Episode · EconTalk · 2025-09-29

Russ Roberts & Julia Belluz: books mentioned on EconTalk

Eating with Intelligence (with Julia Belluz)

2 books · With Julia Belluz · Listen · Watch on YouTube

Losing weight should be simple: eat less, exercise more. But according to author and health journalist Julia Belluz, it's complicated.

Julia Belluz discussed Food Intelligence by Julia Belluz and others and Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss.

Books mentioned, in the order they came up

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  1. Food Intelligence

    Julia Belluz; Kevin Hall, PhD · at 7:09 · mentioned 3 times

    Food Intelligence by Julia Belluz and Kevin Hall, PhD, explores the complex science and politics behind human metabolism and weight loss.

    Discussed
    “So metabolism that there's a researcher that we interviewed for the book Charlie Brener and he says meta something like metabolism is is behind everything we are and everything we do.”
    Where to get it
  2. Salt Sugar Fat

    Michael Moss · at 50:20

    Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss is an investigative account exposing how major food corporations intentionally engineer processed foods using specific bliss points to maximize consumer cravings.

    Discussed
    “So they're these strong these strong and and and the Michael Moss salt sugar fat salt sugar fat book is a great exploration of how the food industry created American or what whatever was there but it it or recreated American food culture in terms of portion sizes constantly eating snacking.”
    Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged Food Intelligence
“She is the author along with Kevin Hall of Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us, which is our topic for today.”
Plugged Food Intelligence
“Her book co-authored with Kevin Hall is food intelligence.”