Dr. Ann

Healthy Eating & Nutrition


Recipe: Incredibly Tasty Black Bean Burgers

I worked for a few months tweaking this recipe until I nailed it. This wholesome bean-based burger is everything you are looking for – delicious, filling, super-healthy and easy to make.

Healthy Eating & Nutrition, Healthy Living


Fermented Foods Score a Huge Win

This is really big! In an elegantly conducted clinical trial by one of the world’s most esteemed microbiome scientists we find that stepping up the intake of fermented foods is a quick and effective way to boost gut microbial diversity AND decrease damaging inflammation—even more so than stepping up your intake of fiber-rich plant foods! […]


Foods Highest In Flavonoids, Flavones, & Anthocyanins

These remarkable compounds have been linked to powerful health protection and are especially known for their anti-inflammatory and gut microbiome-enhancing properties. Flavonoids Dark Leafy Greens Onions Apples Berries Cherries Dark Chocolate Soybeans Coffee Red Wine Freshly Brewed Green and Black Tea Citrus Fruits  Flavones Parsley – fresh best Apples – organic best; eat the skin […]

Brain Health, Healthy Living


Tips for Better Sleep

  Sleep is paramount for health and weight control. Fortunately, there are some easy ways to prevent sleep deprivation from putting a damper on your health and your diet. Here’s what I suggest: -Strive to get at least seven hours of restful sleep a night. Some people do even better with eight. -Make the room […]

Flavonoid-rich foods just landed a major brain health win. Flavonoids are plant-based compounds revered for their potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory prowess, as well as their propensity to enhance the growth of good gut bacteria. For this long term study, researchers evaluated the cognitive function of 2,800 middle-age and older adults at baseline (all normal to […]

October 10, 2021 •

Practice Moving Daily!

Regular physical activity is the closest thing to the “magic bullet” for guarding the health and   vitality of both your brain and your body.   Benefits almost too numerous to count. However, you must understand that we now know that the human body and brain require a certain threshold amount of physical activity daily […]

These remarkable compounds have been linked to powerful health protection and are especially known for their anti-inflammatory and gut microbiome-enhancing properties. Flavonoids Dark Leafy Greens Onions Apples Berries Cherries Dark Chocolate Soybeans Coffee Red Wine Freshly Brewed Green and Black Tea Citrus Fruits  Flavones Parsley – fresh best Apples – organic best; eat the skin […]

Gut microbes directly impact stroke severity and stroke outcomes. That was the riveting conclusion from a first-of-its-kind laboratory study. This illuminating discovery is thanks to an esteemed group of Cleveland Clinic scientists with over a decade of experience unraveling the relationship between TMAO, a toxic compound created by certain species of gut microbes, and health […]

Long-chained omega 3 fats like those in oily fish are firmly established as pivotal agents for brain health and regulating inflammation. Now, an eye-popping new lab study is revealing that these precious fats appear to be a powerful weapon for killing cancer cells as well. To make this determination, scientists conducted two studies. In the first, scientists added […]

July 6, 2021 •

Fruit Fights Diabetes

If you love fruit like I do, you will be happy to learn that Mother Nature’s dessert appears to be a mighty safeguard against type 2 diabetes. In a study that monitored the diets and health of 7,675 Australian adults over a period of five years, those consuming two servings of fruit a day were 36 percent […]

Processed foods and red meat drive a proinflammatory gut microbiome. That was the conclusion of a new study that monitored the diets as well as the gut microbes of 1,425 study subjects across four groups—those with Crohn’s disease, those with ulcerative colitis, those with irritable bowel syndrome, and normal subjects.Across all groups, higher intakes of animal foods, sugar, processed foods, and […]

May 26, 2021 •

More Greens, More Strength

Popeye was right. Consuming leafy greens appears to strengthen our muscles! In a study that followed the diets and physical status of 3,759 men and women over a 12-year period, those consuming the most dietary nitrate, a compound abundant in leafy greens, exhibited significantly greater strength of the lower extremities relative to those consuming the least.  These […]

May 26, 2021 •

Make Room for Mushrooms

Make room for more mushrooms! That was the upshot of a large review study examining the relationship between eating mushrooms and cancer risk. The review included 17 previously published studies encompassing over 19,500 study subjects. The results? In study subjects consuming the most mushrooms (around 18 grams a day or a small handful), cancer risk […]

Buy your starch staples in volume. There is always superior “value in volume,” and the starches I recommend are some of the very best nutritional buys of the entire grocery store, going for as little as 10 cents per serving. Choose the biggest bags or containers available for your brown rice oatmeal dried beans quinoa […]

If you’re like most Americans, the never-ending stream of ultra-processed, highly palatable foods that define our modern food supply has hijacked your taste buds. But have no fear! Fortunately, our sense of taste is highly malleable. This means that your taste buds can be coaxed into loving the simple and less intense flavor profiles typical […]

Roasting is arguably the healthiest and tastiest way to prepare your veggies.  It preserves their nutrients while concentrating their natural sugars and flavors which makes them particularly yummy to even the pickiest palates.  Roasting also dramatically shrinks them in size (because it removes their water), making it easier to consume more in 1 sitting.  Based […]