In the process of creating ONQI 2.0, we are obligated to look at how the algorithm handles every food, including all of the quirkiest foods. In doing so, I wind up learning all of the intimate details about foods I could not otherwise have cooked up in my nightmares.

Two of the biggest books in food this year happen to be written by men that share the same first name. And, the two books -- "Cooked" by Michael Polla...

The statement that fructose is toxic is, simply, false. Fruit contains fructose. Honey, which has been part of the human diet since the Stone Age, contains more fructose than glucose. Saying that fructose is toxic but fruit is not is like saying that democracy is evil, but the United States is fine.

The food industry brings in serious muscle to bully us into eating too much of all the wrong things, while someone counts the cash. Any conversation about personal responsibility or public policy that fails to acknowledge this reality is either disingenuous, or uninformed.

Michael Pollan, esteemed writer and noble defender of the dinner table, has been a leading crusader for real food. He is undeniably right, but we should be wary of demonizing all science surrounding nutrition in the publics' eye.

Polls repeatedly show us one of the most important issues in the presidential election is health. Unfortunately, much of the health debate is being focused on health care, when analyses show us healthy living is the real key to curbing our spiraling health care costs.