Myth: Eating lots of negative calorie foods will help melt away the pounds! Truth: Does celery, cucumber, lettuce, or grapefruit help you lose weight? Maybe, but not for the reason you might think. Touted as “negative calorie foods”—that is, foods that are so low in calories that it takes more energy to chew and digest them than the food contains. But is it true? Can you burn calories just by eating a lot of celery? To answer that, let’s review how our metabolism works.

I hope you are all having a Happy Memorial Day. If your plans today including cooking out, be sure to do it safely. While foodborne illness seems harmless or just inconvenient, it is common and can be life-threatening. Food poisoning strikes 48 million people each year, 128,000 of those people end up in the hospital, and nearly 3,000 die. How can you keep you and your family safe today? Here are a few tips to keep your celebration on track. I can’t say it enough; hand was

This week’s Nutrition Mythbusters takes on a question I get frequently. Q: If I’m craving a certain food, does that mean my body is telling me I’m missing the nutrients found in that food? A: I hear this a lot—I’m craving a burger, so I must be low on iron. I’m craving salt, so my body must need more salt right now. Unfortunately, there is no scientific basis for this claim. If that were the case, we’d all be craving fruits and vegetables, as they are often the best sour

It’s Website Wednesday again! In keeping with the Monday blog about food allergies, today’s featured website is Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE). Food allergies are very common, and it’s often difficult for families to navigate reading labels, eating in restaurants, and ensuring kids stay safe in school. FARE helps with all of these challenges. For families who are newly diagnosed, there is a special section that reviews the basics. The Food Allergy Field Guide

May is Food Allergy Action Month! Food allergies are very common, affecting around 15 million people in the U.S. While most people associate food allergies with kids, they occur in adults as well. About 4% of adults (or about 9 million people) have food allergies. It estimated that nearly 1 in 13 kids has a food allergy, which works out to be about two children in every classroom. About a third of kids are allergic to more than one food. Food allergies cause a variety of

Today’s Website Wednesday is one I just came across a year or so ago. It’s become a go-to resource for me to find affordable, healthy food choices and recipes for my patients. I think you’ll like it too--Mealtime.org from the Canned Food Alliance. Wait, canned food? Isn’t that unhealthy? Indeed, canned food might make you think of highly processed items. And while there are plenty of unhealthy canned items, fruits and vegetables aren’t. In addition to being affordable an

For as much good information about nutrition that is at our fingertips, there is a lot of bad information, too. No one monitors whether the information online is true, and often, websites and organizations have their agendas that can skew what is published. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, sensational headlines are more likely to arouse emotional responses and get a click. We’ll take on some of these nutrition myths in the Healthy Habits blogs. Here is the first myth,

Join me in welcoming a post from our guest blogger, Olivia Lopez, senior dietetic student at Ohio University. Have you ever wondered if the sugar packets that you are placing in your teas, coffees, or breakfast cereals every morning are good for you? Many would say that because it is not “real” sugar, it must be healthier. We are told that artificial sweeteners are “low-calorie” or even “no calorie” sweeteners, however, how good (and safe) are artificial sweeteners? Artificia