Most Popular Dishing Up Nutrition Episodes from 2019

By Nutritional Weight & Wellness Staff
December 27, 2019

Whether you are new to Dishing Up Nutrition or are a faithful listener, we thank you! Dishing Up Nutrition is our way of sharing the power of real food with people everywhere, and we are grateful to each and every one of you who listen! When we started broadcasting Dishing Up Nutrition 15 years ago, little did we know that someday we would have listeners around the world.

While we think that all of our podcast topics are important, we're not above picking favorites! So here are the four most loved, listened to, and shared Dishing Up Nutrition episodes from 2019. 

1. How to Reduce Acid Reflux

• Thirty percent of people experience acid reflux frequently, which can lead to Barrett's esophagus, a disease that can lead to esophageal cancer. So preventing acid reflux is a really important long term health goal.
• A common misconception is that acid reflux is the result of too much stomach acid. Actually, research proves the opposite is true—acid reflux is caused by not having enough acid in your stomach.
• Lack of acid in your stomach can be caused from stress, poor diet, and a lack of good bacteria or probiotics in the gut.
• Surprisingly it’s not the tomatoes, spicy foods, or chocolate that cause acid reflux. The most common culprits for acid reflux are gluten, sugar, beer, and wine.

2. How Food Can Help Hair Loss and Thinning

• As many as 40% of women experience female pattern hair loss and hair thinning.
• The biggest culprit of hair loss and thinning is the lack of two key nutrients our hair needs for growth: protein and fat.
• Hair follicles are among the most metabolically active in the body, and hair growth can be impacted negatively by lack of calories, starvation diets, and protein deficiencies.
• Hair is made up of protein fibers, primarily a protein called Keratin, which is made from several amino acids found in collagen. So it makes perfect sense that we need enough protein in our diets for healthy hair.
• Collagen is the most abundant protein in our body and it helps make up your hair, your skin, your tendons and ligaments. Your body produces collagen, but you can also get it from foods such as bone broth or chicken, beef, pork, fish, or turkey. For more information on collagen, check out this article.

3. Weight Loss Habits

• Common habits holding your weight loss back are happy hour, popcorn, cookie exchanges, drive-thru fast food, and candy snacks.
• Instead of wine at happy hour, try mineral water with a twist of lemon.
• Replace the popcorn with roasted nuts, some organic dark chocolate chips, and a good-quality protein bar.
• Instead of a cookie exchange,  volunteer at a shelter, host a gift wrap gathering, go caroling at a retirement home, or make batches of chili or our hamburger soup recipe.
• Pack your car with  healthy snacks like beef sticks or RX bars so you won’t be tempted to go through the drive-thru for fast food.
• Instead of candy, slow roast almonds, pecans, and cashews. After they’ve cooled, add some small pieces of dark chocolate to snack on.

4. Hormone Balance After 40

• When we reach age 35 to 40, our hormone balance seems to go crazy. We can experience mood swings, have trouble sleeping, gain weight easily, our hair might start thinning or we’ll have acne breakouts. We also may feel irritable and experience more anxiety or have more sugar cravings or digestive issues .
• The two hormones causing these problems are estrogen and progesterone, and when their balance is disrupted, they can wreak havoc in our bodies.
• Good nutrition is the most important factor in re-balancing our hormones. We recommend eating every three to four hours and including protein, vegetable carbs, and healthy fat at every meal and snack.
• A critical step in balancing your hormones is to remove excess estrogens from your body by eliminating meat and dairy products with hormone residue and choosing grass-fed meats and organic vegetables, loading up on cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts, and getting 7½ to 8 hours of sleep a night.

Take a listen to whichever topic piques your interest, or find hundreds of other episodes  here. We can’t wait to share what we have coming up on Dishing Up Nutrition in 2020! Listen on our website, our free Dishing Up Nutrition app, or on your favorite podcast app. And  if you’re in the Twin Cities, listen LIVE on the radio on MyTalk 107.1 every Saturday morning at 8 am. And a big thank you to all of our listeners who share podcast reviews so that we can continue to bring the real-food message to more people! We’re grateful for you.