24 January 2012

10 Health “Tips” You’ll Never See on Your Healthista

1. If you think you’re hungry, you’re probably just thirsty. Drink more water! Your body needs 8 glasses of water a day! (Nope.)
2. Try to choose low-fat foods as much as possible. Fat in food = fat on your body! (Ugh, so sick of this “tip.”)
3. Check your BMI. That will help you figure out a healthy weight for your height. (This actually a really dangerous “tip.”)
4. Look for foods that say on the label how great they are for you! (Then you’d just end up with crap like this. I’m sure the “B vitamins” in that artificial sweetener are super good for you….)
5. If it tastes good, it’s probably bad for you. (This one just annoys me because it’s so blatantly untrue).
6. Low-cal imitations of higher-calorie foods are great substitutions! (Usually, they’re full of questionable ingredients and just leave you unsatisfied.)
7. The more calories you burn during your workout, the better! Keep running! (When I was burning the most calories during my workouts, I also weighed the most. Take it or leave it.)
8. Non-starchy vegetables are always the answer. Eat more of them always! (They’re great, but not always what you need).
9. Egg whites are a perfect source of protein. (It makes me SO sad when people skip the nutrient-dense yolk.)
10. There’s a definitive answer to every health/food/nutrition/fitness question — you just have to find it! (Sorry to say, there’s so much conflicting research, you just have to do what works — and makes sense — for you.)

3 January 2012

10 “Resolutions” to Make This New Year

Happy 2012! I made a conscious choice not to make any resolutions this year. In the past, I’ve made super specific resolutions and really vague ones, and I truly don’t think either method helps me focus or change my behavior at all. Instead of resolutions, I like to equip myself with tools to change habits I want to change and create a better, healthier life for myself. Inspired by some of my favorite posts from 2011, here are some tools to equip yourself with in 2012.

1. Eat things you love, not things you feel “meh” about.
2. Have some new books on hand to learn more about how food works in your body.
3. Learn more about your local organic farmers.
4. Find out why you’re probably not eating enough of some of the most delicious, healthiest foods on earth (coconut milk, avocado, and sweet potato, among others).
5. Learn what you can do for your health every single day.
6. Educate yourself about why trans fat is such bad news.
7. Ban food-related guilt.
8. Redefine treats.
9. Have a plan for when the inevitable slump hits.
10. Read my tips for making cooking more fun.

19 December 2011

10 Reasons to Stop Thinking about “Holiday Weight Gain”

1. Because every single women’s magazine can’t stop thinking about it. And they have absolutely no new advice for you.
2. Because I bet if you had to choose between “relaxing with friends and family” and “being 3 pounds lighter,” you’d choose the former.
3. Because spending time obsessing about it isn’t going to change anything. I promise. No, really. I’ve done it. It’s pointless.
4. Because you know how to implement the Here and Now Concept. You’re not going to eat stuff that isn’t absolutely delicious anyway.
5. Because you don’t want to be the only person eying the buffet table like it’s going to come at you with a knife.
6. Because you know food doesn’t come with guilt — only you can assign it that.
7. Because you’re going to eat intuitvely, and your body will tell you when it’s time to put down the cake. Trust it.
8. Because you know that healthy and delicious aren’t mutually exclusive. You’ll savor that roasted cauliflower with olive oil, sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper just as much as Aunt Mimi’s homemade buttermilk biscuits.
9. Because there are so many other important things to think about during the holidays.
10. Because you get that the holidays are about spending time with the people you love, and those people? Will love you no matter what you look like.

5 December 2011

Hey!

I’m headed to a wedding in the Dominican Republic in a couple days — that sounds nonchalant, but it’s actually a big deal. I’m PSYCHED! — so the blog is getting a little vacation too.

Here are some vacation-related posts for your perusal while I’m gone:

Four Ways to Have a Healthier Vacation

Can I Take a Diet and Exercise Vacation?

My Florida Vacation in Food

Nutritionista in Traverse City

My 10 Favorite Things I Ate in NYC

Nutritionista-fy Your Trip

My Favorite Buenos Aires Restaurants

I’ll be back next Wednesday with normal Nutritionista programming. If you’ve emailed me in the past couple weeks, please forgive my non-response. I haven’t forgotten!

17 November 2011

Foods You Just Aren’t That Into on Makeunder My Life

For this month’s Health with Intention post on MML, I’m taking you through an exercise I mentioned in my review of The End of Overeating. The book inspired me to make a thoughtful list of foods I’m just not that into; foods which inspire me to say “meh.”

You know how sometimes you “forget” that you don’t really like a food when you’re hungry? Or when that food is right in front of you? I’ve found that a lot of people (myself included) don’t really know which foods they’re just not that into. I’m going to tell you about an exercise that will help you figure out which foods you don’t really enjoy.

First, start by making a list of foods you HATE. You know the ones I mean — foods you wouldn’t eat even if someone paid you. Those are the easy ones because you’ve probably disliked them all your life. There are only a few foods like that on my list (Brussels sprouts is the main one).

Then, move on to foods you just don’t really enjoy. You can tolerate them, but after you eat them, you don’t think, “Wow, I’m SO glad I ate that.” It’s more like, “Meh, that was just okay.” Often, those foods aren’t really worth eating! This is the difficult part of the exercise, but if you’re like me, you’ll find that once you get going, it becomes easy. Just think of any food you’ve eaten in the past week that wasn’t very satisfying and didn’t give you much pleasure. It’s okay if you can’t think of many, but make it a point to pay attention in the future. While you’re eating a food you know you don’t absolutely adore, ask yourself if this food falls into the “SO Glad I Ate That” category or the “Disappointing” category.

To inspire you, I’m going to share a portion of my “foods I’m just not that into” list with you.

See the list of foods I’M just not that into and read the full post on Makeunder My Life!