Articles
Nutrition
What a nutrient does, how much of it you need, and which foods actually carry it. The numbers come from published guidance rather than from a headline.
- Nutrition
Seed oils: what the evidence actually shows
One of the loudest nutrition arguments online, and the research is far less dramatic than either side claims. Here is what is established and what is inference.
5 min read
- Nutrition
Alcohol: the calories that vanish from most food logs
Seven calories a gram, almost nobody logs it, and it suppresses fat oxidation while it is being processed. The arithmetic is less forgiving than the culture around it.
4 min read
- Nutrition
Calorie labels are legally allowed to be wrong
The FDA permits up to 20% variance on declared calories, and restaurant meals are routinely further off than that. Which changes what a tracking number is actually for.
4 min read
- Nutrition
Iron: the deficiency a food log actually catches
It is the most common nutrient deficiency in the world, the symptoms look like ordinary tiredness, and absorption changes several-fold depending on what you ate it with.
5 min read
- Nutrition
Sodium: the hardest cap to keep, and why
About 70% of the sodium people eat was added before they bought the food. That is why cooking without salt barely moves the number, and why this one needs tracking rather than willpower.
4 min read
- Nutrition
Fiber: the target almost nobody hits
Around 5% of US adults reach the recommended intake. It is arguably the single highest-leverage number to move, and it is the one most trackers do not even show you.
4 min read
- Nutrition
Vitamin C and colds: the claim that will not die
Research published in August 2026 again found that vitamin C does not stop most people catching a cold. The idea traces to one Nobel laureate in 1970, and it has outlived the evidence by half a century.
4 min read1 source
- Nutrition
Saturated fat: the limit that survived the rewrite
Everything around it changed in 2026 and the 10% cap stayed exactly where it was. That is worth noticing, and it puts the new food pyramid at odds with the text beside it.
4 min read1 source
- Nutrition
Ultra-processed food: what the label actually covers
The NOVA classification is not about how healthy a food is. It is about how it was made, and that distinction is why hummus and a candy bar can land in different groups than you would guess.
5 min read2 sources
- Nutrition
Added sugar: the 10 grams per meal rule
The guidelines replaced a percentage-of-calories limit with a number you can check while holding the jar. It is a better rule, and it will surprise you where it lands.
4 min read3 sources
- Nutrition
How much protein do you actually need?
The 2026 guidelines nearly doubled the official figure to 0.54–0.73 g per pound. Here is where that lands for your body weight, and the four situations where you should aim at the top of the range.
4 min read3 sources
- Nutrition
Does the water in your food count toward hydration?
Roughly 20–30% of most people's daily water intake arrives as food rather than drink. Almost no food tracker counts it, which is why hydration numbers in those apps run low.
4 min read
- Nutrition
Why food diaries fail in week two
Adherence studies keep finding the same thing: people stop logging because logging is slow, not because they stop caring. The fix is fewer taps per meal, not more motivation.
4 min read