How Hype and Common Sense Shape Our Eating Choices with Tamar Haspel

The More You Know, The More You Can Eat with Carolyn O’Neil

We've all felt it: you decide to eat healthier, open social media, and within minutes, you're drowning in contradictory advice. Eggs are back. Butter's healthy. Seed oils are toxic. Never eat after 7pm. Wait, only eat between noon and 6pm? By the end, you're left wondering if anyone can just tell you what to eat. Join Holly and Jim as they sit down with award-winning food journalist and registered dietitian Carolyn O'Neil to unpack why nutrition advice feels so exhausting and contradictory. With decades spent translating nutrition science for CNN and beyond, Carolyn has made a career out of turning "pie in the sky" science into "pie on the plate" advice people can actually use. In this conversation, she shares how to separate real science from clickbait, why food doesn't have to be the enemy, and how her philosophy of "the more you know, the more you can eat" can transform your relationship with food. Whether you're confused by conflicting headlines, navigating a GLP-1 journey, or just trying to enjoy a family celebration without guilt, this episode is packed with practical, joyful wisdom from one of the most trusted voices in nutrition communication. Discussed in the episode * Why the two biggest buckets of nutrition headlines are "this will kill you" and "this will cure you," and why it's often the same food * A simple media literacy trick for telling real science from a misleading headline * What really happened in a viral study on omega-3 supplements and brain health * Why the "Mediterranean diet" is more romanticized than most people realize * How to keep the joy of eating alive while on a GLP-1 medication * The restaurant industry's surprising response to guests eating less * A simple framework, "the three M's," for personalizing your approach to health * Why "shop the perimeter of the store" might be terrible advice. * Carolyn's rapid-fire answers on the most overhyped nutrition claims, misleading headlines, and her favorite food city in the world * A practical tip for enjoying food-centered family traditions without overeating or guilt

The New Era of Weight Loss and Heart Health with Robert Eckel

Cancer is the disease most people fear. But heart disease is the one that actually kills the most Americans, and most people never connect it to their weight. For decades, obesity was treated as a bystander to heart disease, a risk factor at best. That thinking has changed dramatically, and the data behind that shift is stunning: we now have a medication proven to cut major cardiovascular events by 20% in people with obesity. Join Holly and Jim as they sit down with an old friend and true legend in the field, Dr. Robert Eckel, Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Bob is the only person to have ever served as president of the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, and the Obesity Society, a hat trick that connects heart, metabolism, and weight in a way no one else in medicine can claim. He's been in the room for four decades of major turning points in this field, from the earliest meetings on obesity science to the current GLP-1 era. In this episode, Bob walks Holly and Jim through the science, the skepticism, and the surprises behind the biggest shift in obesity treatment of their careers and answers real listener questions about medications, guidelines, and what patients should actually be asking their doctors. Discussed in the episode: * The pivotal trial that's changing how cardiologists think about weight loss drugs and how its results stack up against statins * Why the outcome researchers expected to explain the benefits of these medications may not be the real story at all * The surprising history of how "obesity" and "heart disease" became connected in medical thinking, and who had to make the case * What your body's "set point" really is, and whether staying on medication long-term can actually change it * A candid take on whether the weight-loss drugs might be helping or quietly working against long-term behavior change * Real listener questions answered, including when a cardiologist won't prescribe, what "not overweight enough" really means, and whether weight loss "worked" even after a heart attack. * Bob's own vulnerable reflections on his career, a decision he'd make differently, and what still keeps him "rewired" in retirement

How Many Steps Do You Really Need for Health and Weight Loss with Amanda Paluch

For decades, one number has ruled the world of fitness: 10,000 steps. It's on your watch, your phone, maybe even tattooed into your daily to-do list. But what if that number was never based on science at all? Join Holly and Jim as they sit down with Dr. Amanda Paluch, Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and leader of the Steps for Health Collaborative, an international research consortium pooling data from over 125,000 adults to answer one deceptively simple question: how many steps do you actually need? Amanda pulls back the curtain on where the 10,000-step goal really came from, what the data shows instead, and why the "right" number might depend on how old you are. Whether you're chasing a step count, recovering from mobility limitations, or navigating GLP-1 medications, this conversation will change the way you think about your daily walk. Discussed in the episode: * The surprising 1960s marketing origin of the 10,000-step goal (hint: it has nothing to do with health research) * Why the "right" step goal may look different depending on your age * The step range where most of the cardiovascular benefit shows up (it's lower than you'd think) * Whether walking pace matters as much as total volume * How do steps fit into the GLP-1 conversation? * What the research says about step counting becoming an unhealthy obsession * Practical advice for people with mobility limitations who feel like step goals are out of reach * Rapid-fire answers on walking vs. running, treadmill vs. outdoor steps, and more * A simple mindset shift for anyone having a "low step day"

How Hype and Common Sense Shape Our Eating Choices with Tamar Haspel

For 40 years, every time nutrition has found a new villain, the food industry has handed us a new label to go with it: non-fat, no GMOs, gluten-free, no seed oils, and now, non-ultra-processed. We have more experts, more studies, and more food rules than ever before, so why does standing in the grocery aisle still feel like such a guessing game? Join Holly and Jim as they sit down with Tamar Haspel, the James Beard Award-winning Washington Post columnist behind Unearthed and author of To Boldly Grow, to pull apart the ultra-processed food debate and ask whether today's labels are actually helping us eat better or just making us easier to market to. Tamar doesn't just write about food from behind a desk: she gardens, fishes, raises chickens, and runs an oyster farm on Cape Cod, and she brings three decades of reporting, real skepticism, and zero patience for diet cranks to the conversation. You'll hear why the food world keeps repeating the same mistake, what a cage full of B.F. Skinner's pigeons can teach us about our relationship with food, and what's really driving overeating once you strip away the marketing. Discussed on the episode: * The decades-old pattern that explains why every new food "villain" feels eerily familiar * The bizarre pigeon experiment that reveals why we're so convinced certain foods are "good" or "bad" for us * Why a bowl of crushed cereal proved more about overeating than years of processed-food headlines * The blunt case for why "everything in moderation" might be the most useless diet advice out there * The one-sentence grocery store rule that could replace almost every food label you've ever side-eyed * How GLP-1 medications could end up reshaping the entire food industry, not just individual waistlines * The "healthy" nutrient claim, Tamar says, is wildly overrated and the snack everyone blames for something it's not even guilty of

The Science and Realities of Long-Term GLP-1 Use

Losing weight on a GLP-1 medication can feel like magic until the scale stops moving. For almost everyone on these drugs, there comes a moment when the rapid progress slows, then stalls completely. Is the medication failing? Has your metabolism adapted? Did you do something wrong? For most people, that moment feels like a problem. It isn't. Join Holly and Jim as they unpack one of the most misunderstood parts of the GLP-1 journey: the shift from losing weight to keeping it off. You'll discover why a stalled scale is actually a sign the medication is doing exactly what it's supposed to do, and why "maintenance" is a completely different physiological state than "weight loss." One that comes with its own rules. Along the way, you'll pick up science-backed (and some still-unanswered) guidance on nutrition, muscle, bone health, and motivation for the long haul, plus a clear answer to a question Holly says she gets all the time: Are they against staying on these medications long-term? Discussed on the episode: * Why hitting a plateau on a GLP-1 is good news, not a sign the drug has stopped working. * The blood pressure pill comparison that reframes what people call "drug resistance" * Why nutrition may matter even more, not less, once weight loss stops * Whether you actually need to exercise to keep weight off on a GLP-1 (the honest answer might surprise you) * The bone health risk in younger women that's getting far less attention than muscle loss * Why are dose-tapering and switching strategies being called the "Wild West" of GLP-1 care * A New York Times claim about these medications "rewiring the brain" and what that could mean long after you stop. * How to find motivation once the scale refuses to budge Have a question or a success story? Send it in. Holly and Jim read every one, and they're especially looking for listener stories about navigating weight loss maintenance.