Welcome to the archived articles page. You probably arrived here having following the link from the Food for Thought tab, or perhaps you were looking for an older article that you had seen on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn and came here. Either way, welcome!
Like the bird, I don’t write because I can, but because I have something to say. The purpose of Food for Thought articles is to explain the science of health and nutrition in terms that anyone can understand.
If you would like to know more about the types of services I provide as a Registered Dietitian licensed in Canada, please visit the landing page of this website.
Archived Articles – Food for Thought
This page contains archived articles from the Food for Thought tab that were written from 2012 until 2020. Since the science of nutrition is always evolving, Food for Thought articles written back in 2012 are more than ten years old. Some of them are still relevant and some are less so.
Older Food for Thought articles that had been previously categorized by topic are posted below.
All of the more than 200 previously posted Food for Thought articles are available in the Article Archives, from most recent to oldest.
Also available with archived articles is my own health-recovery story, titled “A Dietitian’s Journey”.
If you are looking for an archived article about something in particular, the search bar is at the very bottom of the page.
Disclaimer: The information presented in these articles are in no way intended to recommend the self-management of health problems, or as medical advice, or as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Categorized Archived Articles
Gastrointestinal Health
23/11 Chronic Constipation — do we really just need more fiber and water?
04/23 – What is a Low-FODMAP Diet and How Can it Improve Symptoms of IBS?
03/14 – What is a Hiatal Hernia and How Can Dietary Changes Help?
01/14 – Negative Effect of Dietary Carbohydrate on the Gut Microbiome in IBD
09/08 – Treating Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)
09/04 – Diagnosing Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)
09/01 – What is Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)?
07/14 – Trouble-shooting Ongoing Constipation on a Low Carb Diet
07/12 – What is IBS and Why Do Symptoms Improve on a Low Carb Diet?
07/11 – Have You Been Diagnosed with Diverticulosis?
Archived Articles about Food Allergy and Intolerance
03/09 – Allergies to Trees or Grasses can Result in Reactions to Food
11/20 – The Difference Between Food Sensitivity Tests and Food Allergy Tests
08/07 – Tyramine Intolerance — underlying cause of migraine headaches?
07/23 – Histamine Intolerance, MCAD / MCAS and How Dietary Changes Help
07/21 – Milk Intolerance May be Caused by A1 Beta-Casein
Metabolic Health
12/13 – No Underlying Health Conditions — likely assumed not assessed
04/29 – Too Much and Too Little is Killing Us — reducing comorbidities
08/28 – An Accurate New Estimator of Whole Body Fat Percentage
05/22 – Why Waist Circumference and Waist to Height Ratio is so Important
Archived Articles about Cardiovascular Disease
06/20 – High Cholesterol and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
04/07 – New Study: Dietary Saturated Fat is Not Associated with Increased Risk of CVD
03/01 – American Heart Association: Some Kids & Teens at Risk for Premature CVD
07/13 – Consuming Dairy Fat Doesn’t Increase the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease — may protect
05/24 – Two More Good Indicators of Cardiovascular Risk
05/22 – Why Waist Circumference and Waist to Height Ratio is so Important
Archived Articles about Diabetes
09/01 Time to Stop Calling Type 2 Diabetes a “chronic, progressive disease”
08/30 Type 2 Diabetes Remission — proposed definition from international experts
3/26 – Why Is Type 2 Diabetes Still Called ”a Progressive, Lifelong Disease”?
03/22 – Assessing Insulin Resistance — Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA)
02/16 – Standard Treatment for Diabetes Prior to the Discovery of Insulin
02/03 – A Choice: Living With Diabetes, Seeking Remission From Diabetes(article)
02/02 – Diabetes Canada’s 7-day Low Carb Meal Plan — includes bread, pasta, rice
05/14 – Diabetes Canada Deems Low Carb and Very Low Carb Diet Safe and Effective
12/20 – New ADA Standards of Medical Care Includes Low Carbohydrate Diet
07/17 – Three Ways to Put Type 2 Diabetes into Remission
06/24 – Only Half of People Have Newer Gene that Controls High Blood Sugar
05/14 – Is the Glycemic Index Reliable for Predicting Blood Sugar Response?
05/05 – ADA: Brain’s Need for Glucose can be Fulfilled by the Body
04/23 – ADA includes use of a Very Low Carb (Keto) Eating Pattern in New Report
04/09 – Complex Carbohydrates as Long Chains of Sugar Molecules
02/22 – Are You Pushing Your Pancreas Too Hard — estimating β-cell function
2/18 – Low Carb Diet in 2019 American Diabetes Association Standards of Care
12/14 – The Difference Between Reversal and Remission of Type 2 Diabetes
12/05 – Insulin Resistance, Hyperinsulinemia and Hyperglycemia
11/30 – There Are Now Two Stages BEFORE a Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes
11/29 – The Three Stages of Carbohydrate Intolerance — before type 2 diabetes
11/26 – When Normal Fasting Blood Glucose Isn’t Necessarily ”Fine”
10/10 – American Diabetes Association & European Association Classify Low Carb Diets as Medical Nutrition Therapy
10/07 – American Diabetes Association & European Association Approve Low Carb Diets
08/22 – Low Carbohydrate Eating for People with Diabetes — important position statement
08/16 – The Tip of the Iceberg — what we can’t see puts us at risk
07/30 – Early Warning Signs that May Help Prevent Developing Type 2 Diabetes
07/28 – Stanford Blood Sugar Study Findings Known for More Than 45 Years
07/26 – American Diabetes Association (ADA) is Making Sense of Carbs
02/22 – Unreliability of Many Blood Glucose Monitors
02/07 – Significant Improvement in Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms Possible Long Term
Different Clinical Conditions
04/13 – A Therapeutic Ketogenic Diet — treatment and adjunct treatment
10/27 – Vitamin D Supplementation Can Help Protect Against the Flu
07/19 – Arthritis is Not a Normal Part of Aging — it’s a degenerative joint disease
04/18 – Eating one slice of bacon per day does NOT increase your colon cancer risk
03/22 – The Connection Between Sugar and Cancer
08/09 – Alzheimer’s Disease as Glucose Dysfunction of the Brain
Archived Articles about Macros
A Simple Guide to Different Types of Diet and Macros
CARBS
11/03 – Is a Diet High in Carbohydrate Appropriate for Humans?
01/27 – Carbohydrates are Not Evil
08/24 – Is Coconut Oil Pure Poison?
06/26 – Refined Carbohydrate with Vegetable Oil Was Known to Cause Weight Gain
06/21 – Some Carbs Are Better Than Others — Part 4 — the Insulin Index
04/26 – Some Carbs are Better than Others (for Diabetics) — Part 3
4/20 – Are Some Carbs Better Than Others — Part 2
04/17 – Are Some Carbs Better Than Others — Part 1
PROTEIN
08/11 – Types of Protein to Help Older Adults Prevent Muscle Loss
02/24 – How Much Protein is Best Depends on Different People’s Needs
03/01 – The Role of Protein in the Diet of Older Adults
FAT
06/30 – American College of Cardiology: No Benefit to Lower Saturated Fat Intake
04/05 – Concerns with Polyunsaturated Vegetable Oils — Part 2
04/05 – Concerns with Polyunsaturated Vegetable Oils — Part 1
03/21 – Do Saturated Fats Cause Heart Disease?
03/15 – The Marketing of Polyunsaturated Vegetable Oils
03/12 – Researchers that Blamed Saturated Fat as Cause of Heart Disease — paid by sugar industry
Low Carb and Keto Diets Archived Articles
01/04 – A Keto Diet is Only About How Much Carbohydrate it Contains
08/30 – Another Therapeutic Ketogenic Diet and How it Differs from ”the Keto Diet”
08/23 – The Stereotypical High Fat Keto Diet is Only ONE Type
08/16 – The Keto Diet — a potentially dangerous and an unhealthy diet
02/15 – McGill Professor: Risks and Benefits of Low-Carb Keto Diets
08/29 – Are Low Carbohydrate Diets Linked to Risk of Premature Death?
08/23 – Do Low Carb Diets Shorten Lifespan — a closer look
05/08 – Don’t Try This at Home — when medical supervision is needed (article)
Assorted Archived Articles
04/16 – Why Drinking a Smoothie isn’t the Same as Eating the Food Contained in it
03/07 – Why Grazing Can Look Like a Scene From Hoarders
11/06 – Stages of Change and Why Most People Regain Weight Loss
04/22 – My Three Year Health Recovery Anniversary — a Dietitian’s Journey
01/27 – Five Pounds or Fifty Pounds of Fat — in very real terms
11/22 – When to Eat and Not Eat, How Many Meals and Snacks
09/10 – Why Eating Less and Exercising More DOES Matter As We Age
08/19 – When Real Food is Deemed Offensive and Disturbing, not Processed Food
08/04 – Why So Many Post Menopausal Women and Older Men Have Low Iron 06/18 – Distinguishing Food from Food-like Products
06/16 – A Little Black Dress — a personal health and weight loss update (personal story)
04/11 – New Study: Vitamin and Mineral Supplements Won’t Help You Live Longer
02/01 – Reflections of a Nutritional Centrist
10/16 – The Effect of Cannabis on Appetite, Blood Sugar and Insulin Levels
Archived Articles about Canada Food Guide
07/09 – Experts: WHO Draft Guidelines Excludes Key Facts and Studies
07/02 – Focus on Limiting Ultra Processed Food Not Saturated Fat & Sodium
06/28 – CFG Snapshot — conflating Ultra-Processed Food and Whole, Real Foods?
01/24 – New Canada Food Guide — carbohydrate estimate of the sample plate
Articles About Other Eating Patterns
A Dietitian’s Journey Articles
Weight loss and health restoration rarely occurs in a straight line and my personal story, which I have titled “A Dietitian’s Journey (Part I, II and III) is no different. These articles are divided into three parts.
A Dietitian’s Journey – Part I
You will find my personal weight-loss and metabolic health-recovery story (March 5, 2017 – March 4, 2019) on “A Dietitian’s Journey“.
A Dietitian’s Journey – Part II
My recovery from profound hypothyroidism diagnosed in July 2022 until July 2023 is posted under “A Dietitian’s Journey (Part II)“.
A Dietitian’s Journey – Part III
NOTE: A Dietitian’s Journey” is deliberately in a separate section from the referenced articles because these are subjective accounts.
Food for Thought – Article Archive
- 07/20 - The Death of Peers and Parents Should Change the Way We Live (A Dietitian's Journey, personal story)
- 04/30 - Thyroid Medication can Worsen Blood Sugar Control in People with Diabetes (article, personal story)
- 01/23 - Alopecia Universalis – a clinician’s personal story of complete hair loss (article, personal story)
- 10/31 - To Hell and Back – recovering from hypothyroidism (a Dietitian’s Journey) (A Dietitian's Journey, article, personal story)
- 10/27 - Blood Tests and Lab Frustrations – a Dietitian’s Journey (A Dietitian's Journey, article, personal story)
- 09/11 - What Does Success Looks Like Now – A Dietitian’s Journey (A Dietitian's Journey, article, personal story)
- 08/26 - More Than Skin Deep – skin symptoms associated with hypothyroidism (article, personal story)
- 08/18 - Measure of Health With a New Diagnosis – a Dietitian’s Journey (A Dietitian's Journey, personal story)