For more than 30 years, Hank cardello was an executive and adviser to some of the largest food and beverage corporations in the world. For more than 30 years, he watched as corporate profits-and America's waistlines-ballooned; fattening consumers meant fattening profits. Now, in this fascinating and timely book, Cardello offers a behind-the secenes look at the business of food, providing an insider's account of food company practices, failed government regulations, and misleading media coverage that have combined to place us in the middle of a national obesity epidemic.

With insights culled from Cardello's time in the food industry, Stuffed explores how food companies have spent the last 50 years largely ignoring healthier fare in the name of their bottom lines, while pushing consumers toward "convenience" food and super-sized portions without considering the health consequences. From grocery aisles to restaurant booths to boardrooms, Cardello reveals the hidden forces that have long shaped your supermarket purchases and menu selections.

But Cardello makes clear that food companies shouldn't take all of the blame. They are merely a cog in a larger system that's broken, and here Cardello illustrates how the government and the media have only made it harder for Americans to make nutritious choices. Highlighting both bit players and high-profile voices of change, Cardello explains the fundamental risks to one-size fits all regulatory solutions, and the bigger dangers posed by letting the food pundits confuse the health conversation.

More simply than an expose of how we got here, Stuffed also puts forth a groundbreaking blueprint for the future of the food industry. In debunking the common myth that "healthier" has to mean higher costs and indelible taste, Cardello provides novel but concrete steps food companies can take to fatten their profits and slim down their customers.

Provocative and groundbreaking, Stuffed is a sweeping critique of excessive food consumption in America, one that uncovers the money behind the calories.