Category Archives: Diet

SATURATED FAT AND YOUR HEART

Diet, Heart Health, , , , ,

 Is butter back on the table?

NCI_butter

Earlier this year the headlines and TV news reports were hard to miss when a new study concluded saturated fat did not cause heart disease.  It was a huge story and the media ate it up (no pun intended).  Creamy sticks of  butter and juicy steaks flashed across the screen as reporters gleefully shared this news.

This can’t be right … right? 

Here’s what I’ve learned and what we’re doing as food for thought for your own plate.

First,  you should know the study was not an actual study but instead a meta-analysis.  A meta what? Continue reading SATURATED FAT AND YOUR HEART →

“Food Should Make You Want to Dance!”

Diet, ,

That line passed by as closed captioned text on the Food Network Channel today while I was sweating my heart rate up on the elliptical.  I stopped on that channel, captivated by the chef sauteing crisp apples and beautiful leeks, and I watched as she scooped out bright orange acorn squash and mashed it with roasted garlic.  She returned the squash to the shell and spooned the leek/apple mixture on top.  It looked delicious–though swimming with too much butter for my taste and I would have sauteed the leeks and apples in coconut or olive oil… but I digress. Continue reading “Food Should Make You Want to Dance!” →

“Feel my muscle.”

Diet, , , , , , ,

flexed bicep illustrationHow much protein do we need in our diet to be healthy?  To build muscle and stay strong?

I was troubled by this question for quite some time. I know protein is necessary for repairing and building muscle among other things, and part of our “Fix It” journey is to restore muscle strength and mass that has been lost with aging and being too sedentery.  I researched this question online, asked personal trainers and athletes I knew, and the bottom line was that everyone and every source had a different answer.  The responses would range from such a low number of grams per day I knew it couldn’t be right, to exorbitant numbers that didn’t seem right either.  Or worse, I’d get the blanket phrase “Americans consume too much protein so don’t worry about whether you’re getting enough protein or not.”  And often there didn’t seem to be any distinction between men and women, but it would seem likely that a woman’s protein needs might differ from that of a man, and also frame and weight would make a difference. Continue reading “Feel my muscle.” →