My nephew recently told me that kale and spinach are bad for him, so he is giving up the morning green smoothie he loves.

Why are they bad for him? He doesn’t know. He heard it somewhere. Naturally.

I suspect oxalates are the culprit. Thankfully, kale is largely exempt. But more on that later.

First, let’s discuss what oxalates are, whether you should be concerned about them, and whether my nephew, or you, needs to break up with spinach.

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Let’s start with the basics. What are oxalates?

Oxalates are naturally occurring compounds found primarily in plant foods. Spinach, Swiss chard, rhubarb, beets, nuts, beans, tea, and chocolate all contain them, although in wildly different amounts.

Unlike fiber, vitamins, or minerals, oxalate has no known nutritional function. The body does not need or use it. It simply has to get rid of it.

If we don’t need or use oxalates, what do they do while in our bodies?

They look for a way out.

There are two exit options: through the stool or through the urine.

Think of oxalate as a lost guest wandering through a museum. If it encounters calcium in the intestines, calcium takes it by the arm, and the pair leaves together through the nearest exit: the stool.

If oxalate does not run into calcium, some of it is absorbed into the bloodstream and travels to the kidneys, which filter it into the urine. Typically, only a small percentage of the oxalate we eat takes this route, although the amount varies from person to person.

Why do oxalates have a bad reputation?

The concern arises when too much oxalate takes the urine route. The main potential consequence is kidney stones.

Oxalate is not the only substance in urine; calcium is there too.

How does calcium get in our urine?

Some of the calcium we eat is absorbed into the bloodstream. The kidneys filter the blood, returning most of that calcium to the body for use in bones, muscles, nerves, and other essential functions, while allowing a small amount to leave in the urine.

The perfect storm occurs when urine contains high enough concentrations of both calcium and oxalate. The two can bind and form crystals, which may eventually grow into calcium oxalate kidney stones, the most common type of kidney stone.

Eating enough calcium helps keep oxalate out of the urine in the first place. Return to our museum: calcium is the guard who finds the lost guest and escorts it out through the stool. Without enough guards on duty, more oxalate is free to wander into the bloodstream and eventually reach the kidneys.

On the flip side, eating too little calcium can increase the amount of oxalate that ends up in the urine.

But the process is not as simple as: spinach = kidney stones.

Stone formation is also influenced by hydration, sodium intake, urinary calcium and citrate, genetics, intestinal absorption, medical conditions, and a history of kidney stones.

In large studies, people consuming the most dietary oxalate had only a modestly higher risk of kidney stones, and the relationship was stronger when calcium intake was low.

So, dietary oxalate can matter. But it is rarely acting alone.

So should I worry? Should anyone worry?

Most healthy people do not need to count oxalates or follow a low-oxalate diet.

Oxalate intake deserves closer attention if you have:

• Recurrent calcium oxalate kidney stones

• High urinary oxalate documented by a 24-hour urine test

• A condition that causes poor fat absorption, such as inflammatory bowel disease, short-bowel syndrome, or pancreatic insufficiency

• A history of gastric bypass

• Advanced kidney disease

• Primary hyperoxaluria, a rare genetic condition

• A habit of taking very high-dose vitamin C supplements, which the body can convert to oxalate

Even people who have had kidney stones should not automatically eliminate oxalate. A 24-hour urine collection can determine whether high urinary oxalate is actually part of the problem.

Let’s get back to the green smoothies…do they have to be given up?

For most people, no.

Oxalate itself has no known health benefit. It is not an essential nutrient, antioxidant, or anything else we need to seek out. But that is very different from saying foods containing oxalate have no benefit.

Beans provide fiber and protein. Nuts provide unsaturated fats. Leafy greens provide vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals. Cocoa and tea provide polyphenols. Eliminating all of these foods would sacrifice plenty of established benefits to avoid a compound that poses little concern for most people.

The benefit belongs to the food, not necessarily every compound in it.

What matters is which food you eat, how much and how often you eat it, what you eat with it, and your individual risk.

Spinach and Swiss chard are true oxalate outliers. Other leafy greens are not even close.

Foods with concentrated oxalates do not need to disappear. But their oxalate content is another good reason to eat a variety of foods and rotate ingredients rather than relying on the same combination every day. Seasonal eating naturally encourages some of this variety, but most of us still fall into food ruts—especially at breakfast. Keep the foods you enjoy; just notice when they have become your everyday default and rotate the ingredients from time to time.

Most people do not need to avoid oxalates or give up spinach.

If oxalate is a concern, rotate spinach with kale, arugula, bok choy, or another low-oxalate green; avoid packing several high-oxalate ingredients into the same smoothie; get adequate calcium; and stay well hydrated. Adding milk, yogurt, or fortified soy milk to a spinach smoothie also gives calcium and oxalate a chance to meet in the intestine and leave together through the preferred exit.

So, my nephew can keep his morning smoothie. He can keep the kale, include some spinach, add a calcium-rich ingredient, and rotate his greens from time to time.

No breakup required.

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Parasites are having a moment. They seem to be the new virus: something many of us understood only vaguely until it suddenly moved front and center in the news.

Thanks to the large Cyclospora outbreak in the summer of ’26, leafy greens have been getting the side-eye - and with good reason. The outbreak is concerning. We should be eating loads of leafy greens and fresh herbs, not regarding them with suspicion.

Then, as if on cue, Miranda Kerr revealed in a recent interview that although her diet includes venison, bison, and lamb, she no longer eats sushi because of parasites.

So, what exactly is the deal with parasites?

To be candid, I cover foodborne illness in one of my course lectures but, until now, have mostly glanced over parasites. This summer convinced me that they deserve more attention, so I updated my lecture and then thought you might want the same primer.

Are parasites a legitimate food-safety concern or is the risk being blown out of proportion? Do you need to give up sushi? And what about all those parasite-cleansing teas the internet would very much like to sell you?

Let’s discuss.

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Let’s start with the basics. What is a parasite?

Parasites are the ultimate freeloaders. Think of them as your couch-surfing friend or your college-graduate child who has rebranded their childhood bedroom as a pied-à-terre. A parasite lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits at the host’s expense. Foodborne parasites include both microscopic, single-celled organisms and worms.

Unlike bacteria, parasites do not usually multiply in food. The salad, pork chop, or piece of salmon is simply their Uber: a vehicle carrying them from one host or environment to the next.

How do parasites get into our food?

They generally take one of three routes:

Contaminated soil or water.

An infected person or animal, who may or may not have symptoms, can shed parasites in their feces (yep, their 💩). If the feces contaminate soil, irrigation water, or water used to wash crops, the parasites can end up on fruits, vegetables, and herbs. This is how Cyclospora commonly travels.

Infected animal tissue.

Some parasites spend part of their life cycle inside an animal’s muscles. Eating that meat raw or undercooked allows them to change hosts. Trichinella, the worm responsible for trichinosis, is the classic example.

The aquatic food chain.

Some parasites use the marine food chain to move between hosts. Anisakis eggs enter the ocean in the feces of infected marine mammals (think whales and dolphins). Those eggs are eaten by tiny crustaceans, which are eaten by fish or squid, which are often eaten by larger fish. Humans become accidental hosts when we eat an infected fish raw or undercooked.

If I get a parasite, what does it do to me?

That depends entirely on the parasite.

Some stay in the intestine, irritating its lining and causing diarrhea, cramping, nausea, bloating, fatigue, or weight loss. Others cross the intestinal wall and migrate into tissue. Fish parasites may burrow into the stomach or intestine; Trichinella larvae travel into skeletal muscle.

None of that is good news.

Which foodborne parasites should I know about?

We have heard plenty about Cyclospora in the news lately, but it is not the only parasite that can reach us through food. There are several, but three are particularly relevant to what we eat.

Cyclospora: the produce parasite

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite spread when food or water is contaminated with human feces. Because it must mature in the environment for at least one to two weeks before becoming infectious, it is unlikely to pass directly between people. Outbreaks have been linked to leafy greens, berries, herbs, and packaged salads.

Symptoms generally begin about a week after exposure and include frequent watery diarrhea, bloating, weight loss, and fatigue. Untreated, they may disappear and return for weeks.

Cyclospora outbreaks recur each spring and summer, but 2026 has been exceptional: as of August 17, the CDC had confirmed 15,716 domestically acquired cases, compared with 1,180 during the same period in 2025. Washing produce helps but cannot guarantee removal. If a product is recalled, throw it away.

Trichinella: no longer primarily a pork problem

Trichinella roundworms cause trichinosis, or trichinellosis, when someone eats infected meat raw or undercooked. The larvae begin in the intestine and then migrate into muscle, potentially causing fever, muscle pain, weakness, and swelling around the eyes.

The infection is now extremely rare in the United States, with roughly 15 confirmed cases per year. Modern farming practices have greatly reduced the risk of contracting illness from commercial pork; today, most U.S. outbreaks involve wild game, especially bear (yes, bear).

Freezing, smoking, curing, and drying do not reliably kill Trichinella in wild game. It should be cooked to at least 165°F and kept away from other foods. In one bear-meat outbreak, two people who ate only vegetables became infected through cross-contamination. Apparently, politely declining the bear is not enough if it has been sharing a cutting board with the salad.

Anisakis: the so-called sushi worm

Anisakis is a marine roundworm carried by wild fish and squid. When someone eats an infected fish raw or undercooked, a larva may attach to the stomach or intestinal wall, causing sudden abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or an allergic reaction. The roundworm cannot mature or reproduce inside humans; we are an accidental dead end.

Human anisakiasis appears uncommon in the United States, although it is probably underdiagnosed. Commercial freezing, which most fish served raw must undergo, greatly reduces the risk.

Hang on…Are you saying I have to avoid sushi?

No. But where you buy it matters.

Most fish served raw in U.S. restaurants must first undergo parasite-destruction freezing. The FDA Food Code specifies combinations such as −4°F for seven days or much colder commercial temperatures for shorter periods. The freezer acts as the bouncer: it stops viable parasites before the fish reaches your plate.

There are exceptions. Farmed salmon, for example, is generally much less likely than wild salmon to carry Anisakis. And certain tuna species and some farm-raised fish fed controlled, parasite-free diets are exempt because their risk is considered low.

“Sushi-grade,” however, is not a federally defined quality grade. When buying fish to serve raw at home, ask whether it was commercially frozen to destroy parasites rather than relying on the phrase alone. In this case, “previously frozen” is not a compromise in quality; it is an important safety measure. And in case you are wondering, a typical home freezer may not stay cold enough or consistently enough to replicate commercial treatment.

Keep in mind, freezing kills parasites, but it does not eliminate every bacterial or viral risk. People who are pregnant, immunocompromised, very young, or older are therefore generally advised to choose cooked seafood.

For everyone else, reputable sushi is not risk-free, but parasites need not stand between you and your omakase.

Any other tips on avoiding foodborne parasites?

You do not need to disinfect every raspberry or cook all food into submission. Prevention means matching the precaution to the food.

First off, follow recalls and discard implicated food rather than trying to clean it.

Produce

• Rinse produce under clean running water. Scrub firm produce and remove damaged areas. Do not use soap, bleach, or household disinfectants.

• Use safe drinking water, particularly when traveling or camping. Where sanitation is uncertain: cook it, peel it, or leave it.

Meat

• Cook meat to the recommended internal temperature and verify it with a thermometer.

• Keep raw meat and its juices away from ready-to-eat foods.

• Cook bear and other potentially infected wild game to at least 165°F. Do not rely on freezing, smoking, drying, or color.

Seafood

• Buy raw fish from a reputable restaurant or retailer that follows parasite-destruction freezing requirements.

• Do not assume citrus juice, cold smoking, salting, or home pickling kills fish parasites. Ceviche is chemically cooked, not necessarily parasite-free.

And skip the over-the-counter parasite cleanse. If you have persistent diarrhea, unexplained weight loss, severe abdominal pain, or symptoms after eating raw fish or wild game, see a healthcare professional. Different parasites require different tests and treatments. Wormwood tea is not a diagnostic strategy.

Parasites are common in nature, but foodborne parasitic illness is relatively uncommon in the United States. Cyclospora is primarily a produce and water problem, Trichinella now comes mainly from wild game, and commercial freezing helps control Anisakis in raw fish.

Preventing outbreaks requires stronger safeguards and better traceability throughout our food system. But you can reduce your risk by washing produce, following recalls, using safe water, cooking meat properly, preventing cross-contamination, and buying raw fish from reputable sources. No parasite cleanse required.

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A year ago, August 11, 2025, to be exact, I wrote a post called Caffeinated and Vindicated. In it, I made the case that coffee, despite its long history of being treated like a delicious character flaw, can fit comfortably within a healthy diet.

I am happy to report that my writing has aged well.

On July 20, the American Heart Association released a new scientific statement on caffeine and cardiovascular disease. Its conclusion: For most adults, consuming up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, roughly 3 to 5 eight-ounce cups of regular caffeinated coffee, is considered safe and may also be associated with a lower risk of several cardiovascular conditions.

So yes, coffee remains vindicated.

And the timing could not be better. August means back-to-school season is upon us. Calendars are filling, alarms are being reset, and more coffee, iced, hot, or on particularly ambitious days, both, is likely in our future.

But does the type of coffee matter? What about tea? And is all caffeine created…

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This post is a little different. After five weeks of talking about fiber, many of you had questions, and good ones! You may be shy about asking them in the comments, but apparently less so in my inbox.

So, I’m doing what I do in the classroom: amplifying the questions people ask privately because if one person is wondering, chances are others are too.

I’ve edited them a bit for clarity. Here are the top 10 questions I received about fiber.

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Over the past four weeks, we’ve looked at fiber from several angles: what it is, how it lowers cholesterol, how it feeds your gut microbes, and how it keeps things moving.

Protein may be getting most of the attention lately, but I’d argue that fiber should get the spotlight. Most of us are likely getting enough protein; fiber is where we tend to fall short. We’re often told to include a source of protein at every meal. My advice? Make sure there’s a source of fiber there, too.

Now it’s time to put all the pieces together, and, more importantly, put fiber on your plate.

Here are my six pieces of advice for making fiber a bigger part of your diet, without making it a bigger project.

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It was bound to happen.

A series about fiber was eventually going to lead us here.

We’re talking about poop.

In the last two posts, we met fibers that form a gel and fibers that feed your gut microbes. Insoluble fiber takes a completely different approach. It doesn’t dissolve. It doesn’t get fermented very much. Instead, it becomes part of the digestive tract’s final package 💩.

Most of us have heard that fiber "keeps you regular." Maybe you've even heard it called roughage. I like to think of insoluble fiber as the broom of your digestive tract, gently sweeping things along and helping keep the roads of your intestines clear.

Let’s take a closer look.

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Here’s something I bet you didn’t know.

Your body ferments food.

Not all food, of course. But if you eat the right kinds of fiber, the trillions of microbes living in your large intestine get to work, fermenting them into compounds that can benefit your health.

Now before you start thinking, Great...this is going to be a post about gas, you’re not entirely wrong. Fermentation does come with some rumbling, bloating, and yes, sometimes odors. But that’s only part of the story. Once your gut adapts, fermentation becomes one of the most beneficial things happening inside your digestive tract.

Today’s post is a little longer than usual because I’m answering seven questions about fermentable fiber. But I promise it’s worth it.

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As someone who didn’t grow up eating oatmeal, I have to admit that I don’t really understand the craving for it.

I completely understand the nutritional appeal, that’s undeniable. But the passionate devotion? Not so much. To me, it’s a little gummy and pretty flavorless unless I dress it up with fruit, nuts, cinnamon, and a drizzle of maple syrup. And at that point, I start wondering if I should’ve just had an oatmeal cookie.

But taste isn’t the only reason oatmeal earned its reputation.

What makes oats remarkable isn’t simply that they’re a whole grain. It’s that they’re one of the richest sources of β-glucan, a type of viscous fiber with one of the strongest bodies of evidence in all of nutrition.

So much so, in 1997, the FDA authorized a health claim linking oat β-glucan to a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. Nearly three decades later, that claim continues to be supported by a substantial body of research. If you've ever noticed the little heart on a box of Quaker Oats, that's w…

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More than ever, celebrities and influencers can’t seem to stop talking about their gut, and, more specifically, what comes out of it. I’ve written before about the health halo surrounding fiber-fortified sodas, and while protein still dominates supermarket shelves and social media feeds, fiber is quietly having a moment of its own.

I’m here for it.

I recently learned about the Dense Bean Salad (D.B.S.) trend—a hearty salad where beans, rather than lettuce, take center stage. It's one nutrition trend I can wholeheartedly get behind. There are plenty of delicious ways to get your fiber (you should be aiming for around 30 grams a day), yet most Americans still fall short. Many people know fiber is healthy, but couldn't tell you why. Others avoid it altogether, worried it'll cause gas, bloating, or send them sprinting to the nearest bathroom.

The truth is, fiber may be nutrition’s most underrated nutrient. We tend to think of it as one thing, when in reality it’s much more interesting than t…

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A quick note before grilling season kicks into high gear.

With the Fourth of July almost here, I’m bringing back this post because the advice hasn’t changed, and neither has the science behind it. Since many of my older newsletters now sit behind the archive paywall, I wanted to make this one available again.

Even if you read it last year, it’s worth another look. Think of it like baking a cake. You probably know it takes flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. But knowing the ingredients isn’t the same as knowing the recipe.

It’s not lost on me that I wrote a grilling cookbook and never addressed the issues I’m raising here. My work has always had two sides - culinary and nutrition - and for a long time, I kept them separate. Maybe I didn’t think they could speak the same language, or perhaps I hadn’t figured out how to let them. But if we want to live deliciously healthy lives, those conversations have to coexist. This post is one small step in bringing them together.

One of my favorite food memories takes place at a tiny, eight-seat yakitori bar tucked away in Kyoto, Japan. The restaurant—Sumiyaki Sosai Toriya Hitomi—had a couple of tables, but I was lucky enough to snag the best seat in the house: dead center at the bar, directly across from the chef and his glowing binchotan grill. It felt like theater, with the chef starring as both director and performer. Every movement was deliberate, almost meditative, as he rotated skewers of chicken, vegetables, and rice balls with obsessive precision.

Then I noticed something odd. With the smallest pair of scissors, he began meticulously snipping off the tiniest flecks of char from the chicken—especially the breast meat. The vegetables? Left alone. But the chicken had to be pristine.

As someone who believes Louis Camille Maillard1 deserved a Nobel Prize for his contributions to flavor chemistry, I silently mourned every crispy, caramelized morsel that fell to the floor. Still, I didn’t say a word. Between the language barrier and my deep respect for his technique, I simply watched. And ate. Gleefully.

That memory sat quietly in my brain until years later, while I was back in the lab at NYU teaching a food science class. We were preparing meats using dry-heat methods—broiling, searing, sautéing—when a student hesitated to brown his chicken. I encouraged him to aim for a deeper sear, invoking Maillard’s legacy: higher heat, richer flavor. He considered my advice and gently pushed back: “I prefer it this way. It’s healthier.”

We’ve come to revere the char—that crispy, smoky layer that forms on grilled meats—as a flavor jackpot. But is it also a health hazard?

Here are four questions that will guide you to the answer.

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First, let’s get the terms straight: Maillard Reaction vs. Char

Browning and blackening are not the same thing. One builds flavor. The other is just burnt.

Browning is thanks to the Maillard reaction—a mouthwatering bit of chemistry that kicks in when proteins and sugars meet heat (around 280–330°F). It’s how you get that golden crust on a steak or the toasty edge of a grilled cheese. The result? Molecules that taste like someone knows how to cook.

Charring, on the other hand, means you’ve crossed the line into carbonization. At this point—typically above 400°F—you’re not just cooking anymore, you’re burning. And when meat is involved, that char isn’t just bitter—it can also produce heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), both of which have been flagged as potential carcinogens. More on those in a bit.

We crave Maillard magic because it signals transformation—raw to cooked, bland to delicious. That’s why a pale boiled chicken breast tastes flat, while a grilled one—streaked with golden brown marks—tastes far richer. But push it too far, and the line between “deeply savory” and “possibly sketchy” gets thin, fast.

What Are HCAs & PAHs? And should I worry about them?

Let’s get into the chemistry behind the char.

Heterocyclic amines (HCAs)) form when meat, poultry, or fish is cooked at high temperatures—think grilling, pan-searing, or broiling. It’s a chemical chain reaction involving:

• Amino acids (from protein)

• Creatine (a compound found in muscle)

• High heat (especially above 300°F)

When those three meet on a sizzling surface, HCAs are born. You won’t find these compounds in significant amounts in veggies, fruit, or tofu. They’re mostly a high-heat, meat-only affair.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), on the other hand, come from what’s happening around the meat. When fat or juices drip onto flames or hot coals, they create smoke—and that smoke contains PAHs. As it wafts up, it can coat the surface of your food. This makes PAHs more of a surface issue than an internal one.

And PAHs aren’t just a grilling story. They also show up in other smoked foods (like smoked cheese or salmon), and even outside the kitchen—in cigarette smoke, wood-burning stoves, and car exhaust.

What Are the Health Concerns?

In lab studies—mostly in animals—both HCAs and PAHs have been shown to damage DNA in ways that could raise cancer risk. These compounds are considered mutagenic, meaning they can cause changes in genetic material.

But before you cancel your cookout, here’s the context: the levels tested in these studies are often much higher than what you'd get from an occasional grilled steak. Human research is still evolving, and the real-world risk is likely tied to how often you eat grilled or smoked meats, how well-done they are, and how you cook them.

Translation: it’s not about strict avoidance—it’s about frequency and technique.

So, Should I Avoid Grilling This Summer?

No need to skip the grill entirely—just grill smarter.

The foods most likely to form HCAs and PAHs are muscle meats like beef, pork, poultry, and lamb—especially when they’re cooked over high heat until well-done or charred. The more fat that drips onto the flame, the more smoke, and the more potential for PAHs.

That said, there are plenty of safer—and still delicious—options:

• Go lean. Choose cuts with less fat, which are less likely to cause flare-ups. Try top sirloin, pork tenderloin, chicken breasts, or skinless chicken thighs.

• Embrace seafood. Shrimp, scallops, and fish fillets or steaks that cook quickly and don’t need high heat, making them less likely to form HCAs. (I love grilling tuna or salmon and purposefully undercook them to barely past rare.)

• Make vegetables the star. Veggies don’t produce HCAs, and while they can pick up some PAHs from smoke, the levels are minimal—especially compared to meat. Plus, they thrive on the grill.

I need specifics! How should I grill?

Here’s how to keep grilling fun—and a little lighter on the chemical side:

• Trim the fat. Less fat means fewer drips and flare-ups, which means fewer PAHs. Easy win.

• Load up on vegetables. Grilling brings out the sweetness and depth in all kinds of produce. Beyond the usual corn and onions, try carrots, broccolini, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, split romaine hearts, endive, or radicchio for a charred, caramelized edge that’s packed with flavor. Just brush them lightly with oil and season before grilling.

• Avoid direct flames and flare-ups. Set up a two-zone grill if you can (hot side + cooler side) and keep a spray bottle of water nearby to tame flare-ups as they happen. You want heat—not fire.

• Marinate when possible. Some solid science backs up marinating: a study in the Journal of Food Science found that spice-rich marinades containing rosemary and thyme slashed HCA formation in grilled beef by up to 88%, thanks to antioxidants like carnosic and rosmarinic acid. And if you can get sturdy rosemary springs? Use them! They’re not just for show—they make excellent natural basting brushes and deliver extra antioxidant power right where it counts on charred meat.

Grilling isn’t the villain—it’s the method that makes the difference. High temps, fatty cuts, and open flames set the stage for compounds like HCAs and PAHs. But with a few smart swaps, you can keep the flavor and skip the sketchy health concerns.

Think of it like skincare: sun exposure isn’t the problem—unprotected, repeated overexposure is. You don’t need to hide indoors; you just need a good routine.

So: trim the fat, control the flame, load up on vegetables, and go lean when it comes to meat. The grill’s not the problem—it’s how you handle the heat that matters.

It started with an innocuous exchange with my 15-year-old niece.

She mentioned grabbing frozen yogurt from a popular spot in SoHo.

“You mean soft-serve ice cream?” I asked.

“No,” she replied, with the confidence of a teenager. “Frozen yogurt.”

“Yeah, yeah. Frozen yogurt is basically ice cream.”

“No,” she insisted. “It’s frozen yogurt.”

Now I’m curious.

“Is it tangy?”

“Yes.”

“Sweet?”

“Not really, unless you add sweet stuff to it.”

Interesting.

“Is your frozen yogurt spot called TCBY? Tasti D-Lite?”

Blank stare.

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With the start of summer comes one of the season’s most polarizing debates: pickles.

Do they belong on a burger? Is a hot dog better with sauerkraut or relish? Should tacos be topped with pickled onions, cabbage, or nothing at all?

For some people, those tart, tangy flavors are reason enough. Others are drawn to fermented foods for a different reason entirely: the potential health benefits.

Which raises an interesting question.

If fermented foods are good for your gut, does adding sauerkraut to a hot dog suddenly transform it into a health food? No. Is this the 2026 version of ordering a Diet Coke with your fries and calling it balance? Seems that way.

Fermented foods are definitely having a moment. Grocery stores are stocking more of them than ever. And social media has elevated everything from kefir to kimchi to wellness superstar status.

But before you start piling fermented toppings onto every summer barbecue staple, it’s worth understanding what fermented foods actually are, what the …

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I didn’t realize how much feedback last week’s article on ghee would generate.

It came through direct messages, not post comments (please comment!), but the questions that landed in my inbox revealed something important: saturated fat remains a misunderstood topic in nutrition.

Many know some main sources. Butter. Cheese. Beef. Cream. Ghee. Beyond that, things get murky. Some people know it can affect heart health. Others believe only certain sources are problematic. Some people believe butter is a problem, but ghee is not. Others worry about cheese but not beef.

The reality is that while foods like butter and beef each bring a different mix of nutrients to the table, the saturated fat they contain influences the body in much the same way.

Part of the confusion comes from the current nutrition landscape. Full-fat dairy is back. Butter has undergone a public relations makeover. Beef is enjoying a resurgence. Ancestral diets, carnivore diets, and high-protein everything continue to gain tr…

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I feel like my algorithm is messing with me.

For reasons unclear, ghee keeps showing up in my feeds. In recipes. In wellness posts. In videos from people I follow and some from those I don’t. If I believe what I see online, there are a growing number of people spooning clarified butter into sauté pans, drizzling it over vegetables, and talking about it like it’s liquid gold.

The irony is that I don’t even use ghee. I’ve never paid much attention to it, mostly because I tend to be mindful of concentrated sources of saturated fat.

But maybe the algorithm sensed weakness. Or maybe, after spending weeks organizing a medical conference focused on cardiovascular disease prevention and management through nutrition, my phone has decided I now need a distraction.

Because here’s the thing: much of the messaging online around ghee seems to drift far from what we know about dietary fats and cardiovascular health.

So today, I want to take a closer look at ghee and figure out whether the algorithm is …

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For those of us in academia, graduation season is equal parts celebration and survival. I spent this past weekend in Los Angeles for my niece’s college graduation. A very quick, very packed, two-day trip filled with family dinners, inspirational speeches, and just under three free hours before my flight home. Naturally, I did what any nutrition professional with mild occupational curiosity would do: I went to Erewhon.

Erewhon is the upscale wellness market that somehow manages to make groceries feel both therapeutic and aspirational. Part of the fun of places like this is anthropological. I wanted to see what the current wellness obsession looked like in the wild. What’s replacing coconut oil and celery juice? What ingredient has quietly worked its way into smoothies, gummies, powders, and supplements?

The answer was sea moss. It was everywhere. And yes, in a moment of complete predictability, I ordered the Strawberry Glaze Skin smoothie (aka Hailey Bieber smoothie) because if I’m goin…

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It feels like everyone is walking around with a beverage lately. Regardless of the temperature, there always seems to be someone clutching an iced drink in some sort of earthy hue: turmeric lattes, matcha smoothies, ginger-lemon spritzes.

And people take them everywhere: on the subway, heading into workout classes, walking to work, leaving the gym. I’m never quite sure whether these are meal replacements or emotional support beverages.

From my vantage point, most people seem to be drinking them under the assumption that good things will follow. The term I hear tossed around most is anti-inflammatory.

But what does that actually mean? And are these powdered spices and wellness concoctions genuinely doing anything, or are we mostly just sipping optimism through a biodegradable straw?

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I’m introducing a paid tier for those who want ongoing access to the archive.

Weekly posts will remain free, and each will be available for 2 weeks after publication, so if you don’t get to it right away, you have some time.

That said, these pieces take a significant amount of time to research, write, and build out. If you find yourself coming back to them, the paid tier gives you full access to the archive. Think of it as buying me a cup of coffee each month to support the work.

I’ve noticed an uptick in headlines tied to topics I’ve written about recently.

Today, I’ll start with a quick scan of what’s been showing up in the news, and then zoom in on one topic that seems to be everywhere right now: glyphosate.

It’s a confusing one, and for good reason. On the one hand, glyphosate has been linked to cancer. On the other hand, it’s still widely used in our food system, and recent policy moves have aimed to increase its domestic production.

And then there’s the part that really throws people…

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I recently came across a video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. describing a diagnosis from his doctor.

He had a full-body MRI and was told his organs were “covered in visceral fat.” The warning: he was on a fast track to atrial fibrillation. The prescription? A carnivore diet.

Thirty days later, he says he had lost 40% of that visceral fat. At his most recent scan, he claims he’s now in the 1st percentile. He also mentioned that “about half the cabinet” is following suit.

It reads a bit like a before-and-after infomercial. And like most infomercials, it raises more questions than it answers.

Because in the span of a few minutes, we jumped from a complex clinical concept (visceral fat), to advanced imaging (MRI), to an extreme dietary intervention (the carnivore diet), all wrapped into a neat cause-and-effect story.

The problem is, the body doesn’t work that cleanly. So before we start clearing out our refrigerators and stocking them with ribeyes, it’s worth slowing down and asking a few basic qu…

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Soy came up in class the other day.

It wasn’t planned. It wasn’t part of the lecture. It was just one of those moments where a student asked a simple question and suddenly the room split in half.

Is soy healthy?
Should we be avoiding it?
But isn’t tofu good for us and the planet?
What about breast cancer?
Doesn’t soy help with menopause symptoms?
Is this why men get “man boobs”?

I felt like I was at a tennis match.

What struck me wasn’t the questions themselves; it was how polar opposite the stances were. Soy was either positioned as a superfood or something to avoid at all costs.

So instead of picking a side, I’m going to take a look at the evidence and see what it says about soy: its benefits, its risks, and where the concerns come from.

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I met Andrea Glenn during her interview for a faculty position in NYU’s Department of Nutrition & Food Studies. Our department chair encouraged me to connect with her while she was on campus…”You two have a lot in common.”

I remember internally rolling my eyes. Not every dietitian clicks. And then I sat in on her research presentation, met with her in my office, and realized, oh, this is different.

We were both looking at nutrition through the same lens: not as isolated nutrients on a spreadsheet, but as food, real food, showing up in real life, on real plates. The kind of lens that asks not just what works in theory, but what actually works when someone walks into a grocery store on a Tuesday night.

Since then, she’s become one of my closest collaborators. We’ve presented together, built a Food as Medicine course with the School of Medicine, and are currently planning a culinary medicine conference for physicians and dietitians.

And if there’s one thing Andrea has, it’s a sharp read o…

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