Nutrition Information
I’ve been a registered dietitian for over a decade and love sharing what I know. My favorite part of being a registered dietitian is helping people identify and reach their health goals. Looking for nutrition inspiration? Browse the posts below for a collection of nutrition tips and facts.
How to Modify Baby-Led Weaning
Thinking about doing baby-led weaning with your infant? Read on for essential tips and tricks! Baby E is 10 months old. Old enough to stick her fingers in my nose and laugh hysterically when I say “ouch!” while still being small enough to fit comfortably in my cradled arms. Old enough to motor around the…
Breakfast and Weight Loss: The Facts
Should you skip breakfast to lose weight, as some recent articles suggest? Not so fast! Let’s take a closer look at the controversy surrounding this topic. The Controversy As with many hot-off-the-presses nutrition claims backed by “real” science, this breakfast-vilifying conclusion is perfect for stoking discussion (great) and for generating grabby headlines that mislead readers…
Three Tips for Eating Healthy While Pregnant
(1) Eat a regular diet–a healthy regular diet, that is. There’s no need to go on a gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan diet once you get two lines on your pregnancy test (unless, of course, you have celiac disease or a dairy allergy, in which case you’d already be on a special diet). Shoot for a varied…
The Five Most Surprising Things About Pregnancy
(1) Morning sickness. I was so naïve going into this pregnancy — at least concerning morning sickness. Among the women I know who have had children, morning sickness ranged from indigestion and food aversions, to getting sick once a day and otherwise feeling fine, to no morning sickness at all. I figured I’d fall into…
Three Steps to Easy Meal Planning
Lesson #1 when doing a TV segment: Always know where your props are. Then you won’t come thisclose to knocking over your whiteboard on live television. Lesson #2: Take honest stock of your artistic talents before attempting to draw an animal that will appear on previously mentioned live television. Lesson #3: Attempts to “fancy up”…
Five Things I’m Loving Lately, Part 6
Giveaway winner at end of post! (1) The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are not here yet; they will be published later this year. In the meantime, you — yes, YOU — have the power to give your opinion on the work-in-progress. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recently released a scientific report designed to keep…
What is Clean Eating?
Recently, I gave a nutrition talk to a women’s club. I’ve done these sort of talks before, and I have them mapped out with the precision of a sleepy Monday morning commuter attempting to jam her subway pass into a vending machine (which is to say, rather loosely – I prefer to leave room for…
Why I Love National Nutrition Month
1. The awesome catchphrases. The theme of this year’s National Nutrition Month is “Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right.” Catchy, yes no? Most people choose foods based on taste rather than nutrition, and this choice makes sense. Fortunately, you can have it both ways, and that’s what this year’s theme is all about. Start with…
Five Things with which I am Moderately Pleased, Part 2
1. The FDA’s proposed changes to the Nutrition Facts label. This tidbit has been all over the news this past week. The FDA’s proposed changes to the Nutrition Facts label would be the first major modification since 2006 when the administration added trans fat. The changes reflect the latest research into diet and chronic disease…
Five Things I’m Loving Lately, Part 5
1. FDA stance on artificial trans fats. Many of us have heard about the Food and Drug Administration’s preliminary determination that partially hydrogenated oils are not GRAS (generally recognized as safe). Partially hydrogenated oils are the main dietary source of trans fat in foods like prepackaged baked items, crackers, and baking mixes. This is huge…
Monday Munchies, Part 28: The Definition of Insanity
This post is a continuation of the Monday Munchies series where I show everything I eat over the course of single day. These eats took place last Friday and reveal a little secret about me *gasp!* First, Maddie wanted to thank you for your wonderful reactions to Dog Week. On to the day’s eats! Breakfast,…
Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt Treats {for dogs}
It’s Dog Week on THIH! In honor of National Dog Day, this week’s posts will celebrate our canine companions. We’ll begin with a homemade frozen dog treat with only three ingredients: yogurt, peanut butter and banana. I was inspired to create these treats after finding frozen treats at a pet store for $1 a pop….
How to Cook a Perfect Stir Fry
I love stir fries. They’re quick and easy, you can add tons of veggies, and they taste great over brown rice seasoned with turmeric and cardamom. You can go from ingredients to finished dish in fifteen minutes. They’re perfect for using up extra leftovers. What’s not to love? Still, this tasty dish often isn’t the…
Wild Rice Tempeh Salad with Roasted Tomatoes & Fresh Mint
Imagine a world without mint. No more mint chocolate chip ice cream. No more refreshing mojitos. No way to get those onions from lunch off your breath (brushing teeth is so overrated). I refuse to live in such a world. Lately, I’ve been putting mint in just about anything: drinks, soup, sandwiches, salads and more….
How to Make Your Own Almond Milk
The day has arrived! I declared in the comments of this post that I planned to make my own almond milk. Unusually, I followed up on that bold statement within a few weeks. Partly because I had a little extra time this week, and mostly because I ran out of store-bought almond milk. In any…
Soy Good: The Lowdown on Non-Dairy Milk Alternatives
This post is adapted from my post on Stone Soup, the blog of Food and Nutrition Magazine, which is a publication of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I remember my first taste of almond milk. Clutching an enormous glass between unsteady fingers, I took a tentative sip of the pale liquid – and loved…
A Weighty Matter
Today, I’d like to talk about a subject I’ve never discussed on THIH: weight. I hesitated writing this post because there’s a lot of sensitivity surrounding the subject. As I wrote in my FAQ, I feel our society has too much of a fixation on weight. For both women AND men, there exist strong external…
Tempeh Spinach Hummus: The Four Parter
Part 1: The Guest Post Check out my post on Stone Soup, the blog of Food and Nutrition Magazine, a publication of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In this article, I highlight my Update Your Plate series, where I demonstrate how to use MyPlate to plan your meals. While all the UYP posts feature…
Lactose Intolerant? Two Nutrients to Watch
Note: I am currently traveling and may not be able to immediately respond to emails, etc. Thanks for your patience! Those who are lactose intolerant may have difficulty consuming enough dairy products to meet their calcium and vitamin D needs. Lactose intolerance occurs when there is a deficiency in the digestive enzyme lactase resulting in…
It’s National Nutrition Month!
A few weeks ago, I had a client who entered my office in considerable distress. She’d had a number of stressful life changes in the last month and hadn’t remembered to eat what she considered a “proper meal” in days. As she described how her regular salads had fallen by the wayside and how she…
Stay Healthy While Flying
G’day, readers! As predicted in my last post, I had a lovely weekend with my dad and sister in beautiful, bright, bonny Colorado. Yes, Colorado is a series of adjectives starting with the letter “B”. I won’t go into detail about the trip (check out this post for five reasons why I love Colorado), but…
All About Chocolate: The Valentine’s Day Special
This post is adapted from my guest post on Stone Soup, the blog of Food and Nutrition Magazine, which is a publication of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Chocolate. Just the word conjures up the taste of rich hot cocoa and the snap of a pure chocolate bar. For some, it is tied to…
Mini Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies
After yesterday’s monologue about the intricacies of breakfast, Marie made a great point in the comments: I have a hard time with breakfast. Without it the day’s a disaster, but I am NOT a morning person, in spite of which I am out the door by 7 am (in the darkness… so sad…). It’s a…
Five Ways To Boost Your Immune System
I’m pushing off my last Ricotta Week recipe until tomorrow because I want to talk about my immune system. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was coming down with a cold. That was my second cold in just over a month. Although it didn’t last as long as the first cold (which gave…
Monday Munchies, Part 3
There’s one thing I’ve learned that makes mornings easier. Especially Monday mornings. The THIH breakfast principle: Choose something light and energizing for breakfast, and stick with it. Taking all the guesswork out of breakfast means you’ll get out the door faster and still be properly fueled. For those who like variety (like me) set up…
Update Your Plate, Part 1: The Salmon Salad Edition
By now, many of you have heard of MyPlate, the USDA‘s newest healthy eating guide. For the first time in nearly 20 years, this food guide is not in the shape of a pyramid (for a fascinating look at the evolution of the USDA’s food guides, check out this link). I completed my dietetic internship…
Eating Real Food: Shrimp Scampi
Note: A slightly-modified version of this post is also a guest post on guest post on Lazaro Cooks! … what can I say? I’m busy, swamped, ready to sell my favorite blender for a slow-paced afternoon – whatever you dear readers call having no free time nowadays. Gotta milk whatever I write, right? Thanks for…
Food Service and the Dietitian
Doesn’t that sound like a great name for a rock band? In non-rock band-related topics: can you believe at this time last year, I was in China? Time flies when you’re learning how to be a dietitian! To relive my China adventures, live scorpions and all, click here. In non-rock and non-China-related topics: I have…
A Day in the Life of a Private Practice Dietitian
Hello THIH readers! After recovering from my “tastes of the wild“, I’m ready to share with you more about what a registered dietitian does. To bring new readers up to speed: I’ve talked about nutrition research and clinical dietetics, as well as quick looks at food service dietetics and community nutrition with SNAP-Ed. Let continue…
What’s Up, Jessie? … and a Book Review!
Hi everyone! LTNT: long time, no type! So what have I been doing the last few weeks instead of blogging? A selection: (1) Enjoying two smoked Thanksgiving turkeys (yes, TWO) – Peter-prepared, of course. He wanted to compare a turkey smoked in an electrical smoker to a Big Green Egg-smoked turkey. Don’t ask me why….
FNCE Gave Me a Sore Back
Hi, everyone! I’m back from my birthday weekend (Nov. 6) at the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) in Boston and I had a blast! I met so many interesting dietitians and other health professionals. I can’t wait to share with you what I’ve learned at the conference. But first, birthday celebrations! Peter’s aunt…
The Always and the Sometimes
Food, that is! Thanks to all of you for your insightful healthy living tips! I covered some of the healthy living basics in my last post, but you certainly picked up the slack. I’ve compiled all of your tips in the “Reader Tips” tab under “Simple Tips for Healthy Living“. Check it out to see…