By Dr. Judy Siegel
Nutrition Counseling Avon, Connecticut

Bread, one of our earliest foods-present at every meal.  We love it!

So, what is it really?  Flour, water, yeast and salt.  Different flours, harder or softer, different rising temperatures, kneading procedures, baking times, shapes give us almost unlimited variation on this wonderful food.  Every culture uses a grain to make ‘bread” of some type.

Sometimes, however, we use too much of a good food.  Or, we find the poorest quality (cheapest).  White bread, the spongy kind of my childhood was wonderful, I thought.  Now it seems without character or nutritional value.  All the vitamins were removed, then, by law, four are put back-B1, B2, B? and B6.  Most of the fiber went too.  Better for us, a 100% whole wheat bread, around 90 kcal a slice.  Arnold’s, Pepperidge Farm, Entemann’s all make it, as do the local bakeries.  Read the rest of this entry

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By Dr. Judy Siegel
Nutrition Counseling Avon, CT

How many times have I heard this?  I see as clients the people who say this when I first meet them.  “I’ve tried Weight Watchers, other diets and, even though my friends lose, I don’t.  Is there something wrong with me?

 Maybe, your doctor didn’t study nutrition or overweight problems in medical school.  A thyroid problem may be his only thought.  He, or she, may check your thyroid profile to see if you are “running in a lower gear”.  But usually this is not the case.

If you are one of those who have trouble losing, and you need to do so, you may be insulin resistant.  This means you have to overproduce insulin in order to get glucose from carbohydrate containing foods into the cells where they can be used for energy.  Excess insulin can help to make you overfat, AND make it difficult to lose.   Read the rest of this entry

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