Category: In the Rail blog

I think I went home and cried the day my doctor told me I needed to cut gluten and dairy out of my diet. So, believe me that I know how hard it is to make a lifestyle change.

Behavior change is something I’m studying in my Nutrition master’s program. I have a lot of empathy for my hypothetical dietary clients. I’m a quarter of the way through the program and am not qualified to give you dietary advice, so I’m telling you what has worked for me.

Here’s what I learned through the program and my own experience. The No. 1 thing I’ve learned is that proper nutrition makes our bodies operate so much better. We recover from illness quicker, things don’t hurt as much. Even mental health issues can fade. Here are some tips I’ve learned:

1. Don’t try to be perfect. Even trained professionals struggle to put together diet plans with the perfect balance of macro and micronutrients each day. Just aim for 5 servings of fruits and vegetables and some whole grains each day. Add in couple handfuls of nuts and servings of legumes and lean protein each week. Try to cut down on red and processed meat and sugar. I’m sorry to tell you that there’s really no good that can come from red and processed meat or sugar. A little is fine, but a lot is really not.
2. If you’re not getting your 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, pop a multi vitamin. Getting your vitamins is that important. Though, in my opinion, it’s better to supplement just the vitamins you need, which you would know from a blood test.
3. Making diet and lifestyle changes is never going to be easy. It’s totally OK to mourn the loss of your beloved whatever-you-love. But, making changes before you have a diagnosis really is key. Once you’re diabetic or have heart disease, you’re likely to have to stop cold turkey. If you can learn to eat more beans now or make your beloved food more of a once-in-a-while treat, it won’t be so hard later.
4. It’s not all or nothing. How about trying to consume 30% less meat and dairy than you currently do? That could be as simple as swapping breakfast meats for oatmeal (I looooove oatmeal with its fun toppings!) or trying some Mediterranean dinner ideas. Mediterranean cooking incorporates more grains and veggies than the standard American diet. Meat is stretched over a few meals instead of a slab on each person’s plate.
5. Don’t make it a habit: If you have a cookie Tuesday at 3:00 and you crave a cookie again Wednesday afternoon, don’t eat it. Tell yourself you can have it tomorrow. If you make it routine to eat sugar (or alcohol or coffee or whatever) every day, it won’t be a treat anymore. It’ll be a habit.
6. Carbs are good. Bread and potatoes aren’t evil. Refined and white breads aren’t great. Most cereals are 30% sugar, so they’re no good. But whole-grain breads, rice, oats, potatoes (not the fried ones) are good. Eat them, guilt-free (assuming you don’t have a health condition that restricts your consumption).
7. Once I started watching what I eat, I became much more tuned-into my body. I now notice how my skin feels tingly after a dairy milk latte. After a sugary dessert, like a cookie, I struggle to keep my eyes open. Two or more alcoholic drinks lead to a sleepless night. It’s been much easier to pass on things when I know how they’ll affect me. Before I didn’t take the time to notice.
8. Expect to revert. Sometimes when Nick is away, I like to treat myself with dinner from the market hot bar and cupcake or tiramisu. Sometimes I crave one more glass of wine when I’m home writing. About once a month, I want a really good burger. I’m not even ashamed about any of this.

Know that you’re not alone. Diet and lifestyle are hard for everyone to change and most of us could really benefit from some tweaks. I’ve been there. I still am.

If you’re like me, the recent climate change report has made you anxious the last couple of days. I’m not going to get into the science here, instead I’m going to give you hope.

The report says we can do something, but we need to do it now.

I have hope that you’ll join me. Please, share what you’re doing. I’ll share what I’m doing. I hope we can inspire one another and do our part.

For starters, I’ll give you my to-do list:

1. Plan meals. When I don’t plan meals, I tend to rely on prepared foods that are harder on the planet. The more I plan, the more sustainable my diet.
2. Write letters. One thing that drives me crazy is throwing away packaging. When I’m out of makeup, I just need the little thing of makeup. I don’t need a new compact with a mirror. I’m going to write letters (or maybe email?) to the companies that make these products and ask them for a better way.
3. Share templates. Once I write those letters, I’ll share them with you, so you can use it as a template to write your own letters to send to the companies you do business with.
4. Unfortunately a bus commute isn’t an option where I live BUT I know 4 other women who live near me and work at the same company. We carpool occasionally, but it’s time to step it up. There’s no reason to drive 5 cars the same place every day.
5. Reduce my plastic. This is about 10 blog posts alone.

Your turn. Please tell me what you do and how I can do more.

I’m addicted to sugar and odds are you are, too. One reason is that nutrition labels make it really difficult to determine  how much we’re getting. As a nutrition student 3 classes in, it would be irresponsible for me to advise you on your specific needs, so I’ll just tell you what I’ve been reading in general terms.

• You should probably be consuming less added sugar than you do now. Way less!
• There is no recommended amount of added sugar on food labels because there is no recommended amount. You don’t need any! You get the sugar you need from natural sources like milk, blueberries, and tomatoes.
• On that note, don’t worry about the sugar you get from natural sources.
• When you consume sugar, the reward center of your brain lights up. We like sugar. Once we get it, we want more of it. It works just the same as alcohol, gambling, or heroin addiction. Getting more dulls our sensitivity to it, so it takes more and more and more to get the same reaction.

A couple years ago, my doctor had me eliminate added sugar from my diet for 6 weeks. I distinctly remember the first day of my no-sugar diet. I had a headache and was grouchy. I laid on the couch watching the Katy Perry documentary and felt sorry for myself. I promise you, it gets better after Day 1.

After just a few days without added sugar, I started noticing the natural sweetness in the foods I was consuming. Bananas were suddenly like candy. My favorite treat was a smoothie of coconut milk, banana, and a handful of cashews. Try it!

Our bodies crave sweetness, but when we dull our senses with excessive sugar, we don’t notice that banana’s sweetness. Instead we crave Lucky Charms, Frappuccinos, and sweet cocktails. Cutting sugar isn’t about weight loss or vanity. Sugar consumption is a serious health epidemic. On an individual basis, it leads to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and so many more bad things no one wants to go through. So what can you do?

Step one is to cut out sugar sweetened beverages, such as lemonade, soda, fruit juice, iced tea, energy drinks, all of it! Your body even processes calorie-free diet drinks the same way. You can’t fool it with a Diet Coke.

After that, look at other places to cut down on added sugar. Did you know that 30% of many cereals are sugar? When I buy cereal, I get the plain corn flakes (literally, the only ingredient is corn) from a natural market and shake on some cinnamon. You could switch to oatmeal— again, I recommend buying plain oats rather than the flavored packets. I keep a big bag of blueberries in the freezer and put a handful on my oatmeal. Those little guys defrost fast. Then I grab a spoonful of non-sweetened almond butter to stir in. Breakfast is on the table within 5 minutes.

Next, swap out sugary snacks for fruit and nuts. This has been a total game-changer for me. My sugar-dense snacks used to leave me feeling nauseous and hungry again soon. A handful of nuts keeps me satiated through my afternoon.

Finally, pay attention to what you’re eating for meals. We all expect a sugar hit when we eat a creamy tiramisu, but not when we eat Pad Thai or spaghetti and meatballs, right? Well, those sauces contain a boatload of sugar. So does commercial salad dressing, fruity-on-the-bottom yogurt cups, and more. Look for sugar where you don’t expect it. When you find it, consider workaround. Maybe instead of that bottle of Kraft dressing, you could drizzle some olive oil and balsamic on your salad. Or next time make your own Pad Thai sauce sans sugar (or with just a bit.)

It’s still a work in progress for me. Here are a few principles that help me.

1. I try to only have dessert items a few times a week, and make it count. That means I don’t eat mass-produced doughnuts with a long shelf life that come in a box. If it’s a doughnut I crave, I go to a good bakery and get the best one I can find. A good rule is if it doesn’t rot that’s because bacteria doesn’t want to eat it — and you shouldn’t either.
2. I aim to eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. With that baseline, I know I have less room for empty calories.
3. I try not to keep sweets in the house — or just pick one thing at a time. That way if I want a cupcake, I have to put on my shoes, walk out of the house, lock the door behind me, and go down the street to the store to get it. That makes me question if it’s worth it. (And sometimes it totally is!)

My main downfall right now is that my desk is right next to the table where people leave snacks to share at work. It’s hard to look past that plate of scones or package of cookies. Sometimes I indulge and I often regret it when I feel sluggish 30 minutes later.

Believe me, I know cutting down on sugar is hard (I remember every time I hear a Katy Perry song), but little changes do add up. I beg you to start now because it won’t get easier next year. And tell me how it’s going and if you have any advice for me.

For more science-backed advice, I recommend talking to your doctor about your specific needs and reading Daily Intake of Sugar — How Much Sugar Should You Eat Per Day?

REFERENCES

1. DiNicolantonio JJ, O’Keefe JH, Wilson WL. Sugar addiction: is it real? A narrative review Br J Sports Med 2018;52:910-913.
2. Bremer, Andrew A.,M.D., PhD., Lustig RH, M.D. Effects of sugar-sweetened beverages on children. Pediatr Ann. 2012;41(1):26-30. https://une.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.une.idm.oclc.org/docview/914325607?accountid=12756. doi: http://dx.doi.org.une.idm.oclc.org/10.3928/00904481-20111209-09.

“Everyone you meet always asks if you have a career, are married, or own a house as if life was some kind of grocery list. But no one ever asks you if you are happy” – Heath Ledger

I came across this quote today and gave a “yeah buddy” to the late Heath Ledger.

He’s absolutely right. The movies, society, our grandparents all want us to do things in some “right” order as we were told to do.

Plenty of people who have checked those boxes uncheck them and then check them again. Some check a few and leave others unchecked. Some are desperate to check them, but it’s not happening for them.

Regardless, life isn’t a score card. You don’t get to yell bingo and collect your prize basket. You don’t win happiness for checking anything off the list. Plenty of people check their boxes and wake up the next day absolutely miserable, wishing they could get out from under this giant mortgage and away from these whiney children.

Many of us don’t even slow down long enough to ask ourselves if we even want to check those boxes.

On this Pride Day, I think it’s important to give a high-five to everyone out there being themselves or taking baby steps toward living their best life.

At the very least, slow down for a minute and ask yourself what you want to be doing.

Me? Thanks for asking. I am happy. I thought long and hard about my checklist. I want to:

• Go to my storage unit to get my turquoise chair, so I can set it up at home.
• Finish reading a book.
• Use the new Aveda lotion I got this morning.
• Have a glass of white wine.
• Make fajitas for dinner with Nick.

What’ve you got?

If you don’t want to read about my boobs, I suggest checking out This Old House instead. They have some good stuff there. https://www.thisoldhouse.com/

 

The rest of you might remember from my post 5 years ago when my doctor felt a “tumor” in my breast during a routine check up and sent me to a radiology clinic for imaging. For a week or so until my appointment I was freaking out because as I said, my doctor told me she felt a “tumor.”

Turns out “tumor” is a catchall term meaning mass of some sort that isn’t usually there. Obviously I got a new doctor after that experience. One who doesn’t casually drop the word tumor.

This time I felt the lump first. My primary care doctor — who I love  — was calm and told me it’s probably a cyst. But get it checked out anyway. I did get it checked out and it is a cyst.

Great story, right?

Stick with me. There’s a reason I’m telling it to you. The doctor at the breast clinic told me

1. I’m not doing anything to cause these things
2. It’s really important not to get complacent after a couple “it’s just a cyst” diagnoses because next time it might not be just a cyst, so if I feel a lump, I have to get it checked out.

I’m passing along that information to all of you. There are plenty of non-scary reasons why a lump might form. None of them is a good reason to ignore it. Even the mammogram experience isn’t so bad. I heard horror stories of boobs getting smooshed in devices that look like they should be used for pressing paninis. So here are 3 reasons to get your mammo:

1. The new 3-D machines are not exactly fun, but they’re not at all painful either.
2. Your health plan probably pays for a preventive mammogram in full, if it’s done for preventive reasons. If you’re getting it because you found a lump already, it’s diagnostic and subject to copay and deductible, but still covered.
3. It could save your life!

I hate, hate, hate shows that feature 3 men and one woman. Why is that the accepted ratio? So I’m always happy to find a show led by ladies! I came home from work today, changed into my yoga pants and snuggled up on the couch with my cat to finish season 1 of The Bold Type, a show about three millennial women who started together at a Cosmopolitan-inspired magazine as assistants.

I just found out about the show yesterday, when I was clicking around Hulu. I love magazines and Chick Lit, so it seemed like a fun show to get lost in while I recovered from a Saturday of cooking and morning of back day at the gym.

Was I ever surprised that the show isn’t some dumb show with clueless, stereotypical characters moping after their loser boyfriends and comedically messing up their lives at every turn. The show actually has strong, female-empowering writing. Here are a few things I loved about it.

1. The editor-in-chief character Jacqueline who raises her young staffers up. She challenges them to be the best version of themselves possible and supports them when they mess up. Shouldn’t we all be so lucky to have a boss like this?
2. The three main characters are not jealous, back-stabby mean girls. They are legitimately happy for one another as one by one they get promoted or have steamy hot shower sex.
3. The show takes on powerful topics such as BRCA testing (for the breast cancer-causing gene mutation), Muslim immigration, and the #metoo movement.
4. Obviously, the show celebrates strong, female characters, which the world needs more of.

I have some critiques, too. First, Sutton and Jane’s apartment is not the apartment of young Manhattan magazine staffers. No, I know what that salary is and it doesn’t afford you an apartment like that.

Second, Sutton is having that aforementioned steamy hot sex with the company attorney. For the love of Pete, this doesn’t happen in real life. Why must it happen on every TV show?

OK season 2 starts tomorrow, so get binging.