5 Appetites: Eat Like the Animals for a Naturally Healthy Diet

A New Scientist Best Book of 2020 How is it that a baboon and a blob of slime mould instinctively know what to eat for optimal health, balancing their protein, fat and carb intake in perfect proportions? In new, groundbreaking research that is transforming our understanding of nutrition, animals from locusts to lions and yes, humans too, demonstrate the remarkable science behind appetite. Appetite communicates the body's nutritional needs to the brain, and eating in accordance with your body's demands, like the animals, should ensure optimal health, but the modern fast food world wreaks havoc on this evolutionarily honed system. In several landmark studies, Raubenheimer and Simpson prove that appetite can be hacked – we can eat for optimal health, for increased fertility or for a longer lifespan. Understanding the science of the appetite offers tremendous power in shaping our bodies and controlling our lives. ** Previously published as Eat Like the Animals **

About the Author :
David Raubenheimer is the Leonard P. Ullman Professor of Nutritional Ecology in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, and Nutrition Theme Leader in the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney. He previously spent 17 years at Oxford, initially as a doctoral student then as a Research Fellow and Departmental Lecturer in Zoology and Fellow of Magdalen College. Stephen J. Simpson is Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre and Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney. He spent 22 years at Oxford, where he became Professor of the Hope Entomological Collections in the Department of Zoology and a Fellow of Jesus College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and has appeared on TV on National Geographic and Animal Planet. David and Stephen’s academic partnership spans 30 years and between them they have authored 514 scientific journal articles and co-written The Nature of Nutrition (2012).

Review :
Praise for The Five Appetites ‘Raubenheimer and Simpson are known for their deep knowledge of biology and its application to areas of nutrition that are of exceptional interest these days: evolution, feeding behavior, proteins, and insects. These, they weave together into a compelling narrative that should fascinate readers concerned about the science of what we eat as well as the influence of our food environment on our biology.’ Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat Praise for David Raubenheimer and Stephen J. Simpson ‘This outstanding book provides the first comprehensive theoretical framework for analyzing the roles of nutrition across a huge swath of fields, from ecology and evolution to conservation and human health. The Nature of Nutrition is creative and scholarly yet approachable. I know of no other book like it.’ Bernard J. Crespi, Simon Fraser University ‘Strikingly well-written … The clear language and enlightening examples allow for the educated layman interested in biology to be astonished by the enormous implications of the nature of nutrition.’ American Journal of Human Biology ‘A really good read.’ Bulletin of the British Ecological Society