temptations arise...

         Pretty much any good southern girl can tell you that a holiday occurring between the months of May and September is a great excuse for a cookout or picnic. Fried chicken, bar-b-cue, hamburgers, hotdogs, steaks, ribs, potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, corn-on-the-cob, chips, pies, cookies and ice cream, in any number of tasty, belly-busting combinations, are likely to be the fare on many a table in the hospitality-heavy states.    

        So what's a good dietitian, albeit recovering food addict, to do in the face of such monumental opportunity to regress? Well, this one is going to hang onto two small commitments with the potential to make all the difference between this and too many years of ugliness in the past. These simple promises? 

1. To not go hungry.

and...

2. To pile on the produce. 

        

         Hoarding calories early in the day, by either skipping meals or eating much too little, won't help me say no to big portions or extra helpings at the feast, and only increase the likelihood of over-indulgence.  And bulking up a hamburger with plenty of lettuce, tomato, and onion will make it more filling without adding lots of calories. Choosing a little more cucumber and tomato salad over that huge scoop of potato salad, or a nice big slice of watermelon instead of a slice of pie, will help me make the most nutrition of my calories, as well.

   
         Change may not happen overnight, but it can happen any night (or day.) If you need to adjust your eating habits, focus on making one small step in the right direction today, even if it's something as seemingly insignificant as replacing a handful of chips with an apple.

         I wish you all a very blessed and Happy Memorial Day!!! Enjoy your fellowship with family and friends while remembering the sacrifice of those whose lives bought our freedom.

Erika

                                      "They are dead; but they live in each Patriot's breast,
                                      And their names are engraven on honor's bright crest."                                                                                                                                     -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

entrée into a brand new virtual world…

         I’m finally starting the blog that has been a persistent, if not necessarily constant, idea in my mind for the last many months. As this is my first foray into the blogging world, I’ve been contemplating the best place to start my story and hopefully spark a mutually satisfying conversation with those of you who come to read it. Where to begin this momentous step out into the collective psyche and potential criticism of the world at large? Well, though certainly far from earth-shattering in concept, the point that I keep coming back to is simply this: why? Why write a blog? Why send my sometimes hyper-sensitive, sometimes deeply personal and private, sometimes shame-inducing thoughts out into a realm of public inspection?

         It’s simple, really. I want to help people. I want to help others and, in so doing, to help myself as well.

         I’ve thought about the areas that I’d like to ruminate on, and thus far they stand at these four basic categories:

1. food – what can I say, we dietitians love to dish about the nosh. What’s good, what’s bad, what’s hot, what’s fad… I hope to throw a lot of information out there in a user-friendly and easily digestible manner, to share (and hopefully receive) healthy and interestingly delicious recipes, and to clear up some of the rampant nutrition misinformation that seems to circulate so successfully these days. (My title, after all, is inspired by the epidemic of obesity in both my family, myself included, and our country, and the desire to facilitate change in my life and others’ lives in the pursuit of health.)

2. fitness – a subject that I am keen to further explore. I can see this being one of the areas in which I gain a lot from conversing with others.

3. faith – it’s the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I think sharing faith helps to grow faith, to dispel misconceptions, clarify misunderstandings, and to encourage one another.

4. femininity – avoiding the pitfall of being my own worst enemy by talking about expectations, both realistic and unrealistic, from faith, family, community, society, and anyone or anything else that makes a comment on what we should or shouldn’t do or be.

         I would love to know what any of you think about any of the things I’ve just lobbed out there. Drop me a line if you have a chance, and have a blessed week!

Erika