This second edition has been updated by include MyPyramid and the 2005 Dietary Guidelines as well as coverage of material such as digestion, metabolism, chemistry and life cycle nutrition.

This book is a lively exploration of the amazing revelation known to Mormons as the “Word of Wisdom.” It counsels us how and what we should eat to reach our highest potential, both physically and spiritually. New and surprising insights are presented through the perspective of what has been proven to be the healthiest human diet, a way of eating supported both by history and by science: a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) diet. WFPB vegetarian diets have been scientifically proven to both prevent and cure chronic disease, help you achieve your maximum physical potential, and make it easy to reach and maintain your ideal weight. In this book, you’ll find the stories of dozens of people who are enjoying the blessings of following a Word of Wisdom diet, and you’ll get concrete advice on how to get started! You will discover: What we should and should not eat to enjoy maximum physical health. How food is intimately connected to our spiritual well being. Why Latter-day Saints are succumbing to the same chronic diseases as the rest of the population, despite not smoking, drinking, or doing drugs. How the Word of Wisdom was designed specifically for our day. How you can receive the “hidden treasures” and other blessings promised in the Word of Wisdom. Why eating the foods God has ordained for our use is better not just for our bodies, but for the animals and for the earth. You may think you know what the Word of Wisdom says, but you’ll be amazed at what you have missed. Learn why Mormons all over the world are “waking up” to the Word of Wisdom!

The definitive guide to the basic principles and latest advances in Nutritional Genomics Though still in its infancy, nutritional genomics, or "nutrigenomics," has revealed much about the complex interactions between diet and genes. But it is in its potential applications that nutrigenomics promises to revolutionize the ways we manage human health and combat disease in the years ahead. Great progress already has been made in modeling "personalized" nutrition for optimal health and longevity as well as in genotype-based dietary interventions for the prevention, mitigation, or possible cure of a variety of chronic diseases and some types of cancer. Topics covered include: * Nutrients and gene expression * The role of metabolomics in individualized health * Molecular mechanisms of longevity regulation and calorie restriction * Green tea polyphenols and soy peptides in cancer prevention * Maternal nutrition and fetal gene expression * Genetic susceptibility to heterocyclic amines from cooked foods * Bioinformatics and biocomputation in nutrigenomics * The pursuit of optimal diets Written by an all-star team of experts from around the globe, this volume provides an integrated overview of the cutting-edge field of nutritional genomics. The authors and editors lead an in-depth discussion of the fundamental principles and scientific methodologies that serve as the foundation for nutritional genomics and explore important recent advances in an array of related disciplines. Each self-contained chapter builds upon its predecessor, leading the reader seamlessly from basic principles to more complex scientific findings and experimental designs. Scientific chapters are carefully balanced with those addressing the social, ethical, regulatory, and commercial implications of nutrigenomics.

Student Workbook

Reflections on feeding body and spirit in a world of change Animal scientists have long considered domestic livestock to be too dumb to know how to eat right, but the lifetime research of animal behaviorist Fred Provenza and his colleagues has debunked this myth. Their work shows that when given a choice of natural foods, livestock have an astoundingly refined palate, nibbling through the day on as many as fifty kinds of grasses, forbs, and shrubs to meet their nutritional needs with remarkable precision. In Nourishment Provenza presents his thesis of the wisdom body, a wisdom that links flavor-feedback relationships at a cellular level with biochemically rich foods to meet the body's nutritional and medicinal needs. Provenza explores the fascinating complexity of these relationships as he raises and answers thought-provoking questions about what we can learn from animals about nutritional wisdom. What kinds of memories form the basis for how herbivores, and humans, recognize foods? Can a body develop nutritional and medicinal memories in utero and early in life? Do humans still possess the wisdom to select nourishing diets? Or, has that ability been hijacked by nutritional "authorities"? Consumers eager for a "quick fix" have empowered the multibillion-dollar-a-year supplement industry, but is taking supplements and enriching and fortifying foods helping us, or is it hurting us? On a broader scale Provenza explores the relationships among facets of complex, poorly understood, ever-changing ecological, social, and economic systems in light of an unpredictable future. To what degree do we lose contact with life-sustaining energies when the foods we eat come from anywhere but where we live? To what degree do we lose the mythological relationship that links us physically and spiritually with Mother Earth who nurtures our lives? Provenza's paradigm-changing exploration of these questions has implications that could vastly improve our health through a simple change in the way we view our relationships with the plants and animals we eat. Our health could be improved by eating biochemically rich foods and by creating cultures that know how to combine foods into meals that nourish and satiate. Provenza contends the voices of "authority" disconnect most people from a personal search to discover the inner wisdom that can nourish body and spirit. That journey means embracing wonder and uncertainty and avoiding illusions of stability and control as we dine on a planet in a universe bent on consuming itself.