If we find ourselves always thinking about the next thing to eat, is there something wrong with us? It seems logical that appetite should have some kind of on/off switch. It seems like most people are not obsessing about food all the time. Let’s take a closer look, though. Given that eating is one of those primary life-support functions, it makes sense that the part of our brain that governs it is that primal zone that we share with other living, breathing, eating animals. And when we observe other animals, does it seem like they have an on/off switch for food seeki ..read more

     Have you ever really examined why it is that the best of diet commitments has a way of slipping back to status quo?  If you haven’t thought deeply about this, don’t worry, I rummage around in these sorts of mental puzzles all the time!  It’s 100% frustrating to commit to some sort of healthy shift, while at the same time half-expecting it will go nowhere and being proven right no matter how determined we feel at the start.  And I’m totally not just pointing at ‘all the other people’ that can’t seem to make diet changes stick.  This phenomenon is de ..read more

     Inflammation.  It's an underlying feature of seemingly all the chronic diseases and conditions from heart disease to cognitive decline, especially auto-immune and gut-associated conditions like IBS and IBD and resulting food intolerances.  Given its widespread contribution to disease states, it’s no surprise that inflammation is a complex process influenced by numerous intersecting biochemical pathways.  Same goes for anti-inflammatory processes.  In fact, the ways our bodies counteract inflammation are both external (substances we must put into the bod ..read more

     Younger or older, richer or poorer, at one point or another we’re all watching our weight (sometimes to prevent gains and sometimes to prevent losses).  Up until the recent past, it was taken for granted that weight-watching was a prudent and healthful approach.  It’s absolutely true that if we’re not paying any attention to weight or diet, it can get away from us in our modern food environment.  But, as with just about everything, the dose makes the poison.  Some degree of weight and diet awareness/strategy is good; there is a ..read more

     If you’re reading this blog post, you’ve likely heard of the low FODMAP diet.  As with most of the ‘diets’ I discuss, this is not a weight loss diet. It is a therapeutic one, meaning it has is implemented to comply with a certain condition or to reduce certain symptoms.  In the case of the low FODMAP diet, the intention is to moderate digestive symptoms usually associated with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), but on a deeper level, this diet also modulates the gut microbiome.  Since this dietary strategy has been vetted by good quality research, and sinc ..read more

     There are 2 good reasons to eat Here they are: #1 For fuel #2 For fun Let me explain… I spend a lot of time with clients deconstructing eating drivers. This is because eating is naturally located in a subconscious part of our being. Like breathing, eating settles into automated patterns that allow us to divert our thinking energies to other important matters. And yet, just like we have the ability to shift our awareness to each breath and change it at will, we can zoom in on our habitual eating patterns and adjust them to better meet our needs. Unlike breathing, the cues a ..read more

     Last time, I described how a careful self-assessment is one of the most overlooked tools of success when it comes to making dietary improvements, especially with weight goals in mind. We talked about how people tend to jump into a pre-designed plan without first considering what their personal dietary problem areas might be. It’s much more feasible and functional to tend to problem areas than to re-script a whole lifestyle from scratch (think renovation vs rebuilding), but as with many things, the idea of editing just feels too messy and starting from scratch appears easie ..read more

     Tell me if this sounds familiar:  For one reason or another, you become aware that it might be a good idea to lose some weight.  So...  You start a diet.  Can you spot the problem?  We haven’t even talked about what kind of diet you’ve started, and already I’m saying that there’s a problem.  I’m sure you’ve heard it said before that ‘most diets fail’, and perhaps you’ve even experienced the frustration of losing and re-gaining weight again.  But I don’t actually think that following a dietary strategy is a problem in and of it ..read more

     I always find it surprising how few tools we have in the modern medical system to accurately identify food intolerances and sensitivities.  For anyone who’s ever received an IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) diagnosis, it probably became frustratingly evident that the barrage of testing was only able to confirm that ‘there’s nothing wrong with you’, and yet you still had all the symptoms that led to the testing in the first place.  Same goes for those with chronic skin, respiratory, GI, or pain issues that do not seem to ..read more

     There’s healthy eating and then there’s diet therapy.  Both of which can mean many things.  I’ve often encountered patients and clients who are quite surprised at being diagnosed with a condition on account of the fact that they ‘eat healthy’.   But their ideas of ‘eating healthy’ could be overly subjective, OR their conditions may require strategic eating to minimize or maximize certain foods or nutrients, regardless of how ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ those foods seem.  T ..read more