Happy New Year! Resolution Ideas from The Honest Dietitian

2017 has arrived. I am sure many of you have been bombarded by ads and commercials from companies hoping to monetize on the "New Year, New You" hope and drive that comes with the annual dropping of the ball. I know there are also many people out there who will tell you that making resolutions is useless and will just set you up for failure. I am not one of those people.

I think making an effort to make any positive changes in your life is absolutely fantastic. I think it is wonderful no matter what time of the year you do it! New Year's is just that time of year when people take a minute to think about themselves and what they would like to accomplish for the upcoming 365 days and believe me...I am a firm believer that people (including myself) do not take enough time to really sit and ponder what we can do to make ourselves better. We often put to much pressure on ourselves trying to do things to make things better for other people, but can forget that we need goals, hope, and certainly attention and love for ourselves from ourselves.

Your Mouth Says A Lot About Your Health! Tips for Keeping a Healthy Smile

Looking healthy and happy isn’t just what is on the inside, it’s how you perceive yourself on the outside. People can say a lot about how they feel based on what they wear or how they are wearing it. I remember when I took my first organic chemistry class and I asked my professor if he had any advice for the first exam and he said "Dress the part. Come in here looking like the professional you want to be and own it." At the time, I thought it was odd, but I did it anyways and maybe it did help. I came to my exam business casual instead of shorts and flip-flops and felt confident, happy, and healthy. But sometimes it’s just having a clean bright smile that’s enough to make someone think how happy and healthy you truly are. Your mouth says a lot about your health. You don’t need to be reaching for the whitening kits or having teeth replaced just yet. It’s easy to get a healthy smile by just changing a few habits and ensuring you have good dental care. With that in mind, I thought I would share some top tips to help you maintain that perfect natural smile.

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Keep up with a regular brushing routine

Brushing your teeth is something we possibly take for granted. We might not even think about the whole process that forms part of our morning or evening routine. But regular brushing for a decent amount of time is proven to reduce plaque and keep those teeth pearly white. Our teeth and mouths get put under a lot of pressure, and more food and drink these days has the power to harm or stain our teeth. So ensuring you keep on top of brushing will be the key to ensuring your mouth stays healthy and happy. The natural way. And many dental professionals have told me that you cannot brush too often, but you can brush too hard! So make sure to keep the pressure soft.

Health is Wealth Toolkit: Addressing & Eliminating Food Guilt

One strategy in both weight management and healthy lifestyle modification that does not get enough attention is the concept of addressing and eliminating guilty eating. Have you ever felt guilty about eating a meal before it has even been served to you? Do you feel bad whenever you eat something sweet, like a donut of piece of cake? Do you eat food that tastes bad to you because it’s “healthy”?

We know that training of behaviors is possible (Pavlov’s dog for example) and sometimes we develop behavior patterns that are completely unintentional. When you are happy and eating, your body saves that information as something that brings you pleasure & positive things happen down to the cellular level in your body. When you are sad/guilty and eating, your body saves this information as something that is negative and negative things happen in your body (such as increased cortisol).

Breast Cancer Nutrition Awareness featuring GoMacro

October is breast cancer awareness month and I'd like to introduce you to Go Macro. GoMacro is a family-owned vegan food company that was started by a mother-daughter duo on their organic family farm. They have two different lines of products- MacroBars and Thrive. In honor of their co-founders breast cancer recovery, they have released a special “give-back bar” that donates 10% its proceeds to the Keep a Breast Foundation. I love this bar because it touches on some important nutritional concepts (antioxidants, fiber, plant-based). Learn more about the awesome Keep a Breast Foundation here. Let us get brought up to speed on some breast cancer stats:

According to Breastcancer.org, here are some recent statistics on breast cancer in the United States (source here): 

• In 2016, there are more than 2.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S. This includes women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment.
• About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.
• Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. In 2016, it's estimated that just under 30% of newly diagnosed cancers in women will be breast cancers.
• About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.

Amelia, Breast Cancer Survivor & her daughter: Co-founders of GoMacro

Here’s the thing, no matter what illness or disease a person may become afflicted with in life, they can fight it better if they have been following a healthy lifestyle beforehand. Being an overweight woman is a risk factor for developing breast cancer, possibly because the more the fat cells grow, the more estrogen is produced from the fat cells. That production of excess estrogen can signal breast cell growth, which in turn increases the risk of developing breast cancer.

What can you do from a nutritional point of view?

Health is Wealth Toolkit- Tracking Your Intake

One of the most useful tools for someone who is looking at making improvements to their current diet is to keep an accurate record of what they are actually eating. I can’t tell you how many times I have been tracking my diet and found that I was not getting enough Calcium, Vitamin A, and especially Potassium in my diet. I value variety in my diet and am always trying new recipes and dishes, but not everyone is like me. When working with clients who want to lose weight, 99.9% of the time they have already tried some type of calorie-restricting diet that has major deficiencies in important vitamins and minerals. There really is no reason for this! Granted, there are many, many factors that play into a person’s ability to lose weight but there are many nutrient-dense foods that one can incorporate into their diet that promote more than healthy weight loss. Nutrient-dense foods can prevent and treat many nutrition-related chronic diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and so on. (Not familiar with the term nutrient-dense foods? Nutrient-dense foods are foods that have a lot of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, but not a lot of calories. Think of fruits, vegetables, or complex carbohydrates like quinoa, oatmeal, and beans/lentils)

Is Magnesium the answer to preventing migraines?

I have been a migraine sufferer for over twenty years. Anyone who has experience with migraines knows that over time you can get better at identifying the triggers for these debilitating and painful headaches, but sometimes they just happen for what seems like no reason at all. I was having some horrible allergies a couple of years ago and decided to go to an allergist and have the skin-prick allergy testing done. Afterwards when the allergist was reviewing my results with me, he asked me “do you suffer from migraines” and I said “yes”. He then circled a recommendation on my instructions form that stated: 500mg Magnesium Oxide BID (BID- twice a day in medical terminology). Then, he circled some additional recommendations for some expensive pillows, air purifier, etc., which I really did not need and sent me on my way with about four different medication prescriptions that I really did not need either.

Summertime is here!

SO incredibly excited that I have actually have a little bit of a break this summer before starting the last (fingers crossed!) year of my PhD dissertation work. I have done quite a bit of writing this year, so I will be sharing some information on sports nutrition topics, migraines and nutrition, as well as some good cooking & food recipes.  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and hoping you like the blogs "face lift". Cheers to a great summer! And chances are if you don't hear from me for a few days, it is because I am in my own personal oasis:

The FODMAP Diet for IBS, etc.

There are lots of people out there who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome with either diarrhea, constipation, or a combination of both.  There are some medications that can alleviate symptoms, however, there are no medications that can specifically treat the painful bloating that some people experience.  I know many, many people who can bloat out to the size of a 5-6 month pregnant female after meals and even through allergy testing, upper endoscopies, colonoscopies, various medications and digestive enzymes, nothing seems to help discover the root cause to the discomfort.

I've been watching the progression of interest in the FODMAP diet in the USA for some time now.  Dr. Sue Shepard and Dr. Peter Gibson created the FODMAP Diet in the 2000's and for many people, it has brought much comfort.

So what is a FODMAP?
FODMAP is an acronym for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols.  The idea is to limit foods that have been proven to be poorly absorbed by some people.  The foods that are limited include foods with:

Excess Fructose:  apples, pears, honey, high fructose corn syrup
Lactose:  cow milk, ice cream, cottage cheese
Fructans:  garlic, onion, brussels sprouts, watermelon
Galactans: beans, lentils, chickpeas
Polyols:  Sugar alcohols such as xylitol, maltitol, avocados, prunes

David Grotto's 101 Optimal Life Foods Book

A Dietitian reviewing another Dietitian’s book…this should be interesting right? More like HiLaRiOuS!! I had the opportunity to meet David Grotto RD/LDN at a Food & Nutrition Conference in Boston a couple of years ago. Initially, I thought “any man who markets himself as ‘the Guyatitian’ has to know what he is talking about” and I was right. I soon started to follow @davidgrotto on Twitter and have laughed and learned a lot from him. I had to review his book: 101 Optimal Life Foods to see if his enthusiasm for nutrition and quirky sense of humor transpired into his written work. Oh and it does! David Grotto has written a book focusing on seven health issues:

• The Skin You’re In: Aging & Damaged Skin, Eczema, Psoriasis, & Acne
• Go With The Flow: Cold Feet (and Hands) & Leg Cramps
• House Of Pain: Migraine Headaches, Muscle Pains, & Nerve Pain
• It’s All About Performance
o Mental Performance: Cognitive Decline, Depression, Stress/Anxiety, & Insomnia
o Physical Performance: Fatigue
o Sexual/Reproductive Performance: Erectile Dysfunction, Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, Infertility, Female Libido, & Menopause
• Check Your Plumbing: Constipation/Diverticular Disease, Diarrhea, GERD, Halitosis (bad breath), Gas, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, & Urinary Tract Infections
• A Good Foundation: Osteoporosis/Osteopenia, Arthritis, & Degenerative Disc Disease
• Eyes On The Future: Age-Related Macular Degeneration

This is why I love this book: I have read and read and read a million “diet” books that have both angered me as a professional and make me laugh out loud at their ridiculous claims. David Grotto keeps it true to the core: nutrition is medicine and in order to heal yourself, you have to give your body the nutrition & fuel it needs for prevention and recovery. This book is insightful, providing explanations into the health issues, what you can do to heal your body using nutrition, and he provides 3-day sample menus of how to incorporate these foods into your diets. The recipes are delicious & two of my favorite recipes are the Quick Pumpkin Smoothie & Raspberry Yogurt Muffins. Everyone in my family enjoyed the smoothies & muffins, but I would suggest you take David’s advice and use a glaze of confectioners’ sugar mixed with lemon juice for a little added sweetness on the muffins!

This book would be a perfect gift for the Holidays for anyone who is looking for a guilt-free reference on how to make healthy choices in their diet. Wrap this book in some pretty ribbon along with a nice bamboo cutting board and you will be sure to please! Of course you must all know that I have my own copy of this book and was not compensated in any way for this review. This is my honest opinion as a Registered Dietitian that another Registered Dietitian has written an excellent book & please check out his website David Grotto's Nutrition Housecall because there is an awesome video of some hardcore accordion playing as well!

I am so happy to be here!

This first blog is way over due!  For years I have worked as a Registered Dietitian, counseling people on how to make simple changes to their lifestyles for a big impact in their health, with a little impact in their wallets.  I am a Nutrition Expert with an "all-foods-fit" philosophy, which comes in handy when I have to plan and prepare meals for my family of four.  With two daughters- Hailey, age 10 & Kaitlyn, age 6, we are always busy between soccer, baseball, school, Girl Scouts, that I can understand the desire to reach for convienence foods & fast foods in place of a home-cooked meal.  And with my husband and I both working full-time, even making lunches for the children can be a burden at times.  One of the main purposes of this blog is to educate people that with a little planning and helpful hints, you can feed your family healthy meals that are tasty and filling without putting a dent in your monthly budget. 

I feed my family of four on a weekly budget of around $80.00-$100.00/week.  Sometimes even less!  And this includes the essentials:  paper goods and health items.

On top of having a focus on nutrition, I will also be giving you my honest opinion on other consumer products.  I once had a good friend tell me that now that I am a MOM, my focus is more on "comfort" than "fashion".  In the South, we have a response to something like that ..."well, Bless It".  I believe there can be a mix of both comfort & fashion and will be sharing these tips with you as well.

Welcome to The Honest Dietitian!  I look forward to helping people feed their mind, body, & soul!