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A Closer Look

	These articles about nutrition were written by the Co-op's dietitian, Mary Choate, M.S. R.D.
Eating Your Way to Lower Blood Pressure About one in four American adults has high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. Without warning signs or symptoms, this disease increases your chances of getting heart or kidney disease or of having a stroke. more
Relating to Risk Do your eyes glaze over when you are trying to understand what a risk factor is or how you can decrease your chances of getting a certain condition in the future? In this article, I hope to make some terms clearer, so that the next time you read or hear that a certain activity or substance increases or decreases your disease risk by a certain percent, you’ll have some perspective on whether or not you should do something about it. more
Quit Smoking — Without Gaining Weight More than 80 percent of smokers say they want to quit. And each year about 1.3 million smokers quit successfully, according to the American Heart Association. If worrying about weight gain is one of your reasons for not trying to quit smoking, the following ideas may help you to move past that obstacle and onto better health and a smoke-free life. more
Eating for Bone Health Why worry about bone health? Osteoporosis means "porous bones." Bones that were once strong become weak and brittle — so brittle that even mild stresses like bending to pick up a newspaper, lifting a vacuum, or coughing can cause a fracture. more
New, Easier Approaches for Preventing Heart Disease And Cancer Both the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) recently released new approaches to eating preventatively. The guidelines synchronize very well, as the same foods are found to prevent a number of chronic diseases. Both groups focus on plant-based eating and a healthy weight as key to preventing disease. The groups also weigh in on fad diets that promise quick weight loss while limiting beneficial foods such as fruits, vegetables, and grains in the diet. more
Living Gluten-Free Imagine a medical condition that can be treated only by eliminating from your diet popular grain products like wheat, rye, barley, and oats. more
Do You Have Diabetes? (How would you know if you did?) According to the American Diabetes Association, almost 16 million Americans have diabetes mellitus, and about one-third don’t even know it. The seventh leading cause of death in the U.S., diabetes is silent and can be deadly. It causes complications including blindness, heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, amputations, nerve damage and problems during pregnancy. more