The new year is the worst time of the year for diet culture. Something about a fresh start inspires people to start bashing their bodies and restricting what they eat. Dieting may not always be healthy, and may actually contribute to decreased mental health. If you want to start a diet in the new year ask yourself, “Why do I want to start a diet? Do I want to be healthier or do I just want to lose weight?”
Read MoreI keep hearing about this concept called “Health at every Size” (HAES) and intuitive eating, and it sounds great to me! Just the sound of the words are so comforting when I feel like all that I’ve learned in nutrition is eating less or calorie counting or cutting out fat, etc. But what exactly is HAES and intuitive eating? Is it something that I could use as a future RD and is it something that I can use in my daily life? I dug into the research to find out:
Read MoreI hate this question, and I bet if you ask other dietitians they would feel the same way. But I feel that I should answer this question the best way I can since everyone wants to know and always asks me this. This is such a hard question, because there is no hard evidence that there is one correct way to eat for everyone. If there was- you would be able to just go to the store and buy a pack of nutrients for the week and be done with it. But it’s just not that simple because every one is so different. However, there is a generally agreed upon pattern of eating that I can speak to. So let’s dive in and I’ll try to not make this excruciatingly long and boring.
Read MoreI keep seeing so many blog entries about “Tips to be Healthy at Thanksgiving,” and I just hate the pressure of this holiday being swept into diet culture. I was actually tasked at my internship to talk about this very subject and I found myself starting to make handouts with the nutrition info for each common food item, listing tips for how to be healthy on that day, and developing healthy recipe swaps for this day to hand out. After I kept researching this topic I starting asking myself “does one day really matter in the grand scheme of things? What should I really be trying educate about for this day?” I started digging and found that Americans, on average, only gain 1 lb by the end of the holiday season, so should we really be worried about this? Yes and no…
Read MoreDon’t you love how food has to do with everything? From politics, to art, even sustainability! My internship site is trying to become more sustainable so they wanted me to put together a demo for sustainable eating, and I actually learned a lot! I always try to look it these topics from a cynical perspective, because (unfortunately) my audience will too. People love to contradict nutrition, so I try to be prepared. So why does eating more sustainable really matter? Here’s my analysis:
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