The Paleo Diet Is More Than A Fad: “The lifestyle captures a certain discontent with modernity”

www.salon.com - Friday, April 29th 2016

Today, Paleo is one of the most influential dietary trends in the country, with as many as three million followers and a disproportionate cultural influence. And while it’s easy to mock Paleo as the retrograde fantasy of Patagonia-jacketed professionals who buy fifty-dollar grass-fed steaks and imagine themselves loping across a Paleolithic savannah as they strain through a CrossFit workout, the lifestyle does capture a certain discontent with modernity.

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What is Miso Paste Anyway, and How Do I Use It? Help!

www.huffingtonpost.com - Wednesday April 27th, 2016

If you haven’t been cooking with miso, then you’ve been seriously missing out. The salty paste can amp up just about any boring dish, and it’s also quite good for you. Here’s what you need to know:

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The Deadly Fake Fat Lurking in the Supermarket -- Still!

www.huffingtonpost.com - June 11th, 2013

Artificial trans fat -- the kind that comes from partially hydrogenated oil -- has been called a "metabolic poison" and the "most dangerous fat in the food supply." It promotes heart disease by raising one's "bad" cholesterol (LDL), which clogs arteries, and lowering one's "good" cholesterol (HDL), the kind that guards against heart disease. According to the Institute of Medicine, there is no safe level for trans fat intake, and the American Heart Association recommends limiting it to less than 2 percent of calories per day. That's about two grams. Unless you're a vegan, that's about as much as you can expect to get from the smaller amounts of naturally-occurring trans fat in milk and meat. In other words? There's no room in your diet for anything partially hydrogenated.

Since 2006, when the federal government required trans fat to be listed on nutrition facts labels, most responsible manufacturers of processed foods began reformulating their product lines to get rid of artificial trans fat. (And fortunately, these reformulated products typically end up lower in saturated fat as well as trans fat.) But as a new paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Preventing Chronic Disease (I'm a co-author) shows, some stubborn manufacturers are still sticking with this discredited industrial ingredient despite the consensus that it is dangerous and unnecessary.

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Food and Mood: Is What You're Eating, Eating You?

www.huffingtonpost.com - January 18th, 2013

Some of the simplest and healthiest habits in life are the most difficult for us to maintain. For years, medical professionals shrugged off this simple truth, but recently more and more of us are acknowledging our responsibility in this realm. It takes time to sit down with each patient and tease out where they need help, but we know a simple, quick lecture to "eat plenty of fruits and vegetables" just doesn't work.

Eating, breathing, and exercising are some of the most basic things we do to keep our bodies functioning well, or not. Over time, our occasional unhealthy behaviors can become habits, and we feel like we're doing it all wrong. I cannot count how my times I've personally had to start again with eating healthier, meditating/breathing, and exercising more regularly. As much as I wish I could be a shining beacon of health, one who never wavers, I'm just like my patients. I too need reminders and have to start with the basics.

Walking through the park today, I saw two men standing on stilts. Then I noticed they were juggling, tossing the juggling clubs back and forth to each other. I learned something: Try as they might, they couldn't learn this feat without some help. They'd brought someone else along as an assistant, and every time they dropped a club, their assistant would hand it back. Though this post isn't about juggling, the image of the jugglers is relevant.

Learning to do new things on our own requires assistance in the beginning, and when we're struggling. I find this to be especially true for some of the easiest things in life, like eating, breathing, and exercising. We know how to do these things, kind of. Many of us are struggling. And we may not know where or why we're struggling, which is exactly why outside assistance could help.

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Cereal Bars: Nutrition Information Isn't What It Seems

www.huffingtonpost.com - August 22nd, 2012

Which?, the U.K. consumer advocacy organization, just released a report in which they explored the healthfulness of cereal bars. You know the ones -- meal and snack bars from popular cereal brands that are meant to be healthy, and often include whole grains, nuts and dried fruit.

But as the research team found, many of these bars were full of sugar, fat and calories. In fact, one bar -- the Nutri-grain Elevenses Raisin Bake -- had 18 grams of sugar, which is almost four teaspoons, or about the same as a small can of Coca-Cola.

"People often choose cereal bars in the belief they're healthier than chocolate or biscuits, but our research shows this can be a myth," Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said in a statement.

The researchers looked at 30 different best-selling bars, choosing ones that were meant to appear healthiest. They found surprisingly that 16 of those bars had at least 30 percent sugar and had calorie counts akin to cookies. Perhaps most shocking, a third of the bars were high in saturated fat.

Though the study was based in the U.K. market, there are several lessons that apply to American bars too. So what should you be aware of? 

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