On this very special “Christmas Eve-Eve,” I would like to share this heartfelt message with you: Many people tend to get caught up in all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, but please try not to get stressed out. Christmas will be just as special even if you don’t get all the cookies baked or the cards sent out. (FYI—I just mailed my cards two days ago!) A casual dinner is just...

  People often ask me where I get my motivation to work out consistently and maintain a healthy diet. Easy: Motivation usually comes from wanting to create something positive—or avoid something painful. In my case, I have a heavy reminder in my family history. My dad (who would have turned 106 today) had his first heart attack at just 35 years old. His second heart attack took his life at age 58, when I was...

  Back when I was completing my nutrition degree, one of my reading requirements was Deep Nutrition by Dr. Cate Shanahan. In her book, Dr. Shanahan shares how she was taught in medical school that cholesterol causes heart disease, that low-fat/low-cholesterol diets were “heart-healthy,” and that statins were the gold standard for lowering cholesterol. But something didn’t add up for her. If saturated fats and cholesterol were truly the villains, why were so many of the...

  As of this writing, a staggering 120 million American adults have high blood pressure (hypertension). That’s nearly half of us! Even more alarming, hypertension isn’t just an adult issue anymore—it’s on the rise among young adults and even children. Currently: About 23% of young adults (ages 18–39) have high blood pressure. Among children 8 to 19 years old, 8.7% have elevated blood pressure, and 5.4% have full-blown hypertension. I’m old enough to remember when high...

  According to the CDC, currently about 119 million Americans have high blood pressure—that’s about half of US adults! And that number is particularly startling when you consider that back in 2017 (just 8 years ago) “only” 75 million Americans had hypertension. That’s an increase of nearly 60 percent. Now, during that time period the BP ranges for what is considered “high blood pressure” were lowered which instantly reclassified people who had formerly been considered...