Let the buyer beware (Caveat Emptor) is an old (1523) but useful adage, especially when making the decision to buy and take supplements. Those of you, readers of this blog over the long haul, are probably not surprised to have another warning about supplements. You are already aware of my suggestions to take careful consideration […]

When a famous movie star (in this case Gwyneth Paltrow) takes a Food Stamp Challenge, and fails to eat for 7 days on the $29 food stamps provides, it makes the news. But I’m not sure if many of you missed a story about Leanne Brown, a Canadian masters student at New York University who […]

The PREDIMED study out of Barcelona Spain has shown substantial benefits including reduced risk of stroke for those on a plant-based Mediterranean diet. The data from any ambitious study can be investigated further, and built upon with additional new studies. This has happened, and the additional analyses have shown important additional benefits for our thinking […]

If you harbor any feelings that eating largely plant-based foods is something for vegans and vegetarians, I hope you’ll take a few minutes from your busy life and read an article published on November 7, 2014, in the Washington Post by four interesting writers (Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, Ricardo Salvador and Olivier De Schutter). I […]

I attended Utah Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 2015 this past Thursday and Friday. Personally, I believe that it was the best conference, with the most informed presenters that this state organization has offered. One of their presenters was Amy Myrdal Miller, MS, RDN. She had an engaging, appealing and enjoyable presentation style. To begin […]

The year 2015 is the distinctive year for the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to come up with the new guidelines; they do it every five years. You can be involved if you like – make your voice heard. The Dietary Guidelines serve a major role in American life; because school lunch programs; military menus; hospital […]

Truly, it’s a rare occasion at my home, for the temperatures to be in the 50s and 60s during February – I have plans to breath in some of the warmer air during the next 10 days. I’ve lived in the mountain west for enough years (15) to realize that winter is not over, based […]

There is neither a single food nor single group of foods that can be consumed that offer optimal health. Balance and variety are an important aspect of diet. If we want not only to be healthy, but also to enjoy our meals, then we should remember balance and variety. We should be very mindful of […]

Do you sometimes wonder if we Americans need some sort of food villain?  Dietary fat…. remember anything with fat was bad (1990’s)?  Then carbs, that never was a very clear message – no differentiation between simple carbs and complex carbs, but the message was that protein is the miracle food and fat is a wonderful […]

When I speak to college students, especially non-science majors, I often encourage them to take some science classes; like say, physiology. The reason for this seemingly bizarre suggestion is that I’ve found it so upsetting over the years to see how the food processors, commodities companies and their organizations can effectively distort science. I believe […]