Nutrition

Category: Nutrition

UDF Protein Shake Review

Sep 03, 2026

United Dairy Farmer’s protein shakes – sounds delicious and healthy. But are they truly a “healthy” alternative to the traditional malt? In this blog we will discuss calories, carbs, protein, as well as give an opinion on taste.

First things first, there are about a dozen different varieties of protein shakes to choose from at UDF. They have everything from traditional chocolate and vanilla to peanut butter and cappuccino. All have around 28 grams of protein which is more than a traditional malt at UDF. We were told by a worker that the higher protein content was due to the ice cream they specifically use for the protein shakes; ice cream which has a higher cream content.

Ok – so what about calories and carbohydrates of these versus the traditional malts? When we looked up this information, we were surprised to find that for the chocolate version (the one we tried) the calories and carbs (sugar) were HIGHER in the protein shake as compared to the traditional malt.

Now on to taste. We found the chocolate protein shake tasted like a Wendy’s chocolate frosty. This was not a bad thing, but we prefer the traditional malt shake taste more. Essentially it makes it a toss up on taste, all dependent on personal preference.

When it comes to what is healthier, we base our opinion on the fact that we are always looking for options that support weight loss and weight management goals. Thus, based on the nutrition content, the UDF protein shakes would not be a good option for someone focusing on either of these goals. It would be better to treat on a traditional malt than be deceived into thinking consuming more protein in a shake makes it healthy.

How Important is Tracking During a Weight Loss Journey?

Aug 06, 2026

Tracking things like your food, nutrition supplements, weight, water, etc. can seem like an extremely tedious task when beginning a weight loss journey. It can seem much simpler to just keep general mental notes about how you are progressing. So how important is tracking when trying to lose weight? My short answer is that it is invaluable for several reasons which I will detail in this blog post. In our weight loss offices we always have our clients track what they are doing. The main reason we have them track is that doing so gives us information that we can use to make plan adjustments along the way. Let’s say for example that your weight isn’t changing like we expected it to. In this scenario we can look at the pattern of weight loss on the tracking sheet to determine if changes are needed. Another key reason to track is your tracking sheet keeps a record of times that you have been “off plan.” If you are not following the plan that was working for you, you should not expect the same results.

So what should you be tracking? As stated above, the minimum level of detail we ask our weight loss clients to track is daily weight, all food consumed, supplements taken, water consumption and any notes or feelings they had throughout the day. Tracking can seem tedious at times but is a smart habit to implement if you want to lose weight right and avoid unnecessary frustration.

The Top 4 Techniques for Fast Weight Loss

Jul 30, 2026

So what specifically do we do? I get this question all the time. I often write about different techniques and methods to lose weight. I also review certain “diets” that are popular (especially with celebrities). I do, however, feel that there is a core set of techniques that are especially important when trying to lose weight. In this blog I would like to describe these four techniques in detail.

First off, I need to preface this entire blog by stating that when I refer to “weight loss” what I really mean is “fat loss.” There are certainly some easy ways to gimmick the scale to move lower which are unhealthy and unproductive. We don’t want our clients to be temporarily tricking the scale by losing water weight, or even worse, by losing muscle mass. While I understand that everyone who wants to lose weight inherently wants to reduce body fat, with some plans the two do not go hand in hand. With that out of the way let’s talk about the four most important weight loss techniques/strategies/tools (these can be used interchangeably) in my opinion.

Whenever a new patient comes into our weight loss center, we always have them change their diet. For some this can be a complete overhaul of how they are eating and for some it is only a slight modification. It is obvious dietary modification is essential for weight loss. It is important, however, to change your diet based on your individual needs. Gender, age, metabolism, health history and even likes and dislikes all play a factor in what eating plan will work for you. It is for this reason that we evaluate each of our weight loss clients thoroughly before making any recommendations.
Second, and of equal importance, is the taking of certain natural products to make the process easier. We will often make recommendations to our clients about taking certain supplements. These can help with hunger, stress, nutritional deficiencies, or simply help speed up the weight loss process. You should only use products that are natural and have no chance of forming a dependency. Some examples of products that we recommend include green coffee bean extract and raspberry ketones.
Now let’s talk about support and accountability. If losing weight and maintaining it were easy we would not have the current obesity epidemic. The fact is people need to be surrounded with support, guidance and need to be held accountable for their actions. Without a proper support system any well intentioned plan is bound to fail in my opinion.
Finally let’s talk about maintenance. Eventually all our weight loss clients no longer want or need to lose weight. While this is certainly a cause for celebration, we need to have a maintenance program already in place, so we don’t end up back in the same situation. In our offices the mentality of maintenance begins on day one. We treat weight loss as an inevitability if our methods are followed. Maintenance, in many cases, is where diet programs fail.

I hope this helps answer some of the questions about how I advise our weight loss clients. Please contact one of our offices if you have further questions.

Does a Poor Diet Cause Depression?

Jul 16, 2026

Today’s blog is going to focus on the relationship between food and mood. More specifically, does a diet filled with junk food cause depression? First off, it would be easy for me to make a snap judgement and say, “of course it does.” My life, after all, revolves around helping people make healthy changes to their diet to lose weight naturally. Instead of just assuming a poor diet causes any number of health conditions I prefer to look at the data and interpret it.

My simple answer to the question of “does a poor diet cause weight loss?” is NO. As shocking as this revelation may be I believe, based on what I have read, that there is another factor that causes both a poor diet and depression. So let’s look at the research.

One popular study on the link between diet and mood found that: “A dietary pattern characterized by a high intake of fruit, vegetables, whole grain, fish, olive oil, low-fat dairy and antioxidants and low intakes of animal foods was associated with a decreased risk of depression. A dietary pattern characterized by a high consumption of red and/or processed meat, refined grains, sweets, high-fat dairy products, butter, potatoes and high-fat gravy, and low intakes of fruits and vegetables is associated with an increased risk of depression.” This sounds like a slam-dunk right. One’s diet obviously effects mood and can lead to depression.

We can’t stop here, however. What if the people in the study were depressed and then turned to easy junk foods for comfort? Luckily, researchers wondered about this as well and in another large analysis they looked at baseline diet and then calculated the risk of participants later developing depression. They found that, “A healthy diet (the Mediterranean diet as an example) was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing depressive symptoms.”

So that should put a bow on it. Diet directly affects mood. But wait, earlier I said that I don’t think this is the case. So why am I quoting all this research stating that food does affect mood? The reason is that I still don’t think that the research has dived deep enough to really uncover the source of the depression.

Correlation does not mean causation. Just because two factors happen together does not mean that one causes another. So what could cause both a poor diet and depression? The research is clear on this. Income-inequality, more specifically, having an extremely low income compared to the general society can contribute directly to a depressive state. People with a lower income are also much more likely to choose cheap, fatty, and unhealthy food.

In conclusion, I believe that maintaining a healthy diet can be beneficial in countless ways. It may even make you feel a little better emotionally. I don’t however believe that diets directly cause depression. Depression and poor diet can be seen to be more easily caused by having low income.

Diet Coke and Weight Loss

Jul 02, 2026

People often want to use a variety of “diet” or “0 calorie” products when trying to lose weight. Today we are going to talk about one of the most popular diet products out there, Diet Coke. Is it a good tool for weight loss or not?

Firstly, Diet Coke is a 0-calorie drink. It will not add any calories to your daily intake. With this being said, it should be a slam dunk “yes” for is this a useful product when trying to lose weight. It is not that simple, however. We are constantly asked about diet sodas in our weight loss centers. The truth is that there has been research linking diet sodas to weight gain at a higher rate than even regular soda. How could this be if Diet Coke has 0 calories? Most of the research I have read on it boils it down to 2 hypotheses. First, the artificial sweeteners in Diet Coke may artificially elevate insulin and make it harder for you to metabolize fat. Second, your body recognizes the sweet sensation when you ingest an artificial sweetener, but it does not get the caloric reward. You, therefore, become hungrier for sweets and are more susceptible to straying from the diet you are on.

With solid alternatives like Zevia soda, my opinion is that we can leave Diet Coke alone when trying to lose weight. This is what I always instruct my patients who are trying to lose weight quickly.

“Cheating” On Your Diet

Jun 18, 2026

I was recently on a weeklong vacation. Even when I am traveling, I like to try to eat as healthy as possible and keep my activity level up. During my trip I was consistently uploading to my social media pictures of the different restaurants we were eating at and how I ordered healthy dishes. After a few of these posts I thought to myself, “Maybe everyone else doesn’t want to eat this way on vacation.” I was making these posts to prove that it is possible to maintain a diet even when traveling but I felt that it came off as “you better maintain your diet when traveling.” I 100% do not believe this to be that case. In our weight loss offices we teach our clients that losing weight and eating healthy needs to be balanced with living a life you enjoy. Because of this my next post was on this topic exactly. Here is what I wrote, “Reality check! Our last few posts have been about staying on plan even when on vacation. The truth is – being 100% on plan 100% of time isn’t realistic. You should never feel guilty about having your favorite meal or indulging occasionally. This program is for life and in life sometimes you just want some lasagna and garlic bread 😁.” If you are trying to reshape your relationship with food to slim down, get healthy, feel more confident, etc. it is important to remember that sometimes you are going to give into cravings and that is okay. In our weight loss offices we never use the term “cheating” when referring to eating junk food. We simply call these situations “choices.” If you choose to have pizza, ice cream, French fries, etc. you should never feel ashamed or like you have messed up. You simply made a choice which will cause your body (and potentially weight) to behave in a certain way. If you go into these situations knowing the outcome and are ready to resume afterwards, I think straying from a strict diet can actually be a good thing. Doing so can drive home the point that a few slices of pizza will not completely derail a solid weight loss plan.

Doctors Agree! Low Carbohydrate Diets are Better than Low Calorie Diets

May 21, 2026

I recently read an article on Today.com entitled, “Can’t lose weight by eating less? Why low-carb diets may be the solution.” In this article several doctors were interviewed and compared low calorie diets to low carbohydrate diets like keto. They were all in agreement that low carbohydrate diets were superior to their low-calorie counterparts. They listed a few different reasons for this.

First, the doctors stated that dieting by restricting calories was harder to maintain. Dr. David Ludwig was quoted as saying, “While people can lose weight over the short term, very few people can manage to ignore their hunger and fight through those metabolic problems to maintain their weight loss.” If you are not satisfied with what you are eating while trying to lose weight, then you are bound to fail. In our practice we are huge believers in this principal. The client must enjoy the process of losing weight. This is the reason we have created hundreds of compliant and delicious recipes, dining out guides, tasty pre-approved products, etc.

The second reason they stated low-carb is superior to low-cal is that low-carb diets better control insulin. Dr. Ludwig was again quoted as stating; “Insulin — you can think of (it) as the ultimate fat cell fertilizer. Too much insulin, fat cells get programmed to hoard calories. So there aren’t too many calories in the blood stream. And that’s why we get hungry.” In our weight loss offices we focus on insulin control. As Dr. Ludwig states, “Insulin elevation programs your body to prefer carbohydrate metabolism instead of fat metabolism.” Low carbohydrate diet, like the ones we use with our clients, keep insulin levels low, allowing more fat to be metabolized that with simply cutting calories.

As a final thought, I am a big fan of the low carb/low-cal model, which combines the effectiveness of both. I have found it to be more effective than either individual strategy and also maintainable for life.

Does A Poor Diet Cause Depression?

Feb 25, 2026

Today’s blog post is going to focus on the relationship between food and mood. More specifically, does a diet filled with junk food cause depression? First off, it would be easy for me to make a snap judgement and say, “of course it does.” My life, after all, revolves around helping people make healthy changes to their diet to lose weight naturally. Instead of just assuming a poor diet causes any number of health conditions I prefer to look at the data and interpret it.

One popular study on the link between diet and mood found that: “A dietary pattern characterized by a high intake of fruit, vegetables, whole grain, fish, olive oil, low-fat dairy and antioxidants and low intakes of animal foods was associated with a decreased risk of depression. A dietary pattern characterized by a high consumption of red and/or processed meat, refined grains, sweets, high-fat dairy products, butter, potatoes and high-fat gravy, and low intakes of fruits and vegetables is associated with an increased risk of depression. This sounds like a slam-dunk right. One’s diet obviously effects mood and can lead to depression.

We can’t stop here, however. What if the people in the study were depressed and then turned to easy junk foods for comfort? Luckily, researchers wondered about this as well and in another large analysis they looked at baseline diet and then calculated the risk of participants later developing depression. They found that “A healthy diet (the Mediterranean diet as an example) was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing depressive symptoms.”

So that should put a bow on it. Diet directly affects mood. But wait, earlier I said that I don’t think this is the case. So why am I quoting all this research stating that food does effect mood? The reason is that I still don’t think that the research has dived deep enough to really uncover the source of the depression.

0 calories is not actually 0 calories

Feb 19, 2026

In this week’s blog post I want to discuss an obscure food labeling law that allows product manufacturers to label their products as “0-calories” even when they do contain calories. I will cite a couple examples, but this is not to bash these products. Certainly, products with calories are not “bad.” Consuming them will not necessarily lead to weight gain either. In fact, each of the products I will mention is approved in all the weight loss programs we prescribe to our patients. This post is simply about information. If you are trying to get healthy, lose weight, etc. you need to know exactly what you are putting into your body and food labels should not be misleading.

The basic rule is that if a product contains less than 5 calories per typical serving size than it can legally be labeled as a “0-calorie” or “calorie free product”. The key term here is “typical serving size.” As I will show you in the following examples, the serving size can be manipulated by food manufacturers so that they meet this 0-calorie requirement.

The first example I will share is the breath mint Tic Tacs. They are clearly labeled as a “0-calorie” product. However, the first ingredient listed is sugar. Of course, sugar contains calories, so what’s the deal here? Again, the important thing to note is the serving size. Tic Tacs serving size is listed as 1 individual Tic Tac. 1 Tic Tac is .5g and .5g of sugar is about 2 calories. So every Tic Tac is 2 calories. This is clearly under the 5-calorie cutoff, so it is labeled as calorie free. I don’t honestly know anyone who has ever eaten just one Tic Tac however, so I find this “typical serving size” a bit hard to believe.

Next, I will cite a 0-calorie cooking spray. There are a number of these containing canola oil, olive oil, etc. For this example, I will use one containing avocado oil. Although this example would be applicable to any other “0-calorie” spray as well. The avocado oil spray can was labeled as 0-calories per serving size, but the serving size was listed as ¼ second of a spray. This would equal about .25g of avocado oil. In each spray there are about 2 calories if somehow you can use only this amount. Again, I find this serving size hard to believe. I think that a 1-2 second spray to coat a pan is much more realistic.

In closing I will again state that these products can be used as part of a weight loss program. They add variety and flavor. One of the worst things that can happen during a weight loss program is boredom or the feeling like you are continuously eating bland, blah foods. When this happens either, we need to find out how to make things interesting or else the client is headed down the path towards inevitable failure. What is important is knowing that using these products does add calories. If you use them around or even a bit above the serving size, you will be fine. It is important to note that if you use them way over the serving size that you are not adding “0-calories” to your diet and these calories may add up to be significant.

Best Condiments for Weight Loss

Nov 13, 2025

Condiments enhance food, and we are huge advocates for using certain low -carb or low -calorie condiment products to help achieve a weight loss goal. These products are usually great substitutes for items people typically crave when trying to lose weight. In this blog post I will give a shout out to our top four favorite brands of weight loss condiment options.

Best salad dressing – We have tried dozens of different low calories and low carb salad dressings. Certain items meet our program’s requirements, although their flavor profiles are not especially appealing. Some taste okay but have just too much of the stuff we are trying to avoid. During our search we have landed on the Skinny Girl salad dressing brand as the sweet spot for good taste and a compliant dressing for weight loss. This brand is widely available in most supermarkets. Try it to save calories and liven up your next salad.

Best BBQ sauce – Another product type that people feel like they need to give up when trying to lose weight is BBQ sauces, marinades, etc. In our weight loss centers we never want our patients to feel deprived. Again, after trying many brands, we landed on G. Hughes as the best brand of BBQ and related sauces. This brand is available at most grocery and health food stores. Try it with the meat of your choice.

Best mayonnaise – Mayo is a tough one. It is either tasty but loaded with extra calories or low-calorie and disgusting. There are two mayo brands that taste good and are compatible with a weight loss journey. Both Mrs. Taste and Walden farms brands fit the bill. These two are a bit more difficult to find. Local specialty grocery stores will sometimes carry these, otherwise, ordering online is your best bet. We have many recipes in which we use these two products interchangeably. Our favorite is using one as a substitute ingredient for deviled eggs.

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