My Trip to the Nutritionist

Tags

almond milk, Amy's, gnu, holistic, Nature's Path, nutritionist, osteopenia, osteoporosis, rice milk, risk, running injury, sex and the city, starbucks, stress, stress fracture, the hills, Whole Foods

Good evening! What a DAY it is has been! But, a good day! Thank you for your support and prayers… they apparently worked because my first visit to eh nutritionist was AMAZING! I’m not quite sure where to start..

First, I LOVE my nutritionist. She’s absolutely PERFECT for me. She’s not just your average everyday dietician, she also has a holistic approach and focuses on all areas of your health. In other words, she’s not a nutritionist who’s just going to say eat “x” amount of fruits, veggies, etc. and take this calcium supplement… she focuses on ALL things. But she’s not only a dietician, she does research and works with other companies and their products. And personally, she’s a vegetarian. Well, I guess a pescetarian because she eats fish. She is VERY up to date on the developments in nutrition and she’s pretty much a blogger’s dream… she’s very into chia seeds, massaged kale salad, and Vita-Top/yogurt parfaits. I kid you not. So it was really great that I could relate to her and she to what I ate. She LOVES to cook and talk about recipes, I got TONS of recipe ideas from our small session. She also gave me an entire bottle of Maple Agave Nectar, chia seeds, a product that is like Amazing Grass, and a homemade granola bar. Score!!!

As far as the Osteopenia goes, she’s going to do everything that she can to help me. I’m going to be getting blood work done to rule out things like celiac disease (oh please.. please no) and get my current Vitamin D, Vitamin K, etc. levels. Today was more of a consultation and we went over my food diary and other paperwork. I’m going to be going back after getting the blood work and then she’s going to give me a more concrete idea of what I should be eating from there, beyond what she told me today. She said that I had a VERY well balanced diet, one of the best she’d seen in years! And even though I can’t exercise, I won’t be gaining any weight eating like this.. which puts my mind a bit at ease. She gave me recommendations like..

• switching from cow’s milk to hemp/almond milk, as long as it still has calcium
• trying out new products like rice milk cheese, avocado oil
• including a salad with both lunch and dinner to get in veggies AND volume
• making sure I eat healthy fats with each meal
• snacking, snacking, snacking to keep my metabolism up
• trying to wean myself off of heartburn medication, which can prevent the absorption of vitamins and minerals and lead to Osteoporosis
• take GOOD quality calcium and Vitamin D
• switching to a deodorant with no aluminum in it

Soo with all of those suggestions in mind, I stopped by Whole Foods on my way home.. hey, it was like 3 minutes from my nutritionist’s office… I couldn’t help myself. Anywho, I picked up some of the things she mentioned like Almond Milk (I’m slightly scared of it?), some pepper jack rice-milk cheese, red chard (how do I cook this?), and some awesome FRSESH spinach pasta!! How should I cook it?! I don’t have any clue what sauce to put with it that will make the pasta itself shine and not mask the flavor.

As far as the eating disorder goes, she was really understanding and supportive, like you all said she would be. She said that her own sister had an eating disorder so she has had personal experience with it. We talked about how it affects your mind and whatnot and how she doesn’t want to give me a SET diet to follow because it’s not good for me with a history of an ED. She also said something that I think is very true, once you have an eating disorder, it’s pretty much something that you will ALWAYS deal with. Now, you may get healthy and overcome it but it will always be a part of your life, in the back of your mind. Especially when you are super stressed, like I am now that I don’t have my usual stress-release (running). She suggested that I try meditation or another way to de-stress, which apparently will help me immensely. Which, I know that I DO stress too much. How do YOU de-stress?

Honestly, that’s just a touch of what happened. I spent an hour and a half with her and I learned SO much and it’s all just bouncing around my brain right now haha I’ll probably remember more random things in the coming days and I’ll share. And of course, I will share with you when I do go back to her and get a more detailed “plan.”

 

Before my appointment this morning, I had a bowl of Nature’s Path Blueberry Cinnamon cereal with 1/2 of a banana, blackberries, and 1% milk.

 

And then for lunch, I hit up the salad bar at Whole Foods. And ate in my car… don’t judge, I was HANGRY.

This huge bowl of goodness had romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrot, mozzarella/basil/tomato salad, chickpea salad, tuna/cranberry salad, croutons, macadamia nuts, barbecue tofu, Asian style tofu (which was the BOMB), a spinach/orzo salad, roasted veggies, peas, corn, … of course, I only had a bite of each but over a bed of romaine, it was VERY filling.

I also had this Gnu bar before work to balance out the salad a bit.

Um, let’s just say that the bar PLUS the huge salad was a bit TOO much fiber if you get my drift…

 

So for dinner, I wanted something with the LEAST fiber. Thank goodness for rainy day freezer items!

This Amy’s veggie lasagna is the BEST frozen meal EVER. I don’t eat frozen meals very often but this… well it’s just amazing. I swear!

It’s not so pretty buuuut the incredible flavor makes up for that.

I also had some “garlic bread” on the side… a.k.a. a slice of wheat toast with a touch of butter and garlic powder.

And for dessert, a vegan chocolate chip cookie and 1/2 of a sugar cookie.

With some milk in my Starbucks mug. Er, make that HALF the milk as I spilt some…oops.

I’m a bit TOO full now after the cookies buuut yeah… my sweet tooth is INTENSE.

 

Anyone else watching the Hills tonight? It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, I admit. I’m almost ashamed to watch it because I feel like I am supporting Heidi and Spencer’s willingness to do ANYTHING to get attention by watching because let’s face it.. that’s WHY I’m watching. And then, more Sex and the City. I’m almost on Season 4! I am DETERMINED to see the entire series before SATC 2. Oh yes, I believe that I can do it. Don’t underestimate my amazing skill that is TV watching. I admit that I stayed up until almost 1 AM last night watching and texting someone. And this is a girl who’s usually in bed by 11. Yep… I’m living on the edge, what can I say 😉

Love,
Jess

 

Progress always involves risks.  You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.  ~Frederick B. Wilcox

"Loving can cost a lot but not loving always costs more, and those who fear to love often find that want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy from life."
– Merle Shan