The Dietitian Dish Blog

If you've ever sought weight loss, you are no stranger to the concept of calories. By definition, a calorie is a unit of energy that constitutes our food. It's measured by the temperature required to burn it. The higher the temperature, the more calories a food contains. Based on this information, calories in must equal calories out, right? Wrong.

Food intolerances differ greatly to food allergies. 33 million Americans have a food allergy, and every 10 seconds, a person is sent to the emergency room after being exposed to a food allergen. Having a food tolerance is much less severe, and people often suffer from them on a daily basis without life-threatening consequences. From stomachaches, changes in bowel movements and gurgling sounds, to skin rashes, brain fog and heart palpitations, let’s discuss the differences between a food intolerance and a food allergy.

Breakfast doesn’t have to look like a traditional picture of a family sitting at the kitchen table enjoying a large meal of eggs, bacon, buttered toast, cereal with milk, orange juice and coffee.

Eating is and should always be an intuitive process. We get low on energy and require nutrients, so our bodies will trigger certain hormones to make us feel hungry (rumbling belly). Our brains activate from these signals and will start making us think about food (desire about what to have for lunch). If we look at food when we’re truly hungry, we may start to salivate over that donut or burger pictured on the menu board (our bodies preparing for digestion).

Hi students! I hope you are having a great start to the semester. After having several meetings with many of you over concerns with managing your weight and working at avoiding the ‘Freshman 15’, I’ve decided to put your worries over calories at rest with this blog post. Let’s get right into it.

To all of you starting a fresh new school year, we are glad you are here! You’ll be faced with many new things: friendships, opportunities, environment, schedules and food. Learning how to nourish yourself while being away from home can be scary, but I’m here to help ease your transition. Read on to get tips for navigating your diet, healthy eating and nutrition as the new semester takes off.

Hi all! This is fellow Mountaineer Kinsey Hershberger speaking. I am an undergraduate student in the Human Nutrition and Foods program (and I'm getting ready to start my graduate degree next semester).

Hey Mountaineers! This is your fellow student and dietetic intern at Dining Services, Michelle DuVall, here. I hope you all are enjoying the cooler temperatures and beautiful changing leaves this fall season. Plus, football is here!

Hello Mountaineers! I hope your first weeks of classes have been awesome and you are making new and fond memories! College can be an exciting time for many students, but it also can bring angst to others. It may seem overwhelming to adapt to the hustle and bustle of a college schedule while trying to plan your meals around what's offered in the dining halls and what you can eat between classes. And for someone dealing with diabetes mellitus, these could be crucial changes. You may have gone from planning and preparing your own meals to relying on whatever the dining halls offer. However, do not fear, this blog was written with you in mind to help navigate your diabetes in this new season of your life.

Welcome back, Mountaineers! I hope everyone had a great summer. As we adjust to being back on campus and enduring the Morgantown traffic, we also are adjusting to new schedules and new eating habits. In many cases, our first year of college is the first time we are free to make our own food choices and have to learn to prepare and plan our day around food. That can influence our diets to change significantly.