THE FOOD YOU EAT

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 1973

Though this description of ""the six kinds of nutrients needed by the body"" and the path they take through the digestive system is somewhat more informative and less categorical than the same author and artist's The Good Drug and the Bad Drug (KR; 1970), Mart hasn't overcome the habit of pronouncing in terms of what is ""good for you"" without sufficient attention to the whys and wherefores. ""Even chocolate cake can be good for you if it contains a nutrient that you need,"" he says on page four, and not until page seventeen does he explain (?) that ""If you ate chocolate cake all the time, you would be starving your body of the nutrients that prevent sickness."" And though much is made of the need for eating foods that contain ""the essential amino acids,"" with the warning that ""some proteins"" don't have them, he never tells the reader so alerted what those foods are -- nor does he specify (except in an appended chart) which meats and plants provide which vitamins. All of which, compounded by the indifferent word choice (separated by only one sentence are the statements that ""the energy is stored up in food in the form of calories"" and ""All food has a certain amount of energy stored in it in the form of carbohydrates, fats or proteins"") makes for less clarity than the elementary style and appearance would promise.

Pub Date: Sept. 10, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Evans -- dist. by Lippincott

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION