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Four decades of writing on living long and living well, with 1,000+ posts on functional and longevity medicine.
82 written by Dr. Frank Lipman in Nutrition
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Jul 27, 2026 · NutritionMy Go-To Green List: Ten Veggies That Do the Heavy Lifting for Your Health
“Let food by thy medicine, and medicine by thy food.” However you phrase it, it’s an excellent reminder not to get so caught up in meal timing regimens or the ins and outs of particular diets that we forget the most important thing, the food itself. And no type of food does a better job of keeping us intact and thriving than vegetables. But I can’t think of a richer, or more health and longevity-supporting haul of veggies than those of the green persuasion.
Jul 13, 2026 · NutritionThe Hidden Power of Resistant Starch—The Carb That Behaves Like Fiber
Though it may sounds strange, chilling foods like rice, potatoes, pasta, and even bread can transform some of their digestible starch into something called resistant starch—a form of carbohydrate that resists digestion and reaches the colon intact. There, it feeds beneficial gut bacteria, supports the microbiome, and may help improve blood sugar control, insulin sensitivity, and appetite regulation. In other words, yesterday’s leftovers might actually be better for you than a freshly cooked plate. Resistant starch offers a surprising twist in nutrition science: with a little kitchen chemistry, some everyday starches can become powerful allies for metabolic and gut health.
Jun 15, 2026 · NutritionAn Acquired Taste with Benefits: The Curious Case of Nattokinase, The Gut and Heart Helper
So, what is natto anyway? It’s a traditional Japanese food, made up of soybeans fermented with the Bacillus subtilis bacteria. To most Westerners, it tends to look less than appealing – a dollop of reddish brown, mushy beans stuck together in a stringy cheesy goo that a biochemist would describe as a chain of glutamine amino acids. And it’s aroma and taste? Well, that can take a little getting used to, but it’s well worth the effort when it comes to boosting your heart and gut health.
May 18, 2026 · NutritionPolyphenols: The Edible Compounds to Help Your Body Age Smarter —Not Faster
Here’s a look at the promise and power of polyphenols, and why they’re worth your attention, that is, if living a longer, healthier life is on your radar.
Apr 27, 2026 · NutritionThe Ultimate Low-Tech, High Taste Biohack: 10 Spices to Get More Of
When most of us fire up the stove, and hit the spice drawer, we’re thinking primarily of adding flavor. But from a scientific perspective, there’s proof that numerous spices contain a number of bioactive compounds that positively influence inflammation, oxidative stress, blood sugar, cardiovascular health, immune function and even brain function. And yes, they make healthy food taste even better, so spices may also help you curb the urge to reach for ultra-processed and sugar-heavy ‘convenience’ foods. How to take better advantage of these original low-tech ‘biohacks’? You just need to assemble your own small spice arsenal and get into the habit of reaching for them early and often.
Mar 2, 2026 · NutritionHow Intermittent Fasting Promotes Your Hormonal Health -- and Why I’m A Fan!
When hormones stop playing nicely with one another, blood sugar swings, sleep becomes lighter or harder to come by, cravings feel louder, weight can shift in ways that feel unfair, and stress tends to linger. Over time, these disruptions can add up, affecting mood, metabolism, immune health, resilience, and even how quickly we age. The good news is that hormones are remarkably responsive to everyday choices – and fasting is a fantastic way to help smooth out the hormonal ride.
Jul 7, 2025 · Nutrition6 Ways to Avoid Emulsifiers – and the Gut Troubles They Bring
What you put in your gut microbiome – the community of bacteria that live mostly in your large intestine – has an enormous impact on countless aspects of your overall resilience, immune defenses and even brain function. Ignore your gut at your peril. When it comes to foods that support the health of your microbiome, a big part of the equation involves subtracting the sweet stuff and indeed all processed foods. There are countless reasons to ditch them, but here’s another: virtually all processed foods bring with them an extra special health scourge, namely, emulsifiers. Look at just about any food label in your pantry and they’ll be there – and I urge you to ditch them out for good.
Jun 30, 2025 · Nutrition9 Ways Intermittent Fasting Can Keep Brains Young and Healthy – and How to Do It
While you might think of intermittent fasting as a trendy TikTok weight-loss hack, think again. IF’s benefits go far beyond the scale – helping to improve heart health, blood sugar control; reduce inflammation, blood pressure and even cancer risk – while also doing some impressive things for your brain, too. Though the idea’s been around for thousands of years – even Hippocrates was a fan – more recently, scientists and neurologists have started to pay more attention to how taking regular breaks from eating can protect your mind and possibly even sharpen it. So, how does IF help upgrade your brain’s health and ultimately its longevity? Let us count the ways.
Jan 6, 2025 · Nutrition5 Smart Strategies for Eating Tuna Without Spiking Mercury Levels
Love fish? Then you also need to be careful about not elevating your body’s mercury levels – a common problem that often comes with ‘too much of a good thing.’ While not over-doing it is a good rule of thumb for just about any kind of fish you enjoy, it’s especially important when it comes to tuna, one of the most popular lunch and dinner staples in the fish-eating world, which despite its many nutritional upsides, can be very high in mercury. So how to minimize the downsides and take advantage of tuna’s pluses? Here are a few thoughts on how to do tuna right.
Nov 18, 2024 · Nutrition6 Ways B12 Keeps Mental and Physical Health Humming
Vitamin B12 is one of those unique substances that does so much good that I urge anyone interested in health and longevity not to overlook it. One big reason to keep your levels topped up? It’s great for brain health and keeping your mood on an even keel – just what our difficult times require. What else can B12 do for you? Tend to the essentials like heart health, energy levels, and neurological function and so much more. My advice? Top off your tank every chance you get!
Jul 22, 2024 · Nutrition6 Ways to Crush Food Allergies and Handle Your Histamines
One of the best ways to handle your histamines is to consider the potential allergens you may unknowingly be putting into your body multiple times a day, and that’s food. Certain foods may be causing you a lot of physical grief (in the form of allergy symptoms) while also compromising the health of your gut and immune system to boot. And just to make the story more interesting, some foods produce their own histamines which make them more likely to trigger your body’s allergic over-reaction. So, how about putting a stop to all that?
Jun 3, 2024 · Nutrition10 Ways to Keep Weed Killer Glyphosate Out of Your Body
For well over a decade, I’ve been sounding the alarm about the human and environmental cost of glyphosate – the active ingredient in the well-known herbicide Roundup. This nasty, health-tanking compound has never been anything but awful for your body and the news hasn’t gotten better with time. While awareness about its dangers has increased, much of the world remains all-in on glyphosate -- you can still easily wind up in harm’s way. What can you do to minimize your exposure? The answer is ‘quite a bit.’
May 13, 2024 · Nutrition3 Reasons To Get Off the Grain Train – and 4 Flavorful Ways To Do It
We all want a generous ‘healthspan,’ that is, the time we have on this earth to live with vitality and in good health. Fortunately, there are plenty of everyday habits that can help us achieve it. Good sleep, plenty of movement, keeping stress at bay, social connection, they’re all important. But when you eat right, well, that’s money in the bank when it comes to minimizing disease risk, maintaining youthfulness and extending longevity. One way to approach upgrading your diet is with “food swaps.” Take the bad hombres --we’re looking at you processed foods, sugar, alcohol – and replace them with leaner, cleaner and yes, tastier alternatives.
Nov 6, 2023 · NutritionTap Into the 7 Amazing Health-Saving Properties of Apigenin
Safe to say, as a person who’s had the great good fortune to be on this earth for a few decades, with each passing year, on both a personal and professional level, I’ve grown increasingly interested in the idea of how to do aging better. While there’s no way to stop...
Sep 4, 2023 · Nutrition7 Great Vegetables That Are Even Healthier When Cooked
As everyone (hopefully) knows by now, fresh, colorful vegetables are the cornerstone of a healthy diet. Simply put, your body thrives on the real, close-to-the-vine stuff. When it comes to veggies though, one question patients often ask is, which is better – raw or cooked? And the answer is, both have their merits, though it does depend quite a bit on the individual vegetable. For some, heating will destroy certain vitamins and phytonutrients, and with others, heating will amp up the nutritional haul, unleashing their full powers and making them easier to digest.
Jul 10, 2023 · NutritionWhy Choline is So Essential for Your Health – and How to Get Yours
If you’re not familiar with choline, well, you’re not alone. In fact, choline wasn’t even recognized by American health authorities as “essential” until 1998, so it is, in its way, a relative newcomer. And, while our bodies do produce some small amounts of choline, we need to be mindful to consume a sufficient amount of this essential nutrient in our diets or else we’ll be in trouble. It turns out that choline plays a key role in many of the, yes, essential things that the human brain and body need to do, from thinking clearly to smoothly pumping blood to burning fat for energy.
Jul 3, 2023 · Nutrition9 Simple Ways to Make Your Kitchen a Greener and Healthier One
Though plenty of people still cling to their plastic, these days we know that doing so is bad news. Over time we’ve realized that plastic-based convenience comes at a high price, exposing our bodies to far too many health-bashing endocrine disruptors or EDs. What makes EDs so scary is that they have the power to wreak havoc with your hormones – think stimulating cancer development and triggering immunity, fertility, metabolic, developmental and cognitive problems - so in short, it’s time to get this crap out of your kitchen and your life.
Jun 12, 2023 · Nutrition3 Reasons to Love Organics – And 17 Ways To Buy More Of Them For Less
The increased demand for and supply of organic food has narrowed the cost differential, putting more organic options within reach for more people. Still, I know price can be a concern. That’s why I want to explain why I’m so passionate about organics and offer a few ways to help you enjoy more of them without emptying the piggy bank. In the end, investing in the cleanest, least altered, healthiest food possible is a lot less costly than a lifetime of prescriptions and doctor visits, so I feel strongly that organics are an essential investment in long-term health everyone should make. Here’s how to do it with an eye toward the bottom line.
Jun 5, 2023 · Nutrition9 Instant Health Upgrades That Happen When You Quit Booze
Everyday we’re bombarded with TV images advertising all the good things that drinking alcohol brings – fun! Spontaneity! Romance! Too bad they rarely show us the other side, the busted lives and wrecked livers that come with blatantly abusive drinking. But for a much larger group of us, it’s a more subtle erosion of the quality of life – trouble sleeping, feeling a bit dragged out and mentally maybe a step slower – that is so routine we may not even think about what’s behind it. All too often, a so-called moderate alcohol habit that may even stay within government recommendations –no more than two daily drinks for men, one for women – nevertheless chips away at our physical and mental health. It’s time we call alcohol what it is: a toxin, and as we get older, the body gets less shy about confirming its toxic status.
May 29, 2023 · NutritionMy 9 Rules of Good Food and How to Get Yours
Big Food has so dazzled us with the quantity of what they produce, it’s helped made it easy to overlook or consciously ignore quality. The result? The food we’re putting into our systems, however reasonable in cost and tasty they may be, is making us sick and ultimately contributing to shortened life and health spans -- and making a hash of our health on a global scale. I have a few thoughts on how you can beat the odds by shopping and eating smarter.
May 22, 2023 · NutritionLet’s Get Nuts: 7 Nuts That Taste Great and Boost Health
It’s hard not to love nuts. They’re portable, convenient, delicious and deliver a solid dose of nutritional goodies that help your body thrive. Eating more nuts is one simple, virtually effortless healthy habit that I encourage everyone (everyone who isn’t allergic, that is) to indulge in. Nutritionally speaking, the average nut punches above its weight (and small size), yet it’s one of nature’s most often overlooked superfoods! Whether you’re trying to snack smarter or add more flavor and texture to your morning oats and lunchtime salads, nuts are always a great idea.
May 15, 2023 · Nutrition7 Ways to Balance Your Brain, Belly and Mood with Food
In a post-pandemic world, depression and anxiety are all too common afflictions, but before you reach for the pills, consider the plate, that is, the food you eat every day. It can have a major, and all too often, underappreciated, effect on your mood. Why? A lot of it has to do with the role of the bacteria in your gut, the microbiome, which play crucial role in maintaining your emotional well-being. Feed the good bugs in your belly what they want, they, in turn, will take care of you.
May 1, 2023 · Nutrition7 Trendy ‘Health Foods’ that Aren’t as Healthy as You Think
The idea of wholesome foods being great for body and mind is almost a no-brainer, what’s not always so clear is what, exactly, constitutes a truly healthy option versus one that seems good for you but, in reality, isn’t.
Feb 27, 2023 · NutritionThe Perils of Moderate Drinking – Especially for Women
So, what if your drinking doesn’t quite fall into what most would consider a problem, but more of a relaxing, end-of-day ritual? Here too, I urge you – and particularly women – to take a hard, clear-eyed look at how alcohol bashes the health of your body – even if you are doing everything else ‘right’ – and start taking steps to end this very unhealthy relationship. To get started, here’s some food for thought.