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| Nutritionist and Author |
As Director of Education for the GMO Free Project of Tucson, I will be leading a Native Seeds/SEARCH (NS/S) Salon event about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that are hidden in many foods and the health risks associated with them on Monday, May 21st, at 5:30 p.m. at the NS/S Store, 3061 North Campbell Avenue, in Tucson.
If you’re a little confused about nutrition, you have a right to be: Much of what we’ve been told about nutrition is just plain wrong. I plan to set the record straight in my author talk, “Going Against the Grain of What You Think You Know About Nutrition,” at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 12, 2012, at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave., in Tucson, Arizona.
by Melissa Diane Smith
If you think few people care about non-GMO foods, it’s time to get that idea out of your head. Natural Products Expo West, the country’s largest natural products convention, which took place March 8-11, 2012, was abuzz with people talking about no GMOs in many different ways.
Natural Products Expo West is usually a good indicator of what’s coming in natural food stores and grocery stores throughout the country. At this year’s Natural Products Expo West, there were numerous lectures on GMOs, education about the federal and California GMO labeling initiatives, several companies saying they are in the process of taking the GMOs out of their products, and countless new Non GMO Project Verified food products. In fact, there are more than 6,000 products in the Non GMO Project now!
by Melissa Diane Smith
I covered my client Marcia’s dramatic changes in her health after going grain free and avoiding genetically modified foods last year in Nutrition News & Notes. I knew Marcia had wide-ranging improvements across the board in her health but I didn’t think much about how much money she was saving by not needing to see doctors nearly as much as she previously did before working with me. Recently during a coaching session over the phone, Marcia told me that she saved more than $7,000 last year in medical expenses, and together with her husband with whom I also work, they saved $12,000 in medical expenses last year!
by Melissa Diane Smith
More dog and cat owners are tossing out conventional kibble and feeding their pets against the grain.
A few years ago Melissa McLean Jory’s dog Fairbanks was so sick he couldn’t even lift his head off the ground. After he was diagnosed with autoimmune conditions and severe intestinal problems, Melissa, a nutritionist who has celiac disease, became convinced that Fairbanks had gluten intolerance, too. She shifted him to a completely grain-free diet, and Fairbanks regained his weight and health fairly quickly. Now, if Melissa gives him a dog biscuit that contains gluten (found in wheat, rye and barley), her dog immediately experiences health trouble, such as gastrointestinal problems, skin rashes, and reduced energy. “I believe without the dietary changes, he wouldn’t be here today,” Melissa says.
by Melissa Diane Smith
A key part of my message for more than a decade has been to encourage people to eat further against the grain than they are accustomed to or even than they think they should. If you stop and think about it, reducing or avoiding grains in one’s diet and eating more vegetables in their place is really eating more of a Paleolithic (or Stone Age hunter/gatherer) diet. A good portion of the clients I counsel gradually adopts this diet or goes more and more that way as time goes on, especially when dealing with serious health conditions.
by Melissa Diane Smith
It’s important to understand what the label really means.
Today, more foods than ever are labeled “gluten-free.” Would it surprise you to know there is no official definition of “gluten-free” approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? It’s true.
Buying gluten-free food is the only treatment for people with celiac disease, an autoimmune disease reaction to gluten, as well as other forms of non-celiac gluten intolerance. The FDA is expected to issue its final guidelines on gluten-free labeling later this year. That’s a welcome development, but it’s not the end. You might think that after the FDA makes its ruling, all of us will be able to easily choose foods that are completely devoid of gluten. Unfortunately, it’s much more complicated than that. For the sake of your health, it’s important to understand the issues behind the label.
by Melissa Diane Smith
Good news for those of us who eat against the grain of the Standard American Diet: Trends we saw last year – locally sourced meat and seafood, locally grown produce, sustainable foods, healthful kids’ meals, and gluten-free cuisine – continue to be on the top ten list of restaurant trends for 2012. According to the National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot in 2012” survey of more than 1,800 professional chefs, the top ten menu trends this year include:
by Melissa Diane Smith
(Opinion) – If your New Year’s resolution is to lose excess weight in 2012, don’t make the mistake that virtually everybody makes and follow a weight-loss strategy that’s destined to fail. Most people believe that exercise is the key to losing weight. Unfortunately, that’s dead wrong. It’s nice to believe we can eat anything we want and burn off the calories to lose weight, but that just doesn’t work in practice. As I wrote about before in “Think You Need to Exercise Harder to Lose Weight? Think Again,” research shows that what we eat is the most important factor in whether we lose weight or not.
Are you starting 2012 off not knowing the basics about genetically modified foods and the health risks associated with them? If so and if you live in Tucson, there’s an easy way to remedy that situation: Attend a couple of short movies.