Few Americans were aware of the dangers of industrial farming and processed food before Michael Pollan published his best-selling books “In Defense of Food” and the “Omnivore’s Dilemma.”

A hero to the locavore and organic movements, Pollan has never shied away from expressing his opinions on what to eat, where to eat and the proper way to raise and harvest what we eat.

In his new book “Cooked," Pollan urges more Americans to home-cook their meals. Cooking, he says, will lower obesity rates and re-connect individuals with “the material world.”

Related: Michael Pollan: Home Cooking Will Solve America's Obesity Epidemic

Eating the right foods are as important as eating foods that are not genetically modified, Pollan argues in the accompanying clip. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are “plants or animals created through the gene splicing techniques of biotechnology, or genetic engineering,” according to The Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit organization that tests food products for GMOs.

Gold soared Friday morning to just below $1,475 an ounce, but by the afternoon the gains were gone and gold was down almost $9 an ounce. Though poised to end the day almost unchanged, the yellow metal was still up for the week and it’s anybody’s guess where it goes from here.

Michael Pento, president of Pento Portfolio Strategies and author of the new book, The Coming Bond Market Collapse: How to Survive the Demise of the U.S. Debt Market, has been invested in gold since 2001 and is certain that it’s only going higher from here.

“Gold is real and honest money,” he tells The Daily Ticker, noting it will hold value even while currencies fluctuate against each other.

Related: Forget Gold, Use Silver as Currency: David Morgan

Pento says there are several primary reasons to own gold:

• The U.S. Debt-to-GDP ratio continues to grow
• The level of U.S. debt has remained near $1 trillion annually for the past four years
• Real interest rates are negative
• The Fed continues its quantitative easing