What is it? The ketogenic diet is a diet that severely restricts carbohydrate consumption to about 20-50 g/day in order to establish a state of ketosis. (For reference. The recommended consumption of carbs for a 1500 calorie diet is about 150-200 g/day). Our cells preferred source of energy is glucose (aka blood sugar), which comes from the carbs we eat in our diet. In the absence of carbs, glucose will deplete after about 2-3 days and the body will start to break down fat stores to produce ketone bodies and use that as the main source of energy. It’s at this point the body is in a state of ketosis and solely burning fat for energy. It's this "fat burning" mechanism that is the draw for the weight loss industry.

History: The keto diet started as a therapeutic diet in the clinical setting to treat children with epilepsy. Since our brains prefer and almost exclusively use glucose for energy, researchers found episodes of seizures went down significantly when carbs were nearly eliminated i...

This post is a long one so if you don't feel like reading through the whole thing here's the shortened version: 

There are clear documented benefits to eating organic food, but it is not as black and white as it can sometimes be portrayed. There are local farms producing safe and healthy non-organic foods that compare very closely to their certified organic counterparts. There are also big brand food companies producing certified organic foods that might be questionable. You have to do your research before buying organic and evaluate your own personal situation to determine if it is worth it or not

There is a lot of debate, confusion and opinions lately about whether or not we "should" eat organic. The debate stems from questioning whether the benefits of eating organic justifies the extra cost. I've seen both sides of the argument with several factors coming into play including nutritional value, harmful chemicals, environmental concerns and of course politics. The truth is there's a lo...

In this crazy busy world we tend to over complicate, over think and over stress. Our daily life obligations sometimes feels like enough to get through, without thinking about meal planning, eating right and fitting activity in!

I totally get it! I’ve been there too. But I’m here to tell you today that building healthy habits doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact it’s actually really simple, you only need 3 things.

Seriously, only 3 things to start building a healthy habit and they are 3 things that you can start doing easily, today!

I’ve spent years reviewing research, reading books from the experts, listening to podcasts about the latest studies and of course working directly with clients to see what works and what doesn’t.

Most importantly, I’m a Registered Dietitian, and by definition we are evidence based practitioners held to a high standard. This means, whatever I share with you is 100% back up by science. Cold hard facts of what works and what doesn’t. A major reason that when it...

If you’ve recently pick up a health magazine, browsed a fitness blog or popped into a GNC you might have noticed this collagen trend that’s gaining momentum. Every year we see new nutrients stealing the spotlight with all their magical health benefits and recommendations to start incorporating them into our diets. But is there any truth behind the latest trend, collagen?

Let’s first talk about what collagen is. Collagen is the most abundant protein found in muscles, bones, skin, blood vessels, digestive system and tendons. It’s responsible for keeping the elasticity in our skin and strength in our nails. It also makes up our tendons and joints to keep our bodies moving. Over time it’s natural to see collagen production decrease. This is where we can see aging symptoms begin like wrinkles, sagging skin and even joint pain. Age isn’t the only thing that can slow collagen production. Exposed time in the sun, high sugar diets and of course smoking can also speed up the natural depletion of...

Although we are talking about supplements and multivitamins, it’s important to stress that it is always ideal to get our nutrition through whole foods. If we can maintain a well-balanced diet full of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds, fish, lean proteins, and healthy oils we likely don’t need a multivitamin to fill in the gaps. However, this blog series is all about being realistic and what to do if you don’t meet your nutrition needs with food every day. In this case, a multivitamin could be beneficial. So how do we pick the right one?

1. Look for USP mark on the bottle.

Primarily, you want to have peace of mind that what you’re taking contains what it says on the bottle. Unfortunately, since the supplement industry isn’t regulated there is no process supplement companies must go through to get a stamp of approval before hitting the shelf. They simply must prove that it isn’t harmful. Even then, after some time supplements will be removed or recalled due to safety concerns.

Whe...

This is a standard question I hear not only from my clients but also from my friends, family members and colleagues. So, what’s the deal? Is this the single easiest way to improve our daily health or is it a big waste of money?

Americans have been taking multivitamins and supplements since the 1940s, so this is nothing new. However, in recent years it seems that the supplement industry has really exploded. Likely due to high profit margins and little to no regulations. Today almost 70% of us take at least a multivitamin on a regular basis. And that’s just multivitamins. Beyond that you have individual vitamin supplements, mineral supplements, condition specific, organ specific, age specific, gender specific and more! Supplement selections now take up several shelves and even aisles when we browse through in the convenient stores and grocery stores. If that’s not enough we now have entire stores exclusively dedicated to selling supplements like GNC and Vitamin Shoppe. These places bring...

Weight loss today tends to be very overwhelming, difficult, stressful and many times unsuccessful despite our best efforts. Most Americans make on average 4 attempts every year to lose weight, and the kicker is 90-95% end up gaining all of it back. With these types of statistics, it’s no wonder weight loss can be described as frustrating, stressful, and discouraging.

Eating healthier and being more active is such a positive change that impacts our lives physically and emotionally.  Most of my clients come to me wanting to lose weight with the desire to feel more like themselves after many failed attempts. At the very beginning of working together I will ask them about their prior weight loss attempts. This description typically includes words like “frustration,” “failure,” “up and down,” “never ending effort” and “not enjoyable.”

About 6 months into working together I’ll have them reflect on this new weight loss experience and describe it to me. This time around they will use words...

1. Don’t give up the things you love to eat.

When we think about dieting and losing weight we often times immediately associate that with “oh no!! No more pizza and wine!” Or whatever guilty food pleasure you enjoy. Going cold turkey with the things we love has in fact been proven to not be effective for weight loss and habit change. It has been shown that when you make something forbidden there is a section of our brain that actually strengthens the desire- making it increasingly harder to “stick with it.” This explains the failure of chronic crash dieting. You can only stick to a restrictive diet plan before eventually you give in. So instead of restricting these items learn how to balance them into your diet in a healthy way.  

2. If you change nothing else, portion control will go a long way.

No matter what it is we eat, controlling portions will ultimately help control calorie consumption. This goes for healthy foods and unhealthy foods. Portion control will serve you well...

By now I’m sure most of us have heard of and even started incorporated chia seeds into our diets. Sprinkle some in your shake, your yogurt, salads... and even your water! ..huh??

I’ve recently been getting some questions around this hottest new trend. “A chia seed water a day keeps the (fill in the blank) away.” I’ve heard claims about weight loss, glowing skin, resolving digestive issues, boosting energy and others. The packaged food industry is also catching on to the trend. If adding chia seeds to water yourself is too much, you can now purchase bottled chia seed water for about $4-6 / bottle.

So what’s the deal? Is this the latest hyped up health fad or something you should get on board with? In general incorporating chia seeds and more water into the diet is a great thing. Chia seeds are the latest deemed “super food” and for good reason.

Although there is no single “super food” – there are certainly nutrient dense foods out there and chia seeds are one of them. High in fiber, low in...

Now that the colder weather is here a hearty comfort meal is exactly what we crave. If you're searching for a healthy option, look no further! After posting my weekend dinner pic I’ve been getting a lot of requests for the recipe. Confession: rarely do I ever follow a recipe when cooking. I typically make it up as I go, which can lead to some amazing meals!  ..and also some that end up in the trash. It’s certainly not a full proof way to a delicious meal, but it sure is fun! See below for my latest creation: ratatouille!😊

Quick history about why I love this meal so much. Growing up I lived in 3 different homes before graduating high school but in each place my parents had an amazing vegetable garden and a love of cooking. Rarely were there meals that weren’t cooked from scratch incorporating something fresh they had grown from the garden. Whether it was the pulmp garden tomatoes, crisp green beans, savory herbs, squash, carrots, berries or peaches… the list goes on! One favorite weekni...