Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RD
Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RD
Article Archive
Nutrition scope of practice is not just a matter of professional ethics. In some states it’s a matter of law, and violators can be prosecuted.
Read More
Integrating these 12 strategies into your nutrition-related coaching sessions and programs will help clients with diet adherence.
Read More
Behavior change theories are used to explain what drives a person to make a change and keep at it. Five key variables seem to play the greatest roles.
Read More
Families need you! A growing body of research makes it clear: Families provide a powerful force in supporting—or opposing—better health behaviors. Indeed, the authors of a state-of-the-art review in a prestigious cardiology journal call families “a linchpin for cardiovascular health promotion throughout the life course” (Vedanthan et al. 2016). Whether you work primarily with children,…
Read More
The principal tasting mechanism is the taste bud, a bundle of nerves that sense five kinds of flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (savory).
Read More
In an industry that strives to help people improve health and fitness, there is still a significant amount of judgment and stigma toward people with obesity.
Read More
Do you want to be a wrestler or a dancer?
This question stands at the center of motivational interviewing (MI), which emerged more than three decades ago to assist people in making difficult changes like overcoming addiction. Health coaches can use MI to help people stop harmful behaviors and start helpful ones. Consider a likely scenario:
Read More
Do you want to be a wrestler or a dancer?
This question stands at the center of motivational interviewing (MI), which emerged more than three decades ago to assist people in making difficult changes like overcoming addiction. Health coaches can use MI to help people stop harmful behaviors and start helpful ones. Consider a likely scenario:
Read More
It’s time for Americans to shift their focus from calories, macronutrients and micronutrients to taste, culture and mindfulness. After all, our preoccupation with dieting and health fads has us restricting foods, chasing unsustainable weight loss goals and feeling bad about our nutrition choices—but all we have to show for it is rising rates of overweight, obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Read More
Research has shown that the best weight loss plan is the one people can stick with for the long term (Johnston et al. 2014). For some, that may be a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet. For others, it may be a high-carbohydrate plan that’s low in saturated fat. Yet another group may need a complete macronutrient balance.
Read More
Health and fitness professionals can drive positive outcomes and minimize the risk adolescent obesity with these five “rules” for coaching.
Read More
Today’s inactive kids are tomorrow’s unhealthy adults. Our society will pay the price for young people’s profound lack of exercise if we fail to turn this trend around. Few behaviors more significantly influence child health than physical activity. Yet children and adolescents are not moving enough, at the expense of their own health as well as that of their communities. More needs to be done to support families and society in raising fit kids.
Read More
Maintaining weight loss is extraordinarily difficult for most people for myriad reasons, some understood and others less so.
In February, PLOS Medicine published results of the first randomized controlled human study looking for connections between weight loss and exposure to synthetic chemicals called perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The researchers found that higher blood levels of PFAS don’t affect weight loss but are associated with greater weight regain, especially in women.
Out with soda and in with . . . sparkling water. Health-conscious Americans looking for a carbonated-beverage fix are in luck as sparkling water takes over store shelves across the country. The sugar-free bubbling water is a great hydration source and is free of artificial sweeteners and other processed ingredients common in diet sodas.
Read More
A February study in the journal Pediatrics debunked reports that childhood obesity rates were leveling off or in decline. In fact, the study found that despite substantial efforts to curb the epidemic in recent years, obesity rates have increased for every demographic—especially preschool children and adolescent girls. Moreover, the study cited a substantial rise in severe obesity in children.
Read More
Peanut allergies affect 2% of U.S. children and are the leading cause of death by food allergies. Unlike many of them, peanut allergies are rarely outgrown, and there are currently no treatments. People with peanut allergies must scrutinize everything they eat and keep a lifesaving epinephrine injection pen on hand in case of an accidental exposure.
Read More
The nutrition label on packaged products is to be revamped—but when is anyone’s guess. The Obama administration approved a July 2018 deadline, which the Trump team pushed back to January 2020, citing concerns that industry needed more time to comply (the 2020 date is for larger companies; smaller businesses have a year longer).
In March, the FDA issued guidance to industry on the new labels, prompting some consumer advocacy organizations to urge the FDA to move up compliance dates. After all, more than 15,000 products on shelves already carry the new label.
An April study looked at the marketing and promotion of toddler drinks—formulas, milk drinks and other beverages for children aged 9–36 months. The research, published in the journal Preventive Medicine, found that these drinks are heavily marketed to parents, poorly regulated, and nutritionally inferior to whole cow’s milk and a balanced diet. The drinks consist primarily of powdered milk, corn syrup solids or other added caloric sweeteners, plus vegetable oil. They also have more sodium and less protein than cow’s milk.
Read More
Some of the most profound and useful study findings on the psychology and marketing of food and eating published over the past two decades may be invalid. The famed, and now shunned, Cornell researcher Brian Wansink and his Food and Brand Lab published hundreds of studies, many of which have not stood up to scientific scrutiny.
Read More
As part of an effort to rebuild its brand as a health-and-wellness company rather than a diet brand (and to gain new loyal customers), Weight Watchers® announced in February that it will start a free weight management program for teens this summer. Controversy erupted immediately among health professionals and the public.
Read More