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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Stanford Introduction to Food and Health by Stanford University

4.7
stars
32,487 ratings

About the Course

Around the world, we find ourselves facing global epidemics of obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and other predominantly diet-related diseases. To address these public health crises, we urgently need to explore innovative strategies for promoting healthful eating. There is strong evidence that global increases in the consumption of heavily processed foods, coupled with cultural shifts away from the preparation of food in the home, have contributed to high rates of preventable, chronic disease. In this course, learners will be given the information and practical skills they need to begin optimizing the way they eat. This course will shift the focus away from reductionist discussions about nutrients and move, instead, towards practical discussions about real food and the environment in which we consume it. By the end of this course, learners should have the tools they need to distinguish between foods that will support their health and those that threaten it. In addition, we will present a compelling rationale for a return to simple home cooking, an integral part of our efforts to live longer, healthier lives. View the trailer for the course here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7x1aaZ03xU...

Top reviews

VI

Jan 18, 2021

It was an interesting and informative, at a basis level, course. The information is easy to understand and the new gained knowledges tend to remain in your memory, due to short and interactive videos.

CN

May 13, 2021

Really good as an introductory guide to general human nutrition. Gives great insights on cooking, planning meals and health diet habits. It's a rather short course with actually impactful information.

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9076 - 9100 of 9,253 Reviews for Stanford Introduction to Food and Health

By Mohamed E

•

Feb 7, 2022

Good

By Sriya

•

Oct 30, 2024

good

By FAROOQ

•

Sep 14, 2024

GOOD

By Nock d

•

Apr 5, 2024

good

By Khaled B

•

Jun 12, 2023

GOOD

By Alba L B

•

Jul 24, 2022

.

By Bogdan J

•

Nov 28, 2022

It's not completely bad, and I suppose for a complete beginner, maybe an American person who had multiple generations living off fast food and never having chopped an onion is a really cool introductory class, but otherwise I haven't learnt anything now. Not a single thing! And some of the information is geniunely misleading , even the interview cuts are almost suspicious as how biased they are towards the meat and milk industry. It really breaks my heart to see how corrupted information these days is and how little it is questioned in the best case scenario, and down right intentioanlly misleading in the worst case scenario. I'm geniunely surprised to see a medical staff be either misinformed or misinform others on purpose by the presures or incentives of the meat and dariy industry. I would personally not recomment this class and I'm happy I didn't make the certificate and waste money on this. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, it is ALWAYS problematic to take nutrition advice from medical staff that has typically had less training in it than you yourself have. I mean seriously, it's abuse of social status and academic title. No one would accept to be cut open and have a surgery from a doctor of physics, just because they have the title of doctor in their name. So why do we accept nutritional advice or in this case an actual course ! from someone who clearly isn't a trained nutritionist or health expert. Beware ! Medics are NOT health experts, they are disease experts ! It is NOT the same thing!

By -_

•

Jan 11, 2018

While the information provided was helpful in some cases, I highly disagree with the staff behind this writing that veganism is, quote, "the least sustainable method" as a food solution. That's simply untrue to say; that spreads misinformation about the lifestyle choice, and only further encourages people to not consider it for themselves. I understand trying to be reasonable, as the common western citizen consumes meat and dairy and God forbid you hurt anyone's feelings, but there is no need to spread mistruths for the sake of saving someone's feelings. Overall it was a good course, and I'm grateful to have learned something through Stanford, I just disagree with a lot of the information presented within the course (namely, that veganism is unsustainable and that fish is safe, and furthermore nutritious to eat - spoiler, it really isn't, and overfishing is a serious issue that this course seems to mention nothing of at all when discussing it as a food choice). Plus, a lot of what was discussed, I was already educated on. So I sincerely wish it was more in-depth, thorough, and more respectful to dietary/lifestyle choices outside of the omnivore perspective. Thank you to both the Stanford and Coursera communities for providing this course as a tool to better health and wellness in this world that often makes it feel almost impossible.

By Claudia B

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Apr 30, 2020

I’m studying nutrition from a while now and I’m following who for me are the bests doctors and there are many info that are not exactly what I aspected... I’m more towards the vegan diet for the health benefits first but not only and seeing what you do advise to eat make me wander if there are some other interests apart from health that bring you to create a course structured like it is..

I watched only the first recipe about crepes just because I thought was part of the course and I would never personally give that to my kids! Eggs, milk, sugar, butter 😱😱😱

Anyway, I will not spend the money for the certificate only to be able to say that I studied a Stanford’s course..... and I will probably not advise to anyone this course unlikely.

I just think that we have to know better and dr.Dean Ornish, Micheal Gregor, Neal Bernard and many more demonstrated that cure, prevention and reversing diseases is possible with a low fat vegan diet so I don’t understand why at the begin of the course you mention that the science is not sure yet about the best diet yet......... there are no doubts about what is the best, but often is not comfortable for the single person and for sure isn’t for the big industry!

By Aeryn K

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Jun 5, 2016

The very first lesson implies that sufficient quantities of micronutrients can't be obtained from a diet high in animal-based proteins and fats. In reality, organ meats and egg yolks are higher in micronutrients than many fruits and vegetables, and only small amounts of dark-colored veggies and fruits are required to balance a diet that already contains a variety of meats (as far as both species and cut). The body is also better able to synthesize glucose (or utilize ketones instead of glucose to fuel cell function) than to synthesize amino acids, which are more easily obtained in the correct amounts from animal sources. Plant-based diets work for some people, but if blood sugar levels, chronic inflammation and/or amino acid intake are issues that an individual needs to take into careful consideration, a high-fat, low-carb, diet with a variety of animal products is more likely to meet their needs.

By Carmen C

•

Mar 6, 2018

If you know literally NOTHING about nutrition this is a good place to start, if you however have any sort of understanding of fats, protein and carbs, even the knowledge of what they are, on a broad scale, then you probably already know more than this course will teach you.

It was a good reminder of healthy eating nonetheless.

The recipes in the last module were good, but as someone who doesn't care much for sweet stuff it left me kinda bummed. I wished there were more main meal recipes rather than recipes to cook all your favorite desserts in a gluten free way. I know they had to plug Grokker and get that shameless self-promotion, I am not opposed to that, but they could have chosen more diverse recipes.

If you are trying to get people to eat healthier you should give them something quick and easy, not a recipe for pancakes that takes 4 different kinds of flours.

By Hansel B

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Mar 12, 2023

This is really just an introduction. It's extremely short with no details on why the nutrients are important, I expected more from a school of medicine. I gave up on the class after the condescending "don't cut yourself with the knife !" and after the teacher said that one of the essential items to always have in the kitchen is oil, garlic (...) and SUGAR ! Isn't the point of having a health class to avoid that white refined sugar she's talking about ? What about spices ?? I don't know if they talk about it in the cooking workshop but I'm not interested in watching further.

By Anna J

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Jun 20, 2017

I live in the Czech republic (central Europe) and I didn't learn anything new about nutrition in this course. I know it all, from my mother and my grandmother and, well, we all know it should by like this, not saying it IS like this :-) but for me this course was very interesting as a "sociological research". Are there really people who don't know that home cooking is healthier than highly processed fast food? Are there people who don't know how important vegetable is? Very often I was just thinking "are you kidding me or is this the real life in the US?"

By Jorge G

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Aug 16, 2024

This is not a course on nutrition. No actual information on the science behind nutrition, i.e. how our body processes nutrients, how nutrients interact, etc. beyond 1 video explaining how many calories per gram there are in food relative to which macro they come from. This is a course on how to lose weight and it is particularly and very clearly directed to a North American audience. If the course was labelled as "how to healthily lose weight in America", then perhaps my rating would be higher, but as it stands, it is very misleading.

By Lisa B

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Nov 8, 2024

Nice basics, but slightly outdated. The course encourages excessive restrictions (the portions shown in the videos are NOT big enough for an average adult) and obsession towards store-bought pre-cooked foods. Especially in the module 3, processed foods are completely demonized, and while it's nice to encourage home cooking as much as possible, (ultra)processed foods can also be part of a balanced diet. In short, I feel like the course pushes more towards eating disorders than a balanced lifestyle.

By saylee

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Jul 22, 2021

Very Generic course. Not so impressive. The only interesting part was about reading and understanding the labels on the packaged food items correctly, and the quiz which is thoughtfully created. The recipes demonstrated at the end of the course, look very much heavy with rich ingredients. The recipes should be chosen which are more organic, simple and without much of the preparation or efforts. The reference book list seems to be interesting and worth giving a try.

By Trampa E

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Sep 15, 2022

I apologize for the poor review but having grown up in Greece, home cooked meals, fruits and fresh vegetables are in our daily diet since we are born. So, i felt like there are only very few things I could keep from this course. I understand that living in modern and highly consuming societies in busy times, basic things are forgotten and we should revise them. But, I feel that this course referes more to USA region eating habits, probably...?

By aliya b

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Oct 17, 2017

Great, but takes much more time, than could be.

It would be the same to find 20-min recording of a good educational TV-channel programme.

Stanford in title doesn't refer to any academical sense, but to time relevance and confidence (and activity of Stanford food policy institute).

Has regional specifics (fats, obesity, how to use (keep in hand) knife).

Recommend only if you like to take a brake learning engineering or linear models on coursera.

By Irene S

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Aug 25, 2017

Very well made, but waaaaay too easy, not enough information and more of a first session at your nutritionist without the personalised information - for someone who has never ever showed an interest in nutrition before. Especially the choice as Michael Pollan as the only "expert" invited by the main host to join is very questionable. I would have liked to have more detailed information and real experts of nutrition and not writing.

By Sylvie C

•

Nov 3, 2017

This is, indeed, a very basic, introductory course. There are the usual misconceptions, e.g. low-fat is good, saturated fats are bad, and the gluten-free recipe made me laugh. This is coming from someone who has been on a 100% gluten-free diet, including what I put on my skin.

If you, like me, have been doing a Paleo, Whole Food or AIP diet and know that animal fats are actually good for you, this course will be a waste of time.

By Ashu M G S

•

Jan 1, 2023

I don't agree with the advice that it's fine to eat some unhealthy food including animal products. Instead you should be telling people that it's best to eat no unhealthy food and maintain a vegan diet, but any improvements toward eliminating unhealthy food are good.

I don't agree with the advice on eating fish and eggs. I don't agree with showing how to cook unhealthy food like chicken. No animal products are healthy.

By Ciaran M

•

Jan 29, 2021

I expected the course to be based on findings from science and research; to hear from a nutritionist or a medical doctor with a background in nutrition. Instead much of the material seems to be based on the opinion of a professor of journalism, a man who believes that it is "very hard to get fat on home-cooked food." I remained to the end, and so did my disappointment.

By Edith V

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Jan 11, 2019

The course is very clear, has really good information, in general everything was great until I finished the week 4, then the next day I wanted to follow with week 5 "cooking workshop" but I couldn't because the course was labeled as "finished" and now I cannot see the cooking videos, I can only see the videos for week 1 and the others are not available.

By Joris H

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Apr 13, 2023

I don't really see why meat and dairy is still considered as good for your health in a diet. To have the best health I think you should consider a completely plant based diet. Meats have all kinds of antibiotics inside, the same as dairy. Also, meats are just a middle person. A cow gets big by eating plant based.

By HM

•

Feb 23, 2016

This is less of a university level course and more of a long infomercial for Michael Pollen books with a cooking show at the end.

There is no interviews with nutritionists or scientists. In fact, there really isn't much here in the way of science at all.

The cooking videos are fun with some good recipes.