What Happens When You Eat Less Ultra-Processed Food? A Conversation with Sam Dicken, PhD
A conversation with Dr. Sam Dicken about the effect of a ‘healthy’ diet rich vs. low in ultra-processed foods on body weight.
Your Mitochondria Need THIS to Be Healthy. A Conversation with Nicolas Verhoeven, PhD (Physionic).
A conversation with Nic Verhoeven, PhD, of the YouTube channel PHYSIONIC about mitochondria and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Beta-Cell Dysfunction: The Overlooked Cause of Type 2 Diabetes, and How to Measure It
This blog post is about how to use a simple blood test to measure insulin sensitivity and beta cell function.
Effective Weight Loss Diets Have THESE Characteristics
This is a conversation with Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, founder of the HAVA app, about high-satiety-per-calorie eating for weight loss
How Different Dietary Fibers Impact LDL-Cholesterol, Insulin Resistance, and Cardiovascular Risk
Dietary fiber has a profound impact on our health, including on our risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). In this video, we discuss the impact of different types of dietary fiber on two key ASCVD risk factors, LDL-cholesterol and insulin resistance.
How to Prevent or Reverse Insulin Resistance
This blog post will help you figure out whether you are insulin resistant or exposed to major triggers of insulin resistance, understand the root causes of insulin resistance, and what you can actively do to prevent or reverse insulin resistance.
How to Lose Weight Without Counting Calories
This blog post summarizes seven evidence-based strategies to lose weight without counting and actively restricting calories.
The Surprising Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate for Diabetes
In this blog post, we review the scientific evidence on the impact of dark chocolate, cocoa, and cocoa flavanols on insulin sensitivity, beta-cell function, glucose tolerance, and type 2 diabetes risk.
Light and Glucose Tolerance
In this blog post, we will discuss the role of light, both natural sunlight and also artificial light, in the maintenance of normal glucose tolerance.
Intermittent Fasting: Effects on Body Weight and Blood Sugar Regulation
In this blog post, we discuss the impact of different forms of intermittent fasting on body weight and blood sugar regulation.
Time-Restricted Eating and Blood Sugar Regulation
How does time-restricted eating (TRE) affect glycemic control, glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and insulin secretion?
Time-Restricted Eating: Effects on Body Weight, Fat Mass, Visceral Fat, and Liver Fat
Time-restricted eating, or TRE, is a popular form of intermittent fasting in which food intake is restricted to 4-10 hours per day. In this blog post, we are reviewing all of the available evidence on how TRE affects body weight, body fat mass, lean mass, visceral fat, and the liver fat content. We also discuss the role of the specific type of TRE, such as early versus late TRE and the length of the eating window.
How to Interpret Your CGM Data
In this blog post, we are discussing how to interpret CGM data to identify glucose intolerance and blood sugar spikes.
Keys to a Healthy Body Weight: Being Mindful of Non-Hunger Eating
This blog post discusses psychological triggers of overeating, including emotional eating and cravings for certain foods, and suggest tools to become more mindful of these triggers of overeating.
Understanding The Triggers of Overeating And Weight Gain
In this blog post, we will discuss the ten key triggers of overeating, each of which increases spontaneous calorie intake and body weight.
Stop Dieting and Achieve Healthy Weight Loss by Maximizing Satiety per Calorie
In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of maximizing satiety per calorie consumed, and the three key factors that make a food or a meal more satiating (or filling).
Keys to a Healthy Body Weight: Avoid Liquid Calories
Alcoholic and sugar-sweetened beverages are a major metabolic double whammy: they spontaneously induce excess calorie intake and weight gain, and also lead to the accumulation of fat in the liver, potentially leading to fatty liver disease. In this blog post, we are discussing the evidence and mechanisms through which alcoholic and sugar-sweetened beverages adversely affect these major determinants of metabolic health.
Blood Lipids and Cardiovascular Risk: Everything You Need to Know
In this blog post, we are discussing in detail the basics of atherosclerosis, lipid, and lipoprotein metabolism, the impact of LDL-cholesterol and other blood lipids on atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), and which specific blood tests to get and how to interpret them. We are also addressing six common claims that argue that blood lipids and LDL-cholesterol do not affect ASCVD, or that their impact is negligible and that other risk factors are far more important.
A Neglected Risk Factor for Chronic Disease: The Insulin Resistance Syndrome
A common phenomenon people observe as they age is that over time, their blood lipids such as cholesterol and triglycerides, their blood pressure, and their blood sugar levels increase steadily. However, this development is not inevitable. In this blog post, we will discuss what we have termed the insulin resistance syndrome, an accumulation of cardiometabolic risk factors that often emerge together, and its root causes.
Insulin Resistance: Top Causes & Contributing Factors
Insulin resistance is a key factor underlying the development of type 2 diabetes, and also a risk factor for several other chronic conditions, including heart disease, stroke, and several types of cancer. Insulin resistance does not have a single cause, but can be triggered by numerous factors. And understanding why someone is insulin resistant is the first step to reversing insulin resistance. In this blog post, we are discussing the sixteen top causes of insulin resistance.
Do Carbs Cause Insulin Resistance?
A common claim on social media and in several nutrition books is that eating a high-carb diet causes insulin resistance. In this blog post, we review whether this claim is supported by scientific evidence.
Causes of Insulin Resistance: The Personal Fat Threshold
In this blog post, we will thoroughly review the personal fat threshold hypothesis, how fat tissue works and what happens inside the body when fat can no longer be safely stored.
Measuring Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance is a common phenomenon, and not just in people with diabetes or prediabetes. In this blog post, we will discuss reasons for measuring insulin resistance, who should get tested, which lab test makes the most sense, and how lab results can be interpreted.
Blood Sugar Spikes, Reactive Hypoglycemia, and How to Avoid Them: An Interview With Dr. Penny Figtree
A conversation with Penny Figtree MD about her personal experiences with blood sugar spikes and reactive hypoglycemia.
Blood Sugar Spikes – Q&A
In this blog post, I will respond to your most common questions about blood sugar spikes, and specifically our most recent blog post/video, in which I shared six strategies to lower blood sugar spikes without reducing carb intake.
How to Avoid Blood Sugar Spikes (Without Reducing Carb Intake)
Blood sugar spikes are increases in blood sugar to 180 mg/dL (10 mmol/L) or higher after a meal that are very common in people with diabetes or prediabetes, but also occur in those without diabetes or prediabetes. In this blog post, I am discussing six evidence-based dietary strategies that lower the blood sugar response after a meal and help avoid blood sugar spikes, all without reducing total carbohydrate intake.
Does Erythritol Increase the Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke?
In this blog post, I am reviewing and critiquing the recently published study linking the sugar-substitute erythritol to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
The Glycemic Index and Health Outcomes
In this blog post, we are discussing whether diets rich in high-glycemic index foods may be a cause or contributing factor to chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Are Blood Sugar Spikes Normal in Healthy People?
This blog post explores the question of whether regular blood sugar spikes exceeding 200 mg/dL in people with otherwise normal glucose tolerance are a sign of early glucose intolerance not captured by standardized clinical testing, or whether such spikes are the normal result of eating highly glycemic foods even in the healthiest people.
The Dietary Glycemic Index: Everything You Need to Know
Blood sugar levels rise after a meal rich in carbohydrates. However, not all carbs are created equal when it comes to the blood sugar response they trigger. These differences are captured in the glycemic index and the glycemic load, two measures that can help us avoid excessive blood sugar spikes after a meal. This blog post discusses what the glycemic index and the glycemic load are, how they are determined, and reviews the glycemic index and glycemic load values of many common foods.
How To Use a Continuous Glucose Monitor for Maximum Benefit
Continuous glucose monitors, or CGMs, have become a very popular tool, both for people with diabetes and those who want to optimize their health. In this blog post, we are providing guidance on how best to use a CGM to maximize its health benefit.
Regulation of Blood Sugar
More than 1 billion people are affected by diabetes or prediabetes worldwide, and that number is estimated to increase by another 50% in the next few decades. In this blog post, we are discussing how our bodies regulate blood sugar levels, what goes wrong in this process when we develop diabetes, and how diabetes is clinically diagnosed.
Is Anecdotal Evidence Valuable? 5 Reasons To be Cautious!
A large portion of the health and nutrition information online consists of anecdotes, personal accounts of health benefits experienced in response to a change in diet. In this blog post, we are discussing five reasons why such anecdotes should be considered very low-level evidence.
Ultra-Processed Foods: The #1 Cause of Overeating and Weight Gain?
In a recent blog post about the Global Nutrition Transition, we discussed that the transition towards ultra-processed foods is strongly and consistently associated with increased rates of obesity in populations all around the world. We are expanding on this discussion in this post by sharing evidence that ultra-processed foods are not just associated with higher calorie intake and body weight, but may actually cause overeating and weight gain. We are also discussing concrete steps – based on this research – that may prevent overeating and weight gain.
New Study on Time-Restricted Eating and Weight Loss
A new randomized controlled clinical trial has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine that describes the impact of 8-hour time-restricted eating on weight loss in the context of a calorie-restricted diet. This blog post summarizes what time-restricted eating is, outlines the animal experiments that initially suggested that time-restricted eating could be a valuable tool for weight loss, and reviews the data from the new as well as older trials.
Prevention and Reversal of Chronic Disease (Why Nutrition Matters, Part C)
Can we prevent or even reverse chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes or heart disease by changing our diet? In this blog post, we will take a look at a few studies that have put that question to the test.
The Global Nutrition Transition (Why Nutrition Matters, Part B)
In this blog post, we will take a close look at the emergence of what is often called the twin epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes. This twin epidemic has been taking place all over the world over the last 30-40 years, and it is still getting worse. We will examine the changes in diet that have occurred during this same time frame in several different affected populations. We will see some patterns emerge of specific changes in the diets of these populations that have almost certainly played a major role in the massive changes in body weights and metabolic health.
Micronutrient Deficiencies (Why Nutrition Matters, Part A)
In this blog post, we’ll be looking at an issue that – in my opinion – should be taking much more a center stage in the discussion of nutrition and health: micronutrient deficiencies!
What is Red Pen Reviews?
In this post, I would like to tell you about Red Pen Reviews, a non-profit organization I am involved with that provides free, high-quality expert reviews of nutrition books.
Nourished by Science: Chronic Disease Prevention Through Evidence-Based Nutrition
In this article, I am introducing this blog and associated YouTube channel, and talk about what has motivated me to create this platform.