Search results for ""Author Mike Gibney""

Ever seen a fat fox? Didn't think so. Why it is that only humans - or animals in the care of humans - develop obesity? In Ever Seen a Fat Fox?: Human Obesity Explored Professor Mike Gibney delves into the history of the human relationship with food. He traces the evolution of our modern diet and looks to science to offer solutions to the phenomenon of human obesity. He calls on governments to cease the single-issue ad-hoc approach and demands a massive governmental long-term investment in weight management. It is a commonly held belief that obesity is a recent phenomenon. Professor Gibney reveals that obesity is nothing new - in fact, the modern upward trend in obesity began in the mid-nineteenth century. Obesity has been part of human experience whenever and wherever we've had affluence. There are many who seek to apportion blame for the epidemic of obesity. Blaming the food industry for obesity is always popular: sugar is public enemy number one. Debunking exaggerated views and cutting through the mixed messaging Gibney demonstrates that most food processing techniques are old, hundreds and thousands of years old.The genetics of obesity, the practice of dieting, and the value of physical activity are thoroughly assessed. The failures of the players in obesity - including the media, scientists, academic organisations, international agencies, specifically the WHO, and the food industry are brought into sharp focus. What can we learn from the fox? An expert in public health and personalised nutrition with bestselling books and over 300 peer-reviewed papers in the area, Professor Mike Gibney uncovers the full story behind obesity based on painstaking research, and offers us tangible solutions to this very human phenomenon.

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Written for food aficionados everywhere, this book provides an entertaining look at the history and development of the key foods we eat every day. Mike Gibney, Professor Emeritus of Food and Health at University College Dublin, traces the story of food from early hunter gatherers through settled agriculture to the migration across Europe, and examines the influence early trading, imperial conquests and medieval exploration had on the food chain. Along the way Food through the Ages uncovers some fascinating nuggets: - Indian rice is fluffy to eat with the hand, while Chinese rice is sticky to eat with chopsticks. - In the Middle Ages it became fashionable to stuff boned smaller birds into bigger birds into even bigger birds and so on. This process, known as engastration, is still popular today in Cajun cuisine with Turducken, a hen in a duck in a turkey. - A passion for tea led two great powers, China and England, to engage in warfare - The popularity of the potato accounted for about 25% of the population growth in Europe from 1700 to 1900 - The Arabs brought pasta to Italy but the popular shaped pastas were most often produced in religious orders by nuns - The Jesuits and Dominicans argued bitterly over the perceived magical yet sinful attributes of Aztec chocolate. Professor Gibney explains the origins of commonplace foods, including bread, meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, pasta, rice, sugar, tea, chocolate and of course Ireland’s beloved potato. He defines a well-stocked larder and shows how the kitchen has changed over thousands of years, getting cleaner, less smelly, more reliable, less dangerous and more accessible to all.

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"Something to Chew On" is an informative and entertaining book which covers from a scientific point of view all of the worldwide controversies dominating the popular press in relation to the safety and wholesomeness of the modern food chain. It deals with the topics of organic food, GM foods, obesity, growing old, the integrity of food research, global warming, global malnutrition, consumer perception of food-borne risk, our gut bacteria, and how nutrition during pregnancy primes us for health in later life. Each chapter presents multiple arguments and comes to a well-supported conclusion. Mike Gibney provides interesting examples, reports and stories from many countries. The book is highly suitable for the general reader and will be an invaluable guide to the science of nutrition for students of food and health.

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