Eating on the Wild Side

The Missing Link to Optimum Health

By: Jo Robinson

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

The next stage in the food revolution - a radical way to select fruits and vegetables and reclaim the flavor and nutrients we've lost.

Eating on the Wild Side is the first book to reveal the nutritional history of our fruits and vegetables. Starting with the wild plants that were central to our original diet, investigative journalist Jo Robinson describes how 400 generations of farmers have unwittingly squandered a host of essential fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. New research shows that these losses have made us more vulnerable to our most troubling conditions and diseases - obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation, and dementia.

In an engaging blend of science and story, Robinson describes how and when we transformed the food in the produce aisles. Wild apples, for example, have from three to 100 times more antioxidants than Galas and Honeycrisps, and are five times more effective in killing cancer cells. Compared with spinach, one of our present-day "superfoods," wild dandelion leaves have eight times more antioxidant activity, two times more calcium, three more times vitamin A, and five times more vitamins K and E.

How do we begin to recoup the losses of essential nutrients? By "eating on the wild side" - choosing present-day fruits and vegetables that come closest to the nutritional bounty of their wild ancestors. Robinson explains that many of these jewels of nutrition are hiding in plain sight in our supermarkets, farmers markets, and U-pick orchards. Eating on the Wild Side provides the world's most extensive list of these superlative varieties. Drawing on her five-year review of recently published studies, Robinson introduces simple, scientifically proven methods of storage and preparation that will preserve and even enhance their health benefits:

• Squeezing fresh garlic in a garlic press and then setting it aside for 10minutes before cooking it will increase your defenses against cancer and cardiovascular disease.
• Baking potatoes, refrigerating them overnight, and then reheating them before serving will keep them from spiking your blood sugar.
• Cooking most berries makes them more nutritious.
• Shredding lettuce the day before you eat it will double its antioxidant activity.
• Store watermelon on the kitchen counter for up to a week and it will develop more lycopene.
• Eat broccoli the day you buy it to preserve its natural sugars and cancer-fighting compounds.

The information in this surprising, important, and meticulously researched book will prove invaluable for omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans alike, and forever change the way we think about food.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.©2013 Jo Robinson (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Excellent Information

Great book, very well written and accessible. The narration is well done, and the format of the book lends itself to both a straight through reading and a reference to peruse.

Excellent information

There is great information in this book. I especially enjoyed the history of our common foods and how they have been manipulated over time to make them more appealing but less nutritious. The narration is very good with occasional misses on pronunciation. I wish there were some information on squashes. Also, there is frequent mention of a PDF summary of the storage information and variety recommendations which I can't find. Highly recommended and very useful.

Favorite

This is my favorite, favorite, favorite nutrition book. I listen to it on the way to farmer’s market and i re-listen to the whole thing every few months to keep brain-washing myself and keep me motivated. I practice medicine and am able to give tips and always advise this book! Bow down!

Masterpiece

Great book with solid and comprehensive information for anyone. The reading is well done, my only complaint would be when the narrator appears to have gotten a cold during the recording of the book. It would have been better to wait until well to complete the work.

surprising and fascinating

I know a lot about nutrition but this book contains tips I didn't know about.
well worth a listen!

very informative and makes picking produce easier

The book very information dense and the narrator is a little dry but I have come to expect that from most non-story audiobooks. The information it provides is very usable and especially for for people that don't want to majorly overhaul their diets and only want to tweak it to get more nutrition from the things they already eat. I think it is worth a listen for anyone that is interested in nutrition.

Farber's Barket! Pebbican!

Would you consider the audio edition of Eating on the Wild Side to be better than the print version?

No. Unless the voice in your head when you read has a cold and then I guess it would be a tie.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Erin Bennett?

Someone without a cold.

Any additional comments?

The information is interesting and useful and I was totally enjoying the book until around the 6:40:00 mark where the narrator literally developed a cold. It lasted for a few chapters (maybe 2 hours or so) which is a really long time to listen to someone with a stuffy nose read a book if you get annoyed by weird sounds. The book is good, though.

Interesting information

Good information. The narrator did a good job with the subject but she caught a cold in the middle of the book.

Wild side

Great! Listen and read Bbb ydfhi Tessie you will see how many women in your team will

Excellent information.

I learned things I wish I had known sooner.

I am going to change what I buy and some things about storing and preparing.

Each chapter is a different group of food like an apples chapter and a grapes chapter. The author describes the phytonutrients in each item, how they affect the body, health benefits, anticancer properties, and more. For example garlic helps thin the blood, montmorency cherries lessen pain. She tells how to store and cook foods to get the most phytonutrient benefit.

She tells how to select produce. For example try to buy apples that are red on most sides rather than red on one side and light yellow/orange on another side. The red side was exposed to the sun. A bite from the red side gives you more phytonutrients than a bite from the yellow side. Select limes that are toward the yellow color rather than dark green.

She talks about pesticides. In light of E-coli risk, she says to rinse and scrub canteloupes but don’t use detergent since the skin absorbs the soap.

My biggest regret is that many items were not discussed. For example, popped corn, sweet potatoes, nuts, chocolate/cacao, mushrooms, and the effects of fermenting (like sauerkraut - fermented cabbage).

I listened to the audiobook which has a helpful PDF you can download. But I was so taken that I also bought the physical book as a reference going forward.

AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
The narrator Erin Bennett was excellent with good sound recording equipment - so I didn’t hear her breaths.

Genre: nonfiction, food.