Monthly Insights

By Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN Clean eating has been a full-fledged trend for almost 20 years, emerging in the women’s bodybuilding world before expanding into nutrition and wellness spaces, despite the lack of an official “clean eating” definition or diet.  One person might define clean eating as trying to eat more nutrient-dense “whole” foods while […]

Do your busy weeks get in the way of thinking about what you want to eat? Do you find yourself making impulsive food choices because you waited too long to eat and then ended up extremely hungry? Here’s a question: Have you ever thought about preparing your meals for the week? Food planning and prepping […]

I remember when I was a dietetics student, and my professor and mentor Dr. Christine Hamilton Smith lectured on Sjögren’s Syndrome. I also remember seeing questions about this condition when I was studying for and taking the RD examination. Some 28 years later, I’m not only reflecting on the number of patients with Sjögren’s Syndrome […]

By Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN The thing about stereotypes is that there’s usually a nugget of truth in there somewhere. But taking what’s true for a few and generalizing it to everyone is still a problem, no matter what we’re talking about. So right now, let’s talk about eating disorders.  Even though we should know […]

By Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN It’s estimated that 10 million Americans have osteoporosis, and another 44 million have low bone density, according to the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation (BHOF). While 1 in 2 women and up to 1 in 4 men will break a bone due to osteoporosis after age 50, the stage is […]

When I was a child, I watched my father struggle with heart issues and other medical conditions. He was ahead of his time, always striving to meditate and be positive. He would attend yoga and meditation retreats—being the only man on these retreats—and I watched him work on calming down his “inner critic” by learning […]

Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN What thoughts come to mind when you hear or read the words “body positivity? Maybe, “It’s wonderful! It changed my life!” or “It’s an idea I’m working on incorporating into my life…and some days are better than others” or “Feel positive about THIS body? Yeah, right” or even, “If I feel […]

By Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN If you want to reduce your risk of cancer — or increase your odds of surviving it—should you avoid sugar? If you go looking for information on the internet, or even in certain books, you might think the answer is a definite “Yes.” However, while there is a connection between […]

As we start 2025, we’re bombarded with the usual messages about New Year’s resolutions—particularly around weight and exercise. The diet and weight loss industries capitalize on New Year’s resolutions, using this annual ritual to perpetuate diet culture messaging. Have you considered pushing back against this by doing something different this year? Could you revisit your […]

—Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN Do you make your own yogurt or have a sourdough starter you’ve been nurturing for years? Maybe you frequently add kombucha and kimchi to your shopping list? If so, you’re in good company. These and other fermented foods have a long and illustrious history—fermentation was a biological method of food preservation […]