Nestle's What to Eat?

Question One 

Some of the questions about food, diet, and nutrition I relate to and hope to answer by taking this course include why the fact that nutrition is such confusing, why is it so difficult to figure out which foods are healthy and good for me, and why can’t nutritionists figure out what is healthy and make it simple for me to understand. Other questions on politics of food include should I be worried about mercury, pesticides, hormones or bacteria in foods, is calcium or any other supplement recommendable, is it recommendable to eat trans fats, artificial sweeteners or sugars, and if so how much, is it acceptable to consume genetically engineered, canned, irradiated, or raw foods, and which are the most recommendable vegetables, bread, meat, or yogurt.

Question Two 

The three basic principles of good diet and lifestyle given by Dr. Nestle include (1) eating less which translates to a fewer intake of calories as well as not overeating fats or sugars which have no nutrients but high in calories, (2) moving more or, more elegantly, being more active which helps in maintaining the right body weight, and (3) eating lots of fruits and vegetables as a substitute for foods which are high in calories and have fewer nutrients.

Question Three 

Yes. For one thing, in my country and practically everywhere else in the world it is utterly hard not to overeat. Just about everything in the food scene is set up to encourage us to eat more food, not less. Secondly, there are too many choices of food and beverage choices which renders the option of making good food choices a complex decision, forcing me to invest more energy and time which would otherwise be even easier if not bombarded with conflicting messages. Thirdly, unlike olden days where most of the meals were prepared at home and calories were easier to control, nowadays most of the food budget goes for foods prepared and prepared outside home setting, where the food and beverage industries are less concerned with the health hence in control of the food contents and amounts.

Question Four 

After reading the introduction and reflecting on the questions above, grocery shopping is one thing that I have started to pay attention to, which I would not have thought about before reading the Introduction to this book. As such, I have realized that it is critically important to read ingredients lists on product labels to be able to make the right choice of any food. Besides, it is important to read the health claims in product labels. Finally, portion sizes are the key to controlling caloric intake, so much that this relationship constitutes the Law of Portion Size: the more food you have, the more of it you will eat.

References

Nestle, M. (2010). What to eat . North Point Press.