Food and Diet. Find daily health food tips and ideas from Dr. David Samadi. Discover healthy food for healthy living. Explore major food issues and debates related to health such as buying and cooking with organic food, genetically modified food (GMO versus Non-GMO), nutrition, dieting epidemic, obesity, disease prevention, best digestion foods.
Weight loss – it’s a constant battle for many and even when a person does lose some weight, the other struggle is keeping the weight off. How do some people successfully lose significant amounts of weight and maintain the loss while others lose and then regain weight in repeating cycles?
Read MoreEdamame – ever eaten it? There was a time when very few people knew what edamame even was. But ever since Americans took a strong liking to sushi back in the 1980’s when Japanese restaurants in California served them with Japanese beer, the popularity of eating edamame has steadily grown over the years. It was in 1994 when packaged ready-to-eat edamame appeared in a supermarket for the first time.
Read MoreTumeric – a spice spanning several cultures has a long history dating back about 4, 000 years ago. Native to areas such as India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia, turmeric has been used to treat a variety of conditions over the centuries and is still revered as a time-honored medicinal seasoning to this day. Over 1 billion people worldwide regularly consume turmeric as part of their diet.
Read MoreNot only do our daily food choices play a substantial role on the influence and specific type of cancer that may develop but our food choices may also provide a protective role in reducing our risk of this deadly disease.
Read MoreIf only weight loss was easy. For some it can be but for most it can be a perplexing conundrum of lose weight, gain it back, repeat – lose weight, gain it back, repeat. This rhythmic pattern of weight cycling is affectionately referred to as ‘yo-yo’ dieting. We’ve all heard of the term and some of us may have experienced the up and down weight scale ride where we lose weight only to quickly and expectedly regain it back.
Read MoreOne more reason to follow a Mediterranean diet – it could prevent the brain from shrinking in old age thus helping to slow down or prevent cognitive decline. A new study published in the journal Neurology suggests there is an association between consuming foods typically consumed within a Mediterranean dietary pattern and a reduced amount of brain shrinkage. Several studies have already demonstrated that following a Mediterranean diet can result in having better thinking skills, a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Read MoreDiscerning between food truths and food myths is really hard sometimes. There is a multitude of some excellent nutrition advice to extremely bad to downright dangerous nutrition advice. As a consumer and partaker of food (we all are), knowing the truth of how to follow a healthy, nutritious diet can get lost in the shuffle of nutrition myths that have grown exponentially over the years.
Read MoreThe saying goes “variety is the spice of life” and boy, are they not kidding when it comes to fruits. When we look beyond bananas, apples, and oranges, we’ll find there is a wide world of weird and wonderful fruit just waiting to be discovered. These exotic and unique-looking produce may not be found in all grocery stores but they often are more widely available at Asian, Latin and gourmet supermarkets or from online specialty produce purveyors.
Read MoreWe all want our gut to feel good. No one wants a gut that is in constant turmoil possibly leading to serious conditions of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, diabetes, obesity or rheumatoid arthritis. What our gut is trying to tell us when these diseases arise is that the gut’s microbiome, partly inherited from your mother at birth and partly determined by your lifestyle, have a great deal of influence on our health.
Read MoreNothing is more annoying than experiencing belly bloat. Even though bloating is capable of making you feel puffy and uncomfortable plus making it just about impossible to zip up your skinny jeans, it usually is not serious. It can be due to a variety of things – eating too fast or too much or drinking through a straw. All of these actions can lead to gas buildup in the tummy and that can spell trouble.
Read MoreHave you ever tried mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes? How about chocolate cake made with black beans? Probably not your usual method of cooking but making healthy swaps with not-so-healthy ingredients is becoming more popular as people are becoming more aware and informed about what they eat.
Read MoreGrocery shopping – you either love it, hate it or maybe you are somewhere in between. No matter how you feel about it, we have to eat in order to live so we might as well be good at it.
Read MoreHigh protein diets continue to ride high their reign as a super nutrient. Yes, protein is an invaluable nutrient as it does a ton of various functions within our body. But how much do you really know about protein and if you were to take a quiz on your knowledge about it, would you pass? Let’s find out:
Read MoreEach day, every one of us must make choices when it comes to eating. If there is one area all of us can do our health a favor is to reduce our intake of saturated fat.
Read MoreNext time you sit down to a meal notice how many fruits and veggies you have on your plate. Is half of it filled with these disease fighting foods? That’s what more of us need to do according to MyPlate.gov and they are right. If you want to be a healthy person getting in the various vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals our bodies need for nourishment and protection against chronic illness, the answer is staring you right in the face every time you walk by the produce aisle at the grocery store.
Read MoreWhile men have been warned away from soy, there are new reasons to believe it can save women's lives. A recent study from Tufts University in Massachusetts investigated the link between dietary intake of the isoflavones found in soy products and breast cancer mortality, and unearthed some surprising data.
Read MoreNo matter how you pronounce it – pee-KAHN, PEE-can, or pick-AHN, pecans should be a perennial favorite of our diet. This nut has it all and unless you have a nut allergy, pecans can provide a plethora of important nutrients improving your health.
Read MoreWelcome to our new contributor, Cheryl Mussatto. Cheryl is a registered dietitian and will be writing on everything you need to know about eating for healthy living. There's been a big debate about Vitamin B12 and how much is too much. Also does it really mimic symptoms of Alzheimer's?
Read MoreDo you ever feel too rushed or busy to be able to actually sit down to eat, let alone eat a healthy meal? Does it seem like there’s just not enough hours in the day to plan ahead or take the time to take care of your health through proper food choices? Is your schedule so full due to work obligations, going to school, raising a family or maybe all three that eating healthy gets pushed down the list of things to do? If you’ve answered “yes” to any of those questions, it’s time to take some time to rethink why and how eating healthy can and should be a part of your busy lifestyle.
Read MoreRecently, we evaluated a study that showed eliminating synthetic trans fats from ones diet may help improve memory. Researchers are still unclear whether or not its trans-unsaturated fatty acids or trans fats that interfere with memory by directly affecting the nervous system. They're also looking into whether or not the correlation stems from the cardiovascular damage which harms the brain as well.
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