Nutrition Diva

Nutrition advice has never been easier to find. Knowing which advice you can trust has never been harder. Every day brings another headline, social media trend, or viral nutrition claim telling you what to eat, what to avoid, or which supplement will change your life. Much of it sounds convincing. Much of it isn't supported by the evidence. Nutrition Diva helps you separate nutrition science from nutrition myths so you can make confident decisions about your health. Each week, Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN, translates evidence-based nutrition into plain English, breaking down the latest research and explaining what it really means for your everyday life. Instead of sensational headlines and fad diets, you'll get practical nutrition guidance you can understand—and use. Whether you're trying to build healthier eating habits, lose weight, improve metabolic health, support healthy aging, or reduce your risk of chronic disease, every episode helps you make smarter nutrition decisions with confidence. Topics include healthy eating, balanced diets, gut health, probiotics, supplements, vitamins, weight management, intermittent fasting, Mediterranean and high-protein diets, food labels, processed foods, cholesterol, inflammation, diabetes prevention, heart health, longevity, and the latest nutrition research. You'll also hear Monica break down popular wellness trends, explain emerging nutrition science, evaluate supplement claims, and separate food myths from nutrition facts so you can spend less time wondering who to believe and more time building healthy habits that last. Regular features include listener questions, myth busting, fact vs. fad, and expert interviews exploring the science behind the nutrition questions people ask most. If you're looking for nutrition science you can trust—and practical guidance that fits real life—subscribe to the Nutrition Diva. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 1d ago

    Is a high protein diet bad for you? Fact-checking the anti-protein Backlash

    887. Has everyone been protein-pilled? After a few years of protein everything, from bread to taco chips to vodka, the backlash has arrived, complete with warnings that a high-protein diet could harm your heart, your kidneys, and your waistline. Some of the products on grocery store shelves are pretty silly. But many of the warnings about protein don’t hold up either. The truth sits somewhere between the hype and the anti-hype. In this episode, Monica sorts the nutrition facts from the nutrition myths on both sides: Why “90% of Americans already get enough protein” depends on what “enough” means, and who’s includedWho may need more protein than the RDA, including older adults, people recovering from illness or injury, and people losing weight or taking anti-obesity medicationsWhy it can make sense to put a “high protein” label on eggs, and why you should always check the nutrition facts label instead of the front of the packageHow protein became a health halo, and why added protein doesn’t cancel out sugar, sodium, or alcoholWhen a processed, protein-enhanced food is worth using, and why the purpose of the processing mattersThe replacement effect, and why what you eat less of matters as much as what you addWhat the research on heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer really links to, and why it isn’t proteinWhy the warnings about constipation, weight gain, and kidney damage aren’t about protein intake for most peopleHow much protein Americans eat compared with the RDA, the new Dietary Guidelines, and the acceptable range References How Supermarkets Became Protein-Maxxed - The New York Times 5 Health Risks From Consuming Too Much Protein - The New York Times Nutrition science you can trust, in plain English. Have a food or nutrition question for a future episode? Email nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com. Sign up for the Nutrition Diva newsletter at quickanddirtytips.com/newsletters. To book Monica for a live or virtual event, visit WellnessWorksHere.com. New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself! Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips. Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Nov 4

    The truth about natural GLP-1 boosters

    886. Put "GLP-1" on a label and you can sell almost anything right now: supplements, snacks, drink powders, even a gadget that sits next to your toilet. Some of these products are designed for people taking GLP-1 medications, who can have real nutritional needs. Others promise to boost your body's own GLP-1 as a path to weight loss. That second pitch is a lot shakier, and the reason comes down to what these medications are and how they work. Monica separates the science from the marketing: What GLP-1 is, and what this gut hormone does after you eatWhy semaglutide, tirzepatide, and retatrutide aren't technically "GLP-1s," and what receptor agonists, dual agonists, and triple agonists areThe more accurate names the medical community has proposed for this drug class, and why none of them has stuckHow fermentable soluble fiber feeds your gut microbiome, produces short-chain fatty acids, and raises natural GLP-1Why nobody was talking about boosting natural GLP-1 until these medications took offA bathroom device that estimates your fiber intake from the air around your toilet, and why it doesn't measure GLP-1 at allWhy these medications don't treat a GLP-1 deficiencyWhy your natural GLP-1 breaks down within minutes while semaglutide stays active for days, and what that difference means for appetite and weight lossWhy eating more fiber is still a good idea, even if it won't do what the label implies Nutrition science you can trust, in plain English. Have a food or nutrition question for a future episode? Email nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com. To book Monica for a live or virtual event, visit WellnessWorksHere.com. New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself! Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips. Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Oct 28

    What is choline? The nutrient you've probably never heard of

    885. You need choline every day. Nobody can tell you exactly how much. There's no RDA for choline, because there isn't enough data to set one. What we have instead is an estimate — and it traces back largely to a single study that enrolled only men. The numbers for women were scaled down from there, mostly by body size. Choline is an essential nutrient a lot of people have never heard of. Your liver makes some of it, but not enough, so the rest has to come from food. It's needed to build phosphatidylcholine and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and it plays an outsized role in brain development before birth and in early childhood. Monica walks through what's known and what isn't: Why choline gets grouped with the B vitamins even though it isn't oneWhat severe deficiency does to the liver, and what recent research links low intake to in older adultsWhy there's no RDA for choline, and what an Adequate Intake is actually based onHow estrogen changes the picture, and why premenopausal women may need less than men rather than moreWhy pregnancy may call for more than the current recommendation, and why most prenatal vitamins leave choline out or include very littleWhat ACOG advises for women who are pregnant or trying to conceiveWhere choline shows up in food, from egg yolks and liver to soybeans, mushrooms, and cruciferous vegetablesWhy falling short of the Adequate Intake isn't the same as being deficientThe prostate cancer findings, and why a nutrient that supports healthy cell division can behave differently in someone who already has cancerThe TMAO question, and why fish raises TMAO more than eggs or beef doWho might reasonably consider a supplement, and why more isn't better Choline Content of Common Foods Nutrition science you can trust, in plain English. Have a food or nutrition question for a future episode? Email nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com. To book Monica for a live or virtual event, visit wellnessworkshere.com. New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself! Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips. Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.com Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. Oct 21

    Do we need a prescription to eat better? Talking Food is Medicine with Dariush Mozaffarian

    884. Your doctor can write you a prescription for a statin or a blood pressure medication. What if they could also prescribe fresh vegetables, and your health insurance paid for them? That’s one of the central ideas behind the Food Is Medicine movement, and cardiologist Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian is one of its leading voices. In his new book, “Food Is Medicine: Healing Our Bodies, Nourishing Our Minds, and Transforming Our Food System,” he argues that diet is the leading driver of chronic disease in the US and that it can also be part of the treatment. Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN, talks with Dr. Mozaffarian about: What “food is medicine” means, and what it doesn’tHow produce prescriptions and medically tailored meals and groceries work, and how they differ from SNAPPromising results from pilot programs serving people with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart failure, and high-risk pregnanciesWhy opening grocery stores in food deserts didn’t change how people ateWhat car safety and anti-smoking efforts can teach us about changing the food systemHow much nutrition training doctors need, and where registered dietitians fit inWhy a healthy diet is more about adding good food than cutting out bad foodNutrition science you can trust, in plain English. Have a food or nutrition question for a future episode? Email nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com. To book Monica for a live or virtual event, visit wellnessworkshere.com. Related episodes: 735 – A provocative new study on ultra-processed foods 334 – Is the Mediterranean Diet all it's cracked up to be? New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself! Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips. Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.com Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. Oct 14

    What to eat while breastfeeding and what to skip

    883. You've probably been told to skip broccoli, garlic, spicy food, sushi, peanuts and even your morning coffee while breast-feeding. How much of that advice holds up? Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN, sorts fact from folklore on what to eat and what to avoid while nursing. She covers the colic theory about cruciferous vegetables, the open question of whether eating peanuts during breast-feeding affects a baby's allergy risk, and the NIH ESCAPE trial now testing it. In this episode, Monica explains Whether cabbage, broccoli and garlic really cause gas and colic in breast-fed babiesWhy spicy food doesn't harm breast milk, and how your diet shapes your baby's food preferencesWhat the research says about peanuts during breast-feeding, and why early peanut introduction cuts allergy riskHow much caffeine and alcohol are considered safe, and how long to wait before nursingWhy the pregnancy rules on sushi and soft cheese don't apply while nursingWhich fish to choose, how many extra calories and fluids you need, and what to know about vitamin D for baby References Maternal Versus Infant Vitamin D Supplementation During Lactation: A Randomized Controlled Trial - PubMed Randomized trial of peanut consumption in infants at risk for peanut allergy - PubMed Prevention and Treatment of Peanut Allergy - PubMed Related episodes 261: Can diet and nutrition help you get pregnant?281: How much weight should you gain during pregnancy? New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself! Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips. Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.com Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. Oct 7

    Fasting-mimicking diets: Medical therapy or anti-aging hack?

    882. Someone in your office comes back from vacation with a box of soups and shakes and announces they're doing a five-day fast. Except they're eating. Fasting-mimicking diets are unusual among viral wellness protocols in that there is a real body of peer-reviewed research behind them. There is also a company selling the five-day kits, founded by the researcher who developed the protocol and funding many of the trials. Both of those things are true at the same time. In this episode, Monica breaks down what the research actually shows: What the five-day protocol involves, including the calorie targets and why it's deliberately low in proteinWhat "fasting mimicking" means, and which effects of a multi-day fast it's trying to reproduceThe 2017 trial in 100 healthy adults, where participants lost about five and a half pounds over three months but saw no change in blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, or inflammationWhy the subgroup findings are interesting and why they aren't proofThe 12-month trial in people with type 2 diabetes, where 40% reduced their diabetes medication compared with 5% in usual careWhat the cancer research has shown in mice, what it hasn't yet shown in people, and why anyone in treatment needs their oncology team in the conversation firstWhy the claim that five days can make you two and a half years biologically younger is the weakest part of the evidence, and what happened to the third of participants whose scores got worseWhether you can replicate the protocol without buying a branded kit, and what you might be giving up if you doWhat the dropout rates in these studies say about how doable this really is New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself! Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips. Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.com Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. Related Episodes 788: intermittent fasting Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Sep 25 ·  Bonus

    Adaptogens, Botanicals, and Boosters: Which Products Actually Deliver? | Nutrition Diva LIVE in NYC!

    Adaptogens, Botanicals, and Boosters: Which Products Actually Deliver? | Nutrition Diva LIVE in NYC! In this special live episode, recorded at the Drinks with Benefits alcohol-free festival in New York City—brought to you in partnership with Liquid I.V.—host Monica Reinagel dives into the fascinating world of functional beverages to separate scientific fact from clever marketing. Monica explains exactly what you should look for on a label, how much of an active ingredient you actually need to see results, and why a sprinkle of "mushroom dust" doesn't necessarily make a beverage functional. This episode explores the real evidence behind today's trendiest drink categories, including: Adaptogens: How ingredients like ashwagandha affect stress resilience and why daily consistency matters.Nootropics: The truth about mushroom coffee blends, and the powerful, jitter-free cognitive focus created by combining L-theanine and caffeine.Sleep Aids: Why timing is everything for melatonin, and the current evidence for valerian root and magnesium.Immune Support: The effectiveness of high-dose vitamin C, elderberry, specific probiotic strains, and medicinal mushrooms like reishi and turkey tail. Not all functional drinks are created equal, but Liquid I.V. is a perfect example of formulation done right. Their hydration multipliers are clinically proven to hydrate you more efficiently than plain water alone. As discussed in the show, their Sugar-Free Lime Energy Multiplier perfectly balances 100mg of caffeine with 200mg of L-theanine to give you sharp focus and mental clarity without the jitters. 💧 Listener Perk: Use code 2026ND for 20% off your first order at liquidiv.com A big thank you to our event partners for making this night possible: 🎉 Drinks with Benefits, for hosting this incredible alcohol-free festival 🍋 Liquid I.V., for bringing the clinically proven hydration and providing amazing White Peach and Lime Margarita mocktails for our live audience Presented by Liquid I.V. @liquidiv #paidpartner Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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About

Nutrition advice has never been easier to find. Knowing which advice you can trust has never been harder. Every day brings another headline, social media trend, or viral nutrition claim telling you what to eat, what to avoid, or which supplement will change your life. Much of it sounds convincing. Much of it isn't supported by the evidence. Nutrition Diva helps you separate nutrition science from nutrition myths so you can make confident decisions about your health. Each week, Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN, translates evidence-based nutrition into plain English, breaking down the latest research and explaining what it really means for your everyday life. Instead of sensational headlines and fad diets, you'll get practical nutrition guidance you can understand—and use. Whether you're trying to build healthier eating habits, lose weight, improve metabolic health, support healthy aging, or reduce your risk of chronic disease, every episode helps you make smarter nutrition decisions with confidence. Topics include healthy eating, balanced diets, gut health, probiotics, supplements, vitamins, weight management, intermittent fasting, Mediterranean and high-protein diets, food labels, processed foods, cholesterol, inflammation, diabetes prevention, heart health, longevity, and the latest nutrition research. You'll also hear Monica break down popular wellness trends, explain emerging nutrition science, evaluate supplement claims, and separate food myths from nutrition facts so you can spend less time wondering who to believe and more time building healthy habits that last. Regular features include listener questions, myth busting, fact vs. fad, and expert interviews exploring the science behind the nutrition questions people ask most. If you're looking for nutrition science you can trust—and practical guidance that fits real life—subscribe to the Nutrition Diva. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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