovering Where to Get Your Vitamins 131 Too Much or Too Little: Avoiding Two Ways to Go Wrong with Vitamins 131 Vitamin deficiencies 132 Vitamin megadoses 133 Acceptable Exceptions: Taking Extra Vitamins as Needed 135 I’m taking medication 135 I’m a smoker 135 I never eat animals 135 I’m pregnant 135 I’m breast-feeding 136 I’m approaching menopause 137 I have very light skin or very dark skin 137 Chapter 11: Making Mineral Magic 139 Getting the Minerals You Need 140 The major minerals 141 The trace elements 144 Knowing What’s Too Much and What’s Too Little 148 Avoiding mineral deficiency 148 Understanding the risks of overdoses 149 Figuring Out When You May Need More than the RDA 151 You’re a strict vegetarian 151 You live inland, away from the ocean 152 You’re a man 152 You’re a woman 152 You’re pregnant or nursing 152 Chapter 12: The Wonder of Water 155 Investigating the Many Ways Your Body Uses Water 156 Maintaining the Right Amount of Water in Your Body 156 The electrolytes’ primary job 158 Other tasks electrolytes perform 159 Getting the Water You Need 159 Evaluating Electrolytes 161 Sodium 162 Potassium and chloride 162 When you need more 162 Dehydration: When the Body Doesn’t Get Enough Water 164 First signs 165 Worsening problems 165 Really bad trouble 165 The crash 165 Chapter 13: Added Attractions: Supplements 167 Introducing Dietary Supplements 167 Examining Two Reasons to Use Dietary Supplements 169 When food isn’t enough 169 Using supplements as insurance 170 Exploring Supplement Safety: An Iffy Proposition 172 Choosing the Most Effective Supplements 174 Getting Nutrients from Food Rather Than Supplements 178 Part 3: Hunger, Health, and Habits 179 Chapter 14: Why You Eat When You Eat 181 Underlining the Difference between Hunger and Appetite 181 Refueling: The Cycle of Hunger and Satiety 183 Recognizing hunger 183 Identifying the hormones that say, “I’m hungry” and “I’m full” 183 Beating the four-hour hungries 185 The better way: Five or six small meals 185 Maintaining a healthy appetite 186 Responding to Your Environment on a Gut Level .187 Baby, it’s cold outside 187 Exercising more than your mouth 188 Taking medicine that changes your appetite 188 Revealing Unhealthy Relationships with Food 189 Obesity 189 Anorexia nervosa 190 Bulimia nervosa 190 Binge eating disorder 191 Chapter 15: Why You Like the Foods You Like 193 Tackling Taste: How Your Brain and Tongue Work Together 193 The five basic flavors 194 Your health and your taste buds 195 Tricking your taste buds 197 Determining Deliciousness 197 Listening to your body 197 Loving the food you’re with: Geography and taste 198 Taking offense to food and flavors 200 Changing the Menu: Adapting to Exotic Foods 201 Learning to like unusual foods 202 Stirring the stew: The culinary benefits of immigration 202 Chapter 16: Building Your New and Improved Healthful Diet 207 Discovering the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 207 Finding What’s New in the 2020–2025 Edition 209 Factor in the fats 212 Subtract the added sugar 213 Get adequate essential nutrients 214 Go fish for good food 214 Bring on the veggies 214 Get up and go 215 Do the Guidelines Work? 218 Chapter 17: Choosing Wisely with Pyramids, Plates, and Patterns 221 Checking Out Basic Diet Pictures 221 The original USDA Food Guide Pyramid 222 From pyramid to plate: The evolution of the Food Guide 222 An assortment of pyramids and plates 224 Tracking Food Patterns 226 Understanding the Nutrition Facts Label 227 Getting the facts 228 Relying on labels: Health claims 230 Navigating the highs and lows 232 Listing other stuff 235 Using Pyramids, Plates, Patterns, and Labels to Choose Healthful Foods 235 Chapter 18: Eating Smart When Eating Out 237 Reading a Restaurant Menu 237 Apportion the portions 238 Ask for proof .239 Editing Your Menu Choices 239 Start simple 239 Elevate appetizers to entrees 240 Skip the fat on the bread 240 Undress the veggies 240 Minimize the main dish 241 Sideline sauces 242 Satisfy your sweet tooth 242 Writing Rules for Chain Restaurants 243 Exploring the Healthful Side of Fast Food 245 Choosing wisely at the drive-through 245 Finding a guilt-free, 300-calorie snack solution 246 Managing the Mechanical Menu 247 Part 4: Food Processing 249 Chapter 19: Praising Food Processing 251 Preserving Food: Five Methods of Processing 252 Temperature control 253 Removing the water 254 Controlling the air flow 254 Chemical warfare 255 Irradiation 255 Improving Food’s Appeal and Nutritional Value 256 Intensifying flavor and aroma 256 Adding nutrients 256 Combining benefits 257 Faking It: Food Substitutes 257 Alternative foods No 1: Fat replacers 258 Alternative foods No 2: Substitute sweeteners 261 A Last Word: Follow That Bird 264 Chapter 20: Healthful and Delicious Heat 265 Exploring Different Methods of Cooking 266 Cooking with fire 266 Cooking with electromagnetic waves 267 Understanding How Cooking Alters Food 267 Changing food’s texture 267 Enhancing flavor and aroma 270 Shading the color palette 271 Picking the Right Cooking Materials 272 Aluminum 273 Copper 273 Ceramics 274 Enamelware 274 Glass 274 Iron 275 Nonstick 275 Stainless steel 275 Plastic and paper 276 Protecting the Nutrients in Cooked Foods 276 Maintaining minerals 277 Keeping those volatile vitamins 277 Keeping Food Safe by Cooking 278 Naming the bad guys 279 Heating to the appropriate temperature 280 Chapter 21: How Freezing, Canning, Drying, and Zapping Protect Your Food 283 Cold Comfort: Chilling and Freezing 283 How freezing affects the texture of food 286 Thawing frozen food 287 Refreezing frozen food 287 Canned Food: Keeping Out Contaminants 288 Dried Food: No Life without Water 289 How drying affects food’s nutritional value 289 When dried fruit may be hazardous to your health 290 Irradiation: A Hot Topic 291 Chapter 22: Better Eating through Chemistry 295 Nature’s Beneficial Chemistry 295 Antioxidants 296 Hormonelike compounds .296 Sulfur compounds 297 Exploring the Natural and Synthetic Nature of Food Additives 298 Nutrient additives 298 Color additives 299 Flavor additives 301 Preservatives 302 Other additives in food 302 Determining the Safety of Food Additives 303 Defining toxins 303 Explaining carcinogens 303 Listing allergens 305 Beyond Additives: Foods Nature Never Made 306 Part 5: Food and Medicine 309 Chapter 23: When Food Fights Back 311 Diagnosing Food Allergies 312 Understanding how an allergic reaction occurs 312 Investigating two kinds of allergic reactions 314 Identifying food allergies 314 Coping with Food Allergies 315 Reading the food ingredient label 315 Avoiding unusual interactions 317 Practicing pragmatic protection 319 Recognizing Other Body Reactions to Food 319 Chapter 24: Brain Food 321 Nourishing the Developing Brain 321 Fats and the fetal brain 322 Fish and the teenage brain 322 Determining how much DHA a body needs 323 Avoiding malicious mercury 323 Protecting the Adult Brain 325 Introducing the natural enemies of thought and memory 326 Dieting to keep your brain in shape 327 Choosing foods that boost the brain 327 Minding your mind diet 328 Altering the Emotional Brain 329 Recognizing mood malfunctions 330 Seeing how food can affect your mood 331 Using food to manage mood 335 Healing the Injured Brain 336 The 5, 7, 2, 4, 100, 200 solution 337 Protein possibilities 338 The (eventual) official word 338 Eating to Benefit Your Brain and Your Body 339 Chapter 25: Food and Drug Interactions 341 Following Food and Drug Interactions 342 Listing the Reactions of Drugs and Certain Foods 343 Discovering Drug Interactions with Nutrients 345 Using Food to Improve a Drug’s Performance 346 Chapter 26: Using Food as Medicine 349 Defining Food as Medicine 349 Naming Diets with Absolutely, Positively Beneficial Medical Effects 350 Using Food to Prevent Disease 351 Battling deficiency diseases 352 Reviewing the evidence on anticancer diets 352 DASHing to healthy blood pressure 354 Conquering the common cold 355 Eating for a Better Body (And Brain) 356 The Last Word on Food versus Medicine 357 Part 6: The Part of Tens 359 Chapter 27: Ten Reliable Food and Nutrition Websites 361 U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Composition Website 362 U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 362 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) 363 The American Heart Association (AHA) 363 American Cancer Society (ACS) 364 Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) 364 Mayo Clinic 364 Science Daily .365 WebMD 365 Food Safety News 365 Chapter 28: Ten Northern Nutrition Rules 367 Be Mindful of Your Eating Habits 367 Cook More Often 368 Enjoy Your Food 368 Eat Meals with Others 368 Eat Plenty of Vegetables and Fruits, Whole Grain Foods, and Protein Foods 368 Limit Highly Processed Foods 369 Make Water Your Drink of Choice 369 Use Food Labels 369 Be Aware That Food Marketing Can Influence Your Choices 369 Check the Guidelines for Updates 369 Chapter 29: Ten Superstar Foods 371 Avocado 371 Bananas 372 Beans 372 Celery 373 Cheese 373 Chocolate 373 Nuts 374 Sardines 375 White Tea 375 Whole Grains 376 Chapter 30: Ten Ways Coffee (and Tea) Make Life Better 377 Coffee Lights Up Your Brain 378 Coffee Chases the Blues 378 Coffee Powers Endurance Exercise 379 Coffee Is Cholesterol-Safe 379 Coffee Lowers Your Risk of Stroke 379 Coffee Lowers Your Risk of Some Cancers 380 Coffee May Ward Off Type 2 Diabetes 380 Coffee Doesn’t Keep Everyone Awake 381 Coffee Lowers a Man’s Risk of ED 381 Coffee Drinkers Live Longer 381 Chapter 31: Ten Terrific Foods Starting with the Letter P 383 Papaya 383 Pear 384 Peas 384 Pineapple 385 Plantain 386 Pork 386 Potato 387 Prawns 388 Prune 388 Pumpkin 389 Appendix: Glossary of Nutrition Terms 391 Index 401