Eat Well, Feel Good

            Despite living in the sunshine state of California, it is still common to hear that your Vitamin D level is low and supplementation needs to be started. Why is your Vitamin D level low? In part, our sedentary and indoors lifestyles are to blame for epidemic low levels along with the fact that food sources of Vitamin D are limited and provide little daily value of this vitamin. Additionally, with the growing obesity epidemic, as fat mass increases, more Vitamin D is draw up into fat (adipose) cells. Therefore, as weight, related to fat increase, goes up, levels of Vitamin D go down as more of this fat-soluble vitamin becomes stored into fat cells. What happens when your Vitamin D level is low? Current Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of Vitamin D stands at 600 IU (15 micrograms) for adults between the ages of 18 to 50. While Vitamin D aids in a variety of body functions, the most well-known is helping in calcium absorption an...

You’ve probably heard it over and again that fiber is good for you and you should include more fiber in your diet! But what is fiber? Fiber is essentially a carbohydrate. It’s made up of chains of glucose (sugar) connected in a particular way that cannot be digested nor absorbed by the human gut or enzymes. Fiber serves as a structural component of plants, similar to the bones we have in our bodies. So then why eat something that you cannot digest? Even though we don’t digest and absorb fibers, they still offer many health benefits. Fibers help to bulk up foods to increase their volume and help with the feeling of fullness, referred to as satiety and also slows digestion to keep you feeling full longer ( 2 ). Diets rich in fiber have also proven to help manage cholesterol, improve insulin sensitivity and decrease risk of colorectal cancers ( 1 ). While we don’t digest fibers, research has shown a fiber rich diet helps to promote activity and growth of healthy gut microflor...

Welcome to my Blog!     I've been planning to start writing for a while now and the main motivation for that is to share tips, tricks and recipes to help you achieve the health you want through nutrition.     I never recognized the value in good nutrition and a balanced diet until I was forced to make changes myself. In my early 20's, I felt healthy enough while late nights and drive-thru's were a regular occurence. It's hard to deny the convenience late night drive-thru's provide, not to mention cheap food with lots of flavor. After obtaining results with significantly high cholesterol levels, my doctor seriously urged me to change my diet and eating habits. Especially having worked in a medical setting, it dawned on me that my actions and lifestyle habits had a direct result on my health! I'd seen it before in older and heavier persons, and I never realized the negative impact my actions and habits were having on my health. So, I decided to make changes.  ...