March is National Nutrition Month and this year’s theme, Put Your Best Fork Forward, is an opportunity to improve your eating habits by improving your overall habits.  Have you ever noticed that when there is an abundance of choices it is harder to make a good one?  That’s because we have less stress about decision making when there are fewer choices to make. When you visit your local grocery store, you see the phenomenon of too much choice in action.  There is one entire aisle devoted entirely to breakfast cereal!  If you want to eat cleaner and healthier, one way to do so is to strategically... Read More

On Sunday, the New England Patriots pulled off an incredible come-from-behind victory over the Atlanta Falcons.  Much has been made of quarterback Tom Brady and his amazing performance as an athlete at what, for most athletes, would be the twilight of their careers.  Love him or hate him at 39, Brady’s performance does not seem to be waning. Tom Brady has great genes.  He is not yet showing signs of decreased muscle mass and other natural signs of aging. The Boston Globe recently did a story about Tom Brady’s remarkable  biology, citing “maniacal workouts to maintain his VO2 max (the... Read More

Hippocrates said “All disease begins in the gut.”  He might have been even wiser than we ever knew.  With Valentine’s Day coming soon,  it makes sense to talk about the importance of keeping your heart healthy.  Did you know that heart health can be predicted by looking at the bacteria in your gut? A molecule, called trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), is produced by gut bacteria when you eat red meat, eggs, and dairy.  Based on the level of TMAO in your gut, scientists can determine how healthy your heart is, according to a study in  the European Heart Journal.  The higher... Read More

Sugar is everywhere, almost impossible to avoid.  It’s in foods like bread, pasta sauce, salad dressing, and ketchup. It can be challenging to find sugar in your food because nutrition labels are not required to list all sugar.  In 2018, nutrition labels will be required to call out all added sugar but, in the meantime, you’ll have to do some sugar sleuthing to manage your sugar intake. The Institute of Medicine has made recommendations for sugar intake.  Since sugar isn’t a required nutrient in the diet, the institute has not issued a recommended dietary allowance, but does suggest... Read More

This year was a crazy one, with a tumultuous election cycle, protests, shootings, issues of sexual assault on college campuses — it was a year to remember. Some important things happened that informed our health habits.  These events will have impact on our lives and our health now and in the future.  Here are some of the 2016 news stories that have and will shape how we think about well-being. The Good News Panera Bread goes clean.  Panera Bread vowed last year to serve only “clean ingredients” by the end of 2016. that vow involves removing artificial preservatives, sweetener,... Read More

Earlier this fall a news story revealed a plot in the 60s by the sugar industry.  The Sugar Research Foundation, now called the Sugar Association, paid scientists to downplay  the link between sugar and heart disease and instead blame saturated fat. Other revelations about how the food industry has influenced nutrition science have come to light as well, most notably Coca-Cola, the world’s largest producer of sugary beverages, provided millions of dollars in funding to researchers who sought to play down the link between sugary drinks and obesity. What does all this mean?  It means you have... Read More

There is a plethora of information about super foods and what you should be eating to be healthy, live longer, have good brain health and more.  You probably already know that avocado is a nutrient superstar, full of healthy monounsaturated fat and linked to successful weight loss.  Dark chocolate is another food celebrity loaded with antioxidants and a protective agent against heart disease.  Let’s talk about some of the unexpected foods that have health benefits that you might not be eating. Embrace egg yolks! Eggs are a misunderstood fat-rich food that’s an incredible source of vitamin... Read More

We’ve come a long way in our understanding of how the body works and how food influences the body’s performance.  Back in the 80s and 90s, we were obsessed with the low-fat lifestyle, eschewing foods with fat like cheese, butter and yogurt, for their low-fat, and usually less satisfying, siblings. Recently, a trend called Carb Cycling has evolved from bodybuilding “get cut” strategy to a mainstream fat loss plan.  Carb cycling, also known as a cyclic ketogenic diet, is a low-carbohydrate diet with intermittent periods of high or moderate carbohydrate consumption. The... Read More

Now that Daylight Savings Time has ended, we face a few months of shorter days and less sun exposure.  For those who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), this is a particularly difficult time of year. SAD is a type of depression triggered by seasonal light changes. In most cases, symptoms begin during late fall or early winter and start to fade away as the days become longer during spring. Symptoms of SAD include loss of interest in things that you once enjoyed, lack of energy, sadness, feelings of hopeless, difficulty concentrating, a strong desire to sleep, and changes in appetite... Read More

There seems to be some confusion about whether dairy should be part of the American diet.  While some dietitians recommend dairy, specifically milk, because it’s a good source of calcium and vitamin D — nutrients that contribute to bone health — researchers say that the science behind milk consumption and bone health is not conclusive.  So, what are the benefits of dairy products? While there is nutrient value to dairy products, most are available from eating other foods.  There are benefits to consuming dairy products, some of which are contrary to what we previously believed... Read More