By Nutritionist Blogger Jeni Tackett, RD, LD

To eat eggs or not? Is coconut oil good for you? You may be confused about nutrition after watching the Today Show, Dr. Oz or reading countless nutrition tips online.  Media nutrition often contains a quick blurb about a food or diet with little explanation for the recommendation.  Before you give up on nutrition, please hear me out.  Nutrition is a science and new studies add to our knowledge about what foods are best for a healthy diet.  The internet is full of misinformation about nutrition.  You need to know where to go!

Here are three examples of confusing nutrition topics and a good source for each:

•    Eggs:  The studies seem to go back and forth as far as eggs being a healthy food or a diet fail.  Egg yolks are high in cholesterol, but studies have found that blood cholesterol is not affected by cholesterol in foods as much as the saturated and trans fat in foods.  Thus, have an egg every day if you love eggs!  Mayo Clinic explains the science.

•    Gluten free diets:  Gluten is the protein found in grains such as wheat, barely, and rye.  Individuals with celiac disease must avoid gluten entirely or suffer from malabsorption.  If you do not have celiac disease, you do not need to avoid gluten.  A gluten-free diet excludes whole grains which are great sources of fiber, B vitamins, and minerals.

•    Coconut oil:  Coconut oil displays popped up in grocery stores this summer, but is coconut oil as good as olive oil?  Coconut oil is 90% saturated which is more saturated than butter (64% saturated).  Walter C. Willett, M.D. from Harvard’s School of Public Health warns to use coconut oil sparingly as the studies are still out as far as the heart health of saturated tropical oils.

Rather than googling your nutrition questions, go to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harvard Health Publications, or Mayo Clinic and search for your topic.  Remember that nutrition is a constantly evolving science, but the basic recommendations remain:  eat a plant based diet with plenty of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.  Enjoy unhealthy foods in moderation.  Once you start seeing the forest from the trees, eating healthy is a breeze.

Meet Jeni Tackett, Let’s Move Quad Cities Nutrition Blogger. Jeni is a registered and licensed dietitian for Unity Point-Trinity. Jeni counsels her clients on weight loss and nutrition. You can read Jeni’s bio and other blog posts by clicking here.