Understanding what you eat

Navigating the food aisles of your local supermarket could become easier with the assistance of Woodmere resident Bonnie Taub-Dix’s new book, “Read It Before You Eat It: How to Decode Food Labels and Make the Healthiest Choice Every Time.”

A certified dietitian and nutritionist who operates her own counseling firm, BTD Nutrition Consultants, Taub-Dix has written a book chock full of dietary facts presented in a conversational style, and with some humorous asides. She explains how to understand the nutrition panels on the foods they buy, giving consumers an easy-to-follow map through their food-shopping list.

In the book’s 17 chapters, information is highlighted in boxes, with quick-to-read fast-facts that can be marked for handy reference.

“There were no books out there for the lay person about how to buy healthy food in the supermarket,” said Taub-Dix, who is on a book tour in St. Louis and will be in Boston next week. “I want to be like the U.N., a neutral translator for how to shop for healthy food and make clear sense of the confusing.”

Throughout her career, she has been a guest on national television and radio programs — while in St. Louis she did a TV show and 13 morning-radio shows — and has offered healthy-living advice to readers of such newspapers as The New York Times, the Washington Post and USA Today and the Internet site WebMD.

In chapters such as “The History of Labeling,“ “Tricky Terms” and “Super Shopping Lists,” Taub-Dix takes readers on a journey from understanding how the labels on foods came to be, to learning how best to buy food that can help maintain a healthier lifestyle even for those who suffer from food allergies, diabetes or a heart disease.

“So many of my patients say, ‘I wish I could take you food shopping,’” said Taub-Dix. Shoppers, she said, are too often tempted by the packaging and forget they are buying what’s inside. “You’re not eating the box,” she said.

In a chapter about tricky terms, Taub-Dix defines the differences between the buzzwords “natural,” “no sugar added” and “sugar free,” along with many others.

“A lot of people are in a hurry, and worry more what they put on their bodies than what they put in their bodies,” she said, adding that people are looking for a miracle food to fill out their diet — which doesn’t exist. She compared the idea to one instrument playing an entire piece of music where a variety and balance are needed.

Taub-Dix worked with editor Becky Cole at a division of Penguin Publishing called Plume, but a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to her deadline. “My publisher kept shortening my deadline so there was much more to do,” Taub-Dix recalled. “On my husband’s birthday, I broke my foot playing miniature golf.” Off her feet for seven weeks helped her meet the deadline.

“We had an embarrassment of riches,” Cole said of the editing process. “[Bonnie’s] knowledge of nutrition is vast … The book would have been a doorstop if we included everything she wanted to share with her readers.”

Cole helped narrow the scope of the book so it could be “a focused, useful guide that readers could take with them to the supermarket.” She learned more than she ever knew about the foods she bought. “Now I feel confident,” Cole said, “that I can look at a product and know whether it’s the best choice for me and my family.”