Food for Life The New Science of Eating Well

From the author of Spoon-Fed and The Diet Myth, a comprehensive guide to the new science of nutrition, drawing on Tim Spector's cutting-edge research as one of the world's leading experts in food science.

- Food for health
- Food for your microbes
- Food as medicine
- Food as mental health
- Food for immunity
- Food for the planet
- Food for life

Food is our greatest ally for good health, but the question of what to eat has never seemed so complicated. Tim Spector has pioneered a science-based approach to nutrition, encouraging us to forget misleading notions of calorie counts or nutritional breakdowns.

In Food for Life he draws on over a decade of cutting-edge scientific research, along with his own personal insights, to deliver a new and comprehensive guide to what we should all know about food today.

Taking a wide-angle lens on everything from environmental impact and food fraud to allergies and deceptive labeling, Spector also shows us the many wondrous and surprising properties of everyday foods, which scientists are only just beginning to understand.

Tim Spector is a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and honorary consultant physician at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals. He is a multi-award-winning expert in personalised medicine and the gut microbiome, and the author of five books, including the bestsellers Spoon-Fed and The Diet Myth. He appears regularly on TV, radio and podcasts around the world, and is one of the top 100 most cited scientists in the world. He is co-founder of the personalised nutrition company ZOE and leads the world's biggest citizen science health project, the ZOE Health study.

Contents
Introduction: Why care about food?ix
Part One: Food for Life
1.What is the microbiome?3
2.Why do we love food?10
3.What foods are really healthy?20
4.What foods are unhealthy?33
5.Can foods ‘boost’ your immune system?41
6.How can we choose better foods?53
7.How does storing, processing and cooking alter food?65
8.What to eat to save the planet?80
9.How are we all unique?92
10.What is the future of food?101
11.So, now what should I have for dinner?113

Part Two: Foods
12.Fruits125
13.Vegetables150
14.Legumes (aka pulses)169
15.Cereals and grains182
16.Rice198
17.Pasta204
18.Bread, pastries and biscuits213
19.Fungi and mushrooms231
20.Meat242
21.Processed meats260
22.Fish269
23.Marine bugs and other seafood284
24.Milk and cream296
25.Fermented dairy (yogurt, kefir and fermented milk)305
26.Cheese313
27.Dairy alternatives323
28.Eggs329
29.Sweet treats336
30.Nuts and seeds363
31.Seasoning, herbs and spices372
32.Liquids, oils and condiments394
33.Final word418
Part Three: Food Tables and Tips
34.Food Tables423
Glossary447
Acknowledgements455
Notes457
Index491