
THE NIH and Nutrition
When people hear the letters “NIH” they often think of the National Institutes of Health which is not one center but 28 separate institutes and centers responsible for biomedical and health-related research. The Office of the Director oversees the 27 institutes/centers, sets policies, and coordinates activities. Nestled within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (the cabinet level department at the federal level whose motto is “Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America”), NIH is the primary agency for health related issues in this country: Read more

When Breath Becomes Air
When there’s no place for the scalpel, words are the surgeon’s only tool.
Paul Kalanithi graduated from Stanford with a BA and an MA in English Literature and a BA in Biology. He also earned a MPhil in history and philosophy of science and medicine from Cambridge before attending and graduating from the Yale School of Medicine. He returned to Stanford to do an 8-year residency in neurosurgery and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience. In his seventh year of residency in May, 2013, 36-year old Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer – an illness that rarely strikes young men (he notes that only 0.0012 percent of 36-year olds get lung cancer). Read more

Bean and Vegetable Chowder for a Crowd
This “meal in a pot” is easy, healthy (low in sodium and fat but high in protein, carbohydrates, and fiber), and colorful with a hearty texture and delicious flavor.
When the weather starts turning cold, a big bowl of chowder – just another word for a thick soup – is just the dish to serve along with a salad for lunch or dinner. Using a bag of Frontier Soups Minnesota Heartland Eleven Bean Soup Mix (which contains dried beans, peas, lentils, and a bouquet garni of herbs and NO added salt), along with a few pantry staples (onion, carrot, celery, chopped tomatoes, vegetable broth, and pasta) makes for one satisfying bowl of chowder to feed a crowd of 10-12 (or a smaller group with leftovers). Read more

Needed: Single Serving Non-Dairy Milks With No Added Sugar
All I want is a single serving container of unsweetened non-dairy milk…..
Whenever I travel, I take along alternatives to dairy milk which generally includes a quart of unsweetened almond, cashew, hemp, soy or oat milk so that I can enjoy my coffee or a bowl of muesli or granola in the morning. It’s not that I oppose eating breakfast at a hotel; I would gladly eat what most people consider the most important meal of the day in a sun-filled dining room if these breakfasts included fresh fruit, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and unsweetened non-dairy milks. I would add legumes and vegetables to that list but for most Americans, these items are an acquired taste before noon. Read more

Where does $1 to NutritionFacts.org go?
The reason we don’t see ads on TV for broccoli is the same reason groundbreaking research on the power of foods and eating patterns to affect our health and longevity gets lost and buried in the medical literature–there’s no profit motive. It may not make anyone money, but what if our lives would profit?
Those are the words often spoken by Dr. Michael Greger, M.D., a physician, author (How Not To Die), and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety, and public health issues. In 2003, the non-profit NutritionFactsOrg. Inc (Nutrition Facts) was established as a 501 (c) 3 to educate the public on preventing and reversing disease based on nutrition with seed money from the Jesse and Julie Rasch Foundation. Nutrition Facts is now supported by individual donors to keep the organization going. Read more

FIKA Citrus and Whiskey Spread
Sometimes I think the world is divided into those who love marmalade and those who don’t. I’ve never met anyone who seems indifferent to this Scottish creation made with the juice and small chunks of fruit rind boiled with sugar and water, although there are those who dispute the origin and claim the English or the Europeans were the original creators. Whoever created marmalade realized the flavor and the ingredients used to make marmalade are key because the presence of citrus peel is what distinguishes marmalade from jam and preserves.

Easy No-Knead Whole Grain and Seed Bread
We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it. ~Jose Marti
Most of us don’t have to light our ovens anymore but we certainly can put them to good use so why not make a delicious loaf of bread with whole grains and seeds? Making homemade bread (sans a bread machine) can be an intimidating and daunting, messy task especially for inexperienced bakers. It’s one thing to spend precious time and energy to make a homemade loaf and quite another to have the bread turn out flavorful and delicious. But, what if you could make a scrumptious loaf of bread by simply combining a few ingredients, waiting for the dough to develop, and then baking it? Read more

The Hardest Part of Living Vegan – Imperfection
For most people becoming vegan or plant-based is a journey and not a switch that was turned on one day. In fact, I don’t know anyone who was a carnivore one day and a vegan the next. The change is really an evolution which occurs over time. Very often, as was with me, a person becomes vegetarian because of a nutritional concern and then learns about the animal livestock and dairy industries and gradually cuts out dairy products out of a moral, ethical, or religious belief. And, then there is the third part of the vegan triangle which is the environment because there is no doubt the animal livestock and dairy industries are destroying the environment with the CO2 emissions, contaminated water systems, and forest destruction. Read more