As 2013 winds down, Takeaway listeners are sharing their resolutions for the year to come. The most popular New Year's Resolutions usually revolve around diet and exercise. Barry Popkin, distinguished professor of public health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, examines the most practical ways to get healthier in 2014, through diet and exercise. 

We're all looking forward to firing up the oven tomorrow and for those preparing a Thanksgiving feast in a Jewish household, this is the year to get creative in the kitchen. Thanksgiving and Hanukkah coincide this year, so it's time to explore where those two culinary worlds meet. Deb Perelman, food blogger and author of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, joins the Takeaway to discuss so-called 'Thanksgivukkah' recipes.

Last week the country's leading heart organizations released new guidelines for lowering cholesterol. The key to these changes is an online calculator that helps doctors assess risk. But today our partner The New York Times says this calculator "greatly overestimates the risk, so much so that it could mistakenly suggest that millions more people are candidates for statin drugs."Joining The Takeaway to explain why this new cholesterol calculator doesn't add up is Dr. Michael Blaha, director of clinical research at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins University.

Americans consume about 275 lbs of meat annually per person—that's more than three times the global average. In her new book, “In Meat We Trust: An Unexpected History of Carnivore America,” author Maureen Ogle traces Americans' relationship with meat through the ages, from the days when early settlers used livestock to claim land, to the 20th century rise of big producers like Tyson and Purdue and present day calls for a return to locally-sourced, organic meat.

Does a dent in a soda can or a crumpled piece of paper affect people’s recycling habits? As it turns out, yes. According to a recent study by professors at the University of Alberta and Boston University, what our refuse looks like may be a determining factor in whether or not we recycle. Jennifer Argo, co-author of the study, joins the Takeaway to discuss how people perceive waste and how re-branding recycling may help people to recycle more often.

We have long been fighting bacteria with a whole host of anti-bacterial sprays, soaps, and sanitizers. But when it comes down to it, there is no escaping the 100 trillion bacterial cells that live with us all the time on our skin, in our mouth, and in our intestines. For the forthcoming edition of WGBH's Innovation Hub, host Kara Miller has been exploring that impact that good bacteria can have on our health.

Tacos predate the arrival of Europeans in North America, and over the centuries, they’ve evolved from a Mexican food staple to one of America’s greatest fusion cuisines. This week, Fronteras is airing a five-part series on the mighty taco. Kicking it off and giving a sneak peak to the Takeaway is David Martin Davies, a lifelong taco lover and news director of Texas Public Radio in San Antonio.

Having a large amount of diversity in our food can enrich our lives. But how come it's so hard to find cookbooks and restaurants that serve more exotic cuisines? Economist and author Tyler Cowen argues that it is global development and standardization that is keeping us from having a larger amount of options for food.

Among the most popular diets in recent years has been the Paleolithic diet, also known as the caveman diet. Based on the premise that we’ll be healthier if we eat as our ancient ancestors did, it seems to have science on its side. But Marlene Zuk, evolutionary biologist at the University of Minnesota, says the science of the popular diet is wrong.

We’re in Portland this week, and there’s a lot to love in this town when it comes to food: food trucks, farmers markets, artisanal cheese, artisanal everything. It's hard to know where to begin. After all, who's a food snob, and who's a food lover? Enter Leo and Soren Westrey, the nine-year-old food bloggers behind kidchowpdx.com.

Thanks to continuing resolution passed by Congress and signed by President Obama last week, lawmakers managed to avoid a government shut-down. But at the last minute, an anonymous senator included a rider called the "Monsanto Protection Act," which functionally deregulated the process for approving genetically-modified crops.

Public health advocates have, for the most part, lauded New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's efforts to ban the sale of large sugary drinks in restaurants and cafes. But one detractor, who's also an expert on risk assessment, says that its not sugar that's the problem.

Wendell Pierce, best known for his role as Bunk in the HBO series "The Wire," is starting a chain of grocery stores in New Orleans as a means of revitalizing the city.

Even if you're relatively secure about your health and waistline, it's been impossible to completely miss the buzz around the major diet trends of recent years. But is all this nutrition advice actually making us healthier?

Horse meat was discovered in Ikea's famous Swedish meatballs this week, and the retailer responded by withdrawing the meatballs from their stores in fourteen European countries. It’s the latest in an escalating crisis over horse meat appearing in beef products. But it got us to thinking: Shouldn’t we expect filler in meatballs and other ground-meat foods?

Two stories highlight the bigger problems of food deserts in Detroit, a problem that's being documented through a new data mapping project in collaboration with WDET and our partner station WNYC.