On days when staying awake and focused seem nearly impossible, how can I keep my energy up during the day without ruining my diet with too much caffeine and sugar?
Before we talk about nutrition, we need to talk about sleep. Just cutting down your sleep by one hour will have a huge negative effect on your energy for the rest of day. Nutrition For You doesn’t recommend a particular number of sleeping hours per night.  We all have our own individual sleep needs but it is very important to realize …

Many Americans think bananas are fattening because they are high in calories and more dense in carbohydrates compared to other fruits.  This is not true.  Bananas, like any other fruit, are fattening when consumed in excess, which underscores the importance of understanding serving sizes.  A serving of bananas is 4 oz in weight, which is equivalent to ½ a large banana.  And so consuming a whole large banana is equivalent to having two servings of fruit.  Having a banana most days of the week, therefore, can be part of a …

Many Americans love a good cup of coffee.  But the nutritive value of this beloved beverage has remained under scrutiny.  More recent medical studies, however, show that drinking regular or decaffeinated coffee moderately can actually provide numerous health benefits.

Health Benefits
Coffee is rich in a variety of antioxidants which researchers believe may be responsible for its cancer-fighting and disease-preventing benefits.  For example, research studies suggest that moderate coffee consumption may be linked to a decreased rate of Type 2 diabetes and liver cancer.  Drinking coffee moderately may also reduce the risks …

by Manuel Villacorta
Recently The New England Journal of Medicine released a two-year study on the Comparison of Weight-Loss diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates.
Popular media outlets took this 2 year study and drastically over-simplified the findings into something as simple as “Reducing Calories leads to weight loss regardless of what you eat.”  Look at these sample headlines from a quick search on the web.
“Weight loss bottom line: Fewer calories Carbohydrate, protein, or fat content doesn’t play a key role” – Harvard Science
“Diets That Reduce Calories Lead to …

Manuel Villacorta talks about metabolism at DivineCaroline.com:
What is metabolism?
Metabolism refers to your body’s ability to digest and utilize food energy (in calorie form) in order to maintain essential bodily functions like breathing and regulating heartbeats. “It’s the amount of calories that your body uses to make sure that it’s continually surviving,” Villacorta explains. One’s metabolic rate is determined by how quickly it can use up consumed calories, and that rate is affected by a variety of factors: age, weight, exercise, eating habits, and so forth. In order to condition our …