Healthy Hollywood: Ask Keri Glassman — Give Nutrional Yeast A Go!

Nutritionist Keri Glassman is back with Access’ Healthy Hollywood team. Keri, who regularly shares her expertise on Access Hollywood and Access Hollywood Live, is now answering your nutrition, diet, and health questions.

Want to know which foods to curb sugar cravings? Or, what you should eat before a workout? Ask Keri anything!

Keri will choose one great question a week to be answered Thursday in our Healthy Hollywood column.

To submit questions for Keri, click HERE!

This week, Annie asks: “I keep hearing about nutritional yeast! What is it? It sounds scary!!”

Thanks for your question Annie! Nutritional yeast does sound like something out of a horror movie—but trust me you’re going to want to give it a try!

Nutritional yeast looks like a ground, coarse flour. It is a pure yeast strain called Saccharomyces cerevisiae and is in the same family as mushrooms. It is yellow-brown in appearance and is generally purchased in the bulk food section of health food stores.

It is an excellent plant source of vitamin B12. I recommend vegans to incorporate nutritional yeast in their diet to help meet their B12 needs, but it really is a great food for everyone to try.

Vitamin B12 is an essential micronutrient that is needed for the proper formation of red blood cells. A vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to megaloblastic anemia and other neurological disorders, so it’s important to get that B12 in! Adding nutritional yeast makes this an easy task—just one ounce contains 13.6 micrograms of B12—that’s over 200% more than the Recommended Dietary Allowance!

Nutritional yeast is also a great source of both protein and fiber, with about 14 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber per ounce.

Sounds great, but what does it taste like and how do you use it? It is a nutty, cheesy-like flavored food that can be added to foods such as popcorn, stir-fries, breads or pastas. Try stirring it into soups and sauces for a cheesy flavorful kick, or use it the way you would use parmesan cheese, adding it as a topping on your pasta dish or on your garlic bread. You could even try mixing it into your scrambled eggs in the morning! Try it a few times; it will grow on you, well, like yeast.

–By Terri MacLeod & Keri Glassman