When searching for meal ideas on the internet it is increasingly more difficult to avoid the onslaught of “clean eating, whole food” recipes being promoted. A trend that is marketed not as a diet but a “change in lifestyle” may sound harmless but in fact it has become way more complicated then that. Social media influencers make promises of purity and body transformations through beautifully decorated, likely uneaten food images and often restrictive recipes. They may not seem it at first since they have chocolate and pizza in the title but dig a bit deeper and the chocolate is actually unsweetened cocoa and the pizza is made from cauliflower.  Judging by the followers on these blogs millions of people find these to be trusted and aspiring resources but unfortunately many of them feel burdened by the need to “eat clean” and guilty when they don’t.

(more…)

In my house growing up Sunday dinner never varied, it was always macaroni and meatballs. The “gravy” and meatballs were made from scratch (sort of, we cheated and use canned tomatoes) and the macaroni was whatever pasta we wanted as long as we didn’t call it “noodles.” My brothers and I would help roll the meatballs and take turns throwing them at the ceiling when my Mom or Dad weren’t looking. In retrospect I now realize that was pretty gross but nonetheless the meatballs always came out amazing as did the gravy. (more…)

Children require guidance in all areas of their lives— how to tie their shoes, when to speak in a quiet voice, and, of course, when, what and how to eat. As a parent, I know it is my job to think carefully about the messages I send to my child regarding food to start her on the path towards healthy self-regulation. But even as a dietitian who counsels others on developing a balanced relationship with food, I struggle to navigate this with my toddler. (more…)

Photo Credit: Creative Commons by Pixabay

Not a day goes by without a Top 10, Top 6, Top 3 list of dietary recommendations floating by my Twitter or Facebook feed. Whether it’s eating certain foods to boost immunity, improve mood or burn muscle, or avoiding a number of foods putting your health at risk, many news outlets have hopped on the ‘eat this, not that’ bandwagon.

No matter the article’s content, as a dietitian, I cannot help but cringe at the over-simplistic message: Eat this (and only this) to relieve INSERT HEALTH COMPLAINT HERE. This basically implies that if you don’t adhere to the list, you could be poisoning yourself and anyone you give these foods to! Here’s why I think we’d do well to ditch the lists:

(more…)

Ever find yourself skating on a thin line between wanting to eat healthy and obsessing about everything you put in your mouth?  Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can have positive effects on your social, emotional, and physical wellbeing—but this is entirely dependent on how you choose to define healthy. You may view “healthy” in terms of the food you ate for lunch (or what you avoided eating for lunch), what the scale said that morning, or if you were able to add that extra mile on yesterday’s run.

Photo credit: Creative Commons by Miiish

(more…)