Food Literacy: Raising Kids Who Get It

This week, I was asked “What benefits do I see for my kids from all the home cooking I do with them?” “Well,” I said, being in somewhat of a mood to be difficult, “on one hand it’s hard to say definitively since my kids are not growing up in a ‘controlled’ science experiment!” But…

Details

Cell Phones: Use them, but from a distance.

In 2011, WHO categorized cell phone radiation as a possible carcinogen—with good reason. If you’re not using a head set or speaker setting with your phone, it’s time to switch. Seriously. And don’t carry your phone in your pocket- or ladies, as I’ve seen done- in your bra! It’s been demonstrated that radio frequency (RF)…

Details

The Variable Calcium Content in Leafy Greens

Just today I was reviewing a nutrient intake evaluation with a patient of our clinic, let’s call her Trish, who is on (among other things) a dairy-free Food Plan. Since we are sometimes implementing relatively complex elimination diets in our patient population with severe allergic disease, nutritional balance requires careful attention. We regularly request diet…

Details

Safe Soil for Your Home-Grown Veggies

When we moved from our tiny New York City apartment out to the ‘burbs’ some nine years ago now, I rubbed my hands with glee. No longer was I constrained for veggie-growing locations (growing food was something I’d longed to do more of). Space was abundant! I began planning my first ‘real’ garden, eyeing up…

Details

Comparing the Oral and Colon Microbiomes-Abstract

Commentary From Cass Nelson-Dooley (Podcast on Oral Microbiome): This a great study about the Human Microbiome Project comparing microbes through ALL points of the GI tract. It revealed some interesting things about normal, healthy subjects. For instance, they have oral bacterial pathogens, but no disease! This finding disputes the one bug-one disease paradigm (Koch’s Postulates). …

Details

Potassium-The REAL Special K+

Did you know that LESS THAN 8% of the US population actually achieve adequate potassium intake? So outrageous. And on average, ALL ADULTS ingest a full 200% of our daily sodium requirement. We SHOULD be ingesting way more potassium than sodium, about three times as much. And we don’t. Not even close. We are the…

Details

Are You a Hospitable Host to Your Microbial Partners?

Are you enriching their lives with good, healthy food choices and lifestyle habits or are you angering your trillions of guests, pushing them towards causing disease? I wrote my thesis in medical school on stealth infections, where I concluded that health had much to do with how well we tended our microbial garden… I was…

Details

3 Essential Nutrients Gut Bugs Create for Us

Those gut microbes are one busy “organ!” Aside from honing our immune system, balancing our metabolism, protecting our gut lining, neutralizing pathogens, and helping our brain function, did you know that these little critters are also making nutrients for us to use… One such nutrient is folate, which is a critical nutrient for methylation pathways…

Details

Is Your Cholesterol Too Low?

“Your cholesterol number is high…” a phrase still scary enough to many of us. Cholesterol is still so controversial these days. Yet, for the first time, the scientific advisory panel for the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests that we should no longer advise the public to be concerned about their cholesterol intake from food.…

Details

Don’t Throw the Beans Out With the Bathwater!

Many folks are “dissing” beans these days, be them lentil, refried, kidney, soy or black. We’re so concerned about the capacity of some of the bean compounds (called anti-nutrients), such as lectins, saponins, protease inhibitors and phytates to induce damage that we forget about the copious bean benefits, including the cheap cost, protein, fiber and…

Details

5 Things Everyone Should Know About Sugar

I’m sure it’s no secret to anyone reading this that sugar consumption has risen in the last few decades, and that many experts have connected this trend to major public health issues and health costs in the US and other countries. But here’s the conundrum: in the face of such overwhelming data, why does this…

Details

Kicking the Sugar Habit

Why it be so hard to give up sugar? Hmmm, could it be something to do with how pervasive and immediately-available sugar-laden foods are in our society?! Certainly this is a BIG obstacle, but did you know that biological sugar addiction is also a real phenomenon? No more feeling guilty about our ‘dwindling’ willpower! Here’s…

Details

The BPA Problem and What To Do About It

As I’m sure many of you are well aware, BPA (bisphenol A) is a known endocrine disrupter, altering hormone-related activity even at low levels of exposure. Studies have linked BPA toxicity to adverse effects on reproduction, the nervous system and behavioral development (including aggressiveness and hyperactivity). A recent human study has even shown that BPA…

Details