The US Department of Agriculture recommends adults consume 10 servings of produce daily, each serving being 1/2 cup in size.  Many health experts agree with this goal, yet most Americans do not even eat half the suggested number of servings per day.  Some use the excuse that fresh produce is too difficult to prepare, or […]

In 1961 when the American Heart Association issued the recommendation to reduce our intake of saturated fats to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, few could have predicted that advice would be the mainstay of dietary advice nearly 60 years later.  The concern, then and now, is that saturated fat intake causes the […]

Many newly diagnosed patients with breast cancer are told to avoid eating soy products, causing concern and confusion among those women who enjoy one or two servings of soy products daily.  The Mayo Clinic recently reported reassuring information from the Shanghai Women’s Health Study, analyzing questionnaires from 70,578 women between the ages of 40 and […]

After researching data from nearly 13,000 participants of the Ohio Medicaid Assessment Survey, scientists determined that those who did not eat their meals in front of the TV, and who ate most of their meals at home, rather than in restaurants, were less likely to be obese than those who did eat while watching TV, […]

During a 13 year period, about 71,400 women aged 50-79 participated in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study to help researchers finally answer that old question– Is there a health benefit to eating margarine, rather than butter?  A 2016 issue of the journal Epidemiology, reported on this revealing study. For every teaspoon per day of […]

Gluten is the protein in breads that gives them that chewy elasticity.  When kneading bread dough, bakers stimulate the gluten molecules to get that wonderful texture.  Without that stimulation, the bread would be more tender and cake-like in texture. Found in grains like wheat, barley, and rye, gluten is known to cause serious illness in […]

What could be better than sitting down to a steaming bowl of pasta fagioli?  Or, how about spicy chili without the carne, ladled over rice?  Then, of course there might be beans and greens served over linguini with grated Romano cheese twirled on your fork.  How about a fragrant bean curry served with chewy naan […]

Data from the Women’s Health Initiative compared inflammatory components in subjects’ diets to bone mineral density and fractures.  As reported in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research earlier this year, the women were observed over a six year period.  Those with the least inflammatory diets lost less bone density than those with the most […]

The media love to alarm people with, what I dub, The Nutrition Gospel of the Week.  I read many articles describing studies on nutrition and health, and I often reassure people about their food choices, or teach them how to modify and incorporate scientific findings into their own unique eating styles. When I see articles from different sources […]

Would it not be a dream come true, if eating pasta fragioli, vegan black bean soup, beans and greens, chili without the carne, hummus, and vegan lentil curry were among the best food choices for lowering your risk of Type II Diabetes?  I am happy to report that our dreams have indeed come true. The Journal of […]