Nutrition Diva

887. Has everyone been protein-pilled? After a few years of protein everything, from bread to taco chips to vodka, the backlash has arrived, complete with warnings that a high-protein diet could harm your heart, your kidneys, and your waistline.Some of the products on grocery store shelves are pretty silly. But many of the warnings about protein don’t hold up either. The truth sits somewhere between the hype and the anti-hype.In this episode, Monica sorts the nutrition facts from the nutrition myths on both sides:Why “90% of Americans already get enough protein” depends on what “enough” means, and who’s includedWho may need more protein than the RDA, including older adults, people recovering from illness or injury, and people losing weight or taking anti-obesity medicationsWhy it can make sense to put a “high protein” label on eggs, and why you should always check the nutrition facts label instead of the front of the packageHow protein became a health halo, and why added protein doesn’t cancel out sugar, sodi

886. Put "GLP-1" on a label and you can sell almost anything right now: supplements, snacks, drink powders, even a gadget that sits next to your toilet.Some of these products are designed for people taking GLP-1 medications, who can have real nutritional needs. Others promise to boost your body's own GLP-1 as a path to weight loss. That second pitch is a lot shakier, and the reason comes down to what these medications are and how they work.Monica separates the science from the marketing:What GLP-1 is, and what this gut hormone does after you eatWhy semaglutide, tirzepatide, and retatrutide aren't technically "GLP-1s," and what receptor agonists, dual agonists, and triple agonists areThe more accurate names the medical community has proposed for this drug class, and why none of them has stuckHow fermentable soluble fiber feeds your gut microbiome, produces short-chain fatty acids, and raises natural GLP-1Why nobody was talking about boosting natural GLP-1 until these medications too

885. You need choline every day. Nobody can tell you exactly how much. There's no RDA for choline, because there isn't enough data to set one. What we have instead is an estimate — and it traces back largely to a single study that enrolled only men. The numbers for women were scaled down from there, mostly by body size.Choline is an essential nutrient a lot of people have never heard of. Your liver makes some of it, but not enough, so the rest has to come from food. It's needed to build phosphatidylcholine and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and it plays an outsized role in brain development before birth and in early childhood.Monica walks through what's known and what isn't:Why choline gets grouped with the B vitamins even though it isn't oneWhat severe deficiency does to the liver, and what recent research links low intake to in older adultsWhy there's no RDA for choline, and what an Adequate Intake is actually based onHow estrogen changes the picture, and why premenopausal w

884. Your doctor can write you a prescription for a statin or a blood pressure medication. What if they could also prescribe fresh vegetables, and your health insurance paid for them?That’s one of the central ideas behind the Food Is Medicine movement, and cardiologist Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian is one of its leading voices. In his new book, “Food Is Medicine: Healing Our Bodies, Nourishing Our Minds, and Transforming Our Food System,” he argues that diet is the leading driver of chronic disease in the US and that it can also be part of the treatment.Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN, talks with Dr. Mozaffarian about:What “food is medicine” means, and what it doesn’tHow produce prescriptions and medically tailored meals and groceries work, and how they differ from SNAPPromising results from pilot programs serving people with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart failure, and high-risk pregnanciesWhy opening grocery stores in food deserts didn’t change how people ateWhat car safety and anti-smoking efforts can teach

883. You've probably been told to skip broccoli, garlic, spicy food, sushi, peanuts and even your morning coffee while breast-feeding. How much of that advice holds up?Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN, sorts fact from folklore on what to eat and what to avoid while nursing. She covers the colic theory about cruciferous vegetables, the open question of whether eating peanuts during breast-feeding affects a baby's allergy risk, and the NIH ESCAPE trial now testing it.In this episode, Monica explainsWhether cabbage, broccoli and garlic really cause gas and colic in breast-fed babiesWhy spicy food doesn't harm breast milk, and how your diet shapes your baby's food preferencesWhat the research says about peanuts during breast-feeding, and why early peanut introduction cuts allergy riskHow much caffeine and alcohol are considered safe, and how long to wait before nursingWhy the pregnancy rules on sushi and soft cheese don't apply while nursingWhich fish to choose, how many extra calories and fluids you

882. Someone in your office comes back from vacation with a box of soups and shakes and announces they're doing a five-day fast. Except they're eating.Fasting-mimicking diets are unusual among viral wellness protocols in that there is a real body of peer-reviewed research behind them. There is also a company selling the five-day kits, founded by the researcher who developed the protocol and funding many of the trials. Both of those things are true at the same time.In this episode, Monica breaks down what the research actually shows:What the five-day protocol involves, including the calorie targets and why it's deliberately low in proteinWhat "fasting mimicking" means, and which effects of a multi-day fast it's trying to reproduceThe 2017 trial in 100 healthy adults, where participants lost about five and a half pounds over three months but saw no change in blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, or inflammationWhy the subgroup findings are interesting and why they aren't proofT

699.What's the latest guidance on how much protein we should eat, and what sources of protein are best, especially as we age? In response to a New York Times article released this week, we are bringing back this episode form 2023, with a fresh introduction from Monica.New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself!Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips.Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.comNutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adaptogens, Botanicals, and Boosters: Which Products Actually Deliver? | Nutrition Diva LIVE in NYC!In this special live episode, recorded at the Drinks with Benefits alcohol-free festival in New York City—brought to you in partnership with Liquid I.V.—host Monica Reinagel dives into the fascinating world of functional beverages to separate scientific fact from clever marketing.Monica explains exactly what you should look for on a label, how much of an active ingredient you actually need to see results, and why a sprinkle of "mushroom dust" doesn't necessarily make a beverage functional.This episode explores the real evidence behind today's trendiest drink categories, including:Adaptogens: How ingredients like ashwagandha affect stress resilience and why daily consistency matters.Nootropics: The truth about mushroom coffee blends, and the powerful, jitter-free cognitive focus created by combining L-theanine and caffeine.Sleep Aids: Why timing is everything for melatonin, and the current evid

881. Bodybuilders have been taking creatine for decades, and its effects on strength and muscle mass are well established. Lately it's also being sold for brain health, better sleep, and menopause. The evidence on those newer claims is a lot thinner, but it isn't nothing.Creatine is stored mostly in your muscles, where it powers short bursts of high-intensity effort. Your body makes some of it, and you get the rest from meat and fish, which is why vegans tend to run lower. Stores also decline with age as muscle mass drops.Monica walks through what the research actually shows, including her own experiment with creatine supplementation:Why creatine doesn't build muscle directly, and what it does insteadThe 2 to 5 pounds of water weight most people gain in the first few weeks, and why it isn't the kind you'd notice in your jeansWhat a 2025 meta-analysis found about creatine, resistance training, and strength in adults over 50, and why the training group eventually caught upThe sleep-deprivation studies, where a

880. CoQ10 shows up in cellular energy production, in antioxidant defense, and increasingly, in marketing aimed at anyone over fifty. It's sold for energy, for athletic performance, and especially to the millions of people taking a statin, since those medications really do lower CoQ10 levels in the blood.So who genuinely benefits? In this episode, Monica sorts the credible case from the promotional one. She covers why your body makes most of its own CoQ10 rather than getting it from food, what statins actually do to your levels and whether that matters, and what the evidence says about the claim that CoQ10 relieves statin-related muscle pain. You'll also hear the better-validated steps to try before reaching for a supplement, why she compares this situation to glucosamine and joint pain, how to take CoQ10 if you decide to test it yourself, and why the energy-boosting claims deserve real skepticism.Join us for a live show taping on September 17 in New York City. Details at wellnessworkshere.com/live.New t

879. Are you eating too much protein, or not enough? The honest answer is that the question itself is flawed, because there's no single number that fits everyone.In this episode, Monica breaks down why protein needs shift across a lifetime. The mTOR "growth switch" inside your cells runs hot during childhood, powering the tissue-building that young bodies require. In your 30s and 40s, dialing protein back may nudge cells toward repair and cleanup instead. And after 50, when muscle naturally starts to decline, eating more actually helps preserve strength, mobility, and bone health well into later years.She also puts the recent longevity headlines in context. A widely covered review of animal studies found that lower protein intake can extend lifespan in flies and rodents, yet those results don't map neatly onto human biology, where lifestyle, genetics, and the rest of your diet all shape how you grow older.Monica offers a more grounded way to think about protein: match your intake to your age, sex, and activit

878. A tick bite you may not even remember getting can leave you unable to eat a hamburger, a slice of pizza, or a bowl of ice cream. That's alpha-gal syndrome, and it's turning up far outside its original range.Alpha-gal is a sugar molecule found in the cells of most mammals but not in humans. When a lone star tick injects it under the skin, the immune system can start treating it as a threat. After that, beef, pork, lamb, venison, and sometimes dairy or gelatin can trigger a reaction three to six hours later, which is a big part of why this food allergy goes undiagnosed for years.Today, Monica breaks down what the research actually shows:Why the lone star tick's range is expanding into the Midwest, the Northeast, and eastern CanadaHow alpha-gal syndrome differs from Lyme disease, and why they get confusedWhat the CDC's estimate of 450,000 cases means, and why the "1 in 4" figure circulating on social media isn't measuring the same thingWhat a diagnosis means for your diet, including collagen, gelatin, organ

Eight glasses a day. An ounce per pound. A pinch of salt in your water. Everyone has a hydration rule, and most of them came from somewhere other than the research. This live episode was recorded in front of an audience at the Friends of the National Arboretum in Washington, DC (@fonarboretum), with an outdoor yoga session led by Bikram Yoga Works (@bikramyogaworks). Thank you to both for making the night possible.Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN, answers listener questions about hydration and explains what the research actually supports. She breaks down the four phases of hydration, which are intake, absorption, retention, and distribution, and explains why sodium and glucose work together to pull fluid out of your digestive system and into your tissues faster than water alone. That mechanism is exactly what an electrolyte drink mix like Liquid I.V. is built around, which is why it can be such a useful tool when you are sweating hard, training, traveling, or just trying to keep up on a hot day.Monica also cover

877. L-theanine, an amino acid found in tea leaves, is having a moment with longevity enthusiasts and menopause influencers alike, promoted to calm anxiety, clear brain fog, improve sleep, and slow aging. But does the research hold up? In this episode, Monica breaks down what the studies on L-theanine actually show about attention, sleep quality, stress, and cellular aging, and why a cup of coffee or a short nap might do just as much for your focus.This is the expert roundtable on healthy aging that Monica participated in with USNWR that triggered this episode on theanine.ReferencesCognitive and affective effects of L-Theanine: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 31 randomized trials | Molecular Psychiatry The effects of L-theanine consumption on sleep outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis - ScienceDirect L-Theanine Extends the Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans by Reducing the End Products of Advanced Glycosylation l-theanine: From tea leaf to trending supplement – does the scie

876. There's no vitamin F or G. After E, we jump straight to K, and that quirk is a hint that this nutrient is more complicated than it looks. Vitamin K isn't one thing. It's a whole family of compounds -- K1, K2, MK-4, MK-7 -- that come from different sources and do completely different jobs, from blood clotting to steering calcium into your bones instead of your artery walls.In this episode, Monica untangles the confusing terminology and gets to the question listeners keep asking: does a vitamin K2 supplement actually protect your bones? She digs into what the research really shows, including a widely cited meta-analysis that lumped together two very different kinds of studies, why the prescription-strength results don't tell you much about the low-dose supplement in your cabinet, and whether the food and gut bacteria you already have might be doing the job on their own. Plus, the truth about taking vitamin K with your vitamin D.New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection

On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in November 2025.838. Are manufacturers using a regulatory loophole to sneak untested chemicals into our food? In this episode, we break down what GRAS really means, why it exists, and how the process works. Resources:GRAS databaseDatabase of substances added to foodsNew to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself! We've also curated some great playlists on specific episode topics including Staying Strong as We Age, Diabetes, Weight Loss That Lasts and Gut Health! Also, find a playlist of our bone health series, Stronger Bones at Every Age. Have a nutrition question? Send an email to [email protected] Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the

874. If you're prone to kidney stones, you've probably been told to cut back on calcium. If you're worried about your bones, you've been told to get more. So which is it?Turns out it's a false choice. The old advice to restrict dietary calcium doesn't lower your risk of calcium stones -- it can raise it, while leaving your bones more vulnerable to loss. In this episode, Monica breaks down why the calcium in your food behaves so differently from the calcium in a pill, when timing it with a meal actually makes a difference, and how much calcium and vitamin D you really need if you're filling a gap.She also looks at how sodium, animal protein, and fluid intake each shape your kidney stone risk, and why the same evidence-based eating habits that guard against osteopenia and protect bone health as you age are also the ones that protect your kidneys.Related episodes130 - Are you getting enough calcium? Could you be getting too much?131 - What are the best sources of calcium?427 - Does a high protein diet weaken you

On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in November 2024.California recently enacted legislation to ban certain food dyes in public schools. What’s the scientific case to support this?Nutrition Diva is hosted by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN. Transcripts are available at Simplecast.New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself! We've also curated some great playlists on specific episode topics including Staying Strong as We Age, Diabetes, Weight Loss That Lasts and Gut Health! Also, find a playlist of our bone health series, Stronger Bones at Every Age. Have a nutrition question? Send an email to [email protected] Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and n

874. Some wellness articles promise that certain foods can flush plastics and forever chemicals out of your body. In this episode, Monica tracked down the actual studies behind those claims, looking at what the research on fiber, probiotics, and antioxidants really shows about clearing PFAS. She also unpacks why PFAS and microplastics keep getting lumped together even though they behave nothing alike, and covers the practical steps that do the most to limit your exposure. ReferencesPer- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in circulation in a Canadian population: their association with serum-liver enzyme biomarkers and piloting a novel method to reduce serum-PFAS - PMC Human gut bacteria bioaccumulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances - PMCRelated episodes871: Can you eat your way off your cholesterol medication?756: Can you absorb nutrients through the skin?Nutrition Diva is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast, hosted by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN, founder of Wellness Works Here.New to Nutrition Diva?

On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in August 2024.Examining whether vitamins and nutrients can really be absorbed through the skin using products like patches and creams. New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself! We've also curated some great playlists on specific episode topics including Staying Strong as We Age, Diabetes, Weight Loss That Lasts and Gut Health! Also, find a playlist of our bone health series, Stronger Bones at Every Age. Have a nutrition question? Send an email to [email protected] Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips. Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.comNutrit