Chevron Left
Back to Stanford Introduction to Food and Health

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

4.7
stars
30,769 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

PE

Oct 18, 2021

This course taught me a lot about the components of food! Processed and non-processed food which was the best food of all. I will be happy to spread this healthy dietary ways to my family and friends!

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.

Filter by:

26 - 50 of 8,813 Reviews for Stanford Introduction to Food and Health

By Phuong N

•

Aug 23, 2021

Very informative! Thanks for having this course free so that more people who are starting to learn about eating properply (like me) will be able to get access to authentic and legit lessons on food ;)

By GOITSEONE

•

Oct 8, 2021

this course changed my view on healthy eating and also instilled healthy cooking habits in me! I absolutely oved the simple , delicious and healthy recipes! definitely trying them out ! Thank you Maya

By Antonio S B

•

Apr 29, 2020

Ha sido un curso muy confortante en estos días de confinamiento.

El profesor Jim Bettinger de la facultad de comunicación de la Stanford, anuncio por las redes sociales " son tiempos de confinamiento y vuelvo a mi lugar seguro:

" Voy a asar un pollo según la receta de mi madre "

Yo siguiendo este consejo, que mejor manera de realizar es te curso tan interesante y ilustrativo.

Gracias

By Katie W

•

Mar 10, 2023

This course has a lot of great information on nutrition and simple eating without being overwhelming. It gives practical advice that anyone seeking to eat healthier can implement in their daily lives.

By Elena S

•

May 17, 2019

Really enjoyed all the information laid out very simply and was encouraging not judging.

By Jing X

•

May 21, 2019

informative and easy to follow

By Hannah S

•

Jan 16, 2020

I enjoyed the first week as it delves into the science behind food but the last three weeks felt like common sense tips.

By Sharon R

•

Jul 13, 2022

learned alot on this course. Very knowledgeable and full of healthy recipes. Great way to start your goal. Along with excersice and healthy eating you are on your way to a great healthy mind and body.

By Poch A E

•

Oct 19, 2021

This course taught me a lot about the components of food! Processed and non-processed food which was the best food of all. I will be happy to spread this healthy dietary ways to my family and friends!

By Jessica S

•

Jan 18, 2016

Far too easy and far too basic for me. I would have hoped for a more in-depth and scientific look at food and nutrition.

By Biswajeet D

•

May 20, 2019

wonderful any one want to great knowledge should do this course from stanford....

By Ruslan Z (

•

Oct 5, 2019

I don't trust health "experts" found on Internet but Coursera has some credibility, especially if course is published by Stanford University. That was a reason why I enrolled into it - wanted to get facts I can trust.

There was very basic information about nutritious, acid and proteins without scientific facts really. I found 1/3 of the videos are useful but remaining part is an interview (sic!) with journalist. Seriously, Dr. was asking opinion on the food from the writer. Not much science in this, isn't it? And a last thing I'd expect is a few hours of recipes - I'd rather prefer to hear for foundation which would help me to make a right decision when it comes down to cooking

Another thing caught my attention is statement that home cooking - is the only way to eat healthy. I love cooking but I don't have time to do so. Is there naive assumption that all restaurants cook from the processed food or was it a way to sell something?

For somebody who consider this course - it might worth for the basic information about what is the food. Don't expect science

By Maggie W

•

Apr 6, 2020

This course allows me to mend my relationship with food and eating again. I used to be so caught up in just trying to lose weight and tried various of difficult-to-maintain diets and felt very discouraged when the result was not as pleasing as I wished. But after taking this course, it not only helps me relearn some of the fundamental knowledge about food but it also put me in a totally new perspective of how we should eat. It inspires me to cook at home more often and treat each meal as a celebration of food. I would definitely recommend this course everyone!

By Adderly D J v A

•

Dec 8, 2019

me gusto mucho, el contenido es muy fácil y las gráficas ayudan mucho a comprender mejor los temas, y la descripción de la profesora es facil de comprender. me gusta mucho por los subtitulos porque no se hablar ingles pero tengo los subtitulos en español y puedo comprender todo el material que estan hablando.

By Alexander W

•

Dec 6, 2019

A bit short, didn't give me the feeling of accomplishment I wanted! Plenty more to add about Water. How and why it makes you feel hungrier being dehydrated or fills you up when you "feel" hungry. Some info on why "athletes" eat/ need more protein and maybe some info on how people work out their calories. i.e. Fat 1-2g per KF or Lean body mass. Protein about 1.4-.18g * bodyweight(in kgs). Then carbs fill up the remaining subtracted by your Metabolic rate + exercise/

By Sounak S

•

Apr 26, 2022

The Course content is extremely good. Only one suggestion though, some of the data that was mentioned could have been shown through graphs, tables or other infographic means.

By Abhishek F

•

Apr 26, 2022

great course to start yor fitness career.

By Naung K

•

Apr 22, 2022

good n helpful.

By Laura F

•

Jun 7, 2020

The course itself is pretty basic, but well-rounded overall. I think it is confusing to present a general course and then have the recipe/cooking section gluten-free. It may leave some people with the false sense that gluten free is superior. I think it would have been better to have the recipes a little more general and with a stronger focus on fresh foods and modeling the plating suggested in the course. The first recipe offered - gluten free crepes - could have been served rolled around berries and bananas, or at least served with some fresh fruit, rather than serving with Nutella and mentioning maple syrup as an option. It would have made more sense to fill them with applesauce, which was also mentioned, and plate with some fresh fruit drizzled with plain yogurt or something. It was interesting to look at two of the recipe videos, both of which used butter and added sugar, when the class itself recommended unsaturated fats and reducing added sugars. While I thought the information overall was good, the recipe section for week 5 seemed to send a mixed message.

By Arkadiusz

•

Jun 8, 2019

I am very disappointed. Many bromides like "eat more vegetables", "avoid highly processed products", but there is little scientific background it his course. I expected to get more information about how different product impact our health, and why we should follow certain rules - just to understand all the mechanism by my own and make my own educated decision in the future in terms of nutrition - not just follow blindly the stuff we are told that are supposedly healthy...

By Sofia P D M

•

May 5, 2020

I always thought I needed to have an IDEA on HOW to follow a HEALTHY diet, but I never felt like having the chance to spend some time on it.

When, due to the COVID pandemic, I had MORE TIME, I decided to check the possibility of doing some course on HEALTH and NUTRITION online. When I found THIS ONE, I immediately thought it would be WONDERFUL for me.

Since the moment I started, It got me "hooked", I found it so "easy going" and INTERESTING, that I wanted more, more and more of it! I just wanted to finish it the same day!

I even got a bit "pissed" cause at the beggining the QUIZZES were "locked" with specific dates, and I wanted to continue further and further, I did not want to wait. (I was even complaining about it everywhere I could).

But then, when I saw on Monday 4th May, that all QUIZZES were UNLOCKED, I was sooo HAPPY, I immediately continued and finished it all so HAPPILY.

It's a very SATISFYING course. Professor MAYA Adam, MD, makes it so SIMPLE and passionating to follow it, that you just want to go on and on with it. She's an AMAZING person and an incredibly GOOD MENTOR, I want to THANK HER and the Stanford University for having made this COURSE and having given people the chance to follow it onlie.

I HIGHLY recommend it to EVERYONE, no limitations, and AGAIN, I want to thank MAYA and all who contributed, for this great COURSE.

Sending you the VERY BEST regards from Spain!!

By Meharaj A

•

May 30, 2017

Videos were simple,interesting and easy to follow and I finished it one day:). I appreciate Michael and Maya for including Indian food and Islamic view on diet .

I am a Muslim and born in south India. Based on that I would like to comment on few things;- Quran mentions that eat and drink( any healthy drink except alcohol) but do not transgress; It is more explained in Hadeeth, teachings of prophet Muhammed, peace be upon him that for a man a few morsels are sufficient; if he is still hungry let him fill his stomach with 1/3 food, 1/3 water and 1/3 air. It's a pity that in all developed countries we eat food for fun and pleasure.

In South India, Idli is made by soaking rice, black gram(urad dal or uzhunthu) , fenugreek seeds for a few hours, grinding it with salt, fermenting it overnight and steam boiling it the next day. It's balanced with any fresh ground chutney or sambhar(lentil soup) or Idli podi(lentil powder). What Maya showed is called pittu another south Indian dish. In easy blend pancake recipe, baking mix is typed as backing mix. In islamic culture, the theme is 'we are based on what we eat'.That's why it has more guidelines on what we eat and how much we eat and how eat. Unfortunately, we, muslims ignored that guidelines. In India, they are adopting western foods :(

Thanks! Looking forward to see more research on the way eat !

By Ginger M

•

Apr 5, 2020

Dr. Maya Adam has a nice way of presenting. She's very calm, sincere, knowledgeable, interested and aware that the average Joe Schmo doesn't have a heavy background in the sciences to understand a more complex presentation which nutrition is. I highly recommend this course, because it gives some nutritional terms and concepts, in the first couple of lessons like the hyper glycemic value of foods, macronutrients, monosaccharides, polysaccharides, intrinsic sugar, amino acids, and metabolic syndrome, but the course doesn't overwhelm you. I think that Dr. Maya Adam could have given a few more concepts and used some more academic vocabulary. Dr. Michael Pollen has an equally calm and sincere way of presenting. He complements Dr. Maya Adam, and I love his mantra: "Eat Food, Not too much/ mostly plants." Both instructors aimed to make this course enjoyable, and informative. Eating the foods we do that may not be helpful to us has to do with mindset and using food for all that ails us. This latter part should have been addressed more. I like the way the course ends with Dr. Adam Maya welcoming us into her kitchen with her children nearby and baking, cooking and sharing her love of foods with her favorite recipes. It makes you feel very welcome in this homey atmosphere.

By Tracy A W

•

Jul 7, 2020

The title is Introduction to Food and Health, and that's what it is - an introduction. The information is presented in a clear and concise manner, but in order to pass the quizzes, you have to pay attention and listen. I took the class because I realized that I have never had any formal training in how to eat, and I feel like I really gained some knowledge about that subject. Some of the information I did already know but maybe not in a detailed manner. What I didn't know was cleared up for me. Most importantly, I truly started to understand the reasoning behind eating whole foods instead of processed foods. And I've always felt like cooking was too hard or beyond my reach, but after listening and then watching the videos at the end, I feel like maybe it's not so hard. I haven't had that many successes in the kitchen, but the recipes presented were easy to understand, and not complicated and had simple ingredients. One thing, I wish those recipes included nutritional information so that we know what we're eating - for those of us who are weight conscious, etc. Also the instructor is very pleasing to listen to and I enjoyed her take on things. Thank you!

By Fabio P

•

Feb 19, 2020

For the first time in my adult life I weight 158 pounds. This weight scared me so much that I decided to visit a doctor. The diagnostic turned out to be ok. After reading Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan, I made some simple transitions that change my eating habits. For example most of the cakes and cookies I consume are homemade. I still enjoy drinking a coke with my meal but I reduced the portion to a quarter of the small bottle. Reading on this course about changing the plate size to reduce the intake of food make me extremely happy. This course has highlighted many of my (accidentally) healthy changes that I have done this year. It is phenomenal to put creativity and science to understand food. This course is like eating homemade popcorn, extremely healthy and easy to digest. The language on the quiz changes a bit so it requires a little bit more slow reading. But slow reading is not a bad thing at all, just like food, it allows us to intake the material better. MD Maya Adam does an incredible job in preparing the information for the course.