Ageing in Great Health! Vesanto Melina, MS, Registered Dietitian Why do we age? Getting older, and showing it, and feeling it, involves a buildup of toxic metabolites including reactive oxygen species, a form of free radicals, and AGEs (Advanced Glycation Endproducts). AGEs are harmful substances that form when protein or fat combines with sugar in […]
Aging in Great Health! Read More »
by Vesanto Melina, MS, Registered Dietitian A paper published by the American Society for Nutrition makes the case for modernizing the definition of protein quality. This is a welcome development. The current definition is outdated and fails to protect public health because it assesses how well various proteins meet human requirements based solely on digestibility
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by Vesanto Melina A half-century ago, vegetarian and vegan diets were viewed with concern by health professionals. In decades since, these have been the focus of vast amounts of research. Today, a dietary shift in the direction of plant foods is regarded as a very positive step by knowledgeable dietitians, MDs, nutritional scientists and by
Why go more plant-based? Read More »
by Vesanto Melina Some people call our fair city “Vegcouver”. One reason is that when we go to the helpful guide for plant-based eating, www.happycow.net , and search Vancouver BC, we find no less than 99 listings. (These include vegan and vegetarian restaurants.) If we narrow our filter just to vegan restaurants, we still end
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by Vesanto Melina and Gillian Meghan Walters Children tend to gravitate to animals and love them. Adults guide them to care for companion animals; to love, feed, and pamper dogs and cats and make sure they are not harmed. At the same time, we live in a society that teaches us that it is okay
Redneck: The Word’s History in Nutrition By Vesanto Melina, MS, RD I was surprised to learn that the word “redneck” has a nutrition-related origin. More than a century ago, in the Deep South, several factors—poor diet and racial tensions–coincided. A typical diet for poor whites and for black slaves centered on corn, salt pork (fatty
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By Vesanto Melina and Julia Murray Breakfast! This can be an exciting reason to get up in the morning. (Then again, others prefer to wait until noon.) Whatever your preference, these ideas can inspire you to love breaking that fast. Some people prefer to go at least 12 hours overnight before breaking their fast. This
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Vesanto Melina MS, RD with Alessia Vaz and Sophia Jhajj (U.B.C students) A common misconception is that those eating plant-based diets are more prone to develop iron deficiency. In fact, it has been found that vegetarians and vegans are no more likely to suffer from iron deficiency anemia than are their meat-eating counterparts. Continue reading
Q&A: Iron on a Plant-Based Diet! Read More »
by Vesanto Melina The news regarding heart health used to be all about cholesterol. This made sense since the plaque that sticks to the inner lining of arteries leading to the heart is primarily cholesterol. These fatty deposits accumulate, causing blood vessels to narrow; eventually, these oxygen-delivering arteries can become entirely blocked. Without oxygen, the
Taking care of your heart Read More »
by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis Since 2000, the number of people in Canada with diabetes has doubled. Today, one in three Canadians lives with prediabetes or diabetes. Those 20-year-olds now have a 50-50 chance of developing the disease. The risk for some indigenous people is 80 per cent. Close to 40 per cent of newly
Preventing and Reversing Type 2 Diabetes Read More »
