Spotlight: Meet our New Dietitian Denise Garofalo RD,LDN

Denise Garofalo, RD/N, Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist has been actively involved in her profession of Nutrition and Dietetics since 1976. Denise was Director of Nutrition at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Psychiatric Division, where she acquired skills and knowledge for the complex treatment of eating disorders. Simultaneously, Denise pioneered the concept of Nutritionists in private practice in Westchester County, NY. As an expert in food and nutrition, Denise entertained many a crowd with her public speaking engagements and food demonstrations and ran her own health and nutrition series on cable TV. Denise’s extensive counseling experience spans the life cycle. Working with all age groups from nutrition in pregnancy to geriatric nutrition in health and disease, Denise offers a common sense approach to healthy eating and modifying eating behaviors. As a steward for the UConn Clean Waters program and avid organic vegetable gardener, Denise influenced many to protect precious land for agriculture and water for drinking. Denise prides herself in excellent home cooking and can whip up a recipe that’s best for you. Currently, Denise represents nutrition as a team member at the Medstar Washington Hospital Center Transplant Institute.

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Family Nutrition: What’s the deal with Multivitamins?

This is definitely one of my top ten questions from clients and frankly it’s a hard question because there isn’t a generic answer. The internet and such stores as the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC continue to place a lot of focus on vitamins and minerals and some of my clients swear by their regimen. I’ve even had some clients tell me they can tell a difference within hours of taking certain supplementations. Since this is a subject I try to tame my responses too, I was very glad to see the article “Multivitamins, So Many Types, So Many Labels” by Melinda Beck in the Wall Street Journal published June 21, 2001. Did you know that the multivitamin is the number one dietary supplement producing $4.8 billion back in 2008 and that one third of American’s take multivitamins religiously? As Melinda points out there are many different varieties of multivitamins yet there is no specific formulation that specifies what a multivitamin should look like. ...

Miraculous Misconceptions: Raspberry Ketones

The interwebs are abuzz about the supposedly “miraculous” Raspberry Ketone supplements. Raspberry Ketone popularity started with Dr. Oz's show in February 2012, when he nicknamed it a “miracle weight loss drug.” Some even credit Raspberry Ketones with stimulating hair growth, but for our purposes here, let’s talk about weight loss. Raspberry Ketones are derived from red raspberries. Proponents claim that the supplement will stimulate your metabolism causing weight loss. However, there are no reliable studies to prove this. Specifically there is no scientific evidence to show how it alters metabolism to promote weight loss. There is also no scientific evidence to determine a proper dosage. If you find a study that claims otherwise, check the funding source. Most likely, that study was funded by a company who produces or funds raspberry ketone products. As far as I know, no major pharmaceutical companies are investing in Raspberry Ketone research. And it is my opinion ...

Food Trends: Plant vs. Animal Protein

In my practice I see a lot of vegetarians who have a lot of questions about the types of protein they eat. In case you need a refresher, animal proteins are proteins derived from meat, dairy, and eggs. Plant protein is derived from nuts, seeds, beans, legumes and soy. Most animal proteins are higher in saturated fat as well as cholesterol which have been proved to increase risks of arteriosclerosis, a precursor to cardiovascular disease. A lot of the general public, not just vegetarians, are starting to focus on decreasing intakes of animal proteins and focusing on plant sources to decrease total calorie, fat, and cholesterol intake. It’s important to know that most generally healthy individuals only need .8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Basically this means that a 150 pound man or woman requires about 54 grams of protein in an entire day. Protein is made from amino acids. Although there are many amino acids, ther...

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