How to Be a Conscious Eater Making Food

A radically practical guide to making food choices that are good for you, others, and the planet.

Is organic really worth it? Are eggs ok to eat? If so, which ones are best for you, and for the chicken—Cage-Free, Free-Range, Pasture-Raised? What about farmed salmon, soy milk, sugar, gluten, fermented foods, coconut oil, almonds? Thumbs-up, thumbs-down, or somewhere in between?

Using three criteria—Is it good for me? Is it good for others? Is it good for the planet?—Sophie Egan helps us navigate the bewildering world of food so that we can all become conscious eaters. To eat consciously is not about diets, fads, or hard-and-fast rules. It’s about having straightforward, accurate information to make smart, thoughtful choices amid the chaos of conflicting news and marketing hype. An expert on food’s impact on human and environmental health, Egan organizes the book into four categories—stuff that comes from the ground, stuff that comes from animals, stuff that comes from factories, and stuff that’s made in restaurant kitchens. This practical guide offers bottom-line answers to your most top-of-mind questions about what to eat.

“The clearest, most useful food book I own.”—A. J. Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author

Sophie Egan, MPH is director of health and sustainability leadership as well as the editorial director for strategic initiatives at The Culinary Institute of America. Based in San Francisco, Egan is a contributor to The New York Times’ health section, and she has written about food and health for The Washington Post, EatingWell, Time, The Wall Street Journal, Bon Appétit, WIRED, Edible San Francisco, and other publications. Her first book, Devoured: How What We Eat Defines Who We Are (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2016), is a journey into the American food psyche. Egan holds a master of public health, with a focus on health and social behavior, from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a Center for Health Leadership fellow. She also holds a bachelor of arts with honors in history from Stanford University. In 2016, she was named one of the UC Global Food Initiative’s 30 Under 30. In 2018, she earned a certificate from the Harvard Executive Education in Sustainability Leadership program at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment.

Introduction

1. Stuff that comes from the ground

Sugars: In defense of fruit
Almonds: health nuts or water hogs?
Arsenic and old rice
Looking for a humble hero? Beans
The best produce is the kind you eat
You Should Buy Organic, when you can afford it
Radically practical tips for buying produce
Why water beats all, and tap beats bottle
Top 5 ways to waste less food at home
The glory of whole grains and why you shouldn’t miss out
Grains that are good for your fellow humans and the planet
Fat in food: the essentials
From soy to nuts, what to know about plant-based “milks”
Fermented foods and fiber: bring on the bacteria
Pollinator protection: what’s at stake and how you can help
A gentle rain on the plant-based parade
How to choose a cooking oil
The olive oil vs. coconut oil showdown
Frozen foods: it’s the freezers we need to deal with
SOS: save our souls soils
Label Lounge: stickers to know for stuff that comes from the ground

2. Stuff that comes from animals

The Great Protein Myth
The conscious carnivore: First, less. Then, better
Why fish and seafood are worth your while
Sustainability at sea: a primer
Cholesterol, orCan we go back to eating eggs now?
The conscious carnivore: animal welfare edition
Cage-free, free-range, and the laundry list of egg labels
Superbugs and the food supply: Only you can prevent antibiotic resistance
Food fraud -- Is that sawdust on my penne?
Farmed fish: yay or nay?
Processed meats and cancer
Your diet and your cancer risk
The grass-fed question
Shrimp + slavery = one hot mess
Label Lounge: stickers to know for stuff that’s killed and milked

3. Stuff that comes from factories

Processed foods: not all bad
How the heck do I read a food label?
Ingredients that sound scary but are actually safe, and ones that sound safe but are actually scary
Added sugars and artificial sweeteners
How to read the front of a food package
Up your supermarket savvy
Food labels and allergies: what to look for
Hold your water -- from glass to plastic to aluminum
10 ways to part ways with plastic
What to make of calories: for health
What to make of calories: for the planet
The unintended consequences of gluten-free everything
How to limit added sugar: where reality meets joy
Sell-by – the truth behind the date

4. Stuff that’s made in restaurant kitchens

“Healthy” fast food
On becoming a humane society
Three words of caution when personalizing your nutrition
Ethical eating in the era of food allergies
The case for calorie labeling
Farm-to-table: They’re not all hucksters
Greening the restaurant scene: Eat like the planet depends on it

Additional Tips & Resources

10 Sources I Trust
10 Things Worth Reading
Glossary

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How to Be a Conscious Eater Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials