Could You Do a Vegan Challenge? No meat, dairy, eggs, animal anything for 30 days. This "challenge" got me thinking…Is it a "challenge" to be vegan?

This time of year is often a roller coaster for people: Halloween, Thanksgiving, the Christmas season, and New Year’s. All holidays in which eating more than usual is the norm. So, consider what can you do to stay with your routine as much as possible.

It is peanut butter lovers month – and I am one of those people who identify as a peanut butter lover. I am a fan of the creamy form – not crunchy. But we all have our preferences, and there is nothing wrong with our personal preferences. Parents and caregivers should use creamy for small children to reduce the risk of choking. This year, I am providing my list of 15 ways to have peanut butter in your diet. There are no rules here; use as much or as little as you want.

November is National Diabetes Month in which there is a push to bring more awareness of this disease that affects more than 34 million adults in the U.S. And, even if you are not part of that 34 million, it is estimated that more than 88 million Americans are at risk of developing diabetes in their lifetime. The catch with diabetes isn’t just the blood sugar and avoiding sugar in the diet. And most people need help with addressing the many aspects of diabetes.

What first comes to mind when I mention orange food? Fruits and vegetables? Candy? Cheese snacks? There are so many orange foods; fruits and vegetables are unsurprisingly the healthier categories. Right? But are there others that are good for us too?

Solid fats like butter, shortening, and lard has their place and a role in baking. Because of the nature of these fats, their solid properties help with a nice layering or flaking of items such as pie crust and other pastries. But, again, this is something that oil will not replicate and cannot replicate.

With the holiday baking season around the corner and so many people kicking wheat flour to the curb, I need to share the differences between these flours. There is nothing wrong with using wheat flour – either all-purpose white flour or whole wheat flour unless you have a wheat allergy or cannot eat gluten. Using a gluten-free or wheat-free alternative flour is fine and helpful. However, the belief that these other flours are healthier than wheat flour doesn’t hold up. In some cases, the calories and fat increase significantly. And the protein goes up marginally.

So many people will tout the benefits of chocolate without fully realizing and knowing the facts. Sometimes, I wonder if they are saying it to feel better and justify their chocolate habit. Like when people tell me that wine is good for the heart without knowing the facts. (Hint: there is much more to the story, such as overall dietary patterns and lifestyle.) But is chocolate good for you? It can be, but its type and form make a difference.

Is sugar a toxin? Can we be addicted to sugar? And should we detox from sugar?

If you are unfamiliar with sugar alcohol, I must first clarify that this isn't the kind of sugar found in distilled spirits, beer, or wine. Therefore, people who avoid alcohol – the drug – do not need to avoid sugar alcohol since they are not alcoholic substances. They are a substance that provides a sweet taste, but they provide half the calories of sugar (and the other carbohydrates) and do not contribute to tooth decay.

One of the more "feared" things in nutrition are low-calorie sweeteners. Low-calorie sweeteners are another name for non-nutritive sweeteners or what many people call "artificial" sweeteners. People swear they cause cancer. Contribute to weight gain. Have all kinds of adverse health effects. Years ago, there was a laundry list of aspartame's negative impacts–all untrue. What is the truth?

Added sugar sources have many aliases – and go by many names. Not all these are the white granulated table sugar that most people think of, but different forms of sugar. Some of these may be for flavor – adding sweetness to the food, but they also may have important properties in the preparation, baking, or mouthfeel of a food.

When people refer to sugar, they think of or refer to white granulated table sugar. And people will often assume or mistakenly think that if they use a sugar alternative – such as honey or agave nectar- they are making a healthier choice or something more “natural.” But are any of these healthier alternatives to white sugar?

People say that they don’t eat carrots because they are high in sugar. They don’t eat potatoes because they are “all” sugar. They don’t eat fruit because they are high in sugar. Avoiding these plant foods because of their sugar content is among the more ridiculous statements I have heard. Why? Because naturally occurring sugar just isn’t the same as added sugars in food.

This is the first in a series about sugar and all things sugar. Sugar in the form of glucose is THE fuel for the brain, the fuel for all our cells, and the fuel for our muscles. So, when people make a blanket statement such as “sugar feeds cancer cells,” that is true, but only because sugar feeds ALL cells in the body.

For years now, people tell me that they don’t eat carbs – bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes. – I must wonder why specifically these four foods considering that rice isn’t a nutritional zero or significant contributor of excess calories in the typical American diet either.

Growing up, too much coffee was not a good thing. At least that is what the commercials on television told me. Not that I drank coffee as a kid. Seeing those commercials made me think that this was not a good thing to consume. And what was too much coffee? In some cases, having only half a cup was an acceptable amount in any more than that was not. Only half a cup because my doctor said so.

Over the years, I have gotten many questions about what a good post-exercise recovery meal or drink is. While there are many protein drinks and recovery options, I come to the table with a budget-friendly option: chocolate milk. Many years ago, when my husband asked about a post-exercise recovery option, I suggested chocolate milk, and he said, “no I mean something with protein in it that can help with my recovery.” So, I said, “chocolate milk!”

Why we need to focus on a specific month for fruits and vegetables, I don’t know. Let’s devote the entire YEAR to fruits and vegetables. Focus on eating fruits and vegetables every day of every month of the year. However, here we are in September, formerly “National 5-a-Day Month,” and it is now “Fruit and Veggies Month.”

Something I hear often, and you may have even said it: nutritionists are constantly changing their minds! If people are allowed to change their minds, and dietitians are human, aren’t they given the same freedom as other humans? The field of nutrition, a science, is supposed to have the answers and never be allowed to deviate from the original recommendation or supposed solutions from the start.