Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

Soup: The Mediterranean Diet in a Bowl Over the past few weeks, many of us have been looking at our refrigerators a little differently. News about Cyclospora, E. coli, and other foodborne outbreaks has made people nervous about fresh vegetables and herbs. At the same time, grocery stores are filled with expensive electrolyte drinks, protein broths, and wellness beverages promising to keep us healt...

Fire didn't just change dinner. It changed us. If I asked you what made us human, you might say language. Or tools. Maybe agriculture. All of those changed our species, but I think one discovery came even earlier—and it may have been the most important of all. Fire. Not because it kept us warm. Not because it frightened predators. But because it cooked dinner. At first glance, that might seem like...

The Bank of Muscle: Why Your Real Retirement Account Isn't Your 401(k) I used to think retirement planning was all about money. Put enough away, let compound interest do its thing, and someday you'll enjoy the rewards. As I've gotten older, however, I've come to appreciate another form of savings that may be just as important. It's your muscle. Nobody reaches eighty-five and wishes they had less o...

If you read some low-carb sites, or Gary Taub's books, you will find the contention that the food pyramid - the last one being in 2011 - put America into a low fat, high carb diet responsible for today's obesity. That the government food pyramid misled a generation of people, and because we faithfully follow it, we became fat. The problem is, that isn't the case, but I want to go back in time and...

How We Eat Most of us think we know what we eat. However, nutrition researchers have learned a frustrating lesson over the years: asking people what they ate yesterday is often less accurate than anyone would like. Although food diaries and surveys can provide useful information, memories are imperfect, snacks are easily forgotten, and portion sizes tend to grow smaller in retrospect. Consequently...

Taste Isn't What You Think It Is Most people believe taste happens on the tongue. That idea seems obvious because food enters the mouth, the tongue recognizes flavors, and the brain decides whether something tastes good or bad. However, modern science has revealed a much more fascinating story. Taste receptors are scattered throughout the body, including the stomach, intestines, airways, pancreas,...

Type 2 Diabetes, Bariatric Surgery, Fasting, and GLP-1s: What We Finally Learned About a Disease We Thought We Understood For years, I watched something happen in bariatric surgery that made very little sense, according to the medical textbooks of the time. Patients with type 2 diabetes would undergo surgery, and within days, their blood sugars would improve dramatically. Some would leave needing...

The Science of Hangovers: Why Your “Cure” Probably Doesn’t Work You wake up thirsty. Then, almost immediately, you realize your head hurts. Your stomach feels unstable. The room is too bright. Your mouth tastes like regret and old wine corks. Furthermore, your intestines suddenly decided today is the day they become extremely efficient. In other words, you have a hangover. Now, hopefully, this is...

The “Real Food” Protein Bar There may be no phrase in modern nutrition more ridiculous than this: “Real food protein bar.” And yet, somehow, we are expected to nod seriously when someone says it. Recently, internet nutrition personality Paul Saladino introduced what he described as his best “real food” protein bar. While I have nothing personal against the man. I admire the confidence required to...

Let’s Start With What Nobody Tells You When people start a GLP-1, they are told what to avoid. What side effects to expect, and sometimes how much protein they should be eating. While that information has its place, it misses the part that actually changes your day-to-day life. Because what really shifts is not just how much you eat, but also how you experience it. At first, that change can feel s...

It’s not a straight line. It’s not a diet. And it’s definitely not what you expect. I started my journey on a GLP-1 in October 2024. While my doctor did what good doctors do—he gave me the warnings, the precautions, the usual advice about what to avoid and watch for—I quickly realized something was missing. No one really told me what it would feel like. More importantly, no one explained that this...

Why GLP-1 Made Me Love Food More—Not Less From beetroot pasta to backyard salsa, this wasn’t about eating less. It was about finally tasting more. I want to tell you about two people on a GLP-1. First, there’s me. I’ve been on a maintenance dose—7.5 mg of Zepbound—for a while now. And recently, I went to an incredible Michelin-star restaurant. Now, at one point during that meal, I said something t...

The word “peptide” is doing too much work Let’s start with the simplest truth. A peptide is just a chain of amino acids—like pearls on a necklace. That’s it. Nothing mystical. Nothing magical. However, structure matters. Sequence matters. Biology cares deeply about both. Because of that, some peptides are extraordinarily powerful. Others are biologically interesting. And a growing number are simpl...

The Chorus of “Just Eat Less” Spend a few minutes on social media, and you will hear it. On Bill Maher's podcast the other day, I heard it. Two people who know less about GLP-1 drugs than almost anyone, opining about how GLP-1s are horrific. Bill Maher says, “Just eat less.” Jillian Michaels warns that GLP-1 medications are dangerous. Did she even graduate from college? Meanwhile, a rotating cast...

Menopause, Hunger, and the Brain: Why It Feels Different Menopause changes more than temperature control. It reshapes how the brain handles hunger, fullness, and the quiet signals that guide eating. As a result, many women notice something unsettling. The same meals no longer satisfy. Hunger arrives sooner. Food feels louder. For years, we blamed metabolism. We told women their bodies were simply...

The Madness of King Henry VIII—and What We Got Wrong About Obesity The King We Forgot There is a moment in history that most of us think we understand. King Henry VIII—large, immobile, temperamental—has become almost a caricature of excess. We picture a man who simply ate too much, moved too little, and paid the price. It is a tidy story. Unfortunately, it is also likely the wrong one. Before the...

When Beef Becomes Belief: The Carnivore Priesthood Nutrition debates rarely begin with money. Yet money almost always explains how they spread. That fact explains much of the modern carnivore movement. At first glance, the carnivore diet appears to be a radical nutritional idea: eat beef, organs, and animal fat while avoiding vegetables, grains, legumes, and most fruits. Advocates often present th...

The Minnesota Starvation Experiment: What Hunger Does to the Human Mind Every few years, someone announces the solution to weight loss. Eat less. Fast longer. Cut carbs. Cut fat. Cut something. Naturally, the advice usually comes with a tone of moral certainty. If you are hungry, the implication goes, you simply lack discipline. However, long before social media, diet influencers, and the phrase f...

Meanwhile, in a Laboratory In 1990, researchers isolated a peptide from Gila monster venom. Two years later, work from the Bronx VA Medical Center described exendin-4, a molecule that resembled human GLP-1 but lasted far longer in circulation. Human GLP-1 survives only minutes before the body breaks it down. Exendin-4 resisted that breakdown. That difference changed everything. Soon afterward, the...

Protein Panic: How Much Do You Really Need? Everywhere you look, protein has become a competition. Scroll long enough and you will believe muscle disappears if you eat less than 150 grams a day. Meanwhile, influencers debate leucine thresholds like they’re trading baseball cards. As a result, ordinary meals now feel like math problems. However, biology does not require panic. Protein matters. Yet...

Why Traditional Mexican Food Is Healthy — and How America Got It Wrong Every time someone says Mexican food is unhealthy, I know exactly what they’re picturing. They aren’t picturing Mexico. They’re picturing an American taco: a hard shell or a fluffy white flour tortilla, fatty hamburger, sour cream, a thin smear of salsa that contributes almost nothing except salt, and a yellow substance legally...

Why Fiber Fails to Impress—and Why That’s the Point Fiber has a public relations problem. Unlike supplements or extreme diets, fiber does not promise instant transformation. Instead, it works slowly, predictably, and quietly. Because of that, people rarely notice it when it’s doing its job well. However, that very boredom is precisely why fiber matters. When fiber intake is adequate, digestion fun...

Food Noise Isn’t Hunger — and Why Broccoli Never Fixed the Brain Food noise does not announce itself politely. Instead, it hums in the background, persistent and exhausting. For years, patients tried to describe it. Meanwhile, medicine largely ignored it. Recently, however, GLP-1 receptor agonists forced the conversation into the open. I did not understand food noise myself until it stopped. About...

Whole Milk Is Back in Schools But Hungry Kids Are Still the Real Problem Whole milk is back in school cafeterias. As a result, a lot of people are celebrating. Some are calling it a victory for nutrition. Others are calling it common sense. Meanwhile, a few are even calling it a breakthrough. However, that excitement misses the point. Because the biggest problem facing kids in school today is not...

When Influencers Replace Scientists, Everyone Loses Every few years, nutrition gets a makeover. First comes a new graphic. Then comes a new slogan. Soon after, we hear claims that this time, someone finally figured it all out. Recently, that makeover arrived in the form of a “reverse food pyramid” and the cheerful phrase “Eat Real Food.” On the surface, that message sounds reasonable. In fact, man...