For years, we’ve been told that the secret to weight management (and, therefore, prevention of chronic degenerative diseases) is simply to eat less and exercise more. In fact, that may be the extent of your medical doctor’s knowledge about nutrition and lifestyle. More and more evidence has been accumulating that shows that we are not just machines with a “calories in –
‘Tis the season for making New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps your resolutions include healthier eating and losing weight. There is certainly plenty of info in my past articles on how to construct a healthy diet that will help you live longer and prevent chronic diseases. One element that may have been overlooked in all the scrutiny over what to eat is when to eat.
One of the main impediments that many people cite in avoiding healthy foods is taste. When the average American is faced with the choice between a Frappuccino and a kale salad, it’s no mystery which one will be chosen. Our brains are hard-wired to seek out fats, sugar, and salt for survival — but with the modern food-industrial complex,
Imagine two co-workers: one slim, the type who can seem to eat anything without gaining a pound — and therefore does not feel the need to exercise; the other one overweight, but who works out regularly. In spite of your latter colleague’s efforts, he has found it very difficult to lose weight. Which one is at greater risk for health problems down the road?
There has been a lot of speculation about the increasing rates of obesity over the last few decades. Many of the causes of this phenomenon are well known, and I have covered them in past articles: the move from whole foods to more processed foods, a decrease in physical activity with the rise in technology,
For decades, it’s been a given in natural health circles that coffee is a no-no. It’s commonly one of the first things that people are asked to give up when going on a detox program, or any other recommendations for improving their health. Over the past decade or so, though, evidence has been mounting that there are actually many health benefits for that morning cup of joe.
Research in the area of normal flora — the “good,” or beneficial bacteria that live in our gut — has been exploding in recent years. It has been known for a long time that supplementing with probiotics (those friendly bacteria like Lactobacillus and Bifidus) can help with conditions ranging from eczema to allergies to irritable bowel syndrome.
All right, Dr. Peters, will you lay off the diet-soda-bashing melodrama?
No. The answer is no.
You’ve read my articles before about how diet soda actually promotes weight gain rather than weight loss, and more seriously, raises the risk of stroke significantly.
A study about organic food published this month in the Annals of Internal Medicine (1) made big headlines, mostly along the lines of “organic food is no better for you than conventionally grown food.” As usual, the headlines tend to gloss over the details of the research that was conducted. Several points are worth noting,