food and nutrition

Part 2: Obesity and stress – plus a lesson about reviews

June 17, 2014 By Sheri 2 Comments

Last week, we summarized a literature review that explained how stress leads to overeating and ultimately contributes to weight gain.

This information didn’t come from a meta analysis, but from a different kind of large-scale study called a literature review. We asked Janis Whitlock, a research scientist in the Bronfenbrenner Center for Transnational Research and Director of the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery, to explain the difference. Here’s what she had to say: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Evidence-Based Living, Health and Wellness, The Learning Center Tagged With: food and nutrition, Health and Wellness, research methods

Part 1: Obesity and stress – plus a lesson about reviews

June 12, 2014 By Sheri Leave a Comment

If you think about your own life, you likely understand intuitively that stress often leads to overeating. In my own life, if I think about stressful times, I can picture myself standing in front of the pantry looking for something to munch on.

Using evidence to ask the right questions

June 5, 2014 By Sheri 2 Comments

For decades, health and nutrition experts have built weight-loss programs around the commonly-accepted notion of balancing calories in and calories out. In other words, to lose weight, one simply needs to burn more calories than he eats. But there is growing evidence that’s only part of the equation for losing and maintaining a healthy weight. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Evidence-Based Living, Health and Wellness, The Learning Center Tagged With: evidence-based practice, food and nutrition, Health and Wellness, nutrition, science in the media

What we know about eating wheat

January 28, 2014 By Sheri Leave a Comment

If you’re at all interested in losing weight, you’ve likely come across the en vogue advice to avoid eating wheat. People across the country are following diets that avoid wheat including the paleo and gluten-free diets. Now a new systematic review answers the question, is eating wheat bad for us? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Evidence-Based Living, Health and Wellness Tagged With: evidence-based practice, food and nutrition, Health and Wellness

Tips on avoiding holiday weight gain

December 16, 2013 By Sheri Leave a Comment

The holiday season is officially here – with its decorated cookies, happy hours and workplace lunches. We’ve already established that gaining weight has a negative impact on your health. So what can you do to avoid putting on the pounds at this time of year?

The real story behind MSG

November 22, 2013 By Sheri Leave a Comment

Every now and again, I crave Chinese food – cashew chicken, fried rice, and moo goo gai pan. So my husband and I will splurge on takeout and eat with chopsticks out of the cardboard containers. It’s absolutely delicious! And I fully understand why. Most Chinese restaurants cook with monosodium glutamate – commonly known as MSG. The additive has long gotten a bad rap for being unhealthy, but is it really bad for us?

Can eating garlic lower your blood pressure?

November 20, 2013 By Sheri 3 Comments

My grandmother, a health food fanatic long before it was popular, frequently munched on raw garlic “for medicinal purposes.” So I wasn’t surprised to see the results of a recent systematic review on the potential virtues of eating garlic to lower blood pressure. My grandmother’s seemingly quirky behavior may prove to be healthy ones after all. High blood pressure is clearly something to avoid given its link to heart disease and stroke. And it affects a lot of people: according to the American Heart Association, one out of every three adults has high blood pressure. Could garlic be the answer?

Can the Use of Probiotics Effect Crying Babies?

November 11, 2013 By jlp5 1 Comment

First off, I want to congratulate Sheri Hall on the birth of her daughter Charlotte, born on October 13^th weighing in at 8 pounds 4 ounces!! Since babies have been on my mind in anticipation of Sheri’s maternity leave, a recent review about crying and colic behavior caught my eye. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Evidence-Based Living, Health and Wellness Tagged With: children and youth, food and nutrition, Health and Wellness, nutrition, parenting

Does diet impact your brain?

October 28, 2013 By jlp5 1 Comment

We all know that the food we eat has an effect on health. There is plenty of evidence that the risks of developing health conditions, like heart disease and diabetes, are directly related to our diets. Now a new systematic review finds evidence that diet effects brain function as well.

Cranberry juice for urinary tract infections?

October 21, 2013 By Sheri 2 Comments

Urinary tract infections are the second most common type of infection in U.S. adults, accounting for about 8.1 million visits to health care providers each year. It’s a long-standing adage that drinking cranberry juice can help, but what does the evidence say?

Cinnamon to treat diabetes?

September 18, 2013 By Sheri 1 Comment

For at least 4,000 years, the human race has prized the use of spice cinnamon in religious rituals and to flavor foods. And in traditional medicine, cinnamon was used to improve circulation, relieve abdominal discomfort and treat infections.