You Have It Made Sugar Content
Many of my Weight Watchers (WW) friends have inquired about the sugar content in my recipes, because that number is needed to calculate Weight Watchers points. This book and the ones I published before it don’t include the grams of total sugar in the nutrition...
Healthy Holiday Gifts
It takes a little finesse to give a healthy holiday gift that is genuinely well-received. You could send the wrong message with something like a digital scale or a gym membership which are easily misconstrued as some kind of hint. And, let’s face it, the default...
5 Ways To Pack A Better Work Lunch
This time of year a lot of attention is paid to kids’ lunches, but just because you’re grown up doesn’t mean you need a good lunch any less. Whether you head to work five days a week or are out running errands, bringing your lunch has big advantages over eating out or...
Snacking Snafus
We’ve all been there – on the couch after dinner with a late night snack in hand. Or those busy days where a proper meal just doesn’t seem to happen and instead, you find yourself making one too many trips to the snack drawer at work. Whatever snafu you find yourself...
These Foods Were Made To Go Together
Peanut butter and jelly, cookies and milk, spaghetti and meatballs — these are the Fred-and-Gingers of the food world, duos that are so iconic you can hardly think of one without the other. Each is excellent on its own, but when they are together real magic happens....
Sweet Without Sugar
If you are thinking you should be cutting back on sugar, you are probably right. The average American eats the equivalent of about 20 teaspoons of it each day — a lot more than the cap of 6 teaspoons for women and 9 teaspoons for men recommended by the American Heart...
Are Fancy Bottled Waters Worth Their Price?
These days there are so many brands and types of bottled waters on store shelves that you could drop from dehydration before figuring out which one to buy. Regardless of their prices or promises, all the waters on the market hydrate you equally well, and no better...
Bone Boosting Foods
When I say “food for healthy bones,” what springs to mind? Milk, of course. That connection is taught to us early on, and rightfully so. Milk and the products made from it — yogurt, cheese, etc. — are packed not only with calcium, but several bone-beneficial...
How to Have a Safe and Healthful Picnic
One of the biggest joys of summer is eating outside in the fresh air, with nothing but sky and trees overhead. Whether at an alfresco cafe or in your own back yard, it instantly helps you decompress. Take it a step further by grabbing a blanket and heading to the park...
Brain Food
My 12 year old daughter, Isabella, had to take a series of exams at school the other week, nothing too high-stakes, but she was a little nervous about them. To prepare she did her part by studying and getting to bed early the night before, and, as the official house...
What to Eat More Of If You’re Eating Less Meat
If you are trying to eat less meat, you have plenty of company. Our cultural tide is flowing steadily in that direction. Just look around–there are multiple bestselling books touting the benefits of plant based eating; the Meatless Monday campaign has become...
Five Words You Should Stop Using When You Talk About Food
Words matter, perhaps more than you realize. How you describe something expresses your underlying attitude about it, but the words themselves reflect back at you, shaping your thoughts and actions and impacting your success. A lot of research has been done with...
Have a Spring Fling with Your Favorite Foods
Are you on autopilot when you grocery shop, habitually filling your cart with the same foods week after week? Sure, there is a comfortable security in doing it that way, knowing you and your family will like what you bring home, and it is an efficient way to get in...
Herb Essentials
As a passionate food lover as well as a nutritionist, I’m always searching for that sweet spot where delicious and healthy meet. Herbs hit it perfectly. These luscious leaves — parsley, basil, cilantro, mint, thyme, oregano, rosemary and the like — not only add...
Know Your Egg Terminology Before Heading to the Store
Eggs have a lot going for them. For just about 70 calories, a large egg provides 6 grams of satisfying protein, vitamin D, a variety of B vitamins, essential minerals such as iron and zinc, choline, which is important for brain health, and lutein and zeaxanthin, which...
The Pros and Cons of Eating Raw Food
Eating raw food used to be something you did without a second thought, like munching a stalk of celery or snacking on a banana. But now “eating raw” gets quotation marks, describing a movement that proponents claim holds the key to weight loss and optimal health. If...
If you’re feeling the winter blues, eat fish
If your typical February night involves searching the kitchen for a snack to lift your spirits, you are not alone. This is prime winter-blues season, the time of year when many of us are plagued with that lethargic feeling that’s like a dark curtain over our mood. An...
How Probiotics and Prebiotics Team Up in Your Gut
Everyone knows good hosts need to feed their houseguests. If the visitors are easy to get along with and especially helpful — they take out the trash, do the dishes, rake the yard and so on — it’s wise to feed them very well so they stay as long as possible. That’s...
Why Chewing is Underrated
Chewing is so last year. The more modern way to get food into your body is, apparently, to slurp it through a straw, suck it out of a pouch or gulp it from a container. Just consider the invasion of fashionable juice bars and bottled cold-pressed or blenderized...
4 Food Resolutions Really Worth Making
It is resolution time again — something you will be reminded of incessantly in the coming weeks as the media turns its face toward the “New Year, New You” sun. You have, no doubt, already noticed the flood of health-oriented stories in print and on TV, promotions for...
Holiday Cookie Overload: How to Strike a Balance
Cookies are a kind of emotional currency during the holidays. We create rituals around baking them to connect to past generations and make future memories. We trade them as tokens of friendship and good cheer, and we prize them as the epitome of a heartfelt gift,...
7 Surprising Ways to Use Grapes
Grapes are truly a wonder-food, which is why I am thrilled to be working with the California Table Grape Commission spreading the word about just how healthy and versatile they are. You probably already love snacking on grapes, but you might be surprised to learn the...
Is Coconut Water All it’s Cracked Up to Be?
Seemingly overnight, coconut water has gone from niche to national, with annual sales climbing upwards of $400 million and big beverage companies getting into the game. Is coconut water all it’s cracked up to be? Here’s the scoop: What is coconut water? Coconut water...
Myth Busted: Is Bubbly Water Bad For You?
There is something extra refreshing about a glass of sparkling water, and served in a cocktail glass with a twist it can help you get through a night of partying without overdoing alcohol. But somehow word has gotten around that bubbly water is bad for you. To...
Packing the Perfect Picnic
Photo: demaerre via iStock Beautiful summer days just beg for a picnic. Eating outdoors on a blanket with the grass or a sandy beach underfoot somehow makes the food taste even better. Keep these tips in mind to insure an optimally healthy and enjoyable experience. ·...
Greek v Regular Yogurt: What’s the Difference?
It’s amusing for me to see the Greek yogurt market explode, since I consider myself an original U.S.A. fan-club member, using it in everything from dips and dressings to smoothies and desserts. In fact, I had been making it myself from regular yogurt, and including...
Build a Better Salad
Use the Freshest Produce Using the absolute freshest and most perfectly ripe, seasonal produce will mean the difference between an OK salad and a really great one. Rather than go to the store stuck on a particular type of salad to make, buy what looks best and go from...
Go Green
We all know green vegetables are a nutritional home run, but you might be surprised to learn the scope of health benefits they have to offer: Sharp Eyes – Lutein and Zeaxanthin are two antioxidants found in green leafy vegetables, such as kale and collards, that...
The Scoop on Chia
Now in everything from smoothies and puddings to chips and cereals, chia seeds have officially made their way into the mainstream. But what exactly are they and do they live up to their promise? Here’s what you need to know. The Basics These tiny seeds, traditionally...
Making Sense of Sugar
It’s hardly a surprise to hear sugar is bad for us. Everyone knows it adds empty calories and causes our blood sugar to spike. But it’s even worse for you than that: a 2014 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed some...
Love Chocolate
There’s good reason we eat chocolate to celebrate love. Chocolate can actually trigger some of the same brain chemicals released when you’re feeling amorous. It can also be good for your heart in the long run because the cocoa bean, from which chocolate is made,...
Cooking Vegetables
Did you know that the way you cook your vegetables can make a huge difference in their nutritional value? Here are three simple cooking tips to help you get the most out of your vegetables. Limit their contact with water. When you immerse vegetables in water many...
Holiday Party Survival Guide
With all the holiday festivities, it can be tough to stick to your wellness goals. But with a few tricks, you can stay healthy this party season and have fun doing it, too. Here is my 5 point party survival guide: Change Your Mind – Forget the...
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire…
The other day I found myself on the glittering, bustling streets of midtown Manhattan with some major hunger pangs and without my usual stash of snacks in my handbag. As I scanned the area for a deli to drop in for a yogurt or some fruit, I stumbled upon the most...
4 Steps to Conquering Cravings
For me it is usually crispy French fries, rich chocolate or cheesy pizza. These are the foods that burrow into my brain and takeover– the foods I crave most often. We’ve all had an intense desire for a specific food, which can rule our every thought until we...
Easy Lunch Box Upgrades
It is easy to trade the usual lunch-box standbys for something just as appealing, but so much healthier. Here are three fruit inspired upgrades your kids will love. Instead of: A fruit roll up Trade up with: A clementine Clementines are succulent and super sweet...
10 Juicy Tomato Facts
Plump, perfectly ripe tomatoes are one of summer’s biggest highlights. So cut one up, put it on a plate, sprinkle with some sea salt, drizzle with olive oil, and enjoy as you consider these juicy tomato facts. 1. You can stop arguing whether a tomato is a fruit or...
Best Healthy Flavor Boosters
A few simple ingredients can make all the difference when it comes to having incredibly delicious food that is also healthy. Here are my top 3 healthy flavor boosters that get you there, nearly effortlessly: 1) Fresh Herbs A simple sprinkle of fresh herbs like...
Smart Grilling
Grilling can be one of the tastiest and healthiest ways to cook, but any time you cook meat at a high temperature, cancer promoting compounds called Heterocyclic Amines (HCAs) can form, particularly in the blackened/charred areas. Don’t throw out your grill just...
The Scoop on Sprouted Grains
Sprouted grains and beans are shooting up all over the grocery store as ingredients in products like breads, cereals and snacks, and as sprouted whole foods like mung beans, lentils, rice and quinoa. Touted for their nutritional superiority, I thought I’d dig through...
Handy Trick to Tell Meat Doneness
The surest way to know if your meat is cooked properly is to test it with a meat thermometer. But if you find yourself without one (as I did at my summer vacation rental), you can find an easy guide to meat doneness, literally at your fingertips. Hold your hand in...
You Asked: How to Order Your Fish
Question: At a restaurant, I was recently asked what temperature I wanted my fish cooked. How do I know? Answer: Chances are, you ordered salmon or tuna, because most other types of fish, like flounder, sole, snapper, tilapia and shellfish are simply cooked through...
Food Synergies
Just as a good marriage elevates each partner, certain foods are better—for health and taste– when eaten together. Scientists are beginning to uncover food combinations that work synergistically to boost nutrient absorption and antioxidant potency, beyond...
Grills Gone Wild
Some common foods you might never have thought of grilling become suddenly new and exciting when they meet the open fire. So go a little wild and fire up these fresh foods to add a tasty, healthy, unexpected twist to your summer cookouts. Lettuce- Heartier varieties...
5 Proven Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Vegetables
Tired of seeing broccoli left untouched on your child’s plate? It can be extremely frustrating when, try as you may, their love for kale just isn’t happening. Don’t despair just yet – skip the bribery and nagging and try these 5 proven ways that can help get...
Berry Inspirational
Berry season is upon us! These plump, juicy jewels are a healthy food lover’s delight, packed with sweet-tart flavor, endless culinary possibilities, lots of fiber and antioxidants– all for very few calories. Buy them: Look for plump and firm berries that are...
You Asked: What’s the Best Eating Plan?
Q. There are so many eating plans that claim to be the best. What do you suggest that is nutritionally sound? Should I count calories, carbs, fat? There is a new “discovery” everyday and it is a challenge to separate marketing from science. Question submitted by Kathy...
Mood Boosting Foods
Days of frigid, single-digit temperatures can sure bring on the blues, and it’s natural to turn to food to lift your spirits. But while eating, say, a hunk of chocolate cake can make you feel good for the short term, we all know how that strategy can backfire over...
Rethink Your Resolutions
If you have already broken your New Year’s resolutions or are struggling to stick to them, don’t get down on yourself. Instead, rethink them to make them work for you. To make resolutions that really stick, make them S.M.A.L.L.: S: Specific Instead of resolving to...
Amazing Asparagus
This delightful veggie is in season now! Although green asparagus is most popular and widely available, keep your eyes peeled for purple and white varieties too (white asparagus is grown underground and isn’t exposed to sunlight). No matter what color you choose, here...
Fat Math
If you have an eye for numbers you might wonder why the breakdown of the individual types of fat (mono, poly and sat) listed in my nutrition data usually add up to less than the total fat. For example, one recipe lists the fat content like this: Total Fat 11g (Mono...
Agave: Healthy or Harmful?
Depending on who you talk to, agave nectar is either pure goodness sent from the heavens or something from the labs of Dr. Evil. This is often seen with foods, where we build them up to a “super food” status, only to knock them down. But sometimes things aren’t as...
Funny Food Stories
$149 Smoothie Ever make a $149 smoothie? I have, just last year. Here’s how: put some milk, fruit and ice into your good blender. Then, using a stainless steel spoon, add about a tablespoon of almond butter. When the phone rings and you go to answer it, leave the...
Kids and Vegetables: A Success Story
One of the most successful programs the Wellness Committee and I started at my daughter’s elementary school are the Vegetable Tastings. We felt they were having a big impact, but we didn’t realize just how big until this past week when a Columbia graduate student,...Advertisement
