Thirty Day Challenges
Thirty Day Challenges: Take Them or Leave Them
All posts filed under: Dietitian Confessions
Fueling Summer Running
Back in May, I started ramping up the running miles. The snow had (mostly) melted and it was time to get base miles in for summer running adventures. By the end of May a starting feeling run down, worn out, and just wasn’t recovering from even short runs. My first instinct was “panic”. “What is wrong with me? Chronic fatigue? Adrenal Insufficiency? Imbalanced hormones?” I had already spent the winter not running and focusing on replenishment of nutrients, muscles, and rest. As I struggled through a twelve-mile Memorial Day run with my new running group, The Donner Party Mountain Runners, I felt like I had no energy and picking up my legs was more work than it should be. “Should I be on the gluten-free diet after all? Am I pre-menstrual, low on vitamin D? There is no way I am bonking! I eat plenty of carbohydrates daily and during my runs.” Or do I? I am a fueling expert. I know what I need and how often. At least that is what I have …
Mother’s Days. Adventures Are On!
Mother’s Day doesn’t seem right unless I am on the Northern California Coastline unplugged and with my dudes soaking up all the outdoor adventures we can squeeze into a long weekend of car camping. Some moms long for breakfast in bed, pampering of the nails, or brunching fine-dining style. Those things are great but, me? Nah, I ask for a family adventure. Even car camping is an adventure when you add kids and a new puppy to the mix! I wouldn’t have Mother’s Day any other way right now. Last year we opted for a Mother’s Day of regularly scheduled little league and a nice home cooked dinner. It was great but, we all longed to be under the oak tree near the stream hiking, biking, trail running and roasting s’mores. So this year we went back to the tent. This time of year Mama is usually training for some kind of mountain running/scramble race. My sights are on running the Broken Arrow 26km which, covers some of Squaw Valley’s famous terrain ascending to elevation of 8750 …
Dealing with Halloween Candy as a Parent and Dietitian
Halloween candy is gross. It is full of NOTHING good. Unless we happened to Trick-or-Treat in a Utopian food bubble, it is pretty much guaranteed that my kids are not getting candy made with simple and real ingredients like cane sugar, coco, and nuts to name a few. Oh, and forget the peanuts since my oldest is allergic to them. Yet, just like I am not going to be the rigid mom who makes their kids go to bed on a school night before game five of the World Series is over (Red Sox!!); I am not going to be the rigid dietitian-mom who denies her children the joy of collecting as much candy as they possibly can on Halloween. Our neighborhood is the best neighborhood ever for Halloween. It is a parade of kids from all over the area. Everyone decorates and most decorations are over-the-top with theatrics like strobe lights, haunted mansions, and candy casinos. Check out this traveling haunt we came across in the parking lot at the pool: Yes, our house …
Should I eat before a workout?
There was a disturbing time for me when running was more about burning calories than it was about feeling energized and free. It wasn’t entirely my fault. My Mom and Dad’s eating and activity behaviors showed me that calories were something to restrict and burn and, to limit them at all costs. So when a dietitian told me that calories could help improve my running performance I was confused. I actually was so distrusting if this skinny woman with glasses that I had to become a dietitian to study this for myself. Yes, it is true you don’t want to eat more calories than you burn unless you want to put on weight (SOME people DO benefit from putting on weight). More importantly for an active person already at a healthy weight is eating enough calories to energize the body’s potential to run far and sometimes fast(er). Timing those calories has proven beneficial to me as well. That brings me to the topic at hand. I recently did an interview where they asked me this …