Category Archives: Nutrition Primer

The Skinny on Fat

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With all the talk about saturated fat and monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and trans fat, it’s easy to get confused about how they fit into the big picture, and to understand what it means for the food choices you make. I’d like to give you another strategy for figuring out what to eat. Instead of FAT, I am going to talk about FATTY ACIDS. First, some definitions.

If fat is a sentence, then fatty acids are words. If fat is a word, then fatty acids are letters. If fat is the universe, then fatty acids are galaxies. If fat is a solar system, fatty acids are planets and moons. If fat is a pyramid, fatty acids are bricks. 

If foods are words, then I want to focus on the letters. Today, I want to talk not about olives and avocados, not olive oil and avocado oil, but rather about the o’s and the e’s with which they are spelled. This conversation is not about lard or chicken fat. It’s about the fatty acids of which they are composed. Continue reading →

The Importance of Avocados, Olive Oil, and Peanut Butter

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Today I’m talking about fats, one of the macronutrients. Protein, fat, and carbohydrate are the three major macronutrients in the diet. Water is sometimes included as a fourth macronutrient.

But first, I’d like to begin with a few words on carbs: The term carbohydrates refers to carbohydrate that comes from a plant that grows in the soil. Whether leaf or fruit or root or stem, this kind of carbohydrate is always, always rich in fiber and phytonutrients. Except for milk and honey, carbohydrate doesn’t really exist in nature without the fiber. This means that whenever you come across carbohydrate without fiber attached, humans probably made it that way. But we don’t call whole, or fiber-rich, carbohydrates “healthy carbohydrates.” In a blog about good health and nutrition, you can assume that I’m always talking about the healthy kind. And while it is true that we, as a society, are drowning in stripped, “unhealthy,” carbs, people do not feel the need to keep reminding themselves.  Continue reading →

Nourishing Yourself With Joy

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Joy has been in the news lately, and that’s what I want to talk about today. 

Eating is meant to be a source of joy, as satisfying as the sunrise. Like listening to music. Talking with friends, or sitting together on a bench at the park. The wind at your back. Trading backrubs. Dancing. Stretching. A hot shower. A book that transports you to the other side of the universe. Walking along the shore. 

Eating is deeply satisfying. It speaks to your soul. Eating is sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, umami. Crunchy, soft, toothy, smooth, sticky. Beautiful, colorful, warm, cool, icy, bubbly. Expressive, imaginative. Fun, chaotic, quiet, or peaceful. Continue reading →

Returning to the Beginning: Two Core Messages

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Today I want to focus on two of the core messages to which I continue to return time and time again: First, there is an enormous difference between real food and manufactured calories. And, second, as we have been discussing at length in recent weeks, manufactured calories have been associated with an epidemic of chronic diseases, including not only diabetes, coronary artery disease, and obesity, but also depression, dementia, and other brain diseases. Continue reading →

Milestone Celebration: Your Favorite Posts

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This weekend Your Health is on Your Plate passed 100,000 hits! Just two years old, the blog is being shared far and wide, across the country and around the globe. To celebrate, dear reader, I am sharing your 10 most popular posts. New readers, here is your chance to catch up with all the best posts and to share them with your friends and family. It’s not too late, in fact, it’s never too late.

So, drumroll please, your favorite choices for best blog post (in no particular order) are:

That’s not all.  I’m sharing my own favorite posts as well: Maybe you’ll discover something that speaks to you, or explains something you’ve been wondering about, or brings it all together, or raises the MOST important question you’ve ever thought of, in which case I hope you’ll send me that question immediately, so that I can think about it and respond as best I can.

By the way, if it already appears in your list above, I am not including it in my list.

Again in no particular order, a few of my own favorites for Best Post are:

Finally, speaking of favorites, many thanks to all of you for the great recipes that continue to come our way, and thank you for reading YHIOYP.