NUTRITION | Starving Dietitian

Quantified Guilt

January 29, 2014 by joshua iufer

So we’ve seen a glimpse of why investing in nutrition early and often is the foundation of a healthy future. Now we’ll look at some of the tools we use to keep up the motivation. If you haven’t caught my drift by this point, you should be aware that finances and nutrition can be thought of in nearly the same way. Calories are spent pennies, pennies are “saved up” by exercise, pennies are “spent” by eating. Weight gain is debt, […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Finance, Fitbit, New Years, Quantifiedself, Weight

Hyper Tense

January 24, 2014 by joshua iufer

You miss me? I’ve certainly missed writing. But no time for catch-up. Let’s talk serious. Why care? Why care at all about nutrition, about feeding your body, or keeping fit? Apathy is cheaper, and easier, and a whole lot less challenging than eating right. The question we need to ask is… What are the consequences of not caring? With everything there’s pros and cons, even something like saving for retirement. There’s pros that follow that decision and cons. Nothing you decide […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Blood Pressure, Hypertension, Nutrition, RD, Salt

Einsteins Pudding Experiment

September 10, 2013 by joshua iufer

We all know you’re supposed to exercise and eat a balanced diet, but if you only had the willpower to do one, what would be better for your body? I friend of mine posed this question recently, and I’m not afraid to admit I didn’t really know the answer. That’s not a bad thing, actually quite the opposite. The moments you feel lost, are the moments you know you’re about to learn something. So I turned to the greatest minds […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Exercise, Food, Health, Nutrition, Wellness

Infant Microbe Management

September 4, 2013 by joshua iufer

If there’s more of them then there are of me, am I even “me“? I don’t expect it to be a phrase that’s easy to answer. I don’t even want it to come to a definitive answer. Really, I just want you to see how much we owe to our own microbiota. First, we’ll start with a little background. There’s only one place in your life that’s entirely free from bacteria. Where you’re protected, walled-off, barricaded from the harms of microorganisms. Care […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Bacteria, Breastfeeding, Flora, Gut, Infant, Milk, Nutrition

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Guts, Germs, and Genes.

August 30, 2013 by joshua iufer

I want you to pick someone out of a crowd. Don’t be shy, anyone will do. Now, I want you to take a microscope and zoom in, WAY in. Getting closer? You’re miles away. Keep zooming, down, down, until you’re at the size of single human blood cell, approximately 10,000x magnification of the normal human eye. Now multiply that magnification by two. What you see at this level seems infinitesimally small compared to the gargantuan stature of people. Yet, these […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Bacteria, Flora, genetics, Gut, Health, Probiotics, Science

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Sleep It Off

August 19, 2013 by joshua iufer

For regular readers, you may remember the set of posts about sleep. There was Counting Sleep for Sheep, a detailed look at the give and take of energy regulating hormones and there was Sleep: The American Dream, a peek at the typical havoc our diets play on circadian rhythms. The beauty of sleep is, it never fails to offer new secrets. In this case, that secret is that many of us are horribly sleep deprived. Sorry for the bad news. […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Fat, Health, Insomnia, Science, Sleep, Sleep Deprived

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BPA, King Killer?

August 15, 2013 by joshua iufer

Raise your hand if you haven’t heard someone rant about BPA. There’s probably 1-2 of you, if even. And why not? With rising rates of obesity and fertility issues in America, plastics seem to me to be one of the central focuses for consumer health groups. Words like perfluorinated compounds, xenoestrogens, and Bisphenol-A have pretty much become household names. Somehow in that tangle, BPA became the king to demonize. For those that don’t know , BPA is an estrogen-like compound […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: BPA, Endocrine Disruptor, Fertility, Health, Nutrition, Plastics

Bitter Food Blunder

August 5, 2013 by joshua iufer

It doesn’t take long to realize that humans are quite possibly the pickiest animals on the planet. We need our meats done “just so”, our vegetables a specific texture, and our fruits a precise color. At one time, this pickiness may have helped our species succeed. Overripe fruits are sweeter but more likely to harbor insects. Underripe fruits are still capable of storing more energy. And this goes for just about every situation. Too much may be bad, too little […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Bitter, Food, Food Science, Nutrition, Vegetables

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Sweet Madness

July 11, 2013 by joshua iufer

“The best way to treat obesity, is like addiction” I heard this quote for the first time years ago, from the lips of a teacher no less. At the time I thought it seemed rather bold of her. After all, should the obese really be thrown in with the likes of meth heads and junkies? I gave the thought time to stew. Every week we hear something different, “Obesity is genetic” is nudged out by headlines of “Addicted to fast […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Fast Food, Nutrition, Psychology, Sugar Addiction, Weight Loss

The Gene Prescription

June 12, 2013 by joshua iufer

What if… The two words unique to forward thinkers. Whether optimists or pessimists, the very act of asking “What if” places us in the company of the worlds most gifted minds. So let me pose this question. What if, you could be diagnosed with a simple swipe of your cheek? You’re probably thinking back to that time you got mono in high school, or step throat in college, and found out through the test of a cheek swab. But that’s […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: 23andme, epigenetics, genetics, nutrigenomics, Nutrition

Cents of Willpower

June 5, 2013 by joshua iufer

By now I hope you’re well aware that nutrition really encompasses a wide range of subjects. I’ve talked about genetics, cooking, biology, all these topics you might not originally think would apply. The one I’ve somewhat avoided, though not for any particular reason, is Psychology. It’s not for lack of want however, it’s just once you open Pandoras box, there’s no going back. I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert in psychology. It wasn’t until later in my […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Diet, Healthful, Pyschology, Self Control, Willpower

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Time vs. Tan Dilemma

May 31, 2013 by joshua iufer

At this point we’ve seen Vitamin D from the Simple and the Philosophical perspective, but I’m guessing you don’t have much take away. I think there’s more to teaching than just the facts. Information needs to be integrated not compartmentalized. Hence why I’ve taken you from the vastness of space to the atomic level of DNA. In other words, learn the process not the product. There’s just one problem. The Time vs Tan dilemma. The very thing we need to […]

Categories: NUTRITION • Tags: Health, Nutrition, Sunblock, UV Radiation, Vitamin D

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