Nutrition

If I asked the average person to try my daily oatmeal bowl, salad dish, cup of soup or even my black bean brownie, most of them wouldn’t immediately fall in love with it. They’d much rather stick to their processed cereals, oil dressed salads, heavily salted soups and sugar laced brownies. And when I say, “much rather,” I mean they’d cling to their current favorite foods as if their life would be over without them. Honestly, it’s a little disturbing once you understand the science behind it. But for those who’ve adopted a whole foods plant-based diet, these same healthy meals that processed food lovers dislike, are thoroughly enjoyable. So, why is it that healthy people enjoy healthy foods more than the average American? Why is it that so many people seem to be nearly addicted to these highly processed foods? And how can you not only like healthy

The consumption of moderate amounts of coffee increase energy availability, energy expenditure, physical performance, motor performance, cognitive performance, alertness, wakefulness, feelings of energy, concentration, focus, short-term memory, problem solving, decision making accuracy, and neuromuscular coordination and while decreasing physical fatigue, mental fatigue, and risk of dementia, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mortality. And yet, I’ve never once consumed a cup of coffee. Never buddied up with the world’s best friend Joe. I’ve stayed away from caffeine for nearly all my life despite the publicized benefits of coffee and caffeine. And it’s made me wonder, have I made the right decision? Am I missing out on America’s healthiest beverage? And should I start consuming coffee? Well, I did a lot of digging and

A few weeks ago, on a Friday night, I started watching The Queen’s Gambit. A great Netflix show about a world chess champion. But shortly into the first episode, I noticed some pain in my left abdomen. It crept up quickly and after about 15 minutes, it was so painful that I could barely walk. I made my way down my apartment building’s stairs and out to my car. I had just enough energy and mobility to drive myself to the emergency room. Unfortunately, when I got there, there were many other patients with even more dire conditions than mine waiting to be seen which makes sense because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But after checking in and being curled up in pain inside the waiting room, I was finally seen by a doctor after about 2-3 hours just as the pain subsided. Despite the pain now being gone, my emergency room doctor still sent me for x-rays, blood tests, and

The earliest regular breakfast I can remember eating is Reese’s Puffs. Those things were delicious, but I could eat them forever and not get full. And because of that, I was always left hungry and craving more sugar-filled food. As I got more into health and wellness, I started changing up my breakfast. Slowly evolving from a sugar-filled, nutrient-void cereal to a wholesome plant-based meal. Shortly after Reese’s Puffs, I switched to two English muffins with peanut butter for years. But still, my hunger would reappear shortly after breakfast and while the meal was more nutrient dense than Reese’s Puffs, it was still lacking in nutrient variety and whole foods. After that I tried avocado toast and a smoothie each morning. This was better yet but there wasn’t an effortless way to meal prep and travel with it. It’d take about 25 minutes to make each

Since nearly eliminating my consumption of added sugar 18 months ago, there’s been one significant effect I never expected. I’ve become one of my dental hygienist’s favorite clients. The past three times I’ve been to the dentist for a cleaning, my hygienist has said to me “your teeth already look beautiful” and “there’s barely any cleaning I need to do” and “looks like you’ve done a great job brushing and flossing.” But I’ve always brushed and flossed consistently for as long as I can remember, and I never received these compliments before. Even with my consistent dental hygiene and lack of any tooth decay problems, I’ve never had compliments like these. But since my reduction of added sugar, they’ve been plentiful. Now, it’s common knowledge that added sugar consumption can help lead to dental issues but until I actually took the step of cutting

Ever since the pandemic started back in March, I’ve doubled down on my fitness and nutrition efforts. And since then, I’ve lost around 10lbs of weight, primarily fat, bringing my total down to 160lbs. I can’t remember being 160lbs since high school or college. I’ve always been lean but losing this extra 10lbs surprised me. I didn’t expect it to happen since I had no intentions of dropping weight. But it happened and one of the main things I’m contributing it to is the complete removal of added oils from my diet. But aren’t oils like olive oil and coconut oil healthy for you? Isn’t fat or oil needed for a healthy diet? And how do you eat food like sauteed vegetables or salad dressings without oil? I took a deep dive into the current state of added oil consumption in the United States and researched all the facts and myths surrounding it. Here’s what I found

In my pursuit of optimal nutrition over the past ten to fifteen years, I’ve experimented with a few different supplements but have never really bought into the hype. I have seen many of my friends tout protein, multivitamins, and fish oil. And I’ve seen advertisements and media covering mega dosing vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. For the most part, I ignored my friends’ supplement routines and the media advertisements. Until now, when I decided to take a deep dive into supplements and explore if any supplements were worth taking. Here’s what I found. According to a study in 2019, Theoretical Food and Nutrient Composition of Whole-Food Plant-Based and Vegan Diets Compared to Current Dietary Recommendations, almost all vitamins and minerals can be consumed by eating a variety of plant-based whole foods like vegetables, fruits

This month, I’ve been reading a book called Eat For Life by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. This book covers his nutrient-rich program for longevity, disease reversal and sustained weight loss that revolves around a whole foods plant-based diet. While reading this book, I came across a fascinating chart that Dr. Fuhrman had developed. This chart listed over 150 different foods and assigned them a Nutrient IQ score. What is a Nutrient IQ score? Apparently, it’s a score that resembles the amount of nutrients within a food based upon serving size. For example, a nutrient-dense food like a 1/4 cup of Red Pepper receives a score of 60 while a nutrient-lacking food like 2oz of Cheese receives a 2. This scoring system piqued my interest as it’s meant to help track the quality of one’s diet. And since I’m continually looking to improve my nutrition, I took this opportunity