Author: Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N., C.D.N., is an award-winning author, spokesperson, speaker, consultant, and owner of BTD Nutrition Consultants, LLC. She has been featured on TV, radio, and print, as well as in digital media, including Everyday Health, Better Homes & Gardens, Women’s Health, and U.S. News & World Report. She is a recipient of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Media Excellence Award and author of Read It Before You Eat It: Taking You From Label To Table.

You’ll Crave Eggs For Every Meal With These 8 Recipes

High in protein, healthy fats, and a slew of essential vitamins and nutrients (like vitamin D and lutein), eggs are an affordable everyday superfood. I get it, though: You can only eat them scrambled or hard-boiled so many times before boredom sets in. That’s why I reached out to my nutrition pro pals for their favorite ways to enjoy eggs at every meal of the day. Check out their go-to recipes, as well as one of my family’s favorites.

1. Eggs-traordinary California Avocado Muffins

Actual muffins and pastries aside, muffin tins also make perfect homes for egg dishes.

I love whipping up batches of egg muffins for quick, pre-portioned meals on-the-go. They’re also a big hit with the kiddos—and freeze well, too!

Have a bunch of random vegetables in the fridge that you’re not sure what to do with? Throw in whatever veggies you have (everything from tomatoes to spinach to zucchini works), add cheese and avocado, and bake!

In just 20 minutes, you’ll have days-worth of healthy, portable meals.

2. Shakshuka

Now an Instagram sensation, colorful shakshuka was a childhood staple for dietitian Toby Amidor, R.D.N.

The dish is simple: sautéed onions, peppers, and crushed tomatoes come together to form a sweet, flavorful base for eggs you cook right in the sauce.

It’s a delicious breakfast, lunch, or light dinner, and can be eaten straight from the pan. Feel free to dunk whole-wheat pita or crusty whole-grain bread in the heavenly mixture.

3. Eggs Benedict with Lighter Hollandaise

With a few simple tweaks, you can treat yourself to Eggs Benedict without spending the rest of the day in a food coma.

Amidor lightens up this recipe in a few ways. First, she cuts down on the butter. Then, she swaps heavy cream for Greek yogurt. You’ll still enjoy that rich, creamy Hollandaise flavor—just without going overboard on fat and calories.

It’s the perfect meal when you have a little extra time and are feeling fancy.

4. Egg Waffles

Like egg muffins, “egg waffles are quick, portable, and easy to customize,” says dietitian and mom of three, Lindsay Livingston, R.D.

To make egg waffles, chop peppers, onions and any other veggies you like, add them to whisked eggs, and pour into a hot waffle iron to cook! (Leftovers store well in the fridge for later.)

If you’re searching for a way to squeeze more vegetables into the day, these have you covered.

Top your waffle off with potatoes, shredded chicken, veggies, and hot sauce to make it a heftier meal.

5. Savory Oatmeal Bowl

A berry- and nut butter-topped oatmeal bowl pretty much screams breakfast. However, with a few flavor tweaks, oats can transform into pretty much any meal—and even become the perfect vessel for eggs!

For this savory bowl meal, start by adding sautéed mushrooms and Parmesan cheese to cooked oats for plenty of umami and texture. Then, stir in some sautéed spinach for a dose of greens and top with a fried egg.

The meal provides a perfect balance of protein, fiber, and vitamins and minerals, says dietitian Jessica Levinson, R.D.N.

6. Mexican Quiche

Quiches are an easy way to elevate eggs—and this Cinco De Mayo-worthy recipe by Tracee Yablon Brenner, R.D.N., C.H.H.C., culinary director at nutrition consulting group Triad to Wellness is no exception.

Made with refried beans, baby spinach, roasted red peppers, salsa, cilantro, and your cheeses of choice, it’s packed with unique flavor and easy to prep and store for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners down the line.

The refried beans not only add a lot of the flavor, but also provide plant protein and fiber for a meal that’s as satiating as it is delicious.

7. Egg Avocado Salad

Another of Yablon Brenner’s favorite ways to eat eggs: this upgraded egg salad.

Instead of mayo, this recipe gets its creaminess from a blend of avocado and skyr, an Icelandic yogurt similar to Greek yogurt. This combo seriously transforms the meal, bumping up the protein, healthy fats, and calcium.

Serve the salad over a bed of greens, between two slices of whole-grain bread, or alongside veggies.

8. Eggs In The Hole

If you grew up eating hole-y toast with an egg fried into it, you’ll love this more refined recipe by dietitian Ashley Koff, R.D.N.

After sautéing thickly-sliced rings of red onion in rosemary and olive oil until browned, pop out the middle few rings, crack eggs into the middles, and cook.

The result: a colorfully-contained, flavorful fried egg that looks lovely atop a bed of greens (or breakfast potatoes).

The recipe also works well with rings of bell peppers!

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April 24, 2019April 26, 2019

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

How To Turn Your Holiday Leftovers Into Healthier Meals And Snacks

When the holidays—rife with office potlucks and family feasts—have come and gone, most of us are feeling overstuffed and ready to get back on the healthy eating bandwagon. But with fridges chock-full of holiday leftovers, that can seem like an impossible task. Luckily, with a little creativity, you can turn those leftover holiday foods into more nutritious eats. Here’s how to completely transform your cranberry sauce, turkey, and more.

Leftover Cranberry Sauce

We all love the sweet, tangy flavor of cranberry sauce, and it’s an easy ingredient to reinvent after the holidays are over.

Cranberry Vinaigrette

Not only is this dressing, created by plant-based chef and culinary nutritionist Catherine Brown, delightful on salad, but it’s also great on leftover roasted veggies.

Whisk together the following ingredients:

2 Tbsp red wine or apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp cranberry sauce
1 Tbsp minced shallot or red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp Dijon mustard

As you whisk, slowly drizzle in 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in until fully incorporated. Thin with orange juice, water or more vinegar, if needed.

Cranberry Parfait

Another quick tip: Stir a little cranberry sauce into plain Greek yogurt or cottage cheese for a tasty, high-protein breakfast or snack.

Leftover Turkey

Besides being tasty, turkey is rich in nutrients like vitamin B6, vitamin B12, niacin, choline, selenium, and zinc. Plus, just three ounces supplies a whopping 26 grams of protein. But there are only so many turkey sandwiches one can make before their taste buds go dry….

Turmeric Turkey Pot Pie

Whether I’ve got leftover white meat, dark meat, or a combo of both, I love to use it in this updated turkey pot pie recipe:.

Add the following to a big bowl:

3 cups chopped cooked or frozen veggies
2 cups chopped turkey
2 cans of low-sodium cream of mushroom soup
turmeric powder to taste (you can also use curry or smoked paprika)

Add your mixture to a sprayed casserole dish, top with crisscrossed strips of whole-wheat pastry dough, and bake at 375 degrees until pastry is golden brown. (About 45 minutes.)

To make this dish ‘cleaner,’ make your own cream of mushroom soup or skip the pastry dough on top. The baked casserole is delicious over cauliflower mash or a whole grain. My kids request this one every year!

Leftover Soups And Sauces

Somehow, we all seem to end up with a fridge full of soup and sauce containers post-holidays—even long after the rest of our leftovers have been cleared.

Split Pea Butternut Squash Soup

Soup is always a warm, welcoming first course at a holiday meal, and I purposely make enough to have leftovers. Once the holidays have come and gone, I like to re-purpose my Vegan Split Pea Butternut Squash Soup, which is rich in fiber and protein. While the soup makes for a healthy snack on its own, it also works well as a thick sauce over pasta, wild rice, or quinoa for a satisfying lunch or dinner.

Pasta Sauce, Reimagined

If you celebrate any holidays Italian-style, chances are you’ve got plenty of extra pasta sauce (or ‘gravy,’ if that’s how you roll) hanging around afterwards. Luckily, it’s easy to re-purpose pasta sauces—especially my go-to meaty Bolognese. One night, I might serve it atop chickpea pasta with roasted veggies. The next, I’ll stuff it into colorful bell peppers to roast and serve with a side salad. And if there’s any left for a third night, I might combine it with some chopped veggies in a casserole dish and top it with mashed potatoes to make a mock moussaka!

Leftover Veggies

Okay, the leftover veggies in your fridge probably don’t need much of a healthy makeover; they’re nutritious just as they are! However, if you want to give them some new life, you certainly can.

‘Vintage’ Hummus

Calling all hummus fans: Those leftover veggies are actually a great way to give your favorite dip an extra punch of nutrition.

In fact, culinary nutritionist and author of The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook, Jackie Newgent, R.D.N., loves using a variety of veggies to spice up plain ol’ hummus. Simply blend half a cup of chilled leftover vegetables with a cup of hummus and a squirt of lemon juice, and voila, you’ve got an extra colorful, flavorful hummus. Mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, and roasted beets all work well.

Whether you use this leveled-up hummus as a dip at snack time or a spread on sandwiches or wraps, it’s a delightful way to punch up the plant-based goodness of meals while getting protein and fiber.

Leftover Pumpkin

If your pie shell runneth over and you’re stuck with lots of leftover canned pumpkin, fear not: Pumpkin is a rich source of vitamin A and fiber—and so easy to incorporate into other meals.

Pumpkin Chilis And Stews

Pumpkin is a perfect addition to any cozy winter meal. If you’re whipping up a batch of chili or stew (any kind will do), simply stir some canned pumpkin into the mix for extra nutrition, flavor, and color.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Dietitian Summer Yule, M.S., R.D.N., loves using canned pumpkin to boost her morning bowl of oatmeal.

To make her favorite Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, you’ll need:

1 packet plain instant oatmeal, prepared with water
¼ cup unsweetened canned pumpkin
¼-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1-2 Tbsp milk, as needed to thin the oatmeal
stevia, to taste

Simply stir all of the ingredients together and voila, you’ve got the ultimate holiday-flavored breakfast. (If you’re feeling a little more indulgent and want to mix a few spoonfuls of actual pumpkin pie filling into your oatmeal, I won’t tell!)

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December 26, 2018December 27, 2018

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

9 High-Protein Breakfasts That Aren’t Eggs

If you want to feel satiated and energized all day long, fuel your workouts, and build muscle, you need a morning meal that packs some protein. In fact, I recommend your breakfast provides at least 10 to 12 grams of the crucial macronutrient.

Often, hard-boiled eggs, an omelet, or a sunny side-up egg come to mind, and there’s no denying that ever-popular egg breakfasts are a quality choice. After all, a single egg contains six grams of protein. However, they’re not your only option!

Here are nine egg-free breakfast recipes that still pack plenty of protein, straight from registered dietitians.

1. Very Berry Smoothie

Protein: 22 grams

This blend is an A.M. go-to for Jill Weisenberger R.D., author of Prediabetes: A Complete Guide. The simple recipe combines Greek yogurt, berries, a little milk or juice, and sweetener, if needed.

“Berries are packed with phytonutrients, and research has associated eating one serving of yogurt a day with an 18 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” she says.

To add some extra protein, top with whatever seeds or nuts your heart desires.

2. Vegan Tofu Scramble With Potatoes

Protein: 20 grams

This scramble by Chef Catherine Brown C.D.M., C.F.P.P., may look like scrambled eggs, but it’s completely vegan. Those ‘eggs’ are actually tofu, nutritional yeast, turmeric, and black salt. Kale, onions, bell peppers, and avocado add a variety of micronutrients, along with healthy fats and fiber to fill you up.

Since this recipe takes a little longer to make, it’s a great weekend brunch option, says Brown.

3. Berry Breakfast Quinoa

Protein: 12 grams

When your soul is craving something warm in the winter, this quinoa breakfast bowl from The Tolerant Tummy will do the trick.

“Quinoa is higher in protein than plain ol’ oatmeal, and cooks up just as creamy and cozy!” says dietitian Sarah Thornton, M.P.H., R.D.N., L.D.N., who created the recipe. And, bonus: Not only is it egg-free, but it’s dairy-, gluten-, and soy-free as well.

To make this meal as smooth as oatmeal, you’ll use a one-to-three ratio of quinoa-to-liquid. Once cooked, the bowl is your canvas! You can amp up the protein further by adding nut butter, or chopped nuts and seeds. For more flavor, add some cinnamon or honey, or even crunchy coconut flakes.

4. Savory Steel-Cut Oats With Spinach, Mushrooms, & Tofu

Protein: 26 grams

This dish from The Plant Powered Dietitian packs all the delicious add-ins of an omelet—without the eggs! Instead, it layers heart-healthy steel-cut oats, protein-packed tofu, and fiber-filled veggies for a seriously satisfying meal. With 26 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber per serving, it’s perfect for weekend brunch or even breakfast for dinner.

5. Pear & Cinnamon Overnight Oats

Protein: 15 grams

If you don’t have time to cook breakfast in the morning, this overnight oatmeal recipe by Triad To Wellness makes for a quick, nutritious meal. Blended with hearty whole-grain oats, protein-packed Greek yogurt, flavorful pears, vanilla almond milk, and vanilla extract, it offers all the sweetness of store-bought oatmeal without the processed ingredients and added sugar. Not to mention, pears are a good source of vitamin C and fiber.

6. Cottage Cheese Power Breakfast Parfait

Protein: 12 grams

Made with cottage cheese instead of yogurt, this recipe from Liz’s Healthy Table will change everything you thought you knew about parfaits. It’s creamy and sweet, but not too sweet—and packs 10 grams of fiber in addition to its 12 grams of protein. “Place a quarter cup of cottage cheese at the bottom of a pretty glass,” says recipe creator Liz Weiss, R.D.N. “Then, top with cereal or nuts and repeat the layers with whatever fruit, cereal, or nuts that make your taste buds happy.” You’ll be done and ready to eat in just five minutes.

7. Berry Breakfast Crumble

Protein: 12 grams

“It’s time we let go of the notion that fruit crumbles have to be eaten with ice cream for dessert,” says Judith Scharman Draughon, M.S., R.D.N., L.D. With a few healthy tweaks, they’re perfectly suitable for breakfast.

Made with berries, rolled oats, Greek yogurt, raw honey, coconut oil, and nuts, this sweet breakfast dish takes about 30 minutes to bake in the oven. It’s as gooey and flavorful as dessert, but packs less sugar and more protein per serving.

8. No-Bake Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

Protein: 10 to 20 grams

Calling all PB-lovers! These no-bake bars, courtesy of Elizabeth Ward, M.S., R.D., pack all the delicious nutty flavors of a bakery breakfast bar, minus the not-so-healthy ingredients.

The recipe combines crunchy nut butter, raisins, maple syrup, quick oats, and cherries, and yields 12 bars that are easy for grab-and-go mornings. All you have to do is mix the ingredients and pop them in the fridge for two hours to set.

When they’re ready, Ward suggests topping them with banana and Greek yogurt.

9. Apple Pie Overnight Oats

Protein: 12 to 15 grams

Notice the oats trend here? This overnight oat variation from Sarah Gold Anzlovar, M.S., R.D.N., L.D.N., is another easy, tasty make-ahead breakfast. Made with rolled oats, chia seeds, yogurt, apples, and your choice of milk, it offers plenty of protein and fiber. “One serving provides 12 to 15 grams of protein, depending on the type of milk you use, along with a good dose of omega-3s from the chia seeds,” says Gold Anzlovar.

Diggin’ What’s Good? For more essential health facts, tips, and inspiration, join our Facebook communities, Eating Healthy and Staying Fit, today!

December 19, 2018January 17, 2019

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

What’s The Real Deal With GMOs?

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are complicated and controversial. With bounds of conflicting research, unclear industry lingo, and mixed marketing messages out there, it’s hard enough for most of us to understand what GMOs truly are—let alone whether they’re ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for us.

The GMO debate won’t be put to rest anytime soon. But in the meantime, you can certainly decide whether or not you want to eat them. Here’s the lowdown on what GMOs actually are, along with the arguments on both sides of the battle.

What Are Genetically Modified Foods?

Though genetically modified foods as we know them today are a recent innovation, the concept isn’t. “Crossbreeding has been used for centuries to make crops stronger,” explains dietitian Wesley Delbridge, R.D., a spokesman for the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics. Farmers have long cross-pollinated plants or purposely planted two crops close together to modify species over time.

In recent decades, though, scientists have learned how to hijack the process and alter plants’ and animals’ DNA in a lab, explains dietitian Keri Gans, M.S., R.D.N., owner of Keri Gans Nutrition. These modern, somewhat sci-fi-esque GMOs were first approved for commercial use and planted into U.S. soil in 1996.

Whether cross-bred the old-school way or modified in a lab, GMOs aim “to benefit the consumer in some way,” says Delbridge. Scientists use genetic material from other species to make crops more nutrition-packed, pesticide resistant, or less vulnerable to weather. Think apples with an anti-browning gene or potatoes with an anti-bruising gene.

The GMOs In Your Grocery Store

“Currently, 10 genetically modified crops are available commercially: alfalfa, apples, canola, corn, cotton, papaya, potatoes, soybeans, squash, and sugar beets,” says dietitian Jonathan Valdez, R.D.N., owner of Genki Nutrition and spokesperson for the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Many of these crops (most notably corn, soybeans, and sugar beets) are then used to make processed foods like cereal, chips, soda, salad dressing, and soups. And since these processed foods are everywhere, that means GMOs are, too. In fact, between 70 to 75 percent supermarkets carry GMO foods. “There are many more GMO foods on the market than people may realize,” says Delbridge.

GMO Rules And Regulations

Before they can hit shelves, GMO foods pass through a number of safety checks administered by the USDA, EPA, and FDA. First, the USDA reviews and confirms that a particular GMO is safe to grow. Next, the EPA reviews its potential environmental impact. From there, the FDA can review the GMO and declare it safe to eat. However, since the FDA considers most GMO foods to be ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GMO counterparts (per a 1992 policy), it approves most without review.

Many experts question whether the U.S. government adequately evaluates GMOs, and regulations across the globe vary. (The European Union, for example, has a much stricter evaluation process.) People in other parts of the world are so skeptical about GMOs that just five countries produce the vast majority of the GM crops out there: the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and India.

What’s Next In GMO?

Though most won’t be on grocery store shelves anytime soon, hundreds of hard-to-believe GMO foods are currently in testing. A few out-there examples: pigs that don’t smell, wine grapes that resist fungus, bird flu-resistant chickens, and hornless dairy cows.

The Big Question: Are GMOs Safe?

With so many questions about GMO foods buzzing around, many of us wonder whether they’re really okay to eat. In fact, according to a new International Food Information Council Foundation survey, 47 percent of Americans at least somewhat avoid GMO foods.

The Anti-GMO Argument

“Critics say GMOs negatively impact the environment, promote herbicide use, and are less nutritious,” explains Valdez. Some even suggest they can mutate and have unexpected, harmful consequences.

A major part of the GMO conversation is how they impact farmers’ use of herbicides. Opponents argue that when foods are engineered to withstand herbicides and repellents, farmers then use more of these toxic substances. Issue is, this then increases the amount of chemical residue on our food—and the amount of the chemicals we ultimately consume. One particular herbicide of concern is glyphosate, which is widely used on GMO crops (about 80 percent of GMOs are engineered to tolerate it). In 2015, the World Health Organization classified the chemical as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

Another concern relates to GMOs’ potential impact on the environment around them. For example, research in the early 2000s suggested the pollen from a type of GMO corn harmed the local monarch butterfly population. (It’s now known as the Bt Corn Controversey.)

Beyond that, one of the biggest fears about GMOs is simply the element of the unknown. Some experts argue that GMOs haven’t been around long enough for us to understand their negative side effects. Therefore, they say, we can’t claim them to be safe. “It can take decades for the cumulative effects of something to be revealed,” explains Valdez. “Assessing the long-term effects of GMOs in the human body would take extensive research.” Studies would have to compare thousands of people who do and don’t eat GMOs over the course of decades. They’d also have to account for variables like exercise, sleep, and other health issues.

Meanwhile, On The Pro-GMO Side…

“Supporters of GMOs say the risks are non-existent,” says Valdez. They also argue that GMOs are more nutritious, have longer shelf lives, and can help reduce world hunger. Furthermore, they suggest GMOs are actually good for the environment and reduce waste.

Right now, scarce evidence scientifically proves GMOs are harmful—a fact major scientific organizations like the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Medical Association, and the World Health Organization acknowledge.

What’s more, a recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine analysis purports that GMOs are safe to eat, do no harm to the environment, and even benefit farmers. According to Delbridge, farming GMO crops has been shown to increase yield, which means less land needs to be cleared and farmed to produce the same amount of crop, which theoretically lowers a farming operation’s carbon footprint.

Plus, contrary to the pesticide woes of GMO opposers, one meta-analysis published in the journal Plos ONE found that GMOs actually reduce pesticide use by 37 percent.

More Confusion: GMO Labeling

Scientific and theoretical arguments on each side of the GMO debate not confusing enough? Recent laws and regulations about the labeling of GMO foods have made the topic even more menacing.

In 2014, Vermont became the first state to pass legislation requiring that GMO-containing food products identify such on their labels. Then, in 2016, President Obama signed a bill requiring all GMO-containing food products say so on the label by 2020.

“Laws surrounding GMOs and their labeling imply a greater danger,” says Valdez. “Seeing ‘genetically modified’ on a label makes people envision scary scientists, robots, and Frankenfoods—things that scare them,” adds Gans.

Since then, the USDA has proposed new guidelines for the labeling of GMO foods so that they can bear less-familiar terms, like ‘bioengineered’ or ‘BE,’ which don’t incite the fear that the term ‘GMO’ now does.

Meanwhile, many companies have started labeling their foods as ‘non-GMO’ in an effort to proclaim their safety.

The Bottom Line

For now, most scientific organizations consider GMOs to be safe, and many of the common criticisms lack solid scientific support.

While we wait for more long-term research on GMOs, whether or not you choose to eat them is a purely personal decision. If their short history makes you uneasy, look for products that sport that ‘non-GMO’ label. Surely, we’ll continue to learn and debate as the years go on.

Diggin’ What’s Good? For more essential health facts, tips, and inspiration, join our Facebook communities, Eating Healthy and Staying Fit, today!

October 31, 2018November 13, 2018

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

How Much Do The Dates On Food Packages Really Matter?

If you stand in the middle of the grocery store confused about the difference between the expiration, ‘use by’, and ‘best by’ dates on foods, you’re not alone! Clients ask me all the time what the dates printed on foods really mean—and how much they really matter.

Before we get into it, you may be surprised to know that those confusing dates aren’t actually required to be there in the first place. While the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulates the safety of packaged foods and drugs and the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) regulates fresh produce and meats, the states decide whether or not food items must be dated somehow—and just more than half of them require it. In fact, in many parts of the U.S., the food supply isn’t dated at all. (The one exception to this: baby formula, which must display a use-by or expiration date to ensure each nutrient listed is at peak value when it’s sold.)

If there are dates on the packaged foods you pick up at the grocery store, though, here’s what they actually mean.

‘Sell By’ Dates

You typically find ‘sell by’ or ‘pull by’ dates printed on dairy and meat products. These indicate the last date a food should be sold, and help you understand how fresh it is. If stored properly, these foods should still be safe to consume a few days beyond their ‘sell by’ dates date, but they should not be on store shelves past it. If you see a product on-shelf with a ‘sell by’ or ‘pull by’ date that’s come and gone, don’t buy it!

Egg cartons may also display ‘sell by’ dates, but eggs can stay fresh for up to three to five weeks after purchase if you store them in the coldest part of your fridge.

‘Best If Used By’ Dates

‘Best if used by’ or ‘best if used before’ highlight when a food is at its highest quality. Though still safe to eat after this date, the food may lose some of its freshness, flavor, and nutritional value.

Cans often display ‘best if used by’ dates. You’ll notice that high-acid foods—like canned tomatoes, grapefruit, and pineapple—are best used within 12 to 18 months, while more stable, lower-acid foods—like canned meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables—can last for up to two to five years if stored in a cool, dry place.

Pack Dates

Used for foods that have a longer shelf life—like anything canned or frozen—a pack date is the date a food was manufactured, processed, and packaged. It’s either written as ‘packed on,’ followed by the date in ‘month/day/year’ form or as a three-digit number (with ‘001’ being January 1 and ‘365’ being December 31).

If a food doesn’t have a ‘best by’ date, the pack date can help you figure out when it’s at its best. Most unopened canned goods can last a year from this date before starting to lose flavor and nutrient quality, while frozen foods lose some flavor and nutrition after a few months.

Another place you may find ‘pack’ dates: eggs.

Expiration Dates

An expiration or ‘use by’ date indicates the last date a food should be eaten, according to its manufacturer.

Unless you freeze meat, poultry, or fish upon purchase, abide by their expiration dates. Properly refrigerated milk can keep for a few days beyond this date, but carefully observe and smell it before pouring a glass. Meanwhile, unopened yogurt can last a few weeks past its expiration date, but should be used within a few days once opened.

Closed Dates

Closed or ‘coded’ dates are used by the manufacturer to identify and locate their products. You’ll see these as a series of letters and numbers somewhere (often on the bottom) on shelf-stable cans and boxes. The jumble refers to when and where the food was manufactured. It often starts with three numbers to indicate the day packaged, followed by another number to indicate the year.

These coded dates are more for the food manufacturers than for consumers—unless, of course, in the event of a recall. When manufacturers need to recall certain foods, they often release these coded dates so consumers can identify whether their particular product may be tainted.

The Bottom Line

“For the vast majority of products out there, shelf life is based purely on quality—not safety,” says Scott Hood, director of Global Food Safety at General Mills. “If you’re Spring cleaning, it is highly likely that the dry and canned products in your pantry are safe beyond whatever date is printed on them.” Same goes for the foods in your freezer (though temperature fluctuations can negatively impact quality).

While you do need to be more careful with the foods in your fridge, your gut instinct usually means more than whatever dates are printed on them. If stored properly, a product should last beyond whatever date is listed; just pay attention to how the food looks, smells, and tastes. My mantra is “when in doubt, throw it out.” If it looks, smells, or tastes funky, ditch it.

If you have any other questions about food storage and safety, check out foodsafety.gov, a resource created by the USDA, FDA, and CDC. And know this: Changes to food packaging are coming! Recently-proposed legislation aims to clear up the confusion about the dates printed on foods and standardize the wording used.

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August 8, 2018August 21, 2018

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

Vitamin D Is Hard To Find In Foods—Here Are 6 Solid Options

You’ve probably heard vitamin D affectionately called the “sunshine vitamin,” and that’s because our bodies produce the nutrient—which is crucial for bone and hair health, immune function, and insulin function, and may boost your athletic performance, mood, ability to lose weight, and more—when our skin is exposed to the sun’s UVB rays.

But while there’s plenty of sunshine to go around in the summer, relying on the sun as your primary source of vitamin D isn’t realistic all year round. UVB rays aren’t strong enough to trigger vitamin D production in the winter, plus sunscreen interferes with vitamin D production (SPF 15 blocks up to 93 percent of UVB rays), our ability to convert sunlight into vitamin D decreases with age, and most of us spend our days indoors.

The result: Research suggests about 40 percent of the U.S. population is deficient in the nutrient, and deficiency can increase your likelihood of developing osteoporosis, contribute to hair loss, affect sleep quality, and increase feelings of sadness and depression.

While the government recommends adults get 600 IUs of D per day, other organizations and experts (myself included) recommend aiming higher—anywhere from 800 to 5,000 IUs a day, depending on who you ask.

Adding vitamin D to your diet takes some extra effort because it’s not found in too many foods. You do have a few options, though. Here are the D-licious foods I recommend eating more of.

1. Fatty Fish

Fatty fish, like tuna, salmon, swordfish and trout, is the best food source of vitamin D out there. Three ounces of salmon packs 447 IUs, while three ounces of swordfish packs 566 and the same amount of tuna offers 154. (FYI: Studies suggest that wild salmon contains even more vitamin D than farm-raised fish.) In addition to vitamin D, fatty fish also provides a dose of omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for your brain and heart health.

In the summer, grill up some fish on the BBQ for a light, tasty, D-packed meal. (My tangy grilled salmon is a guaranteed crowd pleaser, or try my baked Mediterranean salmon over a bed of roasted veggies.)

2. Sardines

Not only are these salty fish kind on your wallet, but they can help you boost your vitamin D intake. Just two sardines contain about 40 IUs! They’re also an excellent source of selenium, vitamin B12, calcium, and omega-3s. And since canned sardines have a long shelf life, they are easy to stock up on, so you can pack in more vitamin D in a pinch.

Chop some up with onions, fresh herbs, and a squeeze of horseradish sauce, and spread it atop toast or over a fresh salad to make for an easy lunch or light dinner.

3. Eggs

Eggs play a starring role in the Paleo, Whole30, and ketogenic diets—and for good reason! Not only do they provide vitamin A (which is good for your immune system), choline (which supports brain health), carotenoids (which support eye health), omega-3s, and protein, but they also contain about 41 IUs of vitamin D a pop. That’s a lot of nutrition for about 70 calories!

Whipped up as deviled eggs, folded into an omelet, or baked as a frittata, eggs are a versatile and valuable staple in any diet. Just make sure you eat the yolk—that’s where all of the vitamin D is.

4. Mushrooms

Like our skin, mushrooms can use sunlight to produce vitamin D, making them the only source of the nutrient you’ll find in the produce aisle. Recently, many mushroom growers have begun to treat their ‘shrooms with ultraviolet light to boost their vitamin D content. While three and a half ounces of fresh shiitake mushrooms provides about 100 IUs, the same amount of sun-dried shiitake mushrooms provides a whopping 1,600 IUs.

In addition to their meaty flavor and impressive vitamin D content, mushrooms are also good source of fiber and nutrients that support the immune system, like copper, potassium, magnesium, zinc, and B vitamins (including folate). Plus, they pack about 2.2 grams of protein per cup.

I like tossing mushrooms into salads, adding them to omelets, putting them on burgers, or sautéing them up with balsamic vinegar.

5. Beef Or Calf Liver

Whether you love them or feel squeamish just thinking about them, there’s no denying that organ meats are nutrient powerhouses. Liver, in particular, is packed with protein, iron, vitamin B12, vitamin A, and riboflavin—and offers 42 IUs of vitamin D in every three-ounce serving.

If smearing chopped liver on celery or crackers doesn’t appeal to you, try sautéing it and serving it with caramelized onions.

6. Fortified Foods

To help us meet our vitamin D needs, many foods and drinks—such as milks (both dairy and non-dairy), orange juices, cereals, and breads—are fortified with the vitamin. One cup of fortified milk, for example, offers about 400 IUs of vitamin D. Meanwhile, many almond milks, breakfast cereals, and orange juices pack somewhere around 150 IUs. Although these fortified foods shouldn’t replace natural sources of vitamin D, they can significantly boost your intake.

When Supplements Can Help

According to the National Institutes of Health, older adults, people who spend little time outside or live far from the equator, people with darker skin, and people with digestive issues are at the greatest risk for vitamin D insufficiency. Luckily, finding out whether you’re low in D is as simple your doctor doing bloodwork.

From there, your doctor can recommend a supplement (typically vitamin D3) at a dose based on your needs.

Save this infographic to make sure you load up on vitamin D foods next time you’re at the grocery store:

Diggin’ What’s Good? For more essential health facts, tips, and inspiration, join our Facebook communities, Eating Healthy and Staying Fit, today!

June 20, 2018June 21, 2018

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

Almost No One Gets Enough Potassium—And That’s A Big Problem

A banana a day keeps the doctor away. Okay, that may not be the exact saying—but perhaps it should be.

We spend a lot of time worrying about whether we’re getting enough of nutrients like vitamin D, calcium, and even vitamin C, while potassium, which bananas are chock-full of, is often overlooked. That really shouldn’t be the case, considering less than two percent of Americans get the recommended 4,700 milligrams of potassium per day! This is such a problem that the 2015 USDA Dietary Guidelines called out potassium as a ‘nutrient of public health concern’ and food companies will soon have to include it on food labels.

Here’s everything you need to know about why you need potassium in the first place, where to get it, and what to do if you’re falling short.

Why Potassium Matters

Potassium is an essential mineral and electrolyte that helps regulate fluid levels in your body, communication between your nerves and muscles, and your blood vessel function. The mineral supports healthy blood pressure by easing tension in your blood vessel walls, and The American Heart Association credits it with helping to offset sodium’s harmful effects on blood pressure, because the more potassium you eat, the more sodium you excrete. One study published in The New England Journal of Medicine shows potassium to be especially important for controlling blood pressure when sodium intake is high (which it is for most Americans, who consume about 1,000 milligrams of excess sodium per day).

Plus, potassium interacts with hormones released during physical activity that keep the heart’s electrical impulses stable, so it’s essential for cardiovascular performance during exercise.

What Happens When You Don’t Get Enough

If you’re falling short on potassium—a state called ‘hypokalemia’—you may or may not notice symptoms, which typically include constipation, muscle weakness or spasms, fatigue, tingling or numbness, slightly elevated blood pressure, or feelings of skipped heart beats or abnormal heart rhythms. Though not common, a large enough drop in potassium levels can slow your heart rate enough to make you feel like you’re going to faint.

Low potassium level can also impact your exercise regime in several ways. First, thrown off fluid balance can leave you feeling fatigued and unable to work out as hard as you may like. Second, since potassium plays a role in muscle contractions, you may be plagued by aches, spasms, and cramps.

Long-term, insufficient dietary potassium has been shown to increase the risk of a number of illnesses and chronic diseases, such as strokes and osteoporosis. Furthermore, early animal research found that mice with low levels of the mineral had higher chances of developing heart disease. (Though it’s uncertain whether these animal findings apply to humans as well, the researchers suggest potassium may be a viable strategy for controlling vascular disease.)

How To Tell If You’re Low

A survey published by The Archives of Internal Medicine found the average dietary potassium intake in the U.S. to be about 2,300 milligrams per day for adult women and 3,100 milligrams per day for adult men—both of which are much lower than the recommended 4,700 milligrams a day.

To evaluate your potassium intake and levels, start by scheduling some one-on-one time with a dietitian to assess your specific food intake and how much potassium it provides, and consider having your doctor test your blood levels. (According to The National Institutes of Health, the normal range is 3.7 to 5.2 mmol/L.)

How To Pack In More Potassium

While bananas are a great source of potassium, with 422 milligrams in one medium fruit, there are plenty of other foods that provide hefty amounts of the mineral. For example, a medium baked potato actually blows bananas out of the water, providing 926 milligrams. Other potassium-rich foods include apricots, avocados, cantaloupes, dark leafy greens, oranges, tomatoes, seaweed, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, and prunes. With almost 600 milligrams in a cup, even yogurt packs potassium.

Try to incorporate potassium into each meal—it’s easier than you think! Start by adding a serving of dried fruit to your morning cereal or a mix of cottage cheese and yogurt. Then, be sure to build your lunchtime salad on a solid foundation of greens, and include other potassium-containing foods like citrus, tomatoes, and beets. For an afternoon snack, consider a smoothie made with Greek yogurt, banana, nut butter, and some greens. And for dinner, enjoy some baked potato along with salmon or a bean salad.

By eating a healthy, balanced diet packed with nutrient-foods, not only will you up your potassium intake, but you’ll bring in higher amounts of a whole slew of other vital nutrients, too—and that truly does a body good.

Diggin’ What’s Good? For more essential health facts, tips, and inspiration, join our Facebook communities, Eating Healthy and Staying Fit, today!

May 31, 2018June 8, 2018

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

Food Labels Are About To Change—Here’s What To Look For

Fifty years ago, you were pretty much on your own when it came to knowing nutrition facts, such as sugar and sodium content, about your packaged foods. The food labels we know and love/hate today didn’t even exist until 1974, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) started a voluntary food labeling.

In 1990, Congress passed the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), which required packaged foods include information about their nutrient levels—particularly fat, cholesterol, sodium, and sugar—and thus, the official Nutrition Facts label was born.

The Nutrition Facts label was created to protect consumers from misleading products, and guide us through what’s in a food, much like the table of contents of a book—but still, almost half of Americans don’t even look at these labels, let alone understand them. (As a dietitian, this struggle is near and dear to my heart; I even wrote a book about it.)

If you’re one of those people, it’s time to perk up: A new Nutrition Facts label is coming! In response to consumers’ demands for more transparency from food companies and recent research that’s identified a need to change our approach to certain nutrients, like sugars and fats, the FDA announced related label changes in 2016. And finally, after a number of delays, you’ll see these new-and-improved food labels everywhere in January 2020 (though some proactive companies have already made the switch).

Here are six important updates to look out for:

1. Calories

Calories are already the most talked about part of the Nutrition Facts label, and they’re about to become even harder to ignore. A food’s calories will now appear in bold (a neon sign around them wouldn’t fit!) to emphasize how many calories a serving contains. Plus, if a food package is a size someone could reasonably down in one sitting (even if it’s more than one serving), the label will list the number of calories in the package.

2. Calories from Fat

As we slowly but surely put our fat phobia to rest, the new Nutrition Facts label will no longer include ‘Calories from Fat.’ For decades, seeing a higher number of calories from fat in a food turned us off to a food, even if those fats came from healthy sources like avocado, olive oil, or nuts.

‘Total fat,’ ‘saturated fat,’ and ‘trans fat’ will all still be required on food labels, so you can identify where a food’s fat is coming from. This way, you’re less likely to shun a healthy higher-fat food, but still able to weed out those that contain more questionable fats.

3. Serving Size

The number of calories listed on a food doesn’t mean much if we don’t know what the proper serving size is—and many of us end up underestimating our calorie consumption because we end up eating more than one serving but don’t double or triple the calories accordingly.

To address this, labels will list servings that are more realistic to how much of the package people actually eat. For example, a large cookie will list the nutritional information for the entire cookie, instead of half the cookie. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should finish the whole thing in one swoop, but it does provide you with a clearer picture of your potential calorie intake.

4. Sugar

Food products on store shelves contain one (or both) of two kinds of sugar: natural sugar and added sugar. While the natural sugars found in foods like milk and fruit fit into a healthy diet, sugars added to foods like breads, yogurts, and dressings by the manufacturers can be a problem in excess. Americans take in more than 77 pounds of added sugar each year, and diets high in sugar have been linked to conditions like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and more.

Our current food labels don’t differentiate between the natural and added sugars in foods, so you have to comb through the ingredients list to determine whether a food contains added sugar. And that’s no easy task considering sugar has so many aliases (e.g. maltose, cane juice, brown rice syrup).

The new food labels will call out how much added sugar a food contains. Plus, since The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans states that no more than 10 percent of total daily calories should come from added sugars, the new labels will also list what percentage of your Daily Value (the allowed daily intake of a nutrient on a 2,000-calorie diet), which is 50 grams for added sugar, a food contains. A general rule of thumb: Twenty percent or more of your Daily Value for a nutrient per serving is considered high, while five percent or less is low.

5. New Nutrients

We’re used to seeing the Daily Value percentage for certain micronutrients, like vitamin C, listed on Nutrition Facts labels—and a couple new nutrients are about to join the party. Labels will now include Daily Value percentages for vitamin D and potassium, because so few Americans meet their daily needs. Labels will also no longer be required to include vitamins A and C, since deficiencies in those vitamins are so rare today.

Use this infographic to keep your nutrition facts straight:

Diggin’ What’s Good? For more essential health facts, tips, and inspiration, join our Facebook communities, Eating Healthy and Staying Fit, today!

May 22, 2018May 31, 2018

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

Women Are More Likely To Be Low In These 7 Nutrients

In order to optimize our health, we chow down on kale-filled salads, stir collagen into our beverages, and blend trendy superfoods like beet juice into our smoothies. But as healthy as we may eat—or at least think we eat—we still may not get enough of all the important nutrients we need. According to the CDC, these nutritional holes can be especially common (and problematic!) for women.

Ladies, you can thank your wonderful hormones for your increased risk of certain nutrient insufficiencies, since factors like menstruation, pregnancy, lactation, and menopause increase your needs for certain nutrients. That’s why dietitian Rachel Begun, R.D. recommends women have basic blood-work done at every annual physical. That way, your doc—or a dietitian—can suggest upping your intake of certain food groups or adding a supplement to your routine to ensure you meet your nutritional needs.

Not quite sure what to look for? Here are the top seven nutrients women may fall short on.

1. Potassium

The mineral and electrolyte potassium helps regulate fluid levels in our body, supports communication between nerves and muscles, and improves blood vessel function—but “fewer than two percent of Americans, women included, hit the recommended 4,700 milligrams of potassium per day,” says dietitian Kim Larson, R.D.N., N.B.C., H.W.C., nutrition and health coach at Total Health in Seattle, WA. In fact, our potassium shortcomings are so severe that The 2015 USDA Dietary Guidelines actually called out potassium as a nutrient of public health concern, and the FDA will soon require food manufacturers to call out potassium on food labels. Low intakes are associated with weakness, fatigue, muscle cramps, and constipation.

Luckily, potassium can be found in a number of fruits and veggies, such as dark green leafy vegetables, mango, avocado, bananas, parsnips, beans (especially soy beans), tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, pumpkin, and carrots, says Larson. Since potassium supplementation can potentially lead to heart arrhythmias and kidney damage in those with kidney issues, talk to your doc before adding a supplement (like The Vitamin Shoppe brand Potassium Citrate) to your routine.

2. Magnesium

Magnesium, another electrolyte mineral, is an essential nutrient, meaning we cannot make it ourselves and must get it from food or supplements. Magnesium is involved in hundreds of body processes, including muscle and nerve function, blood sugar management, blood pressure regulation, and protein, bone, and DNA production. It also has a calming effect on the nervous system and promotes relaxation. All important stuff!

Unfortunately, “it’s estimated that 68 percent of Americans are magnesium deficient because they aren’t eating foods like pumpkin, spinach, artichokes, soy and other beans, tofu, brown rice, or nuts (especially Brazil nuts), which are high in the mineral,” says Larson. Low magnesium levels can leave us fatigued and cause muscle spasms, cramps, and weakness—and one study published in Behavior Genetics suggests it may even be linked to sleep issues.

Magnesium supplements can interfere with certain medications, but if you’ve got the green light from your doctor, Larson recommends looking for a supplement that contains 300 to 320 milligrams, which provides all of women’s daily needs. Look for magnesium aspartate, citrate, lactate, or chloride, which are digested and absorbed more easily. (Garden of Life’s Doctor Formulated Relax & Restore Whole-Food Magnesium mixes easily into water and tastes great.)

3. Calcium

When it comes to getting ample calcium, women have a lot at stake. The mineral is the best nutritional defense against declining bone density, which can start to occur in women as early as in their twenties, says Jonathan Valdez, R.D.N., owner of Genki Nutrition and spokesperson for the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “But calcium doesn’t just help with strong bones and teeth,” he says. “It’s also important for muscular function, nerve transmission, intercellular communication, and hormone secretion.”

About half of Americans don’t get enough calcium (women need 1,000 milligrams per day) from their diets, and insufficiency often goes undetected—though it can cause muscle spasms in extreme cases. You’ll find the mineral in seeds, cheese, yogurt, salty fishes, beans, lentils, and nuts and nut butters, as well as in fortified foods. If adding a calcium supplement to your routine, Valdez recommends calcium citrate, which optimizes bioavailability. (The Vitamin Shoppe brand Calcium Citrate provides about a third of your daily calcium needs.)

4. Vitamin D

Vitamin D helps our body absorb calcium, making it especially important for women’s bone health. (It also supports immune function.) And while we could technically meet our daily vitamin D needs through adequate exposure to strong sunlight, living far from the equator, working inside all day, and using sunscreen all make that pretty much impossible.

To make matters worse, this nutrient is quite hard to come by in food (though it can be found in fatty fish, egg yolks, and fortified dairy and non-dairy milks), and 40 percent of Americans are deficient, which can increase your likelihood of developing bone and back pain, and lead to bone and hair loss, explains Valdez. If you don’t consume fortified dairy or non-dairy milks or orange juice every day, Valdez recommends supplementing with at least 400 IU to help meet your 600-IU-a-day needs. (Garden of Life’s My Kind Organics Vegan D3 provides 2,000 IU of vitamin D in a tasty raspberry lemon chew.)

5. Iodine

Many of us don’t know much about iodine other than the fact that it’s in table salt, but this mineral is important for making thyroid hormones, which control our metabolism. It’s also particularly important for pregnant women, as it plays a role in fetal bone and brain development. However, women between the ages of 20 to 39 actually tend to have lower levels of urinary iodine than women of other ages.

When you’re low in iodine, you may feel tired or cold all the time, and experience thinning hair, says dietitian Jessica Crandall R.D., spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “It’s common for food manufacturers to add iodine to salt but as many women cut back on salt in their diets, they lose that source of iodine,” Crandall explains. We need 150 micrograms (mcg) of iodine in our diets every day, which we can find in seafood and sea vegetables (like seaweed), and dairy products. If you’re considering a supplement, Valdez recommends one that contains 0.075 to 0.15 milligrams of iodine. (You’ll get 0.225 micrograms per serving of Trace Minerals Research Liquid Iodine.)

6. Iron

The mineral iron keeps our red blood cells healthy so they’re better able to transport oxygen throughout our bodies, which helps us feel energized and supports our brain function. Women have higher iron needs during puberty and pregnancy, which involve rapid growth and development, and are at higher risk of iron deficiency during their child-bearing years because of the blood lost during menstruation, explains Begun. Women of menstruating age need 18 milligrams of iron per day, and may develop iron deficiency anemia—which is often marked by fatigue, shortness of breath, pale skin, lightheadedness, and cold hands and feet—if they fall short.

We typically associate iron with meat, but you can also find the mineral in foods like dark chocolate, beans, lentils, and spinach. Still, vegetarians and vegans should take extra care to eat plant-based iron-rich foods. If you’re concerned about your iron levels, Valdez recommends looking for a supplement that contains around 18 milligrams of iron in the form of ferrous sulfate, ferrous gluconate, ferric citrate, or ferric sulfate. Just be warned: Too much iron may cause nausea or constipation. (The Vitamin Shoppe brand Comfort Iron uses a clinically-tested, non-constipating form of iron called iron bisglycinate.)

7. Folate

Folate (or folic acid) is a B vitamin best known for facilitating conception, aiding in fetal development, and preventing neural tube defects, like spinal bifida. It also plays a role in helping your nails grow, balancing your mood, and combating inflammation, says Valdez.

Women need 400 micrograms of folate per day, and you can find it in foods like dark leafy greens, avocado, beans, and citrus fruits. If you’re taking a folic acid supplement, keep in mind that it’s 85 percent absorbed when taken with food, and closer to 100 percent absorbed when taken on an empty stomach, Valdez says. (Solgar’s Folate provides 1,000 micrograms of the important B vitamin.)

April 30, 2018June 19, 2018

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.

8 Nutrition Myths That Hurt Dietitians’ Feelings

With every Instagrammer in your feed dishing out nutrition advice these days, it’s never been trickier to decipher fact from fiction. Not only is this social media misinformation confusing, but it can keep you from being your healthiest self.

To set the record straight, I asked some of my expert pals to bust the most frustrating food-related falsities out there. Keep these myths in mind the next time you’re scrolling through the social media static.

Myth #1: You Should Only Shop The Perimeter Of The Grocery Store

Food shopping can be so tricky that I wrote an entire book on it! The perimeter of the grocery store may house many of the whole foods we’re told to fill our diets with—like produce (my favorite section), animal proteins (like poultry and meat), and refrigerated dairy—but that doesn’t mean the middle aisles don’t have healthy foods to offer! Soda, cookies, and chips aside, those center aisles contain plant foods like beans, whole grains, and nuts, which are nutritious, versatile, affordable, and easy to store. These ingredients can help you create an endless number of delicious, nutritious meals and snacks, like bean-filled soups and salads, homemade trail mix, and more.

Myth #2: Foods With More Than Five Ingredients Aren’t Healthy

While long ingredient lists that include sugar and its aliases, preservatives, and artificial flavors and colors should be questioned and perhaps avoided, not all multi-ingredient foods are unhealthy. It’s the quality of a food’s ingredients—not the quantity—that matters most. If a product’s ingredients are whole foods you’d already stock your kitchen with—like whole grains, fruits, veggies, and spices—then it’s probably an okay choice. (Consider this: My favorite bread, Dave’s Killer Bread, contains 32 organic ingredients, 21 of which are whole grains and seeds.)

Myth #3: Avoid Nuts; They’re High In Fat

It’s true, nuts are mostly fat and fat is more calorie-dense than carbs or protein—but the majority of the fat in nuts is healthy unsaturated fat, which keeps us feeling full, and supports healthy blood sugar and a healthy heart. Plus, nuts are naturally packed with protein, fiber, and many other nutrients (like minerals!), says Patricia Bannan, M.S., R.D.N., author of Eat Right When Time is Tight. A serving of nuts (about a handful or two) is a great snack choice and can actually support weight loss by keeping you satisfied and making you less likely to munch on less valuable foods.

Myth #4: Gluten-Free Foods Are Better For You

Newsflash: Donuts are donuts! Plenty of the gluten-free foods out there are highly-processed and low in nutritional value. That ‘gluten-free’ label doesn’t say anything about how much protein, fat, fiber, sugar, or calories the product contains, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D.N., author of The Superfood Swap. And unless you have a condition like celiac disease, your health doesn’t depend on avoiding gluten, anyway. So if you’re reaching for those gluten-free donuts because you think they’re somehow better, think again.

Myth #5: Carbs Make You Fat

Along with protein and fat, carbohydrates are an essential macronutrient, which means they’re essential for our bodies’ proper function. In fact, they’re broken down into glucose, which is our primary source of fuel! Because our bodies prefer to use carbs for energy, we actually resist storing them as body fat, says Kara Lydon, R.D., L.D.N., R.Y.T., Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. When we don’t eat enough carbs, our bodies become desperate for glucose, and may even start to break down the protein found in our muscles to turn into glucose, which is bad news for our muscles, metabolism, and fitness.

Sure, regularly chow down on big portions of refined carbs (think bagels, sub sandwiches, and pasta) and you’re likely going to pack on the pounds. However, stick to whole grains, starchy vegetables, and fruit—and eat your carbs alongside fat and protein—and you’ve got yourself a balanced, waistline-friendly diet.

Myth #6: Coffee Is A Bad Habit, Not A Health Food

We often assume that if something feels good, it must be bad for us—and while that may be true with highly-processed, addictive foods, it’s not the case with coffee. While some people who are caffeine-sensitive may experience shakiness, upset stomach, or sleeplessness after drinking coffee, studies have suggested that it can protect against Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, and gout, so go ahead and enjoy that morning (or early afternoon) brew.

Myth #7: White Foods Aren’t Nutritious

When we talk about the importance of ‘eating the rainbow,’ white tends to get left out—even though there are plenty of white-colored foods out there that deserve a place on your plate. Cauliflower, potatoes, white beans, some mushrooms, and garlic are all white in color and packed with healthy nutrients like potassium, vitamin C, B vitamins, and fiber, says Keri Gans, R.D.N., author of The Small Change Diet. Meanwhile, dairy foods like milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese provide calcium and protein. Instead of judging a food by its color, check the Nutrition Facts to see whether it provides nutritional value, like protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. The white foods that won’t make the cut: processed foods like white bread, white rice, and pastries.

Myth #8: Organic Is The Only Way To Go

There are plenty of reasons people choose to switch to organic foods, like the fact that they don’t contain certain man-made pesticides or fertilizers and are non-GMO. But that doesn’t mean your conventionally-grown produce doesn’t offer nutritional value. In fact, research has found that, nutritionally speaking, organic foods have little extra to offer than conventionally-grown foods, says Alissa Rumsey M,S., R.D., founder of Alissa Rumsey Nutrition and Wellness. (The exceptions: Animal products like chicken, milk, beef, and eggs, whose organic versions have been shown to contain more omega-3 fats.) Since going green can cost more green, stick to produce that’s in-season, keep an eye on sales, and shop the store brand when you want to buy organic. Otherwise, just make sure to wash your conventional fruits and veggies before eating them; no excuse to pass on produce!

March 28, 2018April 4, 2018

Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N.