The CDC and Childhood Obesity: Thinking Outside the Box
School food reform is not about building a better nugget for the cafeteria or pumping up the pizza with whole wheat crust and low fat cheese. What we must do is raise the Food IQ and transform the culture of food in each and every school district in the USA. Here’s how.
Continue reading »Diet Mythology
This week at Gilda’s Club Westchester, I’ll be teaching one of my most favorite classes: Diet Mythology. I first came up with this topic way back in 2006 when I was teaching a course entitled American Food Culture for non native speakers of English at Manhattanville College. Diet myths continue to grow and circulate thanks [...]
Continue reading »Sugar: Whats in a word?
Sugars are not just “empty calories”, sugar is a major anti-nutrient that can wreck havoc with your health.
Continue reading »Cotton is Not a Food!
When you see partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil on a food label, think beyond trans fat! This super cheap oil is one of the most toxic ingredients in processed food today, let me count a few ways: #1 Cotton is not a food! These cottonseeds are a left over by product of producing cotton fiber. Common [...]
Continue reading »Michelle & Jamie, Let’s Talk About Oil
Things are looking up when it comes to the health of our kids. Two days ago, Michelle Obama announced a comprehensive initiative to end childhood obesity in a generation. The program, Let’s Move includes a broad base of smart ideas, like eliminating food deserts, giving parents better information about food, improving the school lunch program [...]
Continue reading »Raising the Food IQ of Docs
photo credit: YoAmes This week, 4th year medical students at New York Medical College learned about inexpensive and highly effective edible tools for healing. Kale, quinoa, ginger, turmeric, garlic and more. They also discovered the power of mindful eating along with the health benefits of good quality dark chocolate. They were horrified to consider the [...]
Continue reading »Nutrition Education is Failing Our Kids – It’s Time to Get Our Hands Dirty Instead
Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand. ~Chinese proverb The latest research shows that nutrition education is not working! It is ineffective in creating behavior change in getting our kids to eat more veggies. So much time, money and energy has been spent in [...]
Continue reading »Raising the Food IQ in Medical School
If you could wave a magic wand and cause your doctor to have a brilliant Food IQ, what would she/he tell you about how to be healthy? That magic wand is in my hand right now. I have a huge opportunity to impact the Food IQ of a nearby medical school as part of a [...]
Continue reading »A Smart Choice? You’ve Got to be Kidding!
The NY Times recently reported about a new food labeling system “Smart Choices” that will help consumers figure out what foods are better choices in the supermarket. Froot Loops, a smart choice? This one really takes the cake! The president of the Smart Choices board is Dr.Eileen Kennedy. She is the dean of the Friedman [...]
Continue reading »Putting the Health Back into Healthcare
Last night, I didn’t just listen to one brilliant speech on healthcare, I enjoyed two! I attended a talk by Andrew Weil, MD at the 92nd St Y. After watching the first 15 minutes of President Obama’s healthcare speech, Dr. Weil launched into his vision how we can put health back into healthcare. The root [...]
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