• Eating on the Wild Side

  • The Missing Link to Optimum Health
  • By: Jo Robinson
  • Narrated by: Erin Bennett
  • Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (353 ratings)

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Eating on the Wild Side  By  cover art

Eating on the Wild Side

By: Jo Robinson
Narrated by: Erin Bennett
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Publisher's summary

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

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What listeners say about Eating on the Wild Side

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A Fantastic Food Science Book

This is the book I have been looking for and hoping to find for quite a while now. It offers detailed information about food choices, storage and preparation for optimal health. The book examines history, human physiology, chemistry, nutritional needs and dietary science through a microscope and through the lens of your life as an actual cook and consumer of food. There is even a section in each food type about growing the optimal cultivars in your garden! You can skim this, as the info is short, if you don't grow food.

Be forewarned that this book is slow going in parts and dense because there is so much information presented. The author does a great job breaking it all down and makes it easy to understand and apply to your life. There are times when I felt that listening in the car and before bedtime was not the best because occasionally I needed to write down a variety name or an interesting web address. It was ok though--I just scanned back and found the info later.

If you are trying to eat a better diet and are making changes in what you eat this book is an important source of information. Why go to a lot of trouble to add onions to your diet when in reality it matters a great deal what type of onions you need to add? This book spells out which changes make a real difference, what to pick at the store and the reason to make the change very clearly. It will completely alter the way you think about food and how you cook. Recommended listening.

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37 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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make market days more interesting

this was not a page-turner and sometimes I had to take a break from it BUT it turned Saturday morning trips to the farmers market into a treasure hunt. some surprising info ... origin of orange carrots, etc. Helpful pdf that goes to the market with me now.

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  • DV
  • 07-07-15

Excellent & Life Changing

Well researched and full of useful information that actually changed my diet for a lifetime.

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6 people found this helpful

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low carb nonsense, plant based edition

truth to be told higher the antioxidants the better. still, listening to nonsense about rice making one fat is detrimental to health of anyone who follows such advice. there is not a single obese person who got that way eating rice or potatoes. this is a book for people who wish to continue eating burgers, then add some super berry to their diet and call it a day. it may make you feel good about trying, but that's about it. you may as well go.to a vitamin store and listen to their story about the latest supplement. it will be just as useless.

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Missing PDF's

I liked the reading and the valuable content but there is no access to the frequently referenced PDF files.

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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.

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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.

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Changed everything!

This books is so full of important information about how we choose and prepare our produce that I will definitely purchase the print version for reference. I will always seek out the most nutritious of the things I look for and it reinforces the need to shop at your local farmers market.

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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.

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Eye opening and ultra useful!

This is a book we needed a long back. While this book doesn't delve into all the foods it could, but its a great first step (a leap actually) in the right direction.

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