Healing Back Pain

I've put off writing this post for many years because I know it will be controversial.  But we're a few days from Christmas, and I a...

New Evidence Strengthens the Link Between Hypothalamic Injury, Obesity, and Insulin Resistance

Obesity involves changes in the function of brain regions that regulate body fatness and blood glucose, particularly a region called the hyp...

Fat, Added Fat, and Obesity in America

In the last post, we saw that carbohydrate and particularly sugar intake have been declining in the US since 1999, even as our obesity rate ...

Carbohydrate, Sugar, and Obesity in America

We like explanations that are simple, easy to understand, and explain everything.  One example of this is the idea that eating carbohydrate,...

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... the Reese's PBC Burger!! Image credit: The Works Read more »

Do Processed and Red Meat Cause Cancer?

Today, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer published a statement in The Lancet detailing its pos...

Why Do Girls and Boys Reach Puberty Younger Than They Used To?

Girls, and probably boys, are reaching puberty years younger than they did in our great-grandparents' generation.  Why?  There's no ...

Will You Fill Out This Paleo Diet Survey?

This week, I received an e-mail from a graduate student at Humboldt State University named May Patiño.  She asked me to share her online res...

That Time I Ate Most of a Large Pizza in One Sitting

Two weeks ago, I had a brush with Extreme Eating.  My experience illustrates some important principles of how the brain regulates appetite a...

Out for Two Weeks

I'll be out of town with limited internet until September 27th.  Feel free to leave comments, but I won't be able to moderate them u...

How Much Does Sugar Contribute to Obesity?

Last week, the British Medical Journal published a review article titled "Dietary Sugars and Body Weight", concluding that "f...

More Thoughts on the Recent Low-fat vs. Low-carb Metabolic Ward Study

The recent low-carb vs. low-fat study has provoked criticism from parts of the diet-health community.  Let's examine these objections an...

A New Human Trial Undermines the Carbohydrate-insulin Hypothesis of Obesity, Again

The carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis of obesity states that carbohydrates (particularly refined carbohydrates and sugar) are the primary caus...

Refined Sugar Worsens Blood Lipid Markers of Cardiovascular Disease

Blood lipids such as LDL and HDL cholesterol are markers of the biological processes that impact cardiovascular disease, and they are common...

What Properties Make a Food "Addictive"?

Although the concept of food addiction remains controversial, there's no doubt that specific foods can provoke addiction-like behaviors ...

Food Reward Friday

This week's luck winner... soy sauce!! Read more »

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky winner... the Pizza Hut Hot Dog Bites pizza!!! Read more »

Insulin Resistance Predicts a Variety of Age-related Diseases

In the last post, I reviewed a study by Gerald Reaven's group showing that insulin resistance strongly predicts the risk of cardiovascul...

Insulin Resistance Strongly Predicts Cardiovascular Disease Risk

I recently came across a very interesting paper by the research team of Gerald Reaven, an endocrinologist at Stanford.  He has long been one...

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... Hardee's Most American Thickburger!! Read more »

Recent Interviews

Here are two recent interviews I'd like to share with readers: Danny Lennon of Sigma Nutrition Danny Lennon is an evidence-based nutrit...

New Study Strengthens the Case that LDL Causes Heart Disease

There is little remaining doubt in the scientific/medical community that high levels of LDL, so-called "bad cholesterol", cause he...

Do Slower-digesting Carbohydrates Make Us Feel More Full?

One of the most common pieces of advice in the health-nutrition world is that we should focus our carbohydrate intake on slowly-digesting ca...

Food Reward Friday

This week's "lucky" winner... bacon fried Oreos!! Read more »

My Buddy and Me

Warning -- Satire -- April Fools Post I have a sheepish confession to make: until recently, I had a tapeworm, and that's why I'm lea...

Is Meat Unhealthy? Consolidated links

Several people have asked for a consolidated list of links to my series on meat and health.  Here it is!  This should make it easier to shar...

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... a bacon hot dog donut, by Krispy Kreme! Read more »

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... donuts!! Krispy Kreme donuts being made.  Hopefully this image isn't appetizing enough to ma...

Build Your Own Yogurt Maker, Sous-vide Cooker, and All-purpose Fermenter for $40

I make a half gallon of yogurt, twice a month.  I like making my own yogurt for many reasons, but it's a bit of a pain.  Since I make la...

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part IX

Welcome to the last post in the series.  Time to summarize and wrap it up! Respect I respect each person's right to choose the diet they...

We Do Science Interview

I recently did an interview with Laurent Bannock, an expert in sport and exercise nutrition.  His podcast We Do Science  has rapidly become ...

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... the Cinnabon cinnamon roll!!! Read more »

Can High-Fiber Foods Fight the Metabolic Syndrome?

The metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) is a cluster of signs including abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and blood lipid ...

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part VIII

Health can be defined as the absence of disease, and that is the lens through which we've been examining meat so far.  However, most of ...

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... the KFC Double Down Dog!! Read more »

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part VII

Looking at individual diseases is informative, but it can cause us to become myopic, making broad health-related decisions based on narrow i...

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... barbecue ribs!! Read more »

Does high protein explain the low-carb "metabolic advantage"?

In 2012, David Ludwig's group published a paper that caused quite a stir in the diet-nutrition world ( 1 ).  They reported that under st...

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part VI

In this post, I'll examine the possible relationship between meat consumption and cancer risk. Is cancer risk even modifiable? Cancer is...

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... croissants!! Read more »