Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Dietitian Eats: What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW)

Hey there! One of the top questions I get (on a daily basis) is "What do you eat all day?" That mixed with, "What's for lunch?" In inspiration of that, plus other RD blogs I follow, I decided to do my own "What I Ate Wednesday" blog!

I tend to eat the same types of things every day. Today, was a little different than my usual pattern, but hey that's life.

Normally, my breakfast starts with either a protein bar, high fiber cereal, or a tofu wrap. Today, I went with some Kashi Go Lean Crunch mixed with Get Balance Fiber cereal. I have unsweetened almond milk or unsweetened cashew milk with that (lactose-intolerant). I try to get a cereal with <10g of sugar per serving and at least 3g fiber. Sometimes, I will do 1/4c of a cereal that has over 10g of sugar and mix it was a low sugar cereal. Just to change things up. I of course have my coffee in my fancy RD cup and my Bubba water (32oz). My coffee I either drink black or with a splash of unsweetened almond milk creamer.

That usually holds me for 2 hours. I had my mid-morning snack about 2 hours after getting into work. I wasn't starving, but, I knew I was doing a demo and would not be eating for another 3 hours. I didn't want to be sampling food and having my stomach grumbling at the same time. I packed some veggie pop chips (leftover from an event) and spinach and artichoke hummus (my favorite).


Lunch today was leftovers from last night; tofu (about 1/2c) with marinara, wheat pasta (1/4c), and broccoli with a caesar dressing on it. I'm not a huge pasta fan, but I was in the mood for it last night!

I also have fruit or a salad with my lunch. Today, I opted for green grapes. Looks like a lot, but I typically put 2 days worth of grapes in my lunch box. One less thing to refill when I get home! My grapes are also looking a little sad, so I am glad I only have 1 more servings worth.

So, last night, my boyfriend and I did an 11-mile bike ride. We didn't go until late (8-ish), which means we weren't back until about 9pm. That being said, neither of us felt like cooking! Adam (aka my boyfriend) wanted Chinese. Usually, I find the "healthy" part of the menu. I opted for steamed veggies (sauce on the side), and Adam got vegetable mei fun. We ordered quarts to have leftovers. Tonight, I had my steamed veggies (broccoli, snow peas, bamboo shoots, etc) with brown rice (1/2c) and about 1 tablespoon of the sauce they sent (there was about 1 cup!). I also had a forkful of Adam's mei fun.

While heating everything up for the night, I was getting pretty hungry. I ended up snacking on a few sweet green peppers from my garden. I also packed my snack and lunch for tomorrow, so I snuck in a slice of cheese! After dinner, I was feeling something sweet so I tried out these new barkThins I got at the supermarket. I like that 1 serving is 22g of carbohydrates and 11g of sugar. Not bad for chocolate! Also, there are not too many ingredients. Anyway, an indulgence nonetheless.

I usually fill my Bubba water jug about 2x during the day. Normally, i get about 75-80 ounces of fluid on a non workout day. Sometimes I will add in seltzer or unsweetened iced tea (brewed from home) to change things up!

Overall, today was not too bad. I got enough fiber, carbohydrates, healthy fats, and vitamins and minerals (with all the veggies!). I wasn't too high on sodium, sugar, or calories (even with the chocolate!). Typically, I would like to get more protein in, whether it is some nuts, beans, or a bar, and another serving of fruit.

Hope you enjoyed the Dietitian's Eats. Tune in next week to see what is on the menu!

Sunday, July 19, 2015

My New Garden and Being a First Time Preceptor

It has been quite a while since my last blog. I have been crazy busy between both my jobs, recently moving, planting a garden, and being a preceptor. Not to mention the impromptu summer mini vacations.  Nonetheless, I am back in action :)

About 2 months ago, I was asked to be a preceptor to a distance intern for their community rotation. I am sympathetic when it comes to distance interning (I was one myself). I remember just how hard it was to find all of my preceptors! I must say, it was definitely weird to be the one doing the teaching. The first couple of days with my intern were odd purely because I was not used to someone following me around all day! It was cool sharing my knowledge and experience with someone who has the same passion as me. It was definitely helpful to have a second pair of hands when I was working with a group of young children too! I would suggest to anyone to become a preceptor if your job allows. I felt it was a learning experience for me as much as them!

Post digging out 
3 weeks after planting
My biggest project since my boyfriend and I moved into our duplex was my garden (or should I say gardens). One, I am no garden expert. Two, I learned plenty of things I should and shouldn't do. Three, things taste wayyyyyy better when you grow them yourselves! Four, don't try and attack your overgrown, new yard with a tank top on or you will become a vesicle for bugs and itching.

I never had my own yard space until now. My dad always had a garden in our yard growing up; however, it was never something I really worked on. Our yard with quite overgrown when we moved in, so it took about a week or so to pull weeds and get the dirt ready for planting. The lady that lived in the house years back had put down some bricks around plots of land. It made for great sectioning of my garden:) I ended up with 3 plots for vegetables and a 4th for a butterfly bush. We also had an overgrowth of mint in the yard, which was super fun pulling out (not). A few things about mint: never ever plant in the ground unless you want it to take over your yard and be prepared to muscle out the roots if you try and pull it out!

Tomatoes, peppers, etc
Tomatoes, peppers, parsley
I ended up planting one plot with cucumbers, carrots, kale, spinach, and lettuce. I trim the kale, spinach, and lettuce every other day. I love fresh garden salads! The cucumbers I am still waiting to grow an actual cucumber and not a thousand more leaves and flowers. My other plot has tomatoes, peppers, and parsley. I got about 4 peppers so far and 50 tomatoes, all of which are still green. The 3rd plot has parsley I started from a seed, basil, peas, and another tomato plant I just moved out of a pot. I also have aloe, hot peppers, and a weird cactus looking plant in pots along the edge of my garden.


Having a garden is hard work between prepping the soil, planting, weeding (almost every day), and watering. Despite all that (plus the poison oak/sumac I got on my arms), I absolutely love it. Someone said to me that gardening was therapeutic and I totally believe that! I can spend hours outside and I wouldn't even care. You wouldn't believe how excited I was when my first leaves poked out of the ground, or my first green tomato sprouted. It is like my little baby!

First pepper

First tomatoes
It definitely makes you appreciate the food you eat when you grow it yourself. And if you were wondering. After I got poison oak/sumac, I went outside with pictures of all the poisons, found the tree/bush with both sumac and oak twisted around each other and hacked it apart. Take that!

Stay tuned for my new "What I ate Wednesday" posts, inspired by fellow dietitian, and "Fresh Fridays" post with my garden updates!