Tag Archives: wellesley nutritionist

Weight Loss Specialist

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“Luck is the last dying wish of those who want to believe that winning can happen by accident. Sweat is for those who know it’s a choice.”

Suggesting that achieving our goals is up to us if only we work hard enough sounds motivating on the surface, but really it makes no sense. So, what, the 99.2% of players in the U.S. Open main draws who walked away without a title did not realize all they had to do was work hard and choose to win? Outcomes that rely on factors beyond our control breaking our way are not automatically there for the taking if only we put our mind to it.

Where that quote originally comes from is not clear to me, but I know I first heard it from a personal trainer who cites it as one of his favorite quotes. According to said trainer’s Facebook page, he now employs a certified “Weight Loss Specialist.” Awesome.

Here is the problem: If a supposed specialist is giving you the information you supposedly need to lose weight, and achieving your goal is framed as a choice that is entirely in your control and can be attained through hard work, and you do not achieve your weight-loss goal, then who is to blame?

You.

If we mislead people into believing that weight loss is entirely up to them and they do not achieve (or more likely maintain) it, they typically turn their frustration and disappointment on themselves with berating thoughts like, “I have no willpower,” “I need to be more disciplined,” “I’m such a loser,” and “I just need to work harder next time.”

Behaviors that in and of themselves were beneficial to health independent of weight loss, such as being physically active or eating fruits and vegetables, are abandoned because they did not lead to weight loss. Restriction gets taken up a notch. They pursue an even more rigid diet and/or intense exercise regimen, not realizing that these behaviors themselves can make weight increase and/or lead to health issues. A colleague of mine calls it “paradigm blindness.” In other words, many people do not realize that their presumed solution to being “overweight” actually exacerbates the condition, so they keep adding more of the supposed solution to the ever-worsening issue.

I used to help (and I use that verb loosely, as I was actually part of the problem even as I thought I was part of the solution) people with weight loss earlier in my career too, but that was before I knew better.

Well-constructed research, my clinical experience, and the experiences of many of my fellow dietitians teach us that weight loss is typically not in one’s control. Sure, our behaviors do matter, but other factors, such as genetics, environment, medical conditions, and personal history, are either partially or completely out of our hands.

The paradox is that any true “Weight Loss Specialist” would know that nobody by that title actually exists. Healthcare practitioners are supposed to help people with, you know, health, which is why Joanne and I take the focus off of weight and instead focus on behaviors that can actually make a difference.

He Said, She Said: Protein

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He Said

Most Americans get more than enough protein. Dietitians think about protein needs in terms of grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (g/kg). For the average person, 0.8 to 1.0 g/kg is perfectly adequate. For a 160-pound individual, this translates to a range of 58 to 73 grams per day of protein. Someone who is extremely active or has elevated protein needs due to a medical condition, such as recovery from surgery, may need more in the range of 1.2 to 1.5 g/kg. Those of us who suffer the misfortune of life-threatening traumas, infections, and burns need upwards of 2.0 to 3.0 g/kg as our bodies fight to survive and rebuild themselves. Under these circumstances, my example of a 160-pound person would need 146 to 219 grams per day during recovery.

So why is it then that we routinely see patients who are feeding themselves as much protein as a hospitalized third-degree burn victim? Among the multiple reasons, the most significant seems to be misinformation that spreads rapidly in our weight-centered society. Those of you who are my age or older have been around long enough to remember the low-fat fad that passed through a couple of decades ago. Just like fat phobia, today’s high-protein craze is based less on science and more on fear and a desperate feeling to grab hold of something, anything, that might be an answer to weight control. Accuracy of said answer is a distant concern.

An excessive protein intake comes at a cost. If we are consuming too much protein, only two possible scenarios exist: (1) We are consuming too few of other nutrients in order to make room for the protein, so we face the risks associated with inadequate intakes of other necessary nutrients. (2) We are still consuming adequate amounts of other nutrients, which means our overall caloric intake is excessive, and we have to deal with the ramifications of taking in more energy than our bodies need. Joanne offers additional concerns in her She Said section below.

When my patients work on building their intuitive-eating skills, oftentimes they discover that they feel better (i.e., greater energy, more regular bowel function, happier mood, etc.) when their protein intakes decrease to the recommended ranges in order to create appropriate room for healthy carbohydrates and fats.

 

She Said

In my work with those struggling with eating disorders, it seems as if protein can do no wrong. Nine times out of 10, my patients find protein to be much more benign than carbohydrate or fat. It is not unusual for a patient to report to me that all she has been eating is vegetables, some fruit, and egg whites/cottage cheese/boneless, skinless chicken breast/fish, while steering clear of bread, sweets, oils, and butter. When posed with the question about why she is avoiding the other macronutrients, the fallback answer is, “Well, protein is healthy for you, and carbs and fats will make me fat, so I don’t eat them.”

The logic behind this assumption is flawed for a few reasons. First, while it is possible to gain weight if one eats too much carbohydrate or fat, the same could be said for protein as well. Excess calories from any macronutrient will result in weight gain (to varying degrees). 500 extra calories of protein equal 500 extra calories of carbohydrate equal 500 extra calories of fat. It doesn’t matter a whole lot where those calories are coming from: If your body doesn’t need that extra fuel, it will store it.

Second, by eschewing carbohydrates and fats, one is losing out on a ton of nutrients. For example, fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K are virtually impossible to absorb if they aren’t eaten in the presence of fat. This means that all of that vitamin A found in your carrots and all of that vitamin K found in your dark leafy greens will pass right through you if you don’t eat them with fat (like that found in salad dressing). Carbohydrates are also a gold mine of nutrients: Whole grains found in many breads, crackers and pastas provide fiber to keep us regular and can help manage our cholesterol levels. Carbohydrates are also the building blocks of serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain that is responsible for feelings of well-being and happiness. Protein can’t do any of the above by itself.

Finally, there is such a thing as too much protein. In general, it is recommended that healthy adults take in 0.8-1.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. That translates to approximately 67 grams per day for an average man and 57 grams per day for an average woman. Most Americans get more than enough protein in their diets without cutting back on carbohydrates or fats. What does a typical day of protein intake look like? Well, let’s say you have two scrambled eggs for breakfast – there’s 12 grams of protein already. For lunch, you have a turkey and cheese sandwich – there’s another 32 grams of protein. Dinnertime is fish with veggies – another 25 grams of protein. That amounts to 69 grams of protein, which is more than enough. Many of my patients will confess to having double or sometimes even triple that amount, which is troubling. Excess intake of protein can take a serious toll on your kidneys, as they will work overtime to filter out the byproducts of protein breakdown. What could that mean? Kidney failure.

Protein is a valuable nutrient, to be sure. But overdoing it on any one macronutrient is not only potentially harmful to one’s body; one could be missing out on many other nutrients from other sources.

ASDAH, Please Reconsider the ®

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Our practice was using the Health at Every Size® (HAES®) model before I even knew it went by that name. My personal and academic backgrounds, the legitimate research I had read, and my clinical experience all pointed towards a health-centered, rather than a weight-centered, model of care.

Earlier this year, we learned about the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) from Green Mountain at Fox Run, a program to which a colleague had pointed us. Because we happened to agree with everything we knew about the association, we became proud members. Then I discovered one point on which our opinions differ: the requirement that the ® symbol must follow mention of the HAES® approach.

I understand the advantage of having a title for our approach. By naming it, we can succinctly communicate in a universally-understood fashion how we go about our work, find like-minded individuals in online communities, and separate ourselves from others who take a different approach to health. Entitling different approaches has precedent, just as labels like cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, humanistic, and psychodynamic denote different techniques that fall under the umbrella of psychotherapy. Notice, however, that none of these names have an ® attached.

Know who does use the ®? PointsPlus®, Nutrisystem®, Medifast®, FirstLine Therapy®, Atkins®, HMR®, and similar ilk. By including the ®, we take the HAES® approach out of the realm of legitimate, evidence-based models of healthcare and put it smack in the middle of gimmicky programs that sacrifice health for money. Call it guilt by association; in essence, the HAES® community loses credibility because of the company we are inadvertently choosing to keep.

Concern and confusion lies on both sides of the counseling room. From the patients’ perspective, the ® makes some of them feel like they are being sold a program, as if their practitioners are nothing more than local distributors for a product so standardized it bares no discernible differences if bought on one side of the world or the other. From my perspective as a practitioner, I have chosen to align myself with ASDAH because of our common approach to healthcare, but at the same time we are separate entities with neither one of us speaking for the other. In that sense, the ® feels like a threat to my professional independence.

Because of the ® and the concerns and confusion that it brings, I stay away from using the term HAES® on our website. Instead, we have come up with our own synonymous language to convey the same concept. In doing so though, we lose the universal recognition of the HAES® name and its associated benefits. How nice it would be to able to write HAES and just leave it at that.

If my understanding is correct, the founding members of ASDAH took a great deal of professional risk by going against widely-held beliefs, building the association, and formalizing the HAES® approach. For everything they did, they have my gratitude and admiration. However, just because ASDAH can require the ® does not mean it should. There is a better approach, a solution that will convey the same meaning yet decrease patient confusion and increase practitioner credibility: Drop the ® requirement.

Warning Bells

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The following piece was written by KC, the mother of one of our patients.

I heard the faint warning bell early but didn’t really want to believe it. When she got in the car after a trip visiting a friend and asked if I noticed that she had lost weight, when she started to eat “healthy,” when she became “lactose intolerant” (really? since when?) and couldn’t eat ice cream, when chicken repulsed her– all of these behaviors I noticed. The running and working out increased but it was under the guise of getting ready for fall practices. I started to get nervous, but I kept waiting for her to get tired of the running, to get tired of reading labels. This was my daughter who never considered her size– who would happily try on any clothes– and only knew her weight when she went to the pediatrician. It was not until she told me her weight one morning, at which point I said, “Enough!” and then a week later told me, with what I thought at the time was a rather smug smile, that she had dropped another four pounds that I heard the cathedral bells tolling loud and clear.

I spent the next six weeks taking her to the pediatrician in the practice who was the most knowledgeable about eating disorders– mistake #1– I should have taken her directly to a specialist. She also began therapy with a psychologist who was finishing up her doctorate and had “some experience” with eating disorders– mistake #2. Being referred to Joanne as her nutritionist was the only step she made towards recovery in those first six weeks. I remember clearly my daughter’s initial visit to Joanne because it was the first time I felt I had an ally in the battle against the eating disorder. My daughter sat perched on the end of a chair with a sweatshirt and a down coat on clutching a cup of black coffee while I sat there sweating because it was so hot in the office. Joanne was extremely patient and kind while explaining her meal plan in spite of my daughter’s overt hostility. My daughter contained herself until she reached our car and then started to sob. Uncontrollably sob. Crying was nothing new in our house– she had been doing it daily for months– but looking back I realize it was the first time someone challenged the eating disorder, and it was angry.

The six weeks prior to my daughter entering a treatment facility were incredibly painful. I ate every meal and every snack with her when she was home. And it took her forever. Plus it drove me crazy the way she ate each meal– veggies first then protein then the grain. There were many forbidden topics in our house. No one could discuss exercise or bodies or food. What went on the plate had to be eaten. No one could say that he or she was full halfway through the meal. The list went on. And again, she cried all the time. At one point she confessed that prior to the meal plan, if she ate two apples and a bowl of soup as her food for the day she could tell herself at night that she had done a good job. I learned later that it was actually the eating disorder praising her. After she showered, I would find fistfuls of hair in the drain. She had a bald spot in the front of her head. We took the full length mirror out of her room. I packed up all the clothes that she used to body check and gave them to the Red Cross. She wore pajama pants, baggy shirts, and sweatshirts. Her behavior became child-like– she wanted to sit on my lap, sleep with me, wouldn’t leave my side. We could no longer go out for dinner as a family or a couple. It was far too stressful. When I was not with her, I worried that she was throwing her food into the garbage disposal– when she did come, no one could enjoy his meal– the tension and anxiety emanating from her was palatable. When my husband and I were finally able to get an appointment at Children’s for an evaluation, he expressed concern about her being taken out of school– not to be a part of the peer group. I had to bluntly tell him that our daughter was already gone, and the only hope we had to get her back was residential treatment.

It was frankly a relief when she finally entered treatment. I can honestly say that I could not handle her disorder on my own, and she needed good professional care. Picking the treatment facility is a personal choice, but I am very glad she landed where she did. Her case worker was incredible, and the women who managed her daily were loving but firm. She stayed for a period of time, and we began to measure the success of a day by how many boosts she had to drink or not. I’d like to say that she came out of treatment fully recovered but that was, of course, not the case. I was extremely lucky to be able to put together a post-treatment team for my daughter whom she embraced and respected. Her school was incredibly supportive, but I have heard horror stories where schools have not been. Families who have been told that no allowances would be made– it was either sink or swim. I will be forever grateful to her school administrators for working with and not against my daughter. An acquaintance whose child was a recovering anorexic visited with me while my daughter was in treatment. She imparted some wisdom which I found to be extremely helpful. One, it is not her fault. Two, following the meal plan and finishing her meals is non-negotiable. There is no negotiating with the eating disorder. And finally three supports, love, prayer (if that is one’s thing), and food will help to battle against the eating disorder.

It helped me to think of the eating disorder as a separate entity from my daughter. A few months after she got home from treatment, I made a flippant comment, and she laughed, really laughed. It was her first spontaneous expression of joy in months. I am so proud of her because she has worked incredibly hard to separate herself from the eating disorder. She has listened to her team, gone to therapy, followed her meal plan, and found books on her own to study. She has also developed a spiritual side to her personality which in our barely-go-to-church-on-Christmas family is a wonder to see. She has embraced her treatment and truly wants to get well. Does all this mean she has fully recovered? No, she has not. There have been setbacks, but I am extremely hopeful that she will live a full joy-filled life which has no room for an eating disorder.

Obesity Cuts Life Expectancy, Santa Is Responsible for Your Christmas Presents, and Other Misleading Statements

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My interest in writing a blog right now is pretty much nil, but I cannot let today’s misleading boston.com article entitled “Obesity Cuts Life Expectancy by Up to 14 Years, Study Shows” go by without reacting, for I know the damage that pieces like this do to people, including some of my patients.

Long story short: The researchers who authored the primary source article did not adequately control for behaviors. They screened out potential participants who had ever smoked and/or had a history of certain diseases, but the lifestyle behavior information they collected from participants was limited to alcohol use and physical activity level. Researchers collected no information about other lifestyle factors, like stress management and eating and sleeping habits, all of which can impact health. The behavioral data they did collect was self reported, which introduces all sorts of error. Other research has shown that when behaviors are controlled for, body weight does not seem to matter, but the study design that these authors used prohibited any opportunity from being able to confirm or refute those findings.

The boston.com piece discusses a second article as well that examined the relationship between obesity and exercise. In reference to this latter article, the boston.com piece’s subheading concludes with, “And it’s under-exercise, not overeating, that’s causing America’s [obesity] epidemic.” That eye-catching text will certainly garner many clicks, which is unfortunate because it is not true. The actual research piece reads, “The research highlights the correlation between obesity and sedentary lifestyles, but because it is an observational study, it does not address the possible causal link between inactivity and weight gain.”

I cannot stress it enough: Correlation is not causation. They are entirely different. I know, I know, we each know somebody who has put on weight after they stopped working out. Sure, that does happen sometimes, but on the macroscopic level that is the population, the picture is much more complex than that with many other factors in play.

The boston.com article’s final paragraph begins with, “Losing weight is proven to significantly reverse the health effects of obesity.” Wrong. When we adapt healthier lifestyle behaviors, our body weight might change as well, but if we credit the weight change instead of the behavior change then we have it backwards.

The harm in all of this is that it reinforces a weight-centered model of eating and physical activity that ultimately fails nearly everybody who uses it. If we take a weight-centered approach and do not maintain the weight we want, we risk losing motivation and reverting to old behaviors because the goal was unattainable.

There is a better way. In the health-centered model that we advocate, the behaviors in and of themselves matter independent of weight. Whether weight goes up, down, or stays the same is irrelevant because the behaviors themselves are what count. Better-designed research seems to support this model: When we control for behaviors, health and weight look to be independent.

Physical Activity: So Much More Than Burning Calories

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“Just finished a seven-mile run – definitely earned the right to splurge at the party tonight!”

“I play tennis six times per week to keep my weight in check and to be able to eat what I want.”

“Just gorged at my friend’s Fourth of July cookout – looks like I will need to hit the gym extra hard to burn all those calories off!”

The above are just some of the comments I have either seen posted on Facebook or heard in conversation over the past few weeks. While these types of comments are quite common and universally agreed upon, I have a problem with them for a few reasons.

There is an abundance of evidence that exercise improves one’s health. It not only has been proven to improve blood pressure, blood lipid profiles, inflammation, and heart health in general, it has also been found to help the processing of glucose and insulin as well. But despite all of these positive findings, there is very little scientific evidence that exercise is an effective way to control weight and that exercise by itself does not have as much of an impact on our metabolism as most people think it does.

In one study, a group of volunteers from a hunting and gathering tribe in Tanzania were studied to see if there was a link between their activity levels and the number of calories they burned in a day. While it was true that the tribe members were much more active than the average American, walking about 7 miles per day on average, their metabolic rates were about the same as the average metabolic rate for Westerners. That means that despite the fact that the tribe members were doing significantly more physical activity than Westerners, they were burning the same number of calories as Westerners. Their increased activity did not mean they burned more calories.

Aside from the problematic idea about using exercise as a weight control mechanism, the bigger problem I have is the common belief that exercise’s only benefit is to burn calories. I know so many people who run regularly, not because they love to run, but rather because they are repenting for their dietary “sins.” Whatever happened to being physically active because we enjoy the way it makes us feel? Whatever happened to playing a friendly game of pick-up basketball for the sheer fun of it? Or jumping into the pool on a hot summer day to cool off and splash around? So many of us view exercise as a way to punish our bodies into submission rather than as a way to feel more alive and appreciate what our bodies can do.

How about we start using physical activity as a way to connect with our bodies and enjoy what they can do for us? How about engaging in exercise as a way to improve our health and help our bodies to function at their best? Or taking up a sport for the thrill of the game? The benefits of physical activity are so much more than simply burning off last night’s nachos. And no one needs to “earn” the right to eat what he or she wants. That is no way to live life.

Day 91: Progress (or Lack Thereof)

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Today was supposed to be my day. Circled on my calendar back in March, today was my three-month CT scan and appointment with my surgeon. Although full recovery from a surgery of this magnitude takes right around a year, three months is considered enough time for sufficient healing to take place that allows for a return to normal activities. My expectation was that I would come home from the appointment and go right out for a run, my first in nine months.

As it turns out, I will not be running anytime soon. The surgeon used bone grafts to build two columns in my lower back. The CT scan showed that the column on the right is healing as expected, while the column on the left is far behind schedule. The chunks of bone that he implanted on the left are still sitting there independently with only minimal growth around them.

The surgeon said this is highly unusual. Typically, people either heal well bilaterally, or they heal poorly bilaterally, but two different progressions simultaneously is rare. He has no explanation as to what happened. He tells me that on paper I am the ideal candidate to heal well: young, active, non-smoker, healthy eating habits, etc. “On paper,” therefore, seems to be the key term.

Instead of today being my last appointment with him, now I have plans to see him again in mid-August, at which time I will undergo more tests to check how the bone is healing. Perhaps the fusions will progress between now and then, or perhaps they will not.

In the meantime, I am feeling very discouraged and disappointed. There will be no bike rides this summer. My planned return to competitive running on the one-year anniversary of my last race is out the window. So much for playing ping pong with my nephews when they visit over Independence Day weekend. I will not be able to help pack, unpack, and set up our first house when Joanne and I move later this summer. When I pan across the horizon of my life, tennis is nowhere to be seen.

Instead, I have two months ahead of more of the same. Three months ago, I thought June 18th would never come. In reality, the time passed just as slowly as I anticipated it would. To think I was done and then find out I have to do it almost all over again, but with more uncertainty and less optimism this time, is quite disheartening.

The other day, a new patient came to me frustrated that his efforts to lose weight have gone nowhere. When I suggested that we try a different approach by focusing on making healthy choices, learning to love and accept himself regardless of his size, and letting his weight settle wherever it naturally belongs, well, he did not want to hear that one bit.

He looked down at my lean frame and explained to me that I do not know what it is like to be judged on appearance, that I do not know what it is like to feel uncomfortable in my own body, that I do not know how frustrating it is for my body to not respond the way I would like despite my best efforts, and that I do understand the apparent unfairness of seeing somebody with an attribute or an ability that I covet, but cannot attain, for myself. Yeah, clearly I cannot relate to any of those themes at all.

Everybody is dealing with something, and while the particulars are unique to each person, common ground exists underneath. No matter what our goals are, if we do the best we can to achieve them and we still fall short, then by definition there is nothing more for us to do except adapt and find a new way to thrive. When I wrote, “In this kind of defeat, you learn that there are incidents in life that are not up to us. We are only somewhat in control of our own destiny, and we have to roll with events and outcomes that do not go our way,” I feared that perhaps I was foreshadowing my own outcome.

Maybe that will prove to indeed be the case. However, I am not going to use that as an excuse to keep from doing everything I can, while still maintaining perspective, to meet my goals. Today sucked, but my bitching is over. It’s time to get back to work.

Day 67: Marathon

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Boston Marathon starting line, Hopkinton

Selfie of my feet at the Boston Marathon starting line, Hopkinton

A little over a month ago, my surgeon gave me permission to slowly ride the recumbent exercise bike and perform basic upper-body resistance movements with light hand-held weights. The doctor’s clearance for new exercises is mandatory, but so is my body giving me positive feedback in response to said activities. Unfortunately, I only had one of the two. After a few times of giving these exercises a try, my back pain seemed to worsen, so I put the bike and weights on hold and returned to exclusively walking.

Because several walks in the range of 12 to 16 miles felt fine and left me feeling like I could have done more, I decided to go a bit farther today. Early this morning, my back brace and I took the first commuter rail train of the day out to Ashland, where I met the taxi that then dropped me off in Hopkinton, right at the starting line of the Boston Marathon. 7:28 later, I walked across the finish line in Copley Square.

Boston Marathon finish line, Copley Square

Boston Marathon finish line, Copley Square (Photo courtesy of a tourist who was nice enough to take my picture after I told her I had just finished walking the entire route)

He Said, She Said: Lessons from Mom

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He Said

1) Food Can, and Should, Be Fun

I often went grocery shopping with my mom, and I helped her make meals, too. Because I enjoyed baking, she let me experiment with various recipes, including many of which I made up on my own. Some turned out well, others not so well. Regardless of the results though, by involving me in the food selection and preparation process, my mom taught me to have an appreciation for food that I would not have developed if food just suddenly appeared on my dinner plate. I learned that food can, and should, be fun.

2) Listen to Hunger/Fullness Cues

Perhaps in part because they lived through the Great Depression, my grandparents’ generation seemed to emphasize finishing everything on the plate. “There are people starving in China,” I would hear; as if by overeating, I would somehow lend a hand to somebody in need on the other side of the globe. My mom stood up to this misguided notion and taught me to listen to and honor my hunger and fullness cues. Forcing food down past the point of comfortable fullness helps nobody. Uneaten food can be packed up and saved for later. If we must throw it out, at least we learn a lesson to take or make less next time.

3) Where Food Comes From Matters

My brother and I were raised mostly eating organic foods, especially fruits and vegetables. The potential advantages of organic versus conventional foods are debatable, but I learned several lessons from my mom’s emphasis on eating organic: A food’s identity does not automatically indicate its quality; where it comes from and how it is grown/produced/raised matter.

4) Balance Is Key

When parents restrict their children from eating certain foods, the resulting irony is that the children often end up overeating on the forbidden foods as soon as they get access to them. In recognition of this reality, my mom instituted a “Sweet of the Day” policy, whereby my brother and I got to have a small treat each day. We enjoyed our favorites in quantities that did not ruin our health, and we learned not to see any foods as “bad.” In short, this policy was my initial exposure to the concept of nutritional balance.

5) Always More to Learn

Even though she has no formal study in the field, and her employment has nothing to do with the subject, my mom has always taken an interest in it, reading articles, newsletters, and magazines. Research is constantly yielding new insights into nutrition and health. Not only do I have to stay on top of new developments in the field, but I have to be open-minded enough to consider new information and opinions that challenge the status quo.

 

She Said

My mom is one of the most amazing women I know, and she inspires me in many different ways. One of the areas she has the most expertise in is cooking. Just looking at her kitchen, one can see all of the evidence of an experienced chef – tons of dog-eared and worn cookbooks, various cooking gadgets, and binders filled with old family recipes passed down from her mother (and her mother’s mother). Along the way, I have learned a number of nutrition lessons from her, and here are just a few of them.

1) Food is more than just fuel.

In nutrition school, a lot of the focus is on the science of nutrition – chemistry, physiology, nutrient metabolism, etc. But there is so much more to nutrition than just calories in/calories out. Food is family, love and connection. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom cooking and baking, so calm and happy in her kitchen. Of course, every holiday has its traditional meals – roasted turkey and Saltine stuffing on Thanksgiving, brisket and matzo ball soup on Passover, and chocolate brownies for dessert on July 4th. Aside from the holidays, though, my mom’s food can elicit such strong feelings of warmth and comfort. Her oxtail soup is a hearty, thick stew, perfect for cold winter nights. Her sweet and sour tomato cabbage soup is perfectly balanced and is the perfect meal with a piece of crusty French bread. More than anything, her food nourished the soul, and, in turn, inspired me to learn more about the wonderful world of nutrition.

2) When cooking or baking, always use real, fresh ingredients.

Whether the trend was low-fat, low-carb or just plain low-calorie, when it came to cooking and baking, my mom rarely ever made ingredient substitutions in her recipes. Butter, cream, and sugar were regularly used in her kitchen to concoct delicious desserts. Likewise, if the recipe called for bone-in, skin-on chicken, then boneless, skinless chicken breasts wouldn’t cut it. Foods that are made with real, whole, unadulterated ingredients are not only so much better tasting than the diet-y, low calorie stuff, they are more satisfying and satiating. Think about this – on a hot summer’s day, when you are craving an ice cream cone, will fat-free frozen yogurt really satisfy you? In all likelihood, you will eat the frozen yogurt and then, still feeling deprived, munch on other stuff afterwards. Better off sticking with the real treat; it will take less of it to satisfy you, and you won’t feel deprived.

3) You can make your own food rules.

While most of the time we had traditional meals in our household, every once in a blue moon, we would do something out of the ordinary. One time, my mom and I had ice cream for dinner! Obviously, this is not something I would recommend anyone do on a regular basis, but once in a while won’t kill you. We would also occasionally do “breakfast for dinner,” which meant omelets, cereal or bagels for dinner. At the end of the day, you don’t need to follow the food pyramid guidelines (or MyPlate) to be a healthy eater. Mixing it up can be fun and can get you out of a food rut, too.

4) Food tastes so much better when you let yourself enjoy it.

It is not unusual to hear my mom voice her love of food. Dinnertime was (and is) often filled with “mmmm’s” and “yummm’s” and other sounds of pleasure. While this habit of my mom’s has embarrassed me on occasion (mostly during my teenage years), more often than not, I find myself doing the very same thing! It is okay to enjoy your food! Let me rephrase that: The enjoyment of one’s food is a wonderful part of life. Not only is delighting in one’s food a wonderful part of life, there are studies that show that nutrients are absorbed better when the eater is enjoying his or her meal. So go ahead, savor, enjoy and delight in your food – it’s human nature!

5) There are few things more satisfying than planting, harvesting and eating veggies from your own garden.

I have many fond memories of my mom tending to her vegetable and herb gardens. She would grow everything, from tomatoes and zucchini to snap peas and basil. There is a certain joy in watching these plants grow from seedlings to ready for picking. And there is nothing better than crunching into a snap pea straight off the vine. Oftentimes, zucchini in my mom’s garden would be so numerous that it would be difficult to figure out what to do with all of it! Aside from a tasty side veggie, my mom incorporated this bounty into zucchini bisque and zucchini bread, which to this day are some of my favorites. Unfortunately, the next-door neighbor’s trees have grown so tall that my mom’s garden can’t grow anymore. But she still has her herbs, and they show up in many of her recipes.

I owe a lot to my mom in regard to my appreciation and interest in food. She taught me to be adventurous and try new things. She showed me how nourishing a well-prepared meal can be. And most of all, she taught me that food is so much more than just food.

Mustard Chicken

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Recipe courtesy of Sandy Soolman, Jonah’s mom, who has been making this family favorite for decades.

2 servings, but recipe can easily be doubled, tripled, etc.

Ingredients

  • 2 slices of soft whole wheat bread (or other soft bread you prefer) to yield approximately 1 cup of soft breadcrumbs
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 4 sprigs of fresh parsley
  • 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 chicken breast halves (approximately 1 lb total)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place torn pieces of bread in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to make soft crumbs. Transfer crumbs to a large bowl.
  3. Place garlic in the food processor bowl and pulse to finely mince. Add garlic to the breadcrumbs and mix with a large spoon.
  4. Place the parsley in the food processor and pulse to finely mince. Measure 2 Tbsp of the minced parsley and add to the breadcrumb mixture. Mix well with a large spoon until the garlic and parsley are evenly distributed.
  5. Spread mustard on both sides of each chicken breast half.
  6. Coat both sides of each chicken breast half with the breadcrumb mixture.
  7. Place chicken in a shallow pan lined with aluminum foil.
  8. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Check to make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked. If it isn’t, increase cooking time accordingly.