Before I get started, this last week my cooking endeavor to expand variety was coconut curry! It took a couple tries, but the end-product was truly delicious. I used this recipe from www.realsimple.com. We threw this sauce over pan fried peppers, green onion, and chicken with thin rice noodles. It's actually the first coconut based dish that I've liked! Sometimes you never know until you try it...
I played two basketball games this weekend, and boy was it tough. Why you ask? I got dehydrated every 5 minutes it seemed! This dry weather can do it. I must have drank 3-4 water bottles over two games!
Not many think about it too often, but most realize it's importance. Hydration needs can get us to stop dead in our tracks with what we are doing and force us to find a water fountain, pour an ice, cold glass of water, or hunt down a grocery store to purchase a beverage. At the same time, many popular snacks and their high salt content push that need even further.
So many body functions and qualities depend on being well-hydrated. Skin integrity, lip health, digestion function, attention and alertness, flexibility, teeth health, and body temperature are just a few items that hydration helps with. Recommendations say drinking about 2 liters of water per day, but if you are in dry weather or exercising and losing more fluids than normal, look to drink even more!
Many people believe that caffeinated beverages have dehydrating properties. I have recently learned that caffeine in low to moderate amounts (400mg) does not affect fluid status! This roughly translates to 3 cups of coffee or 6 cups of tea not affecting your hydration status negatively.
So carry around a reusable water bottle, aim for that 2 liters every day, and remember that caffeine does not dehydrate you, and this awful, cold, dry weather will not defeat you! And if it has beaten you, check out my tips for fighting the flu!
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
Eat a Varied Diet...But Why?
Boy, you can sure learn a lot being in a dietetic internship!
I figured it's been too long since my last blog post, and I'd like to get back to regular postings. This way I can share a lot of the information I'm learning, but also I can continue doing something I love: writing!
A lot has changed in my life since my last blog post in April of 2013. I am currently completing my dietetic internship in order to qualify for the registered dietitian exam. Basically, this is the work experience hours required after any undergraduate, accredited program before being allowed to become licensed. I was fortunate enough to get accepted into my #1 choice program at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital! To keep things brief, this program is only 41 weeks of concentrated, clinically focused material, but still touches all bases like community and food service as well. Here I am about half-way through the experience, and things have gone very well.
A topic came to my attention while studying for my next rotation: the idea of incorporating variation into eating. It's usually just casually thrown in with other words like "moderation" and "wholesome." But when I boiled down what it's talking about, I realized that it such a mandatory part of diet's ultimate goal.
What's that ultimate goal, you say? Preventing disease. Think about it, that's exactly why we eat and especially why we try to eat healthy.
When you were a kid and mom or dad tried to get you to eat all different kinds of vegetables, fruits, and crazy meatloafs it wasn't to show authority and add another miserable thing that your family made you do. It was because the idea of incorporating multiple different types of food provides multiple different types of nutrients. I can most likely find something beneficial about any food you question, but the message here is that each food is different to its core in providing a rainbow of vitamins and minerals.
So what should you do? Try new things! I'm glad that chicken, eggs, and bagged salad works for you. It's cheap, nutritious, and quick. Your body is asking you for more! Choose simple new things like a new color of pepper or switching from pasta to brown rice. Eventually you can upgrade to buying a fruit that you can't even pronounce just because you want to try it or by ordering kimchi for the first time not because it sounds appetizing, but because it could be that new thing you love!
So get more out of your diet by eating more variety. Your body will thank you.
I figured it's been too long since my last blog post, and I'd like to get back to regular postings. This way I can share a lot of the information I'm learning, but also I can continue doing something I love: writing!
A lot has changed in my life since my last blog post in April of 2013. I am currently completing my dietetic internship in order to qualify for the registered dietitian exam. Basically, this is the work experience hours required after any undergraduate, accredited program before being allowed to become licensed. I was fortunate enough to get accepted into my #1 choice program at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital! To keep things brief, this program is only 41 weeks of concentrated, clinically focused material, but still touches all bases like community and food service as well. Here I am about half-way through the experience, and things have gone very well.
A topic came to my attention while studying for my next rotation: the idea of incorporating variation into eating. It's usually just casually thrown in with other words like "moderation" and "wholesome." But when I boiled down what it's talking about, I realized that it such a mandatory part of diet's ultimate goal.
What's that ultimate goal, you say? Preventing disease. Think about it, that's exactly why we eat and especially why we try to eat healthy.
When you were a kid and mom or dad tried to get you to eat all different kinds of vegetables, fruits, and crazy meatloafs it wasn't to show authority and add another miserable thing that your family made you do. It was because the idea of incorporating multiple different types of food provides multiple different types of nutrients. I can most likely find something beneficial about any food you question, but the message here is that each food is different to its core in providing a rainbow of vitamins and minerals.
So what should you do? Try new things! I'm glad that chicken, eggs, and bagged salad works for you. It's cheap, nutritious, and quick. Your body is asking you for more! Choose simple new things like a new color of pepper or switching from pasta to brown rice. Eventually you can upgrade to buying a fruit that you can't even pronounce just because you want to try it or by ordering kimchi for the first time not because it sounds appetizing, but because it could be that new thing you love!
So get more out of your diet by eating more variety. Your body will thank you.
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