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What should we eat? It sounds simple until we’re confronted with conflicting advice about protein, carbs, seed oils, ultra-processed foods, plant-based diets, weight loss, and more.

For our final Wellness Wednesday of the year, I’m delighted to welcome back longtime Wellness Wednesday favorite Professor Christopher Gardner for a lively conversation about his new book, Food Sense: What to Eat and Why. Drawing on decades of nutrition research, Dr. Gardner cuts through the confusion to explore what the science really tells us about food and health—and where the answers are more nuanced than the headlines suggest.

We’ll also talk about something often lost in the diet wars: food is about more than nutrients. It’s about taste and pleasure, culture, values, and finding a way of eating that works for your life.

Come with your questions for a fun, myth-busting conversation about what to eat—and why.

Christopher Gardner, PhD, is the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and a leading nutrition researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. For more than 30 years, he has led groundbreaking human nutrition studies examining Mediterranean, Keto, Vegan, Low-Fat, and Low-Carb diets and their impact on health markers such as inflammation, blood glucose, and cardiovascular risk.

A nationally recognized expert on what to eat (and avoid) for optimal health, Dr. Gardner recently served on the 2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and previously chaired the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee. He is the author of the new book, Food Sense: What to Eat and Why, which draws on decades of research to help readers cut through conflicting nutrition advice and make informed and enjoyable food choices. His research is frequently featured in major media outlets, and he appears in the Emmy-winning Netflix docuseries “You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment.”