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Wait, Are Potato Chips Getting Healthier?

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So many companies are joining the MAHA movement.     Last week I wrote about the major changes Walmart is making to 1,000   Great Value foods .     Pepsi is joining the movement as PepsiCo is revamping its iconic   Lay’s potato chips , one of America’s top selling brands of potato chips.     Everything from ingredients to packaging is changing.   🥔  Ingredient Overhaul:   Lay’s is stripping away artificial flavors and colors across its core chip lineup. That means no more synthetic dyes or mystery additives. Instead, you’ll find: No artificial flavors or colors : Lay’s is removing all synthetic additives from its U.S. chip portfolio, including Lay’s Classic, Baked, and Kettle Cooked varieties.  No more artificial colorings on  barbecue chips  . Natural replacements : Chips will be flavored and colored using  ingredients  like spices, fruit and vegetable extracts, yeast, herbs, and plant-based colo...
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Walmart Joins the MAHA Movement: 1,000 Products to be Reformulated

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So many companies are revising their food products in response to Robert F. Kennedy’s MAHA movement.    Walmart  has announced they will be removing synthetic foods dyes as well as 30 other ingredients from the Great Value store brand by January 2027.    This would affect about 1,000 food products.   🧪  Food Dyes Being Eliminated Walmart plans to phase out the following synthetic  dyes  from Great Value and other private-label brands:          Blue No. 1 and No. 2           Green No. 3           Red No. 3, No. 4, and No. 40           Yellow No. 5 and No. 6           Citrus Red No. 2           Orange B (hasn’t been used for  decades )             Canthaxanthin Why?    Because artificial food dyes have been linked to a variety of health concerns such a...
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Cinnamon: The Everyday Spice with Surprising Health Benefits

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Who doesn’t love cinnamon?    I love sprinkling some on my morning oatmeal.    My kids loved sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on buttered toast.    Did you know cinnamon has some amazing health benefits? Where does cinnamon come from? Did you know we get cinnamon from the bark of the Cinnamomum tree?  Cinnamon  producing regions include Sri Lanka which produces Ceylon cinnamon, Indonesia, Vietnam and India.  Another type of cinnamon is  Cassia cinnamon  that has a stronger, spicier flavor and is the variety you find on grocery store shelves.     🌿  What are Some Health Benefits of Cinnamon That are Backed by Research? 🧬  1. Rich in Antioxidants ·          Cinnamon is loaded with  antioxidants  that help fight oxidative stress and protect cells from damage. 💪  2. Anti-Inflammatory Properties ·          Studies show cinna...
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Are Eggs Good for You? A Nutritionist’s Perspective

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Who doesn’t love eggs?    In an omelet or scrambled for breakfast or egg salad sandwiches for lunch or hard-boiled eggs for a snack.    For many years eggs were given a bad rap because of cholesterol.    At one time even the American Heart Association recommended limiting egg consumption.    With newer research we can enjoy eggs once again.   🥚  What about eggs and cholesterol?  New  research  has not found a link between egg consumption and heart disease, even among men at genetic risk for heart disease.  It seems high blood cholesterol levels are more linked to the saturated fat in meat and trans fats rather than the cholesterol in eggs.  In one Finnish  study , over 1,000 men were followed for 21 years.  They found egg consumption and dietary cholesterol did not significantly increase risk of heart disease.  Harvard  notes , “For most people, an egg a day does not incre...
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What happens when you give up ultra-processed foods?

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What if you and your family decided to forgo ultra-processed foods for a period of time?    Would you notice any changes?    The Wall Street Journal has an article about a  family  that did give up ultra-processed foods for a month and wrote about their experience.   What ultra-processed foods did the  family  give up? There are many definitions of ultra-processed foods, but this family decided to keep it simple.  They decided to exclude foods that contained ingredients like preservatives and emulsifiers that one wouldn’t find in their home kitchen.  “We decided that if a food had an ingredient that we don’t use or could barely pronounce (e.g., maltodextrin, soy lecithin, guar gum), then we wouldn’t buy it.”  🌟  What Happens When You Give Up Ultra-Processed Foods? One Family Tried It for a Month — Here’s What Changed 🧠   Better Mental Health Less anxiety, fewer mood swings, more energy . An  NIH study...
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