Nutrition Diva

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 affe...

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 a...

What's the latest guidance on how much protein we should eat, and what sources of protein are best, especially as we age? In response to a New York Times article released this week, we are bringing back this episode form 2023, with a fresh introduction from Monica. New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica...

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 e...

881. Bodybuilders have been taking creatine for decades, and its effects on strength and muscle mass are well established. Lately it's also being sold for brain health, better sleep, and menopause. The evidence on those newer claims is a lot thinner, but it isn't nothing. Creatine is stored mostly in your muscles, where it powers short bursts of high-intensity effort. Your body makes some of it, a...

880. CoQ10 shows up in cellular energy production, in antioxidant defense, and increasingly, in marketing aimed at anyone over fifty. It's sold for energy, for athletic performance, and especially to the millions of people taking a statin, since those medications really do lower CoQ10 levels in the blood. So who genuinely benefits? In this episode, Monica sorts the credible case from the prom...

879. Are you eating too much protein, or not enough? The honest answer is that the question itself is flawed, because there's no single number that fits everyone. In this episode, Monica breaks down why protein needs shift across a lifetime. The mTOR "growth switch" inside your cells runs hot during childhood, powering the tissue-building that young bodies require. In your 30s and 40s, dialing pro...

878. A tick bite you may not even remember getting can leave you unable to eat a hamburger, a slice of pizza, or a bowl of ice cream. That's alpha-gal syndrome, and it's turning up far outside its original range. Alpha-gal is a sugar molecule found in the cells of most mammals but not in humans. When a lone star tick injects it under the skin, the immune system can start treating it as a threat. A...

Eight glasses a day. An ounce per pound. A pinch of salt in your water. Everyone has a hydration rule, and most of them came from somewhere other than the research.  This live episode was recorded in front of an audience at the Friends of the National Arboretum in Washington, DC (@fonarboretum), with an outdoor yoga session led by Bikram Yoga Works (@bikramyogaworks). Thank you to both for ma...

877. L-theanine, an amino acid found in tea leaves, is having a moment with longevity enthusiasts and menopause influencers alike, promoted to calm anxiety, clear brain fog, improve sleep, and slow aging. But does the research hold up? In this episode, Monica breaks down what the studies on L-theanine actually show about attention, sleep quality, stress, and cellular aging, and why a cup of coffee...

876. There's no vitamin F or G. After E, we jump straight to K, and that quirk is a hint that this nutrient is more complicated than it looks. Vitamin K isn't one thing. It's a whole family of compounds -- K1, K2, MK-4, MK-7 -- that come from different sources and do completely different jobs, from blood clotting to steering calcium into your bones instead of your artery walls. In this episode, Mo...

On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in November 2025. 838. Are manufacturers using a regulatory loophole to sneak untested chemicals into our food? In this episode, we break down what GRAS really...

874. If you're prone to kidney stones, you've probably been told to cut back on calcium. If you're worried about your bones, you've been told to get more. So which is it? Turns out it's a false choice. The old advice to restrict dietary calcium doesn't lower your risk of calcium stones -- it can raise it, while leaving your bones more vulnerable to loss. In this episode, Monica breaks down why the...

On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in November 2024. California recently enacted legislation to ban certain food dyes in public schools. What’s the scientific case to support this? Nutrition Diva...

874. Some wellness articles promise that certain foods can flush plastics and forever chemicals out of your body. In this episode, Monica tracked down the actual studies behind those claims, looking at what the research on fiber, probiotics, and antioxidants really shows about clearing PFAS. She also unpacks why PFAS and microplastics keep getting lumped together even though they behave nothing al...

On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in August 2024. Examining whether vitamins and nutrients can really be absorbed through the skin using products like patches and creams.  New to Nutrition...

873. Colonoscopy prep flushes everything out of your large intestine, including the trillions of bacteria that make up your gut microbiome. So once it's over, is that a chance to rebuild your intestinal flora better than before? A listener named Fred wondered the same thing, and when he asked his gastroenterologist, the idea got pooh-poohed.  In this episode, Monica digs into what colonoscopy...

On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in September 2023. Traveling doesn't mean your healthy eating habits have to take a vacation too. Nutrition Diva shares practical, no-hype strategies for findin...

787. How do we balance the need to protect our skin from UV rays with our body’s need for vitamin D? Mentioned in this episode: DMinder (iOS/Android) -  http://dminder.ontometrics.com/ Vitamin D and UV Tracker (Android) -  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.uv.vitamindtracker SunDay Vitamin D and UV Tracker (iOS) -  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sunday-vitamin-d-uv-tr...

Summer Saturdays: Best of QDT Encore Episode : This episode originally aired May 2024. 706. Bloggers recommend everything from bleach to baking soda. Food safety experts insist that tap water is all you need. What’s the best way to kill germs on fresh produce? New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself!...

872. Social media is full of alarming food lists: staples a cancer survivor swore off, ingredients a nutritionist says to toss immediately. In this episode, Monica works through three listener questions that share a common thread -- microwave popcorn and PFAS, microplastics in chewing gum, and whether mold makes oatmeal a risk. She sorts the legitimate concerns from the inflated ones, and explains...

871. Your doctor says your LDL is too high and you'd rather change your diet than take a pill. The Portfolio Diet promises results that rival statin drugs -- but wait until you hear what it actually takes to follow it. Nutrition Diva breaks down the science, the evidence, and the real-world catch.  References: Effects of a Dietary Portfolio of Cholesterol-Lowering Foods vs Lovastatin on Serum...

870. Parasite cleanses are all over social media right now -- promising to explain your bloating, brain fog, and fatigue. But do they actually work? Monica digs into the science behind these trending protocols, what parasites really look like (spoiler: not what the influencers are showing you), and when you might actually need to worry.  References: Effective Laboratory Diagnosis of Parasitic...

869. Beans are gut health gold -- but the same compounds that feed your microbiome are also what cause the gas. So when you take an enzyme supplement like Beano to tame the bloat, are you undermining the benefit? Monica has a more reassuring answer than you might expect.  References: A randomized double‐blind placebo‐controlled crossover pilot study: Acute effects of the enzyme α‐galactosidas...

School's out, the days are long, and summer should be the healthiest time of year for kids — more time outside, more fresh produce, more freedom to move. So why do so many children actually gain excess weight during summer vacation? In this episode, Monica breaks down a counterintuitive but increasingly well-documented trend: for many kids, especially those who are already overweight, summer is ac...