The ecological community of bacteria, fungi, viruses and single-cell organisms living in your body are known as the microbiome, aka microbiota.  These trillions upon trillions of microbes call your body home. They make up about 3% of your total body weight and are just as numerous as human cells, despite what you may have heard about there being 10 times more bacterial cells.  With approximately 5000 different species living in and on you at any one time, it is believed these

Important But Obvious:  Eating too much food will make you fat. Why people get fat and others don’t is not completely understood. Yes, it is true, a chronic surplus of energy in the body will lead to weight gain, but the fat-loss equation is more complex than calories in versus calories out. We now understand that not all calories are similarly proceeded by the body. Emerging evidence shows when and what you eat affects your weight/fat regulating hormones. Moreover, differing

‘Hot town, summer in the city. Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty…..’ That means beach weather, bikinis, bare feet and lots of unwanted sand following you home. Worst part: finding that sand stuck in your fat rolls. So let’s prevent that from happening, right?! If you want a shredded 6 pack and super defined muscles you’ll have to work very, very hard. Most people are not willing to commit to such an endeavor, so let’s keep our expectations in check. Nevertheless, you c

“Let food be thy medicine”– Hippocrates More than half of U.S. adults blindly take vitamins daily.  Do you know what you are actually putting in your body?  Probably not.  Are you wasting your money?  Maybe.  Most consumers aren’t aware that the supplement industry is not regulated by the USDA or any other governmental organization.  The government does not check supplements for content, safety, or efficacy.  A study by the International Olympic Committee conducted in 2002 sh

Our bodies do not need any added sugars. In a healthy diet you’ll get all the sugar you need from vegetables, fruits and whole grains. To say sugar is unhealthy is like saying the electric chair is risky. However, like always the dose makes the poison. Free-sugars are devoid of any protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants or fiber. It either displaces other more nutritious foods in our diet or is eaten over and above what we need to sustain our weight, causing weight gain. B

Compared to meat-eaters: Vegetarians live longer Vegans tend to weight 30lbs less Vegetarians and vegans are also less insulin resistant Vegetarians have less cancer Vegetarians have less diabetes Vegetarians have smaller waist sizes Vegetarians have less heart disease Considering all these facts why aren’t we all veg heads?  I recommend you take all this information with a grain of salt.  On the whole, vegans and vegetarians workout more, smoke less, drink less, eat more v

It seems like every other week the news is telling me that I need “X” or “Y” nutrient to live a longer and healthier life.  Then 3 weeks later I read eating  “X” and “Y” nutrients will make me die a long painful death. Over the last 10 years eggs, wine, caffeine, low-fat foods, high-fat foods and more have all been considered healthy and unhealthy by our conflicting nutritional data.  The goal of nutritional research should be the search for truth using the best available met

The French have outdone themselves with the air and water diet, it’s called:  “L’Air Fooding”. Here’s what you do:  Eat nothing and drink lots of water.  On the plus side, the diet allows you to occasionally drink salt soup. The way it works, and I’m not kidding, is you pretend to eat. With a full plate of food in front of you, go through all the motions of eating but don’t actually put any food in your mouth. Look at the food, smell it, tease your stomach, then pick up a for