The Better Breakfast: Cornflakes or Cardboard?

Aug 27, 2010 by Anna Migeon

When I visited my son at college this spring, I ate in the dining hall several times with him and some of his friends. Let’s just say that the dining hall food is nobody’s favorite thing about college at the University of Dallas.

Noticing that Hannah and Helen were eating cornflakes, I told them about some research that had been done on cornflake-eating rats.

This group of rats was given only cornflakes and water. A second group was given only the box the cornflakes had come in and water. A third group got rat food and water.

The rat food group did fine. The other two all died. But the rats…

Fat Phobia: Why are we so fat if we don’t eat fat?

Sep 11, 2009 by Anna Migeon

Did you know that human breast milk provides one of the highest proportions of cholesterol of any food?

Yet we prescribe nonfat yogurt and milk for young and old.

Did you know that the body is actually unable to absorb certain nutrients in vegetables unless they’re combined with some fat: olive oil, an avocado, some cheese, or some good animal fat with the meal?

Yet we prescribe fat-free salad dressing with our little pumpkins’ celery sticks. And we get fatter and fatter.

In the 1930s, Dr. Weston Price, a dentist, noticed a big increase in children’s teeth getting crowded, crooked…

Your Child’s Diet and How to Prevent Osteoporosis

Jul 7, 2009 by Anna Migeon

My 23-year-old niece was recently diagnosed with a severe vitamin D deficiency. The doctor told her he was afraid she would end up with osteoporosis at 40. She has had thyroid problems and apparently it’s related.

This diagnosis set the women in my mom’s family talking. Our family is under the shadow of a history of osteoporosis. It’s a big concern.  I’ve long wondered how I can best protect my daughter as well as myself.

So my niece is now taking a lot of vitamin D (which increases calcium absorption).  Several in our family, including me and my daughter, started taking some, too.  That seems like a band-aid to me, though, not a true…

Following the Caveman Part II: The Verdict on Fish

Jul 3, 2009 by Anna Migeon

Only a little damned if you do, much more damned if you don’t

Before I knew better, I idealistically thought fish farms would probably use their ability to control the raising environment to create a cleaner, healthier home for our finned friends than the polluted oceans offer them.

I now scoff at my innocence. I look with cynicism at the cheerful stickers on fish labels at the store that declare "farm raised" as if it were a badge of honor. I now know that farmed fish are probably about as ready–and as better off–as whitetail deer would be to give up their liberty and sometimes scarce foraging in exchange for regular meals in a pen.

Eating fish and seafood is as much a minefield, and for many of the same reasons, as…