The Junk Food Nutritionist

Sopes are an easy vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore dinner option from Mexico. The base is a fried masa patty, which you can top with anything you like. Corn Masa Sopes with Bean, Corn, and Onions Yum Serves 4 Estimated time: 45 - 60 minutes Dough: Makes 8 thin patties or 4 thick patties 1 ¼ cup corn masa or corn flour (not corn meal) 1 ¼ cup warm water, divided, or as needed 1 Tablespoon oil and more for frying 1. Mix together ingredients in a bowl until dough holds together. I recommend adding the water in ½ cup or ¼ cup increments and stopping when the dough can be formed into a ball. 2. Take a handful of dough and form into a patty. Thinner patties will be crunchier when fried and thicker patties will remain doughy inside. 3. Heat oil in a frying pan on the stove over medium heat. I recommend deep-frying, but you can fry in a shallow amount of oil. 4. Cook for 5 minutes, or until golden on both sides, flipping halfway through cooking. 5. Remove fro...

If you saw my diet post , you’ll see it’s possible to avoid fast food when you have a busy schedule and limited funds. I work a part-time job for minimum wage ($7.25/hr), work a full time unpaid internship, and attend graduate-level night classes (required for my internship). I received no financial aid for said classes, not even a loan, and my undergrad loan is in repayment.  Thus, I’m busy and broke. But I NEVER eat fast food (not even so called "healthy" fast food). Here’s how…  

 Need a gluten-free and/or vegan treat for your Valentine?  After the jump, I'll share a simple recipe for vegan peanut butter cups and chocolate-dipped cookies. If, like me, you don't have someone special to share Valentine's Day with, you can make these simple chocolate treats for yourself.

Losing weight without trying sounds great, right? For many overweight and obese individuals, it sounds great. But, for me, an already healthy-weight nutritionist, it means something’s wrong.  What it means for me is that I’m not nourishing my body . The good news is that I know why I’m losing weight. My dietetic internship keeps me busy and broke. Here’s a look at yesterday’s food intake:

           After giving a presentation on diabetes, I was asked what the “healthiest” food to eat. Answer: There is no single healthiest food. What’s the healthy diet depends on your definition of healthy. This is different for everyone. That said, here are some recommendations for everyone… Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR) AMDR is a fancy phrase for how much carbs, fat, and protein are recommended by the Institute of Medicine : 45-65% Calories from Carbohydrates 20-35% Calories from Fat 10-35% Calories from Protein (10-25% recommended by Australian Ministry of Health ) Because these nutrient recommendations are a range, everyone can get them differently. Some people do very well on a high carb diet with 65% calories from carbohydrates. Diabetics are often told to eat closer to 50% calories from carbs, and some people do well with only 45% calories from carbs. Why so many carbohydrates? What...