Tuned in to nutrition with Radio Nutrition

Has the lock down affected your eating habits?  Eating more and enjoying it less?  Eating better?  No change? Just a few very looonnnnng months ago, our busy lives meant that our food choices were dominated by food prepared by someone else.  Convenience food, restaurant food, fast food, take out, grab and go snacks and processed […] The post Did the quarantine affect your food habits? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Host Immunity isn’t about hospitality. It’s about the ability of your immune system to fight infections and heal injuries. Many nutrients are critical for immune function. Which is why I find it puzzling (or disturbing) to hear medical professionals dissing the importance of nutrition for immunity. Host immunity is your body’s defense system. Listen up […] The post Host immunity depends nutrition appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Like all upper respiratory viral infections, SARS-CoV-2 — aka Covid-19, aka corona virus — affects groups of people differently. Young and healthy people may not even show symptoms. Frail elderly people with preexisting medical problems may develop severe and life threatening complications, predominantly pneumonia. Covid-19 is especially dangerous for people with hypertension. Why is that? […] The post Covid-19 and hypertension appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

I’ve been thinking about nut butters recently because some almond butter appeared in my pantry. It was an ingredient for a particular recipe, but of course I had to have a spoonful. Yum! It’s got a lovely mild/sweet flavor, and I wondered why I haven’t been buying it more often. I am now. All of […] The post What’s the best nut butter? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

The Paleo Diet has never been a favorite of mine. It’s based on the pretense that modern foods can mimic the diet eaten by primitive humans 50,000 or 1 million years ago. The assumption being that primitive humans gorged on meat and not much else. The perfect excuse to gorge on meat! And what would […] The post (NOT) My Favorite Diet: Paleo Diet appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Late night hosts recently took on the obesity epidemic. Bill Maher wants to bring back fat shaming. He thinks it’s the solution. James Corden responds that fat shaming will just make the problem worse. Who is right? In my opinion, both have valid points about obesity. Meanwhile Instagram and Facebook claim they are going to […] The post Late Night Fat Shaming appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

There’s a lot of confusion about the meaning of “plant based diet”. I try to clear it up by talking about what plant-based does not mean. At least that’s a start. By the way, it does not mean vegan or vegetarian, although those are variations on plant-based. Unfortunately a recently published study incorrectly defined plant-based […] The post What is a Plant-Based Diet anyway? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

The Low Fat Diet sounds good on paper, but doesn’t work in the real world. I dislike it for lots of good reasons, especially because it encourages people to rely on fake processed food. The post (NOT) My Favorite Diet: Low Fat appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

While doing a spring cleaning on old blog posts, I found several on fructose. It was a popular topic years ago, thanks to high fructose corn syrup hysteria. Unfortunately, the potential problems of excess fructose intake haven’t gone away, so time to revisit this topic. Here are links to previous blog posts on fructose: Another […] The post Fructose Revisited appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

It’s safe to say calories have hijacked our thinking about diets, nutrition and food. It took maybe half a century for that to happen. Now we operate on the belief that: Calories = nutrition The fewer calories in a food the healthier the food You have to count calories everyday If you cut back a […] The post Is the calorie dead? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

The post Gluten free reality check appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

A recent study claims everyone — regardless of age, gender or physical size — should eat 30 grams of fiber a day. Is that even reasonable? Do fiber supplements count? The post Fiber: the more the better? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

The post Alcohol: healthy or not? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Ever since the beginning of the obesity epidemic, the holidays have been turned into an exercise in non-stop food guilting.  You’re supposed to spend the season obsessing about calories. I completely disagree.  This is not helpful. The post T’is the season for food guilt appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

I have not written about obesity per se in a long time.  Not because it isn’t an issue anymore.  Far from it.  I just don’t see the point of harping on it as a thing.  It’s very negative.  People struggling with their weight don’t need to be reminded or badgered or blamed or made to […] The post A post about (shhhh….) obesity appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

The post The saturated fat saga continues appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

You read that right.  I’m completely done with calories as a nutritional obsession.  I realize a person in my profession is expected to focus most of my attention on calories, advising everyone to worry about them and add them up everyday.  But not any more.  It’s over. This isn’t an overnight decision.  I’ve been annoyed […] The post I’m done with calories appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Recently I switched to whole milk yogurt, one brand in particular (which shall remain nameless as I’m not paid to endorse it).  It’s regular — not Greek style — yogurt, and not homogenized.  Fat and water don’t mix, so the cream separates and when you open the container, there’s a delightful and delicious layer of […] The post Saturated fat reprieve? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

I haven’t been focusing on weight loss or diets at all recently, not because obesity has magically gone away.  Rather I think the whole subject is negative and counter-productive.  Better to think about eating a more healthful overall diet.  But while cleaning old blog posts off the site, I found one titled “10 diet Myths”, […] The post 10 Diet Myths Revisited appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

To say I’m not a fan of artificial sweeteners is an understatement. I detest them for so many reasons: fake off putting flavors train people to crave sweeteners haven’t helped with obesity at all Did I mention “Fake” Here’s one thing not on my list: cancer risk.  That’s the one effect regulatory agency bureaucrats think […] The post More bad news on artificial sweeteners appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Admittedly many of my first attempts at podcasting from years ago weren’t the best quality, so I’ve been cleaning out old posts and podcasts recently.  I came across one about olive oil from 7 years ago that deserved an update. My original concern was that olive oil fraud — specifically extra virgin olive oil fraud […] The post Extra Virgin Olive Oil revisited appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

The Walk Talk Nutrition RD team visits the salad dressing aisle. After our visit to the cereal aisle, we felt it was only right that we reviewed another popular food product with multiple variations on choice.  Our first question, was where did bottled salad dressing come from?  And where did all the creamy varieties come […] The post So many salad dressings! Why? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

When it comes to food and nutrition, there always seems to be something new to learn.  ‘World Salt Awareness Week’ just made my list of things I never knew about.  Given all the hysteria about salt and health, including admonitions to eat as little salt as possible, you might think Salt Awareness Week was another […] The post It’s time to celebrate salt! appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Well that’s 1:41 I can’t get back. PETA produced a Super Bowl ad to promote veganism, except the ad didn’t run during the Super Bowl.  Perhaps PETA couldn’t afford the ad time.  Or perhaps someone realized it would be counter productive.  The basic story line is some guy who allegedly created marketing campaigns for meat […] The post Vegans skip the Super Bowl appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Walk Talk Nutrition RD team visits the cereal aisle. We’re horrified. Kathy and Donna visited the cereal aisle where we estimate 98% of the products are junk. Our main points: Breakfast cereal should provide a decent amount of protein.  Kathy thinks at least 10 grams/serving.  Most of the junk cereals have only about 1 or […] The post Is it cereal or is it candy? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

According to the book “Clean Meat“, our food future is all about lab grown meat.  What are the implications for that?  And what will vegetarians and vegans do about non-animal meat? The post The future of meat is clean appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Exporting the American norm of excess food Anyone who has traveled the world knows that U.S.-based franchise restaurants know no borders.  You can find McDonald’s in India and Starbucks in Paris.  Kentucky Fried Chicken is extremely popular in Japan.  In fact, it’s the  official Christmas food of Japan, despite the fact that almost no one […] The post Cheesecake Factory in China appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Has anyone noticed that chips take up a whole aisle in the grocery store?  We have. Chips are increasingly being marketed as health food.  You can buy “veggie” chips in addition to corn and potato, although technically potatoes and corn are also vegetables.  You can find chips made with sea salt, or baked in olive […] The post Walk Talk Nutrition talks chips appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Despite all the hype about local foods, for better or worse, we’re now dependent on a global food supply chain.  We have fresh vegetables and herbs all winter.  Olive oil, chocolate, cheese and coffee come from far-flung countries across the oceans.  Barring the occasional outbreak of an infectious disease from contaminated produce, the food import […] The post Some nukes with your salmon? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

The Walk Talk Nutrition RD team is back, and we’re discussing some of the more common changes we’ve noticed on food labels lately.  We compared current labels to those from a few years back for the same products to see what kind of changes were made and how those changes impacted the nutrient profile of […] The post Food label exposé appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Food marketers must think we’re really dumb. Recently, a colleague was asked to make a vegan chocolate pie for a friend’s dinner party.  She found a recipe that called for silken tofu, almond flour crust, vegan unsweetened chocolate (is there any other kind?) and maple syrup for sweetener.  Oh wait, no maple syrup.  According to […] The post Sugar: the new health food appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

After writing about a recent study on intermittent fasting, I wanted to follow up on some thoughts about diets in general.  Plenty of people are trying to lose weight, and are eager to believe the latest fad weight loss scheme is going to be the one that finally works.  Considering that we have a worsening […] The post If your diet works, good for you appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Many of us have had this annoying experience. You meet a friend for lunch, or dine with family, and you’re barraged with a non-stop lecture about the person’s latest diet.  You get all the unwelcome details about food restrictions, along with perhaps a critique of what you might be eating at that very moment.  You’re […] The post 5 signs your diet is your religion appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

Have you ever made a purchasing decision based on one of these food label claims? Contains Fiber! More fiber than [fill in the blank] ! Added Fiber! With [fill in the blank] grams of fiber! High Fiber! You may have been played by a clever food marketer. What exactly is fiber?  Fiber used to be […] The post Fiber 101 appeared first on Radio Nutrition.

When someone says “protein” does the word “meat” pop into your mind?  This might happen even if you’re a committed vegetarian.  We’re practically hard-wired to think this way.  People who want to build muscle think meat or special protein supplements are essential.  Paleo dieters gorge on big portions of meat, thinking that’s how our primitive […] The post Protein: does the food source matter? appeared first on Radio Nutrition.