01/04/2016 FacebookTwitterGoogle+Share NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina • It is the oddest thing that, until fairly recently, the fluid that cows produce to grow their calves to 450 pounds or more in a year was recommended in our national food guides as the basis of an essential food group. It was an assumption on the part of Health …
01/03/2016 FacebookTwitterGoogle+Share NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina MS, RD, and Claudia Lemay • I know a little girl who is obsessed with candy; it is ironic, given her mother is a dietitian. “What have I done to deserve such a fussy daughter?” she would lament, confiding that Amelie would ask for candy for snacks and for breakfast, lunch and …
The food fairy: explaining healthy food choices for children Read More »
01/02/2016 FacebookTwitterGoogle+Share NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina MS, RD • Can snacking be a key ingredient in a healthy lifestyle? If your first response was “No!” here’s a chance to update your perceptions. Some of us were raised with the advice to “never eat between meals,” which makes sense in protecting our teeth from sweets. Yet there can be …
01/12/2015 FacebookTwitterGoogle+Share NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis • Around the year 1900 in the northeastern US, 80 to 90 percent of the children had the symptoms of rickets – bowed legs and seizures. The situation was eventually linked with a lack of vitamin D and sunlight. Glance out the window now. Is it grey? Well, our …
01/10/2015 FacebookTwitterGoogle+Share NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina MS, RD • Vitamins are essential to life. The “vita” in their name refers to that fact. The “amin” was added in 1912 when it was mistakenly believed all vitamins contained nitrogen compounds (amines). In the relatively young science of nutrition, all of the vitamins were discovered during the last century. …
by Vesanto Melina, MS, Registered Dietitian Bonnie was thinking about going vegan. Of all the dietary choices she had considered over the years, this made perfect sense and fit her values. Yet she wanted to be certain that her new way of eating would provide every essential nutrient. The women in her family were blessed …
By Vesanto Melina, MS, Registered Dietitian Paleolithic diets are the subject of many websites and books. However I have yet to meet or hear of anyone who follows anything even close to a real paleo diet. The paleo wanna-be’s who head to their butcher for grass fed beef buy a product with 5 times …
NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina, MS, RD The teen years can be a period of challenge, a little like the terrible twos, except now your kid is several inches taller than you. Mom and dad may find that a formerly compliant child has become a stranger. Nutrition-related issues either become an arena for conflict or shared …
NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina, MS, RD Summer days often include gatherings with friends and family by the *barbecue, but if you are not a big fan of hot dogs and burgers, grilled veggies add colour, variety and nutrition. Combine any of the following: carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, corn, peppers, okra, eggplant, onions, potatoes, mushrooms, beets, …
NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis, RDs Summer is a great time for picnics and outdoor meals. For many, it’s a time when dads get out their aprons and barbecue forks and flip burgers and slabs of meat on the grill. Yet according to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), most North Americans …
Summer Fare: Multi-Coloured Bean and Vegetable Salad Read More »
