Ask The Nutritionist

by Melissa Diane Smith

What you need to know to keep following the Paleo diet from Thanksgiving through New Year’s.

Q: My husband and I have experienced amazing health transformations since we began eating a Paleolithic diet about six months ago. We have lost weight, have more energy and improved digestion, and have normalized our previously high blood sugar levels. We want to keep that good health going during the holidays, but we know there will be many temptations. Are there any tips you can give for going through the holidays the Paleo way?

– Amy T., Chicago, IL

The Paleo diet, often referred to as the “caveman diet,” advocates eating unprocessed foods that our ancestors would have eaten during the Paleolithic era – i.e., meat, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil – and on some versions of the diet, organic grass-fed butter – may also be included.

As you and your husband found out, eating Paleo food provides the body the foods it needs to thrive, stay healthy, and normalize weight. The key to continuing both the diet and the health benefits you’re experiencing is to plan ahead. Doing so is extra important during the holiday season when there are many more activities, food temptations, and social pressures than normal. It takes a little effort, but if you keep the following tips in mind, you can have healthy holidays the Paleo way:
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Ask the Nutritionist

by Melissa Diane Smith

Q: I get frequent bad unexplained headaches. Some of them are debilitating migraines. I’m also often depressed and have other baffling symptoms such as problems with balance, and tingling in my feet and toes (my physicians told me this is peripheral neuropathy). I have seen many doctors and they say they can’t find any reason for my chronic headaches or other symptoms. Is there any kind of nutritional treatment that might help?

– Monica S., Atlanta, GA

A range of dietary factors—from regular consumption of aspartame artificial sweetener to eating foods that contain monosodium glutamate—can trigger headaches. However, one of the most common yet least-known ones is sensitivity to gluten, the problematic protein found in wheat, rye, and barley.

The other maladies you list also have been associated with gluten sensitivity. Unfortunately, many doctors—including neurologists—aren’t up-to-date on research in this area, and thus aren’t aware that neurological symptoms are often linked to adverse reactions to gluten.

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Feel like you’re missing bits and pieces of information about genetically modified foods or don’t know all the specifics of how to avoid them in your diet? Don’t miss your chance to get your copy of the ebook version of Going Against GMOs during Kindle Countdown Deals – limited-time super discounts – on Amazon.com July 6-10!

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Ask the Nutritionist

by Melissa Diane Smith

How this common grain sets us up for a variety of health problems.

Q: Why is wheat such a problematic food for so many people? Was it always not good for us, or has it become worse for our health in recent years?

– Kris B., Chicago

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I recently learned that my books Going Against the Grain and Going Against GMOs are frequently bought together on Amazon.com. That’s great to learn! If you read Going Against the Grain first, then Going Against GMOs, you’ll get a crash course on the biggest food issues of our time that are rarely covered by mainstream media but are vital to know about to dramatically improve and protect our health.

Want to join others who are reading both books in succession so you know how to change the foods you eat to revitalize your health? I’m offering a deal during the summer that gives you incentive to do that: Purchase both Going Against the Grain and Going Against GMOs (in either paperback or e-book form), email or mail your receipt to me, and get $30.00 off the price of any nutrition coaching program or $25.00 off my Get Started Combo nutrition counseling services. (Trust me when I say that my Get Started Combo will never go any lower than that!)

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by Melissa Diane Smith

This is a slightly revised version of an article I wrote in 2012. It is based on a presentation I gave to the Southern Arizona Celiac Support group entitled “It’s Gluten Free, but Is It Healthy?” in January 2012. Many people still don’t know this information, so I think it’s important to run it again.

The gluten-free diet is one of the most talked-about and followed diets these days for good reason: It’s the nutritional answer for the growing number of people who realize they are gluten sensitive. It’s the best example we have of food as our best medicine. The vast majority of people who are gluten sensitive have experienced the amazing feeling of having longstanding bothersome or even debilitating symptoms dramatically improve or completely go away when they eliminate gluten from their diet.

However, for all the good eating gluten free can do for those of us who are gluten sensitive, it can do plenty of harm if we eat gluten free the wrong way. Unfortunately, many people are doing that without realizing it. It’s common for people to experience a big improvement in health when they first go gluten free, and gradually develop unwanted, unhealthy weight gain or new health problems, such as diabetic or prediabetic blood sugar levels, the longer that they eat gluten free. In one study, 82 percent of people who went on a gluten-free diet gained weight in the first two years of eating that way, including 81 percent of the people in the study who were originally overweight.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

I don’t write about the harmful health effects of gluten in the diet nearly as often as I used to in previous years. That is not because I don’t think gluten isn’t a major factor causing widespread ill health in our society. I do. The reason is because I’ve been writing about the hazards of gluten for 13 years and most people who are my clients have read my books and articles and have already removed gluten from their diets before they begin working with me. Nowadays I don’t have to do much convincing to encourage my clients to avoid gluten. Instead, I focus on letting people know how to eat a higher-quality gluten-free diet that promotes optimal health.

Though I’m not educating people about the hazards of gluten as regularly as in past years, new waves of people who never thought they had a problem eating gluten are learning that they do, sometimes in very unexpected ways and usually without any adverse digestive symptoms that people normally associate with gluten-related illness. Two cases in point involve two of my friends. They both happen to be named Anne.

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