ArcaMax

My mother suffered from heart disease most of her life, and eventually the disease took her life. We went through stents, heart surgery, two pacemakers, replacement valves -- the best that medical care could give her. Could a change in her diet have made a difference?

I read with interest new research from the American Heart Association that ...Read more

Have you hit a plateau in your weight loss? I'm working with a client now that can't seem to get her weight to budge. Over the past four months, she's lost 28 pounds, about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds a week, which is considered the right amount to lose. That's respectable in anyone's book. Now, though, she's hit a wall. She started at 233 pounds in ...Read more

Most of us think grilling when we think summer. Parties at home usually center around the grill -- burgers, brats, barbecued chicken or steak. Raising cattle on our family farm meant our freezer was full of high-quality beef just waiting to be grilled.

How healthy is it? Depends on how you cook the meat.

"Cooking meat at high temperatures is ...Read more

Tracking Calories

My friend Kim has dropped 25 pounds in the past year. Her secret? Tracking her calories. She uses an app on her phone -- MyFitnessPal -- to know how many calories she eats. Her goal starting out was 1600 calories a day. When she reached a plateau, she dropped it to 1500. At her second plateau, she moved the goal to 1400, which...Read more

Healthy Fats

It is a mystery that it's suddenly OK to eat fat to lose fat. Just how does that make sense?

I grew up in the SnackWell's age -- those no-fat cookies in the green box that you could feel good about eating because they didn't have any fat. It was only later we realized they had more sugar and equal amount of calories compared to "...Read more

Would you eat certain foods if you knew they helped reduce your risk of breast cancer?

If you're like me and have a family history, you probably would consider it.

"Breast cancer risk after menopause may be lowered by as much as 65% by consuming more food and liquids with certain kinds of phenolic acids," according to an article in Endocrine ...Read more

Looking to lose weight before the summer? Here's what real people involved in The National Weight Control Registry collectively agree on -- forget the superfoods, eat a healthful diet, don't splurge and exercise regularly.

That's it. Intentional weight loss boils down to consistency.

The NWCR celebrates 25 years of existence and is deemed "the...Read more

Need to improve your cholesterol?

There are lots of us in that same lunchroom. More than a third of American adults have high levels of unhealthy cholesterol, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cholesterol -- a white, waxy substance -- is known to be an artery clogger, sort of like the buildup of plaque on your teeth. ...Read more

There are some cancers where diet can make a big difference -- breast cancer is one of them. Researchers at the University of Illinois in Champaign may have pinpointed the reason why.

"Scientists at the University of Illinois have found that free fatty acids in the blood appear to boost proliferation and growth of breast cancer cells," ...Read more

We've all heard that we need to eat more vegetables -- up to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. But how do you really accomplish that?

One of the best ways is to add fruits and vegetables at breakfast. Here are a few tips from Environmental Nutrition Newsletter to help boost your intake:

1. Think veggies with eggs: Add tomatoes, ...Read more

Want to save money and help the planet at the same time? Limit your food waste.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics offers tips to help do that: Plan your meals with the food you already have and store your leftovers safely.

Approximately 40 percent of all edible food produced in the U.S. goes uneaten, according to the Academy Foundation's ...Read more

A new study finds that higher consumption of vegetables and fruits is associated with lower odds of future memory loss in men, according to a study published recently in Neurology.

But haven't we always known that fruits and veggies are good for us? This is just another reason to fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables, as recommended ...Read more