By Vesanto Melina, MS, Registered Dietitian As a dietitian, I learned which foods rated highest in folate or vitamin C, and what made beans, peas and lentils the protein, iron, and B vitamin superstars they are. Earlier, my mother had enjoyed sharing time in the kitchen and food preparation skills. My birthdays featured participatory cookie-making …
Celebrate with Compassion By Vesanto Melina, MS, RD Across North America and Europe, people are choosing plant-based meals and the trend is accelerating, especially among young people. So you are likely to have at least one vegetarian or vegan at your holiday dinner table. They may be making this choice because they have learned from …
Going Plant-based? By Leaps or by Baby Steps? By Vesanto Melina MS, Registered Dietitian Have you been considering a shift towards a plant-based diet? Does a sudden leap towards an entirely vegan diet seem too overwhelming? Could you commit to eating one plant based dinner each week? How about a whole day of vegan meals? …
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 The current definition is outdated and fails to protect public health because it assesses how well various proteins meet human requirements based solely on digestibility …
Redefining Protein Quality: What’s New About Protein? 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 …
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 …
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 …
01/11/2018 Share NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis Few foods are at once maligned and acclaimed as much as coconut oil. Some see it as a notorious health villain, with an even greater concentration of saturated fat than butter or lard. It tops the list of foods to avoid in many heart-health programs. At the other …
by Vesanto Melina and Kristen Yarker While many toddlers and preschoolers aren’t fans of vegetables, thankfully, there are effective, helpful strategies less forceful than the age-old techniques of forcing kids to eat two bites of broccoli or allowing dessert only after they’ve finished their peas. The following techniques will help kids enjoy veggies now and appreciate …
10/11/2017 Share NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina Do you ever eat mindlessly? It would be very surprising if even one reader replied, “No, never.” So if we are occasionally going to eat mindlessly, we may as well eat food that offers a big boost to our health. Chopping veggies on a regular basis, storing them in ziplock …
