It would be great if we could just stop eating meat all together. But there's one problem - we need complete dietary protein, and about 60 grams a day of it. This is what I call the Protein Problem: the problem is that we need a lot of protein, nutritionally speaking, but producing it is an ecological nightmare. If you've read my post about why protein is so nutritionally important, you know that meat is simply the best source of complete dietary protein. But is becoming vegetarian and eating tofu the solution to our protein problem? Unfortunately, it's not that simple.
Continue reading...Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The public's biggest concern when it comes to GMOs is their safety. There are a lot of misconceptions about genetic engineering. When pressed on science of GMOs, I have often heard people fear that the genetically modified material in the foods they are eating will somehow mutate their DNA too. While logically it sounds like that makes a bit of sense, scientifically its nonsense. So how do we test for and ensure that GMOs are safe? Allow me to introduce you to the complex world of genetic technology regulation. Image credit: kevin dolley on flickr.
Continue reading...Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Why are crops and animals being modified? What GMOs are currently on the market? What new GMOs are being created? Good questions... (thanks to klar!! on flickr for that cool art.)
Continue reading...Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Recently, a reinterpretation of an original Monsanto GMO study was published in the International Journal of Biological Studies which appeared to demonstrate that some aspect of Monsanto's GMO corn – potentially just additional pesticides – was causing kidney problems in their reexamination of the data. But what do most people really know about GMOs? This subject is complex – so complex I have prepared a three part series that helps explain what is going on underneath the heated debates.
Continue reading...Thursday, January 14, 2010
Childhood obesity is becoming a hot topic in health circles, even to the point of being called an epidemic. Experts estimate that 20% of children between the ages of 6 and 17 are overweight, predisposing them to terrible diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Why have the world's children ballooned over the past hundred years? (photo by photomequickbooth from flickr).
Continue reading...Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Effective January 1st, 2010, California became the first state to ban restaurants from using trans fats in restaurants.
Continue reading...Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Certified organic sales are now $52 billion/year, worldwide. The large market is fueling a lot of myths out there about organic foods and there is even more propaganda supporting these organic methods that is rarely understood. It's like your mother used to say: just because everyone is jumping off a bridge doesn't mean you should do it, too. I only want to point out that not everything is as it seems. So here are some of the myths of organic produce, and the realities behind them.
Continue reading...Monday, December 7, 2009
The book FoodSmart: Understanding Nutrition in the 21st Century is a new title from award-winning author Diana Hunter that is designed to help navigate the complex world of nutrition. It explains basics like terminology and types of food with ease and, yet, is still able to present the various sides of much more complex topics like of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and what it means to be "organic" to a nutrition newbie. All and all, it's not a bad book, especially if you're just starting out in the world of nutrition and want a strong understanding of what is being talked about by everyone else. For me though, this book had its ups and downs.
Continue reading...Wednesday, November 18, 2009
You have a lot of choices as a consumer. Those choices alter the marketplace. You influence what kind of movies Hollywood produces when you stand in line to buy tickets, debating between an action thriller and a romantic comedy. And the choices you make when it comes to your dinner, particularly which fish you pick for the 16 pounds of seafood the average American eats every year, drive the fisheries hauling in over 11 billion pounds of fish annually. Choices make a difference, not only from an economic perspective, but from a nutritional and ecological one.
Continue reading...Monday, October 26, 2009
Are antioxidants good for you? To answer that question, you have to understand reactive oxygen species, or ROS. And to do that, you have to understand how your cells produce energy. In this article, we uncover the processes of oxidation and explain it in the context of your health and well being.
Continue reading...
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
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