Bye, bye pyramid hello plate?

I cannot believe how excited I am to come back from my very short vacation and read that the Food Guide Pyramid will be laid to rest.  Rest in peace buddy, it has really been fun. I don’t know about any of my  colleagues, but I have never been a fan or used this tool in my practice and I am excited to see that the USDA is moving forward with hopefully a more progressive tool.
As some of you know

Common Myths about Olive Oil

This week alone I received questions from three people about olive oil.  The questions were so interesting that I decided to turn them into a quick blog.  Most of you have probably heard that Olive Oil contains a combination of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.  To keep it simple we’ll call these the ‘good fats.’  ‘Bad fats’ are saturated, hydrogenated, or Trans fats such as shortening,

Dealing with childhood obesity

Child Obesity is an epidemic that affects 16.3% of adolescents and children and over the past two decades the number of children who are obese has doubled while the number of adolescents has tripled.   Not only does obesity affect children’s self esteem but it is also a precursor to many serious and chronic diseases such as sleep apnea, asthma, hypertension (high blood pressure), and Type 2

The guts on probiotics

To explain probiotics simply, they are the beneficial bacteria found in food or supplements that help destroy the ‘bad bacteria’ and maintain gut health.  Some food products such as yogurt, fermented and unfermented milk, and miso have probiotics in them.  You can find out if products you eat contain probiotics by checking out the ingredient list.  If the ingredient list states live or active

The Tumultuous Toddler

I’ve got two, how about you?  Ah, I love them with all my heart but at the same time they challenge me and have taught me what the word patience truly means.  For those of you who know me, I have a 3 ½ year old boy and a 2 year old girl.  You can imagine what it is like being a dietitian and a parent.  When my children were infants I was constantly calculating their nutrition to insure they were

Saavy Snacking

If you haven’t ready my blog titled ‘The Vicious Cycle of eating too little’ now is the time to do so. If you have, let’s move on.   Remember how we discussed focusing on eating every three to four hours, well let’s talk about what types of snacks are best to initiate in between those long gaps.
Glucose, which is mostly derived from carbohydrates, is your body’s first source of energy. 

Anti- oxi – what?

About ten years ago I had a routine check up with my doctor.  I got a call two weeks later from my physician telling me to make an appointment ASAP because I had an irregular test and needed to get some biopsies.  At the time I was in my mid twenties and pretty scared so I called my closest friend, along with my boyfriend (now husband).  My boyfriend was real supportive, although he wasn’t sure

A note about Stevia (zero calorie sugar substitute)

We’re all on the lookout for that sugar substitute that withholds calories, tastes good, and is natural and safe.  Recently I was asked what my thoughts were on Stevia?  Well to tell you the truth I didn’t have many thoughts on the product because basically I didn’t know much about it, except that in my mind it was a zero calorie product that could be substituted for table sugar.  I put this