Natalie Rizzo, MS, RD is a NYC-based Registered Dietitian, food and nutrition writer and national speaker. She has a Master’s in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology from Columbia University, and she has been a vegetarian for close to a decade.
Natalie Rizzo
6 Easy Ways to Lose Weight While Following a Plant-Based Diet
As a New York City-based Registered Dietician, I work with many athletes and others who come to me because they want to lose weight, and they are interested in knowing the best way to do it that is healthy, safe and allows them to train for their next event and have the energy and strength to perform at their optimal best...
Are Beans a Protein or a Carb? Should You Limit Them? An Expert Answers
If you are trying to follow a low-carb diet while tracking your macros – the carbs, proteins, and fats that you consume every day – there can be some confusion when it comes to beans, which check more than one box. So we talked to Natalie Rizzo, a New York-based registered dietitian, to answer the question, "Are beans carbs or protein?"
Are Beans Carbs or Pr...
The Top 10 Sources of Plant-Based Protein, According to a Nutritionist
The number one concern people raise when eating a plant-based diet is how they can get enough protein. The answer is that most animals get their protein from plants, and humans can too. In fact, plants are a great source of protein, from soybeans to peas, the mighty vegetable packs a punch when it comes to protein per gram. Read on to find out which plants deliver the most protein per ounce.
Is it Normal to Lose Your Period on a Plant-Based Diet? An Expert Answers
When you switch to a plant-based diet or any new way of eating, it's not normal to lose your period. Going plant-based for your health can impact your body in unexpected ways, most of them positive, such as lowering your markers for major lifestyle diseases, but losing your period is neither healthy nor normal...
If You Constantly Feel Tired, Our Expert Answers How to Know if You’re Nutrient Deficient
Ensuring that you're getting sufficient nutrients while on a plant-based diet is a contentious subject. Many people believe that there's no way that a diet without animal products can be complete while others believe plant-based is nutrient-dense, and therefore healthiest...
The Healthiest Way to Eat Keto, From a Nutritionist
You may think that the ketogenic diet and a plant-based lifestyle are at odds: After all, many popular keto recipes online involve processed meat and loads of dairy such as cheese or sour cream. As it turns out, there is a way to approach the keto diet without eating animal products. Below, nutrit
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I Just Started a Plant-Based Diet: Should I See a Nutritionist?” Our Expert Answers
"I just started a plant-based diet. Should I see a Nutritionist?" -- Matt B.
Natalie Rizzo, a Registered Dietician, and advisor to The Beet, who helps clients run marathons and live healthy, energetic, active lives on a plant-based diet, answers this and other reader questions...
Do You Need to Add Protein Powder on a Vegan Diet? An Expert Explains
With so much confusion surrounding protein, and where to get it on a vegan or plant-based diet, a reader asked if he needs to supplement with protein powder? There is a new understanding that we may not need as much protein to be healthy as we once thought. Sin...
What’s the Difference Between Serving Size and Portion Size? A Helpful Guide
Q: I'm Confused About Serving Size– How Do I know What Portion to Eat?
A: I agree that serving sizes are confusing and sometimes unrealistic. Servings sizes were once linked to the amount of food people ate in the 70s and 60s and only recently has the FDA stated updating them based on a 2016 revision of what's called RACC, which stands for 'Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed' at a sitting. It
Ask the Expert: “Should I Be Counting Macros on My Plant-Based Diet?”
'If it fits your macros' (IIFYM) has become a common phrase among keto followers, bodybuilders, and other hard-core dieters. But is counting macros helpful for someone trying to eat plant-based? Like most things in the nutrition world, the answer is... i...