by Linn Steward, RDN Mark Schatzker’s most recent book proposes a theoretical answer to a question. Why over the last 40 years do we keep getting fatter? And the answer is, in the words of the author,  that “… the obesity epidemic is being fueled by advancements in food technology that have disrupted the brain’s ability to sense nutrients, altered eating behavior, and given food … Continue reading The End of Craving from a different point of view  

Mark Schatzker’s latest book is The End of Craving: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well. He strings together disparate perspectives into a theory on obesity. He tells us what causes it, and how to overcome it. The idea he presents is so simple and yet so profound. Could he have uncovered the magic formula for success? It is a solution that has evaded so … Continue reading Why are we so fat* and Italians so skinny?  

No, not that kind of free food! Not the kind that students and instructors seek out at opportunities across campus. Nor the free samples distributed on the floor of the IFT and similar Expos. I refer to foods missing a key ingredient or feature that is unacceptable to a segment of the population. Gluten free, lactose free, and sugar free are three of the most … Continue reading Free food  

In a recent article Giselle Castro-Sloboda urged us to purge eight health buzzwords from our vocabulary. Turns out that I have mentioned seven of the eight buzzwords on this site. To users of these buzzwords I have some questions: To stay healthy do we need to rely on superfoods, or would it be better to eat a balanced diet? Should we eat clean and live … Continue reading Pejorative food buzzwords and the message that they send  

. . . to open up Pandora’s Lunchbox. They decided to respond to some of the questions raised in last week’s blog. We welcome your responses. For more details on the process, scroll to the bottom of the post. Cast of Characters: Culinary nutritionist: Linn Steward, RDN. trained in the culinary arts with degree in Nutrition and Comparative Literature form Berkeley. She also is the … Continue reading A culinary nutritionist, a food ingredient marketer, and a food science professor walk into a bar . . .

Most of the books I review on this site are recent publications. For some reason Pandora’s Lunchbox, published in 2013, caught my eye. Melanie Warner is not a food professional. She is a journalist expressing frustration at the place of processed food in our diet. Some of her prescriptions are old tales that never seem to die. These tales appear in books like Food Rules; … Continue reading Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal

A 19-year-old male walked into my office with a BMI of 49.5 (obese is > 30) and a diagnosis of fatty liver (NAFLD).  His weight issue began at age 5. Who can blame him?  He ate what he was given, what his mom thought was healthy, and what the schools offered.  This is not the first time I encountered this challenge.  I routinely saw 300-pound … Continue reading We can change our food – Who is with me? by Julie Carlson, MBA, RD, LDN

There are many industries that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently, one of the biggest issues overall has been around supply chain shortages. Labor shortages have also been a major contributing factor to these supply challenges. The food industry and ingredients space has been hit especially hard with these problems and many ingredient companies are having trouble getting their customers the … Continue reading Supply challenges from the perspective of an ingredient supplier by Christine Addington  

Ever wonder how we can receive our online orders so fast? Find out in Arriving Today: From Factory to Front Door—Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy. Arriving Today says nothing about food supply chains. Christopher Mims traces the two-month journey of a simple USB charger. It starts out in a factory in Vietnam and appears like magic on our doorstep soon … Continue reading Arriving Today and how our need for speed is tying up supply chains  

Allyship, vaccine, and vax are only some of the words of the year selected for 2021. I nominate supply chain as the two-word phrase of the year. Woes in the supply chain help explain why foods, Christmas gifts, and other essential items don’t get to us on time. Many of us first started hearing about supply chains when we couldn’t get enough toilet paper to … Continue reading Food Routes and how supply chains function in food networks