Episode 421: Nourishment: Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom with Fred Provenza

Have humans lost their natural instincts when it comes to how to nourish themselves? What can we learn from animals about nutritional wisdom, taste preference, and flavor feedback? How can we simplify and tap back into our inner knowing? Tune in to hear us interview Fred Provenza, a guest we absolutely loved talking to and we know you are going to love too!

In this episode, we are joined by special guest Fred Provenza, professor emeritus of Behavioral Ecology. Fred’s incredible body of research over the past 35 years has pioneered an understanding of how learning influences foraging behavior and how behavior links soil, plants, herbivores, and humans. Learn about primary and secondary compounds in our food, how the Vagus nerve is connected to sense of taste, and how humans can rediscover their inner wisdom in the modern world. 

More about Fred Provenza:

Fred Provenza grew up in Salida, Colorado, working on a ranch and attending school in Wildlife Biology at Colorado State University. He is professor emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University where he worked for 35 years, directing an award-winning research group that pioneered an understanding of how learning influences foraging behavior and how behavior links soil, plants, herbivores, and humans. 

He is the author of three books, including Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us about Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom; Foraging Behavior: Managing to Survive in a World of Change; and The Art & Science of Shepherding: Tapping the Wisdom of French Herders (co-author with Michel Meuret). He has published over 300 research papers in a wide variety of scientific journals. He has been an invited speaker at over 500 conferences.

The many awards he received for research, teaching, and mentoring reflect the creativity that flowed from warm professional and personal relationships with over 75 graduate students, post-doctoral students, visiting scientists, and colleagues during the past 45 years.

Also in this episode: 

• Black Friday Deals - Shop Now
• Fred’s Story
• How did humans lose their instincts?
• Palatability and flavor feedback
• Vagus nerve and taste
• Secondary compounds and plant defenses
• Food, not nutrient, is the basic unit of nutrition
• Taste preference and how food science can hijack
  • Apple and maple straw study
  • The Dorrito Effect
  • Episode 413: The Harms of Ultraprocessed Foods
• How to tap back into inner knowing
• “When it comes to food, if man made it, don’t eat it”
• Biochemical Individuality - Roger Williams
• A Sand County Almanac - Aldo Leopold
• How do we simplify?
• Fred’s Books
  • Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us about Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom
  • The Art & Science of Shepherding
  • Foraging Behavior: Managing to Survive in a World of Change

Sponsors for this episode: 

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