Dr. Ann

There is now a mountain of scientific evidence that belly (visceral) fat is particularly dangerous so I am excited to share results from a new report that identified two simple strategies for fighting this menace.  For this evaluation, Wake Forest researchers followed 1,114 people over a 5-year period to determine what dietary and lifestyle factors […]

I consider plain yogurt an exceptionally good-for-you-food and encourage you to make your own. The taste and texture of homemade yogurt is sublime and it is as easy to make as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! (At least according to my daughter Lucie who is the yogurt maker in my home.) Here is how […]

Are you eating healthy when you dine out? Here are a few surprising facts about foods you may (or may not) have considered healthy choices: Many entree salads have tons of calories, especially when you add full-fat dressing or order them with breaded/fried chicken on top. Relative to most other choices, chili is a reasonably […]

Want to know where my passion for healthy eating comes from? This movie trailer says it all! Click to view: Forks Over Knives

The British Medical Journal (May 2011) reported that young children between the ages of 3-5 who slept less than 11 hours per day were significantly more likely to become overweight by the age of 7. Conversely, for every additional hour of sleep a night for children ages 3-5, the risk of being overweight at the […]

All varieties of nuts offer a treasure trove of healthy goodness, but walnuts are emerging as the crown jewels. Like all nuts, walnuts provide heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, fiber, and several key minerals, but can also claim two additional features that push them further up the ladder of nature’s most awesome disease-fighting foods. Relative to other […]

The importance of optimal sleep in terms of health and quality of life cannot be overstated.  Inadequate sleep has been consistently linked to a growing list of modern day ills including weight gain, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, emotional disorders and metabolic syndrome.  According to a new study, it appears to be a major “brain […]

I promised to keep you abreast of the flood of new science related to vitamin D and health so here goes…. In a study that included 554 generally healthy middle-aged adults, those with lower vitamin D levels had stiffer arteries and poorer blood vessel function.  Those with full-fledged vitamin D deficiency had abnormal blood vessel […]

If you want to burn more calories after a meal and experience reduced hunger, add a liberal dash or two of red pepper.  Past studies have shown that capsaicin, the component in chili peppers that provides its hot kick, can mitigate hunger and boost metabolism.  A hot-off-the-press new clinical trial confirmed these findings and found […]

Worried about your memory?  I have some promising news from 2 new studies.  In the first, scientists gave a dietary supplement of DHA, the omega 3 fat that comprises much of the solid structure of the brain, to a group of healthy older adults who met the criteria for age-related cognitive decline.  A second group […]

The healthy image of apples just received a nice polish thanks to a new report.  In this first-of-its-kind study, scientists demonstrated that antioxidant compounds in apples called polyphenols can extend the average lifespan in laboratory test animals (in this case, fruit flies) by 10%.  In addition to increasing longevity, the apple polyphenols also helped the […]

In an intriguing new report, scientists found that study subjects with the highest HDL cholesterol levels had the lowest risk of developing colon cancer.  The investigation was part of the EPIC study, which is tracking the impact of diet and cancer risk in more than half a million Europeans.  Scientists compared 1,200 study subjects who […]