February 28, 2025 — Typically, the news we read about adherence to dietary advice is a little depressing. We read report after report saying our diets are terrible. But here is a bright spot. For some time now, doctors – especially pediatricians – have been telling us: “Juice is not healthy.” Whole fruit is better. Surprisingly, people seem to […]
January 11, 2025 — Yes. This is a relief. We are in the midst of what used to be called “diet season.” Yet we are not getting an onslaught of advice about Atkins, paleo, vegan, or an assortment of obscure dietary approaches for fast weight loss. Instead, we are getting tips for healthy eating – such as this advice […]
January 6, 2025 — As an article of faith, it is easy to find advice to avoid sweetness in the foods we eat. Canada’s Food Guide, for instance, tells us that “regularly eating foods that taste sweet can lead to a preference for sweet foods.” This is a common presumption. It is one of the rationales we see for […]
October 23, 2024 — God bless the people who put their time into the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. It fits the textbook definition of a thankless task. Years of work go into producing a scientifically sound set of recommendations for a new edition of dietary guidelines to emerge sometime next year. But no matter what those recommendations are, people […]
February 13, 2024 — Artificial intelligence is hard at work, reshaping healthcare delivery, as well as the delivery of profits from healthcare. So what does this mean for the delivery of dietary services? Can Chat GPT and other artificial intelligence technologies help with the complex task of delivering nutrition guidance for health? Maybe. Or maybe not yet. People have […]
March 9, 2023 — More and more, dietary health guidance points us to consider whole foods and how they fit into the overall pattern of our eating. Advice that divides individual foods or nutrients between good and bad labels is not so helpful because context matters. And yet, advice to avoid saturated fat remains ubiquitous. Perhaps such a broad […]
September 12, 2022 — In popular culture right now, it seems that ultra-processed foods are the bad boys. “Ultra-processed foods linked to heart disease, cancer, and death, studies show,” says one recent headline. Scary stuff, eh? Targeting ultra-processed foods for scorn wins approving nods. But even if it supports a favored narrative, looking closely at research on ultra-processed foods […]
November 14, 2019 — Are we ready for another round on carbs, fat, and protein? It sure seems like it. Popular interest in low-carb diets keeps growing steadily. A more extreme version – keto – generates a lot of buzz right now. And yet, research keeps telling us that playing around with these macronutrients doesn’t make a huge difference. […]
December 6, 2018 — Bless his heart. No doubt Harvard epidemiology professor Eric Rimm meant well. But his casual comments about potatoes being “starch bombs” have blown up the internet. The New York Times published his starch bomb comment and quoted him as saying: I think it would be nice if your meal came with a side salad and six French […]
