Posts

Showing posts from January 5, 2017

Friday Morning Iced Coffee Date (1/6)

Image
Hey, hey! How was your first week of 2017 ? I hope it was wonderful and you’re feeling really great about it! It’s Friday, which means it’s time for our weekly (iced) coffee date . I have quite the mix of stuff to tell you about this week, everything from what I’m loving lately to some  anxiety stuff that I’m experiencing and, of course, plenty of randomness thrown in because, hey, that’s how I roll. Ok, guys, here we go! What I’m loving lately: Our recent trip to the  Boston Children’s Museum !   I can’t believe we’ve never visited before. The place is AWESOME. Seriously, I want to take Qman there all the time now. He absolutely loved it, especially the construction room on the third floor. The only drawback about our visit: parking. Holy cow, it was expensive. Any tips for affordably parking around there? Another family favorite right now: Dance parties before bed . We turn off the light in Quinn’s bedroom, break out his constellation nightlight , Mal plays music on his phon

New Year Pitfalls: Where Kick-Start Plans Go Wrong

Image
Yesterday I laid out the benefits of doing a kick-start program —what a good community challenge, elimination program or other total reset could offer you in reclaiming (or enhancing) health. For the most part, I believe in the power of these plans. Obviously, I organize one every year here . I’ve seen countless folks turn their well-being around—lose weight, build strength and stamina, relish new energy, reverse or dial back medical conditions, kick medications they thought they’d be on for the rest of their lives. A kick-start gave them enough structure, support and momentum to move beyond the drag force, and they’re flourishing today as a result. And, yet, I’d be remiss to to say I haven’t seen them fail for some people. As a professional and a friend, I’ve witnessed (or at least heard the story after the fact) people getting fully sidetracked and even losing their footing on one of these plans. It happens, and there’s usually a clear reason why. You’ve chosen an ungrounded or un

9 Nutritionists Share Their New Year’s Resolutions

Image
One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight and eat healthier. So what about nutritionists whose expertise is to eat healthy? I was curious to find out what type of resolutions they make.  I asked 9 registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) across the country to share their 2017 New Year’s resolutions, and it turns out even the food experts can always improve their healthy lifestyle in a variety of ways. Preparing more meals at home “While I eat healthy, nutritious meals and work out regularly, I often am so busy I don’t plan  evening meals for my family. Then we end up going out or picking something up to eat at home. I need to do what I advise others: create menus on the weekend, make a grocery list and go shopping so all the ingredients you need are right there ready to go. It doesn’t have to be something long and involved. It can be simple, fresh, nutritious and taste good!” – Neva Cochran, MS, RDN, LD , Dallas-based nutrition communications consultant Sep

Don’t Make Goals, Make Changes.

Image
I shared this graphic on social media this week inspired by the daily  Healthy Habits, Happy Moms email which reported: “Research shows us that if we try to change just one small thing in our lives, we have about an 80% chance of achieving that change. If we try to change two things at one time, that success rate drops to less than 30%. If we try to change three things at one time, the success rate drops close to ZERO.”  Fascinating! Most people know WHAT to do, but it’s the HOW that holds them up. You would think that eating well would come completely naturally to folks. And in fact, it does when we are children. But all of the complexities of our culture, hundreds of little factors and habits and influences, shift and tweak our eating habits so that sometimes they become completely unrecognizable. My starting point on a healthier journey after I graduated from college in 2005 wasn’t one of disordered eating or even one of a major weight gain – I was just normal in that I was

Why Won’t We Tell Diabetics the Truth?

Image
  I’m appalled constantly at the misinformation we nutrition experts are telling folks with diabetes. It’s all over the place. The “everything in moderation” mantra, and how we need to eat less meat, less fat, and more whole grains, is a pervasive theme drilled into young dietitians, and spread to the public through our dietary guidelines. This information is making people sick. Last week, the following ad popped up in my Facebook newsfeed several times for “ 10 Foods That Are Great For Diabetics “. (This click bate article is also making the rounds on several other sites.) Here are the foods: dates, berries, garlic, flax seeds, apples, broccoli, oats, melons, kale and barley. Now, I don’t think that kale is BAD, but this list is like telling alcoholics to drink a little more orange juice or sprinkle some chia seeds into their martini and omitting the fact that they need to stop drinking booze .  In our quest to avoid the truth and focus on individual super foods that will save u