I’ll check out your recipe!

With money, you can buy heaps of ready made things – I imagine this is true on most English speaking countries. I’ve been using pre-washed and cut salad greens; pre-sliced mushrooms; frozen sliced onions; frozen sliced green beans; frozen mashed potato and oven chips; pre-mixed stir-fry veggies; and several other convenient things that reduce prep time but still let you cook a bit. You can buy premium cuts of meat that grill quickly and don’t need trimming, marinading, or attentive cooking.

I’m thinking of posting on my nearly-dead blog about this. I’ll let you know if I do get round to it. But meanwhile, a super-easy fruit dessert is the latest entry. Do have a look. I made this clafouti with tinned plums the other day; it’s just a matter of mixing a few pantry staple things up – no creaming or whipping, just a little bit of measuring, dump in a bowl, stir, pour, bake. BTW, those with US tastes may like more sugar; I don’t know if Canadians are more European in preference.

I confess that I eat probably 2/3 of my meals alone at the table in the kitchen, but it is something I have gravitated to out of the habit of mindfulness, not something I imposed on myself in the hope that it would induce mindfulness (except for a brief period of time where I was practicing this intensively on purpose, out of sheer desperation.) I find it more satisfying to just eat and be alone with my lunch, much of the time – but you’ll still find me on the couch sometimes with a bowl of something. And even when I’m alone with my food, there is more of a checking in process than a total, sustained attention.

http://www.fatnutritionist.com/index.php/worthless-foods/

By definition, calories represent the presence of (macro)nutrients. Yes, we need a balance of both macro- and micronutrients, but that doesn’t mean one is “better” than the other, or that we can live on only one type.

Anyway, thanks for the comment and I’ll have to noodle this one around some more.

That’s something I have always wanted to read – partly to get my own opinions (courtesy of my mother and grandmother) re-enforced, and partly because I think it is a very important subject:

This idea that “empty calories” is bad is something very destructive. Not to mention the whole idea of “empty calories” in itself (with the possible exception of a pure glucose syrup, there is no such thing).
“Calories” is simple an old measurement (when it comes to food measured in a very clumsy and inexact way) of energy – and we need energy to live. Especially if we are anxious or depressed – the brain uses lots of energy, and if we have physical symptoms of anxiety (like a raised pulse), that really uses up energy.
I feel that when I get a period of anxiety or depression, *all* energy I can get my body to accept is a positive! A delicious well-balanced meal might be better than frozen pizza, but frozen pizza is better than a candy bar, and a candy bar is better than nothing.

And speaking of pizza, my mother’s take on it: “hmm, we’ve got bread here, veggies, herbs, meat, dairy – what makes this less of a proper meal than pasta with sauce and cheese? People’s need to disapprove of things?”

I have a suspicion that there’s a whole lot more guilt about eating non-self-cooked meals and “junk” snacks than the actual nutritional facts would warrant.

But yes – there are many ways to be more mindful rather than sitting down by yourself with cloth napkins, nice music, and paying attention to every bite (ugh, this even stresses me to write this!). Checking in with yourself at intervals – great. Taking a breath at the beginning of a meal and thinking, how hungry am I? What do I want to eat first? These are all ways of being more mindful, but not elevating food to the end-all-be-all of the next 20 minutes.

My frustration is with the way that the process is set up in Ontario, and the wide gap I see between those who offer nutrition counseling with no credentials whatsoever, and those who have to jump enormous class-based hurdles in order to be RDs. There are well-educated qualified grads who could fill that gap, if there were a position for them.

My concerns about DC’s and ADA’s connections to weight loss and food industry concerns are the critique of someone who cares about dietetics, not someone who wants to dismantle it. I don’t think RDs are “in bed” with corporate concerns, but I do think there is a troubling LACK of questioning about these connections within the field. I’m glad you’re one who has stepped up to ask those questions – that’s part of why I’m involved in the critical dietetics movement.

I worked in clinical nutrition for two years, intimately with RDs, and trust me I have no wish to see them go away. But my frustration and concerns are valid, nevertheless. I appreciate your encouragement, and your pre-RD experience sounds similar to mine. In fact, I think we agree more than you might think. I still am seriously considering my options in doing an internship – whether it’s financially feasible for me will be another question altogether.

Like you, I was frustrated after receiving my undergraduate degree and I too felt that I was qualified for not much. I worked as a dietetic technician for three years before putting myself through the training necessary to become a registered dietitian. I have worked in hospital settings and had my passion for nutrition killed by this repetitive and unfulfilling work (for me). Fortunately, I have found my passion again through private practice and I can honestly see the value of my education in the people that I have had the privilege to help. I hope that you do go on to become an RD. We need more voices like yours in our profession. We’re a pretty cool group too, especially the forward thinking nutrition entrepreneurs (There is a professional group of nutrition entrepreneurs within the Academy. I think that you would get along well with us)!

Some people have impulse control problems (I think this is a fairly small percentage of those who binge eat, though, based on what I’ve read), OR are using binge eating to get away from overwhelming emotions, anxiety or depression (more common.) And sometimes it’s triggered by restrained eating, feeling hungry and preoccupied with food, or even just the FEAR that you won’t get enough to eat (quite common, in my experience.)

I would really recommend the book Overcoming Binge Eating by Christopher Fairburn if you haven’t read it already. I think it’s a good resource – but you may also need therapy to work over the underlying issues, if they’re about anxiety or depression, and to get over the really tough stuff.

Mindfulness can help, self-soothing and redirecting skills can help, and learning to meet your underlying needs can help. Some people go into Dialectical Behaviour Therapy to learn these things.

I remember telling someone that – if I had the choice – I’d never eat again. Ever. And I think what I do is that I try to go as long as I can without eating because I like that feeling of control – that food isn’t my main focus in life. It seems to take up most of my waking hours if I don’t starve and/or keep completely away from it. I mean – compared to food – ditching my previous bad habits (without going into details lets just say they weren’t happy habits) has been easy. What to do with a bad habit? Stop doing it. Easy. Pull yourself out of that situation/ behaviour/ background or whatever and stop.

Food? Jeepers. I’m still flummoxed. I don’t like having to ‘plan my meals’ or ‘eat small snacks’. I’d like to be able to just live my life – without this stupid feeling of guilt/ obsession/ etc. And by looking at me no one would ever think I didn’t eat — because Im such a good binger now! I used to be able to go for days without having big meals – but with ‘working’ and trying to have a ‘career’ my brain just doesn’t work if I don’t have food. But I can’t just have a little — I have it all.

I can’t even grocery shop for a week ahead – if I have 13 apples in my fridge – I will eat 13 apples for however long they last me – usually a couple of days. If I buy a thing of ice cream, that will be dinner. The only way – and this might sound crazy – that I can have any type of portion control is if I get take-out and order one of something and take it home and eat it. If I were to say – get 12 microwavable dinners, I’d eat them all. It’s like I’m trying to clear my house out of all of its food immediately upon me buying it.

Yup – so there’s that. I figure once I’m able to figure out this ‘food’ thing I’ll be all set. !

This is one of the things that bothers me the most. There is such a huge gap to be filled between these two extremes, and I don’t understand why it has to be so all-or-nothing. But currently that seems to be the way it’s set up. Personally I think there should be dietetics grads “coaching” or counseling average, healthy people in basic nutrition stuff, and helping them to navigate all the nutrition news in the media. Of course I’m biased because with my work experience I got to practice doing counseling, whereas another grad might not have, but it does seem a bit excessive to me that an internship is needed in order to teach average, healthy people about Canada’s Food Guide. It’s different if people are needing therapeutic diets, but for basic primary prevention/education? Come on. I mean, the nutrition component of my job basically consists of persuading people to eat regular meals, pay attention to hunger and fullness, and to eat multiple food groups. It’s not exactly radical or dangerous.

My school often did give talks on using your degree without an internship, and there are little niches people can put themselves. Personally, I would like to see more dietetics grads writing books about general healthy eating, to help at least add some scientifically-trained voices to the crazy milieu that is the diet section of the bookstore. I would like to see more dietetics grads writing columns about nutrition in papers or blogs. Mostly though, the niches suggested have been stuff like working in the food industry (I’m not really interested) or sometimes writing cookbooks (also not really interested, though I have nothing against cookbooks. I’m just not a very fancy cook.) Some people become professional home economists instead of RDs, though I don’t really know what all that entails. And then there’s the diet tech route, which in my experience, is basically just doing more hospital work, assisting dietitians. And of course, food service.

Since there isn’t a place readymade for people in our position, I guess we have to try and make one for ourselves. It’s not easy, but I think it’s worthwhile.

If you’re more interested in keeping your body “constantly burning” through some kind of theory about confusing your metabolism to lose weight, then we’re not going to have a lot to talk about.

Eating until you are truly satisfied is actually not a key component of most cases of binge eating – if you’re interested in binge eating disorder, I’d suggest you read Overcoming Binge Eating by Christopher Fairburn, who is one of the premier researchers in that field. It might surprise you to learn that attempting NOT to satisfy oneself (i.e. restrained eating) is often the precursor to binge eating.

Additionally, eating at the same time everyday slows your metabolism.

This also sounds like bullshit of the highest order to me. The things that really have the power to slow one’s metabolism significantly are starvation, hypothyroidism, certain medications, severe temperature changes, hibernation, etc. I really doubt it’s that easy to throw one’s metabolism off, certainly not by eating regular meals at regular times. If it were, we’d all be fucked.