What’s a food additive? “Any substance used to provide a technical effect in foods,” according to the U.S. Food an Drug Administration (FDA) that regulates food additives. (1) Food additives are used in a wide variety of foods to: Preserve freshness Enhance flavor Make foods look more appealing Create more ‘convenient’ foods with a longer shelf life 7 common food additives Did you know the FDA has approved more than 10,000 food additives? (2) You’ll find food additives in just about every kind of food product that goes through some form of processing to make. Some commonly-used food additive ..read more

Ever wonder if taking a multivitamin is worth it? Before you pop a pill, take a closer look at your diet. Eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, lean meats, nuts, seeds, and legumes is the best way to get all the vitamins and nutrients your body needs for best health. But what if your diet isn’t perfect? The truth: Most people could use a little help eating healthier foods, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: (1) Fruits. Only 12.3 percent of adults eat the recommended amount of fruits per day (1.5 to 2 cups per day) Vegetables. Only 10 percent eat enough veget ..read more

Ever wonder if testosterone therapy is right for you? If you’re a man age 40 or older, here’s a simple self assessment. Do you feel tired and fatigued often? Do you feel depressed or irritable? Are you losing hair and lean muscle mass? Do you have erectile dysfunction or low sex drive? Are you overweight or obese? If you answered “Yes” to one or more of these questions, you may have low testosterone levels. Beginning around age 40, testosterone levels in men drop 1 to 2% per year, which can lead to hair loss, fatigue, changes in weight and body composition, depression, and more.(1) Experie ..read more

Take a look at smart-eating plans or diets. Leafy greens like spinach, broccoli, kale, and cabbage are usually on the list of foods you should eat. Mediterranean diet, check. Paleo diet, check. Keto diet, check. DASH diet, check. Plus, recipes for leafy-green salads, smoothies, and side dishes are everywhere. Why? Because leafy greens are good for you. They’re packed with vitamins and nutrients. They’re low in calories. They’re affordable (unlike some diets that require buying expensive products). You can add leafy greens to your diet with little to no prep time. And studies show leafy greens ..read more

Add some salad dressing to a plate of leafy greens. Pour some milk on a bowl of cereal. Drizzle syrup on pancakes. Drink a soda or glass of juice. Eat some movie-theater popcorn. Top off a burger with ketchup, mustard or barbecue sauce. Chances are pretty good you’ve done one or more of these before. Right? In moderate amounts, these foods might seem pretty ordinary. But they all contain something that could have an impact on your health: (1) Artifical food coloring. It’s everywhere. Food manufacturers use artifical food coloring to enhances the appearance of food and make it more visually a ..read more

You get home from a long day at the office. Or you work from home, and call it a day. Now what? Get dinner ready. Hustle a kid to practice. Meet up with friends. Do the laundry. Maybe even kick back and relax. You’ve got a life outside of work, right? Then your phone buzzes. It’s an email from your boss or a client. And you feel compelled to respond. So you swipe and type a quick message. Or you fire up your computer and squeeze in a few minutes of work. Sound familiar? If you’re answering work emails after hours, it could be bad for your health. In a recent study, researchers tracked the afte ..read more

Should you take an omega-3 fish oil supplement? Consider this real-life scenario… You’re sitting in a restaurant looking over the menu trying to decide what to order. Do you choose grilled salmon served with steamed broccoli and brown rice? Or do you order the T-bone steak served with mashed potatoes and gravy and a pat of butter? Before you rattle off your order to your server, consider making your decision based on which meal contains healthier fats. The fish or the steak? The leafy greens or the potatoes? If you need a little help, here’s a hint: Not all fats are bad. The salmon dish se ..read more

You’ve seen the summer sausage gift sets. They’re wrapped and packaged with holiday cheer, and don’t need to be refrigerated. Sometimes they even come with crackers, cookies, and decorative silverware. If you’re heading to the mall, grocery store, or big box warehouse during the holiday season, you might stumble upon samples of summer sausage served on a toothpick. But this year, scratch summer sausage off the gift list. Rethink your plans for sending fancy meats and cheeses to your mom. Why? Research shows that the risk for certain types of cancer increases by eating processed meats like: (1 ..read more

Wondering how to improve your wellness program to achieve better results? It’s the kind of question a sailing captain asks after looking at navigation data, reviewing the weather and competition, and assessing the crew’s list of strengths and weaknesses. Pay attention. Make adjustments. Follow the route. Keep going. It’s how Captain Jim Weyand recently sailed a 35-foot yacht 333 miles on Lake Michigan with a crew of eight to win the oldest freshwater sailing race in the world. If you want to steer your wellness program in the right direction, follow Weyand’s example. What’s working? What’s not ..read more

“Eat your broccoli.” If that’s a dinner-table mantra that still haunts you from your childhood, you’re not alone. If you have an aversion to broccoli, maybe it stems from how it was cooked when you were a kid. You know, boiled in water until it’s ultra-soft and mushy. Gross, right? Better not boil the broccoli In a recent study, researchers found that broccoli loses up to 77 percent of its nutritional value when it’s boiled for 30 minutes or longer.1 (Note: boiling Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, and green cabbage produces similar results.) And that’s a problem, because broccoli packs the most n ..read more