#endED Twitter Chat with Evelyn Tribole

Our next #endED Twitter chat is Wed, March 23rd with Evelyn Tribole. We will be discussing intuitive eating and eating disorders. Check out the Facebook Event Page for more details, including how to participate in a twitter chat if you've never done so before.  Below are the questions Evelyn will be discussing. I hope you can make it!

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Q1.1 What are the principles of intuitive eating?
Q1.2 Which Intuitive Eating principle seems to be the most challenging for people?
Q2 What are the myths of intuitive eating?
Q3 What's the difference between an "intuitive eater" and someone whose food choices are guided by their eating disorder?
Q4.1 What are the obstacles to Intuitive Eating?
Q4.2 Is it really possible to be an Intuitive Eater in today's "toxic food environment"?
Q5 Do you think Intuitive Eating would help prevent eating disorders?
Q6 Can a person with an eating disorder recover by using "intuitive eating"?

About #endED
The goal of #endED is to bring anyone and everyone together who care about ending eating disorders. My hope is to end the silence and myths about eating disorders, create a place for honest and informed discussion, while offering hope and encouragement.

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Thai Green Curry in 20 min or less

How much do I love leftovers? A LOT! On Sundays I cook a batch of something that can hang in the fridge for a couple of days. It saves me when I don’t want to eat out for lunch (which gets expensive) and when I work late and don’t have the time or energy to cook dinner. This week I whipped up something fabulous and wanted to share. Yes, eating well can be fast and yummy!

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Marci’s Thai Green Curry in 20 minutes or less

Ingredients
2 T Olive or Canola Oil
1 bag frozen stir-fry veggies
½# - 1# chicken tenders, shrimp, tofu, or some other protein (bite size)
2 cups brown rice (I used the pre-made kind from Trader Joe’s)
1 Jar of Thai Green Curry (I bought from Trader Joe’s as well, but you can find this just about anywhere)

Directions
Pre-heat 1 T olive or canola oil* in medium pan or wok.
Add veggies and cook for 4-5 min, then set aside.
Add another T of oil and protein. Cook until done.
Add the veggies back to the pan along with the thai curry sauce and heat through.
Serve over brown rice and enjoy!

*When cooking in my wok, the temperatures get pretty high. So I use canola oil because the smoke point is higher and you don’t have to worry about the oil burning.

One of the great things about eating Thai food for leftovers is that the flavors get better over time. But be careful, best to eat them within 3-4 days to avoid a tummy ache.

Do you have a recipe that makes great leftovers and easy re-heating? If yes, care to share?! You can send them to marci at marciRD dot com!

Your ethnic food loving dietitian
Marci
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Introducing: Connecting to Ourselves

I am totally excited to introduce to you a new monthly post "Connecting to Ourselves" by Janet Zimmerman. We are CONSTANTLY surrounded with distractions and negative messages that take us away from what is really best for us (think about all of the icky dieting messages to get you geared up for bikini season, ugh!). Janet will be writing about a wide variety of topics to help you connect with the best ways to take care of YOU!  Let me know what you think. :)

Connecting to Ourselves: A New Series Begins

Think of a child you know- maybe your daughter or son, maybe a niece or nephew, or maybe even you when you were little. How do you care for that child? Would you tell the little child to stuff her feelings inside or to use food or isolation to cope with the turbulence of life? Would you tell that child that he or she needed to look a certain way or wear a certain outfit to be loved or accepted?

I hope you are screaming “ABSOLUTELY NOT” right now. Many of us would admit that we want to protect and nurture the children in our lives. We want them to become strong and confident adults one day. We want them to feel loved and accepted just the way that they are.

What I want to know is why many of us stopped nurturing and getting to know ourselves as we grew older? When did we start thinking that trying to be someone else was more important than being ourselves?
Sadly, as we grow older, many of us lose track of paying attention to our individual needs. Through the years of being bombarded with advertisements telling us what clothes we should wear, what foods we should eat, and what our bodies are “supposed” to look like, we get the idea that somehow our bodies are our enemies and they cannot be trusted or listened to. This is far from the truth. In reality our bodies are a custom design, unique with no exact match. They are something to be celebrated and to be thankful for. They are something to be cherished and nourished.

The National Eating Disorder Association says it best: “Think of your body as the vehicle to your dreams. Honor it. Respect it. Fuel it.” This is exactly right. Our bodies are the vehicles to our dreams. They are something to nurture, honor, and respect. They need and deserve nourishment and fuel physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

With the start of this new series, each month I hope to walk through different aspects of connecting to ourselves: listening to our bodies and relearning our unique needs, taking time to nourish ourselves, and celebrating our differences.

Think about it. When is the last time that you took time out of your day to check in with your emotions, your physical needs, and your soul? I hope with the start of this monthly series we can learn to embrace and connect to ourselves. After all, you are your body’s expert and advocate. If your not connecting to yourself and listening to your needs, who will?

Post by Janet Zimmerman. Janet is a dietetic student, positive body image advocate, and intuitive eating promoter. You can find Janet on twitter @JanetZimmerman where she loves tweeting yummy recipes, positive quotes, and mindful tweets.

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Client Spotlight: 5 Lessons on My Path to Recovery

Every so often I have the pleasure of sharing with you a client's story. (See the tag on the side of my blog: Client Spotlights). Eating disorder recovery is a long and scary road. Seeing the successes (both small and big), is a vital part of holding out hope and belief in a better life. So thank you J for sharing 5 of the lessons you have learned while on your path to recovery. Your willingness to share your journey is inspiring. And no one should go it alone.

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5 Lessons on My Path to Recovery

"I feel ready" she said. It was her last night as a patient in the Intensive Outpatient Program at the Cambridge Eating Disorder Center (CEDC). She was ready to take back the 9 evening hours a week and let go of the support the Center provided. She was ready to go out in the world and do it on her own. It was only my first week, and I remember wondering if I would ever feel that way. I was still having trouble saying, and truly believing, that I had Bulimia. It seemed like an impossibly long road to recovery. Would I ever be a normal eater? What is normal eating anyway? Was I prepared to make a life change that would reprogram 17 years of emotional eating, negative body image, body-based self-worth and self-loathing, and, more recently, a full-blown eating disorder? Would I ever feel ready? I knew I had to try.

Week after week, I went to the sessions. The support was tremendous and the lessons passed along were invaluable. But week after week, I would express, rather disconcertingly, that I could not see my path to recovery. CEDC was undoubtedly keeping me afloat, but how was I supposed to be ready to go out there and make it on my own if I didn't know the way. I'm left-brained and process-oriented. I wanted steps. I wanted a to-do list. I needed markers of my progress to know I was improving. I didn't even know what recovery looked like. How was I supposed to find something if I didn't know what I was looking for?

With the help and support of the Cambridge Eating Disorder Center and the guidance of Marci, (and I can't ignore - with patience and time), I am beginning to see the road to my recovery. There have been many lessons - these are a few that have been especially meaningful to me.

1. My eating disorder is a part of me, but I am not my eating disorder.

Once I admitted that I had an eating disorder and actually believed it, this was my first, and perhaps most important step to recovery. Shame and guilt melted away and I found a stronger sense of self-worth.

2. I can make decisions based on self-care.

Playing the game of "should" and "should not," guilt and obligation, will often lead you astray. Making a decision based on self-care will bring you back to balance. It can change your outlook, change your day, make you stronger, more confident, more in control. Decisions based on self-care can be difficult, but making the difficult decision, with your own well-being in mind, reinforces the notion that you are important and deserve to be taken care of.

3. I can separate food and feelings.

I have taken to telling myself, "This is how I feel. This is separate from my food choice." Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. But I am beginning to embrace the uncomfortable feelings and appreciate them for the messages they are sending me, or even, the gifts they are giving me. They are opportunities to learn what I truly need. Numbing with food makes me feel like a prisoner in my own body and a slave to my eating disorder. I'm learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Feeling bad, in a strange way, means I'm getting better.

4. Black-and-white thinking is my enemy.

My diet does not need to be black and white, all or nothing. I can make food choices, moment by moment, and work towards progress, not perfection or ideals of thinness, as my goal. Progress towards healthy living and body-based signals of hunger and fullness through compassion, acceptance, and forgiveness.

My recovery, also, does not need to be black and white. The ups and downs are part of the process. I might fall back into all-or-nothing eating, I might make food choices based on feelings, I might make decisions that are not based on self-care. It's about doing the best I can with what I have in the moment and learning from the highs and the lows. It's about forgiving myself for the times I fall and being my own cheerleader when I get back up. Recovery is imperfect. The downs help us measure the ups and remind us of where we want to be.

5. Progress comes from taking risks.

I could not have gotten this far or learned this much without taking risks. Growth comes from working through the challenges we face, with food and in life, and finding the lessons on the other side. It comes from fighting our eating disordered brain, making the difficult choice, and reframing years of unhealthy thoughts. Growth comes from finding the strength that we never knew we had when we were unwilling to take the path that scared us.

These are the markers of my recovery, the signs I know that I am changing and growing. I am finding that, by taking away my eating disorder's control over me, my body and mind have slowly begun to step up. I understand that the road ahead may still be long, and though I am not yet recovered, I can see the path, I will stay on it as best I can, and I am confident that I will get there. I understand that my eating disorder has served a purpose, and that letting it go might be scary, but it will ultimately be what sets me free.

I am proud that on my last night at CEDC, I was also able to say, "I feel ready."
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Today is Registered Dietitian Day

I am a Registered Dietitian and I absolutely LOVE my job. Some people like their work, some tolerate it, but I don't think a lot of people end up pursuing what they LOVE. So I consider myself among the fortunate minority.  Why do I love my work:

• I love working with people
• I love talking about food
• I love helping people find healthier and happier relationships with food
• My work feels meaningful, challenging, stimulating, and fun

I'm often asked "what's the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist?" (Note, this is common because RDs in the field of eating disorders are often referred to as "nutritionists.") Here's the bottom line:

• "Nutritionist" is not a licensed or credentialed term. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist: you, your Mom, your local GNC salesperson, a person with a 4 year nutrition degree, even someone with a doctorate in nutrition! It's a bit of a gamble since the term isn't regulated.

• In order to call yourself a "Registered Dietitian" you have to complete a 4 year accredited degree in nutrition and dietetics, complete a year long dietetic internship, pass a national exam, and maintain your licensure with sufficient continuing education credits. Essentially, when you meet an RD, you are at least guaranteed that they have met those minimum standards.

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Product No Case: Guest Blogger Janel Ovrut

Product No Case: Vitamin Water
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It took me absolutely no time to come up with a No Case food for this blog post. I’m from the school of thought that all foods can fit in a healthy diet, but there are a handful of “foods” that I truly believe have absolutely no place in our diet. Top on my list? Vitamin Water. Sure I could choose to battle with foods like bacon ice cream or fried Oreos, but I really just don’t understand why we need to enhance water! Water in its purest form is exactly what our bodies need for hydration, and our cells need to function. But water enhanced with vitamins, minerals, and sugar?! No need. Sure it has flashy colors and tasty flavors, but so does fresh fruit!

If you’re eating a balanced diet, you’re already getting the vitamins and minerals you need. Want to be extra sure? Speak to your dietitian about taking a daily multivitamin. The vitamins and minerals added to Vitamin Water aren’t ones we’re typically low of in our diet. To get a good dose of vitamin C – a typical vitamin in the beverage - try an orange, bell pepper, broccoli, or strawberries.

Not a fan of plain water? Try flavoring your water with citrus slices, like limes, lemons, and oranges (you’ll get vitamin C!). Or, drop melon cubes, cucumbers, or mint leaves for a refreshing flavored beverage without the added refined sugars. While there are calorie free versions of Vitamin Water, it’s best to reduce beverages with artificial sugar.

Stick to whole foods for your vitamins and minerals, and water for hydration. That’s all your body needs.



Janel Ovrut MS RD LDN is a Boston-based dietitian who enjoys helping others reach their nutrition goals, one bite at a time. Janel shares her culinary adventures in her blog Eat Well with Janel and loves to tweet @DietitianJanel.
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Product Showcase: Guest blogger Janel Ovrut

Product Showcase: Trader Joe’s Frozen Brown Rice
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When Marci asked me to do a Product Showcase guest blog post for a food I love, the first thing that came to mind for me was Trader Joe’s Frozen Brown Rice. I know it sounds basic and boring, but this frozen food gem has saved me many nights when I was too tired, rushed, or hungry to make a more elaborate meal.

This frozen brown rice makes life easier by coming packaged in three 10-ounce packets of rice, that you simply snip a tiny hole in, and pop in the microwave for three minutes. Voila! You have chewy, nutty, nutritious brown rice ready to build a base for the rest of your meal. Each packet contains two servings, so it’s perfectly portioned for dinner with my fiancé, or enough for me to have leftovers for lunch.

Usually I add to the rice a can of drained black beans, a bag of cooked frozen veggies, and a jar of spicy salsa for a complete meal that takes less than five minutes to put together! I always make sure my meals are well-rounded with a combination of whole grains (the brown rice), protein (the beans), and veggies, and this fits the bill. You can alter it however you’d like:

• Try the rice with marinara sauce, peas, and grilled chicken
• Roll the rice, beans and salsa into a burrito and have veggies on the side
• Stir fry veggies and tofu in teriyaki sauce and serve over a bed of brown rice
• Add to soup to stretch your meal

I realize it’s relatively simple to boil water and cook rice, or even easier – toss water and rice into my amazing rice cooker. But both of these methods take longer than three minutes. When I’m in a real pinch, I turn to Trader Joe’s Frozen Brown Rice every time. It’s a “fast food” I can count on that’s good for me too.

What’s your favorite “fast food” that you rely on when you’re rushed?


Janel Ovrut MS RD LDN is a Boston-based dietitian who enjoys helping others reach their nutrition goals, one bite at a time. Janel shares her culinary adventures in her blog Eat Well with Janel and loves to tweet @DietitianJanel.
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Marci's Nutrition Principles for National Nutrition Month

"For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one's strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases or preserves it."
-Aristotle

March is National Nutrition Month. And in my line of work, it's easy to see how darn confused everyone is about what it means to be a healthy eater. We hear new "get skinny quick" schemes on a daily basis and our nutrition research seems to refute itself with every new study.  We live in a society where figuring out how to eat well feels like a land mine.

So I thought I'd share with you my basic "nutrition principles" for National Nutrition Month. 

1.) The American Dietetic Association's guidelines are very useful: balance, variety, moderation
2.) Avoid going too long without eating, I typically recommend every 4 hours or so.
3.) Make sure your meals contain food sources of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. That will help your body chemistry stay in balance.  Also, getting a variety of food sources helps to ensure nutritional adequacy.
4.) Practice listening to cues of hunger and fullness. Our biological need for fuel (rather than emotional and social needs) ought to drive most of our eating experiences.
5.) Eat foods that are truly satisfying.
6.) When making dietary changes, ask yourself if they feel manageable today and forever.

Here are my favorite nutrition resources:
1.) "Intuitive Eating" by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch: for healing the dieting and disordered eating backlash
2.) "The Solution" by Laurel Mellin: for healthy weight management
3.) "Nutrition at Your Fingertips" by Elisa Zeid: for answers to just about any nutrition question under the sun

Here's to healthy and happy eating.

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Our First #endED Twitter Chat Re-Cap

About a month ago, I attended a webinar on Twitter Chats, led by #mefirst creator Rebecca Scritchfield. As I sat listening to the webinar I thought "why isn't there an eating disorder twitter chat happening?"  I'm "newish" to Twitter and was a bit nervous to start one myself. But with the encouragement from my social savvy consultant @elizabetheats (aka @iamguiltless), the #endED Twitter Chat was born!

With NEDAW on the horizon, we new the timing was perfect! The goal of #endED is to bring anyone and everyone together who cares about ending eating disorders. My hope is to end the silence and myths about eating disorders, create a place for honest and informed discussion, while offering hope and encouragement.

Our first #endED chat was an unbelievable success. It left me inspired and excited about the power bringing many voices together who are working toward the same goal. Medicinal Marzipan (a gifted blogger who devotes herself to repairing body image issues) provided a great blog post that summed up the chat. Please check it out, as 16 incredible pro-recovery and positive body image resources that we discussed on the chat are listed there.

Here are the questions we discussed and a VERY brief synopsis of the responses. Here is also a link to the chat archive.
Q1 How big of a problem are eating disorders today?
Big...and growing. Eating disorders are affecting a more diverse population and striking younger and younger. Check out this stats page.

Q2 What treatment options are available for eating disorders?
There are quite a few treatment options, but the #1 limitation is money. Treatment is expensive and insurance usually cuts out way too soon.  This is an amazing resource from @VoiceinRecovery.

Q3 How do you help someone you suspect has an eating disorder?
This post sums it up.

Q4 What is the role of body image in eating disorders & How can we improve it?
We live in a toxic culture which promotes unrealistic body ideals that corrode our body image. Poor body image is a universal contributor to the development of an eating disorder and places an inappropriate focus on the value of physical appearance. This is an great handout.

Q5 What is “recovery” and what does recovery look like?
Because psychiatric illnesses are individual, recovery is also individual. But we do know it's slow, non-linear, and requires A LOT of support.

Q6 What is one thing each of us can do to create awareness about eating disorders?
Talk about it, blog about it, or simply forward this blog post to a friend!

**Stay tuned for details on our next #endED Twitter Chat. Evelyn Tribole, author of "Intuitive Eating" will be our guest expert.

Clueless when it comes to Twitter?  I was too!  It's easy. Here's a primer if you're interested. You can follow me @marciRD
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Guest Blogger: IAmGuiltless on Body Image

Today’s blog is brought to us by Elizabeth Jarrard, social media diva and co-owner of the blog “Guiltless", my favorite positive body image blog out there!

When was the last time you looked in the mirror and loved every part of your reflection? Who among us has not compared themselves to our peers? Can you honestly say you have a very positive body image? The siren song of "Perfection" calls out to us from every magazine, tv show, billboard ad and website. It is very easy to start second-guessing yourself, and comparing yourself to this bombardment of images.

Stomachs can always be flatter, waists smaller, and thighs slimmer. Positive body image is seen as egotistical, and arrogant. You are much more likely to hear "Does this dress make me look fat?" than "I look great tonight!" We are bombarded with messages that our bodies are not good enough, that we should be ashamed of them, that they need to hidden until we emerge from a 60 day “miracle cleanse” with Jennifer Aniston’s rockin bod. This infects the entire country with a sense of debilitating self esteem, and creates an environment which fosters self-destructive behaviors and disordered eating. We are constantly being sucked into the media’s tornado of beauty and perfection, and it creates a perfect storm.

We must love ourselves and our bodies before we can create positive change. Love is the foundation of healthy weight maintenance, weight loss or achieving new fitness goals. If you hate yourself or your body you will not want to treat it right, with the respect and love it deserves. This hatred can manifest itself in obsessive exercise, binge eating, disordered eating practices, low self esteem, depression or restriction, or any combination of the above.
On the other hand, if you love something you will want to nourish it, respect it, help it to fulfill its greatest potential.

I have decided to block all fat, negative talk from my life. I challenge you to bring some more self love and body appreciation into your life!

• Say It-Shout it from the rooftops, or whisper it to yourself in your bathroom mirror. “I am beautiful, I love me, My body is perfect just the way it is.”
• Write It-write yourself a love letter. Graffiti it on your mirror. Make a list of things you love about yourself, both physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the self!
• Live It! Don't put yourself or others down-stay away from negative comments, and always accentuate the positive.
• Support Yourself! Find a friend and make a compliment challenge-commit to creating a positive body image for the both of you.
• Step away from the scale If your weight needs to be monitored, leave that up to the doctors. Don’t let the number on the scale define you-How much you weigh should never affect your self-esteem or your sense of who you are.
• Take some time for YOU: Put yourself first One a month get a massage, a manicure, or a facial. Pamper yourself to long hot baths by candlelight. Get together with a friend and give each other pedicures. Buy lotions that feel and smell good and treat yourself to some perfume or body mist. Take naps when you need to, just because you can!
• Spread the love! Tell your best friend that she is beautiful, just the way she is. Compliment a stranger. Check out Operation Beautiful for inspiration. Don't tolerate criticism of your body or your friends. Stop Fat Talk in its tracks, maybe even start a Fat Talk Free Week!

Elizabeth Jarrard, BS Nutrition Sciences, co-founder of Guiltless.
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