Hi, I'm Margaret Furtado. As a registered dietitian and nutritionist for almost 20 years, I've made teaching people about good foods, weight loss, and fitness my passion, and I hope that through this blog I can inspire you too to eat healthy and stay well.
My background includes years of working as a nutritionist at such hospitals as Tufts Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston, Mass., and, most recently, here at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md.
My practice has spanned many areas of nutrition, including using diet to improve kidney disease and diabetes, giving dietary advice to patients undergoing tube feedings and intravenous nutrition, and counseling others about weight management. For the past 6 years, I've focused my practice primarily on medical and surgical weight loss in adults, children, and adolescents.
My interests in nutrition and weight loss go back to high school. For my freshman-year science project, I decided to put mice on a liquid protein diet to see whether they would not only lose weight, but whether it was safe. My poor mother had to endure months of my mice roomies carrying on in my bedroom, but she's always been supportive of my passion for nutrition. Thanks, Mom!
In my mind, good nutrition and excellent physical fitness — another passion of mine — just naturally go together. Some of my own favorite activities include ballroom dancing, yoga, and tennis. I discovered power yoga about 8 years ago as a means to de-stress—years of strenuous workouts at the gym had left me feeling achy and longing for a way to feel better, inside and out.
After my first 90-minute session, shoulder to shoulder with 80 other students in a room heated to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, I was hooked, believe it or not! I am now a certified yoga instructor and have used this skill to carry out studies to determine how successfully yoga relieves back pain.
Last February, I published my first book, Recipes for Life after Weight Loss Surgery: Delicious Dishes for Nourishing the New You, which I co-authored with my friend and culinary expert, Lynette Schultz. Many of my patients who use the book daily have told me that their friends and family have enjoyed the recipes and nutrition guidance too, and that's so rewarding to me!
I recently relocated to Baltimore, Md., and am thrilled to be working in medical and surgical weight loss at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. The team here and my patients are absolutely amazing, and I feel so fortunate and privileged that my affiliation with Johns Hopkins is allowing me to become a contributor to Yahoo! health.
I look forward to sharing my health and fitness expertise with you, from both professional and personal experience, and to reading your questions and comments. Cheers to your good health!