Renowned animal behaviorist Fred Provenza spent his academic career questioning the prevailing assumption that livestock are “too dumb” to make nutritionally sound choices. He and his research group demonstrated that animals respond to an intricately tuned system of flavor-feedback relationships at the cellular level—a nutritional wisdom that guides them to eat the appropriate combinations of foods to meet their needs nutritionally and medicinally.

In Nourishment Provenza extends his theory of nutritional wisdom to human food selection, nutrition, and health, calling into question blind adherence to academic, corporate, and political authorities. Provenza embarks on a paradigm-changing exploration of what best nurtures the human body and spirit in a complex postmodern world, and contemplates questions including:

- Has our inner wisdom been hijacked? How are we taught to trust the authorities to the detriment of the one person who should know the most about each of us?

- If humans possess an inner wisdom to select nourishing diets, then why is the world experiencing an epidemic of obesity and diet-related diseases?         

- What are the implications for our relationships with the foods we eat, the environments we inhabit, and our loss of contact with life-sustaining energies of nature when what we eat is grown by others and comes from anywhere but where we live?

Questions such as these set the stage for thought-provoking explorations of the interface between authority and beliefs, understanding and wisdom. Though not apparent in a world of perpetual change, an eternal wisdom transcends time and space. That wisdom can be rediscovered by anyone willing to undertake the inner journey during their visit to Earth.

Provenza is professor emeritus at Utah State University where he directed an award-winning research group, has authored over 250 publications in scientific journals and books, and is a sought-after speaker. His pioneering research hinges on the idea that a healthy body knows what to do with wholesome foods. Appreciating this simple insight could change dietary recommendations—from an endless stream of latest advice on what and what not to eat to creating cultures that know how to grow and combine wholesome foods into meals that nourish and satiate.