Nutrition Archives | DonnieYance.com

September 8, 2025September 5, 2025

Parmigiano Reggiano: The King of Cheeses

by Donnie Yance

Parmigiano Reggiano, a cheese to which I am somewhat addicted, offers a delicious sharp, nutty, and slightly salty flavor that has earned it the nickname “King of Cheeses” among culinary enthusiasts worldwide.

The Health Paradox of Cheese

Cheese is a nutrient-dense fermented dairy product consumed worldwide, though its health effects remain controversial. It provides high-quality protein (mainly casein), essential minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium), vitamins (A, K2, B2, B12, folate), and beneficial bioactive compounds including probiotics. However, cheese also contains significant amounts of saturated fat and sodium, which are generally considered unfavorable for cardiovascular health.

The molecular structure and nutritional profile of cheese varies substantially by type. While many varieties contain potentially problematic levels of fat and sodium with limited nutritional value, others like Parmigiano Reggiano offer exceptional health benefits despite being cheese.

Multiple meta-analysis studies provide comprehensive perspectives on cheese consumption research, identifying uncertainties, biases, and knowledge gaps in existing evidence.¹ Parmigiano Reggiano is characterized by exceptional nutritional qualities, containing substances with specific biological actions. According to the definition established by the European Union, it can be fully classified as a ‘functional’ food.²

July 21, 2025August 8, 2025

Healthy Carbs Can Help You Lose Weight

By Donnie Yance

Contrary to popular belief, carbohydrates can be powerful allies in your weight loss journey when you understand how to use them properly. There are better carbs and worse carbs, and healthy carbs can actually help you lose weight.

For years, carbohydrates have been villainized in diet culture, portrayed as guaranteed weight-gain culprits. This misconception has been reinforced by the popularity and widely publicized success stories of low-carb approaches like the Atkins and ketogenic diets. However, this oversimplified advice lacks crucial nuance about how carbohydrates actually function in our bodies.

In reality, high-quality carbohydrates, for example from whole grains, play an essential role in fat-burning and metabolic health, and just might be the missing piece in your fitness puzzle.

Continue reading “Healthy Carbs Can Help You Lose Weight”

May 12, 2025May 9, 2025

Healing Foods For Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention

By Donnie Yance

“God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.” – J.M. Barrie

How Diet and Genes Affect Brain Health

Recent studies show that the brain strives to maintain a steady energy supply over time, a process called “energetic homeostasis.”¹ This balance is important because energy metabolism affects how brain cells work, communicate, and adapt. These changes can influence thinking and memory.

What we eat plays a major role in brain function. Certain foods can have long-term effects on brain health by changing the way brain cells grow and connect. These effects happen through epigenetic regulation, which means that food can change how genes are expressed without changing the DNA itself. Eating the right nutrients helps support energy use in the brain and strengthens connections between neurons, much like exercise does. Research on brain injuries suggests that whole foods and supplements can help reduce damage to brain cells.²

May 25, 2022July 26, 2022

The Role of Nutrition in Individual and Planetary Health

The COVID-19 pandemic has had deleterious effects on overall health in numerous ways, and not only for those who actually contracted the disease.^[1] For many people, COVID-19 lockdowns negatively affected physical activity and diet, which are risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, including hypertension and obesity.^[2]^,^[3]^,^[4]

Equally concerning is that the importance of health optimization has been largely ignored.

The entire premise for vaccinations is to utilize non-pathogenic material to mimic the immunological response of a natural infection, thereby conferring immunity in the event of pathogen exposure.^[5]