Why Calories Count From Science to Politics

Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University, in the department she chaired from 1988-2003 and from which she retired in September 2017. 

She earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley. Previous faculty positions were at Brandeis University and the UCSF School of Medicine. From 1986-88, she was a senior nutrition policy advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services and editor of the 1988 Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health. Her research and writing examine scientific and socioeconomic influences on food choice and its consequences, emphasizing the role of food industry marketing.

She is the author of six prize-winning books: Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (2002); Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety (2003); What to Eat (2006); Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics, with Dr. Malden Nesheim (2012); Eat, Drink Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics (2013); and Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning) in 2015. She also has written two books about pet food, Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine (2008) and Feed Your Pet Right in 2010 (also with Dr. Nesheim). She published Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat, in 2018 (and its Portuguese translation in 2019).  Her most recent book, with Kerry Trueman, Let's Ask Marion: What You Need to Know about the Politics of Food, Nutrition, and Health, was published in September 2020.

From 2008 to 2013, she wrote a monthly Food Matters column for the San Francisco Chronicle food section. She blogs daily (almost) at www.foodpolitics.com. Her Twitter account, @marionnestle, has been named among the top 10 in health and science by Time Magazine, Science Magazine, and The Guardian, and has more than 144,000 followers.

Marion’s Books https://www.foodpolitics.com/books/

Connect with Marion

Website https://www.foodpolitics.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/marion.nestle

Twitter https://twitter.com/marionnestle?s=20

In Today's episode, we have Marion Nestle a Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. She earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley. 

She is the author of six prize-winning books: Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health; What to Eat; Why Calories Count: From Science to PoliticsEat, Drink Vote: an illustrated guide to Food Politics Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning); Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat. Her most recent book, Let's Ask Marion: What You Need to Know about the Politics of Food, Nutrition, and Health, is the topic of Vera’s interview today. 

Marion has spent most of her professional career as a public health nutritionist and food studies academic. For decades she has been thinking, writing, publishing, and teaching about how politics affects and distorts food systems. The goal of her recent work has been to inspire not only “voting with forks” for healthier and more environmentally sustainable personal diets, but also “voting with votes.” She means we need to engage in politics to advocate for food systems that make better food available and affordable to everyone, that adequately compensate everyone who works to produce, prepare, or serve food, and that deal with food in ways that conserve and sustain the environment. 

Marion is a force to be reckoned with in the Nutrition and Food & Public Health World. Our goal is not only to educate you the listener but also our guest on the concept of sugar as a drug and Food Addiction in general. In this episode, Vera respectfully challenges Marion on some of her thoughts about nutrition and we find out if she believes in Food Addiction. They have an enlightening conversation around the food confusion/dogma that exists in the different nutrition camps,  they discuss the calorie conundrum, and Marion shares her personal experiences with the Sugar industry. We want to give a special shout-out to our friend Tony Vassallo for moderating the audience questions after the interview. We hope you enjoy the show!

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede the professional relationship and direction of your healthcare provider. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.