Today I'd like to highlight a client I'll call Tricia. I've been working with Tricia for nearly 8 months.  She's battled bulimia for years, but her recent breakthrough is a lesson that applies to anyone looking to make positive change in their life.

In short, Tricia decided to become transparent with me, her therapist, and most importantly with herself.  She decided that in order to make any progress, she needed to be 100% honest and aware of her internal dialogue as well as her actions. As a result, she's made unbelievable progress. 

So I invite all of you to take a transparency check:

1.) Keep a thought log. Write down anything and everything that you think and feel about food in the course of a day. You will learn some fascinating information.

2.) Do you entertain thoughts that are half-truths in order to soothe, coddle, or distract yourself from reality?

3.) Are you honest with other people in your life as it relates to food?

Here are some examples of sugar-coated thoughts which stand in the way of progress:

• I don't need to make dinner tonight. It's been a rough day and I really deserve something indulgent.
• Another helping really isn't going to hurt. Even though I'm full, I had a good work out!
• I know I eat a lot of chocolate but it really does help me feel better. 

Note: all of the examples I gave reflect our tendency to meet our emotional needs with food. There is nothing inherently wrong with having some chocolate. The problem I'd like to highlight is the tendency we have to persuade ourselves that soothing, calming, and treating ourselves with food is ok.  The real problem is when these habits became frequent and deeply ingrained. Suddenly, food is our antidote for all of our emotional needs and none of those needs are getting met in a healthy way.

The first step to improving your relationship with food is honesty with yourself. Becoming more honest and aware of your thoughts and feelings, strengthens feelings of self-esteem and self-worth. This is incredibly empowering and takes you one step closer to positive change.

While clinically significant depressive disorders need to be treated by a competent medical professional, a little exercise can go a long way to boosting mood, reducing anxiety, and improving sleep patterns.  While you may not be as committed as these gentleman are to exercise, I thought you'd appreciate the laugh. :) How's that for a little mood booster?

Here are a few facts you might not know:

1.) As you exercise your body's feel good chemicals called endorphins are produced.  This helps to increase your energy levels which over time increases your stamina.  

2.) Exercise is a positive distraction that illicits a relaxation response in your body to help lower feelings of stress and anxiety.

3.) As you exercise, more serotonin is available to your brain.  As a result you feel happier, more relaxed, and more confident in your ability to manage your life's stressors. This may also help reduce carbohydrate cravings, a symptom of SAD.

It's tempting to want to hibernate for the winter. But a small does of exercise (30 minutes) is all you need to reap the disease-fighting and mood enhancing benefits.  And you don't necessarily need a gym either! 

Here is my Top 10 list of simple strategies to moving more.  

1. Keep it simple. The only cost is a good pair of walking shoes. Walking the neighborhood or even walking the mall is something that is affordable and easy.

2. Many schools open their gyms up to the community for walking programs so check a local school.

3. Turn up the music and dance. A friend lost 19# by doing this for 60 minutes a day with her kids.

4. Take family night to another level with a game like Wii Fit.

5. Use a pedometer and make your own records for as many steps in a single day.

6. Get outside in any season: In the summer, go for walks, hike a new trail, go for a bike ride, kayak, canoe, swim. In the fall, do your own color tour - bring your camera and walk through the beautiful colors. In the winter, ski - downhill can be expensive but if you already have the equipment night skiing is cheaper, cross-country skiing is a great work out, go ice skating, slide down a hill in a toboggan - climbing up the hill is great exercise, go snow shoeing, have a snowball fight, build a snowman. In the spring, take a walk to see all the flowers and trees budding and waking up from their winter slumber.

7. Take work breaks: 30 min at lunch, 15 min in the morning and afternoon. Other people get a smoke break, right?

8. Commercial Break Competitions: Do some routines with hand held weights (or improvised wts from filled water bottles). March, climb stairs, do jumping jacks, push ups, etc.

9. Play like your kids and with your kids. Get down on the ground with them, do somersaults, climb, run, skip, jump, play tag, toss and chase a ball. Have Fun!

10. Join a club or team.

Identify your barriers to moving more and create a game plan. Start simple and specific and let me know how it goes. And always check with your Dr. before starting an exercise program.

Your neighborhood nutritionist in Cambridge,

Marci 

My first newsletter in 2010 will be emailed out on January 31st so you have less than a week to log on to my blog at http://www.marcird.com/_blog/blog and sign up. Just type in your name and email address on the right hand side of the page. And while you're at it, encourage a family or friend to do the same! My newsletters are short, sweet, and packed with practical information.

And if you're interested in some factoids about the history of soup and the many wonderful qualities that soup has to offer, check out this article.

(courtesy of the NY Times)

Time: 45 minutes

3 tablespoons olive oil, more for drizzling
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch of ground chili powder or cayenne, more to taste
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup red lentils (I used yellow lentils, don't think it mattered)
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
Juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste (all I had was a lime, worked great)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (didn't have on hand, didn't miss it)

1. In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons oil over high heat until hot and shimmering. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes.

2. Stir in tomato paste, cumin, salt, black pepper and chili powder or cayenne, and sauté for 2 minutes longer.

3. Add broth, 2 cups water, lentils and carrot. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary.

4. Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée half the soup then add it back to pot. Soup should be somewhat chunky.

5. Reheat soup if necessary, then stir in lemon juice and cilantro. Serve soup drizzled with good olive oil and dusted lightly with chili powder if desired.

Yield: 4 servings.

My husband (who is not a soup lover) took one bit of this soup and said "mmmm, I like this!"  This soup is very thick and chunky though.  If you like a thinner soup, you could add 1-2 more cups of liquid.  We actually ended up serving it as a side with some tilapia and steamed broccoli.  I can't wait to have more leftovers tomorrow.  Let me know what you think!  Happy eating. :)

P.S. I'm always on the look out for scrumptious recipes.  Feel free to send them my way.  For more of my favorite recipes, check out the "Recipe" tag on my nutrition blog.  I also have some old favorites on my nutrition website, click here.

The class is generously sponsored by the National Council for Negro Women and will be taught by our wonderful guest teacher, Fulani Haynes. Class will be held at our Haley House Bakery Cafe, at 12 Dade Street in Dudley Square, MA.

RSVP by Friday Jan 22. With any questions please contact Diana Limbach at diana@haleyhouse.org

Take Back the Kitchen is a dynamic education program at Haley House Bakery Café in Roxbury’s Dudley Square neighborhood. We teach cooking techniques and health education to youth and adults in our community. We offer adult, parent-child, and youth classes in our professional kitchen, which combine health and food justice lessons with a professionally led, hands-on culinary lab course. Our mission is to equip our students with hands on culinary skills and health education to make the healthful, sustainable food decisions that combat growing health disparities in our community.

I feel honored to support such an ambitious and important community food program in Boston.  I'm a firm believer that some the tastiest food is grown locally and the product of your own work and creativity. What a gift to pass on to the rising generation.  Their motto: Learn to Cook. Pass It On.

Amen!

Your neighborhood nutritionist in the Greater Boston Area,

Marci

If you, your friends, or community members are interested in a nutrition lecture, check out the "Speaking" Section of my website for ideas.  Or get creative and bring your ideas to me!

You might not know it, but this week has been officially named "Healthy Weight Week."  As a dietitian in Cambridge who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders and works predominantly with women who struggle with their weight and body image issues, I'm pretty sensitive to the topic of weight.

It's been my experience that pre-occupation with weight and body size is extremely unhealthy and incredibly unproductive.  I've worked with clinically obese/morbidly obese clients who agonize over their excess pounds and fear the implications it has for their health. 

On the flip side, I've worked with plenty of women who appear to have very normal/healthy body weights but also obsess over their desire to be thinner.  This results in hours spent at the gym accompanied with guilt about they did/did not eat the day before.  

Or more commonly for many of my nutrition clients, their weight and body obsession leads to eating which becomes disordered to the point of starvation, binging, purging, laxative abuse, etc.

It saddens me to see the number of women who waste their precious time thinking, agonizing, and lamenting over their bodies and what they put into them. So naturally, I have mixed feelings about an entire week focused on that very topic.

However, when I found the website for the Healthy Weight Network I was thrilled to find out what they intend "Healthy Weight Week" to be about:

The 17th annual H ealthy Weight Week is a time to celebrate healthy living habits that last a lifetime and prevent eating and weight problems, rather than intensifying them, as diets do.

Traditionally many Americans begin a diet the first week in January and "blow" it the second week. Healthy Weight Week, the third week, is a time to stop dieting for good and help people normalize their lives. It’s a welcome antedote to the dieting and bingeing that typically begin the New Year!
Healthy Weight Week promotes healthy nondiet lifestyles for children and adults of every size. It helps them move ahead to healthy habits they can live with long term – sound, reasonable habits that allow them to live well and get on with their lives. Eat well, live actively, and feel good about yourself and others.

It's my philosophy that your "healthy weight" is:

• Partially determined by your genetics
• A range of a few pounds that may vary depending on the time of month
• Where your body goes naturally when you are eating when hungry, stopping when satisfied, and usually a result of physical rather than emotional or social hunger
• Is supported by a moderate exercise program