Enlightened Eater

Nothing says spring like bunches of asparagus for sale at your green grocers. Asparagus, like leafy greens,  is not only a taste treat, it’s packed with a wide assortment of  nutritional goodies. Here are the top six reasons to enjoy this vegetable: •    It’s packed with folate, the B vitamin linked to  a variety of […]

Have you watched little ones as they are slathered with sunscreen? Parents are indeed taking heed of safe sun practices when it comes to their youngsters. But simply shunning the sun may be taking its toll.  There is a second part to this health strategy that’s often overlooked:  getting vitamin D. The sunshine vitamin is […]

In my post Vitamin D- the new superstar , I pointed to the potential far reaching consequences of  low vitamin D levels in the blood. While many have been widely promoted,  the links between this nutrient and the development of type 2 diabetes have not been getting much attention. And considering we may be heading […]

Finally after a long winter, the sun’s rays feel oh so good. On some days, they actually feel warm on our skin.  In spite of how good it feels, at this time of year in northern climates, it still does not translate into vitamin D production. Here’s why: vitamin D is produced by the body […]

What did the folks at Health Canada think of my op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen: Take food labels with a grain of salt? It’s a question I wanted answers to. After all, my reasons for writing it were twofold: firstly to let Canadians know about the sham that is called the Daily Value and secondly, […]

If you’re looking for smart food choices, do not read the  Percentage Daily Value (% DV) on food labels. It’s a recipe for confusion. The % DV is supposed to tell you how much of a certain nutrient you need in a day. The problem is that the figures Health Canada is using bear no […]

Today’s headlines about leafy green vegetables might leave you wanting to skip this section of the produce aisles. “Leafy greens top source of food poisoning in U.S.” and “Leafy green vegetables top source of food poisoning: CDC” screamed just a few of the numerous headlines.   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released study […]

Have you heard about The Kale Project? It began as an initiative to reintroduce this nutrition-packed leafy green vegetable to Paris. Reintroduce? It seems that the French had too much of these vegetables during the time of food shortages during World War II. The French might want to take a lesson from the Mediterranean Diet. It, […]