About Dr. Olson
Beth Olson is an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist in Nutritional Sciences. She has a BS in Biochemistry from UW-Madison and a PhD in Nutrition from UC-Davis. Prior to coming to UW, she worked at Michigan State University and the Kellogg Company in Battle Creek, MI.
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Meatless Mondays…Coming Soon
By: Katie Schroeder & Beth Olson “Meatless Mondays” are a practice that were started to encourage people to reduce their meat consumption just a little each week. The origins of having meals without meat in the United States date back to the World Wars. Initially started to address food scarcities among various products, meatless days…
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Combating Food Insecurity at UW Madison
By Katie Schroeder and Beth Olson. You know that old joke about college kids and ramen? How it’s all they can afford? Well, it seems there may be more truth to that you may think. College students all over the country are experiencing food insecurity and UW Madison is no exception to this. A Hope…
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Hmong Cooking Demo a Success!
Did you know Hmong is the third most commonly spoken language in Wisconsin, after English and Spanish? The Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Life Sciences Communications, in partnership with CALS, UW-Extension, and The Hmong American Student Association, conducted a cooking demonstration of healthy Hmong dishes, followed by tasting and conversation. Tiffany Moua, an MPH student…
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Break up your work day with exercise snacks – Taiya Bach, MPH, RDN
CALS Community of Wellness tip: Break up your work day with exercise snacks December 13, 2023 | By CALS Community of Wellness https://ecals.cals.wisc.edu/2023/12/13/cals-community-of-wellness-tip-break-up-your-work-day-with-exercise-snacks/ Earlier this year, preliminary results from a study out of Columbia University Medical Center suggested that five minutes of walking every 30 minutes during long periods of time spent sitting can have a positive…
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Updated “Obesity Maps” from CDC
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects data from states on the Body Mass Index (BMI) of the adult population, which is a person’s weight divided by the square of their height. BMI is used as a screener for categories of body fat (underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obese) and potential health problems. However, it…
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Non-nutritive sweeteners
There has long been interest in using something other than sugar to sweeten foods and beverages. Products developed for this purpose are sometimes called high-intensity sweeteners, that is, they are intensely sweet and so are used in small amounts. They are also sometimes called artificial sweeteners, and because they provide little to no calories: non-nutritive…
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Government Efforts
FDA recently put out two announcements. One is notice about consumer research FDA is conducting about Front of Package (FOP) Labeling on Packaged Goods. This follows earlier announcements and focus group research conducted, to determine how consumers perceive various formats of labeling. Various types of FOP have been used in the US and other countries,…
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Skipping breakfast-to do or not to do
Perhaps you don’t have time for breakfast or you aren’t hungry when you wake up. If so, you may have wondered if skipping breakfast is bad for you. Recent studies have found that compared to people who eat breakfast, those that don’t eat breakfast tend to have less healthy diets because they rely on foods…
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Saving $$ and Food Waste
There likely has been no one shopping for groceries that hasn’t noticed the higher food prices. Some “sale” prices are higher than the regular prices 6 months ago! The traditional ways to save on your shopping bill still apply: plan meals and your grocery list to avoid impulse buys, use ads and websites to find…