Free Nutrition Weight Loss Boot Camp in Kennett Square

So excited to announce this:

Get the info you need to lose weight and eat right! Babysitting and a light meal provided during nutrition class.

Tuesdays, starting April 7th - April 28th
6:00 p.m.-6:45 p.m. Nutrition Boot Camp
6:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Jump Start Your Fitness*

Located at
Kennett Masonic Lodge
121 W. Cypress Street, Kennett Square


REGISTER TODAY, SPACES FILL QUICKLY!
Call 484-680-5366 or email jennifer@kennettnutrition.com

My Inner Warrior

To date, I am positive this summer was the most unhealthiest I have been since college. I cringe admitting the truth of my sloth like eating and lack of consistent physical activity. As when all weight starts climbing up, we had a major life change in our family. My husband tells me this summer he is going to pursue becoming a principal, which means his glorious summers home with us will be ending all to soon. As a family, we decide to take an adventure every other week that summer.  We ate our way through small beach towns in  New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina. I'm not going to lie it was simply amazing eating anything that looked delicious and local to the area.  My wine glass was full must of the nights, another item that creeps up the lbs.  There was some sort of nutritional balance and activity, but not my normal eating healthy 95% of the time. I found myself on the last day of July rushed to medical care with a ridiculous fever and kidney infection.  My primary care provider's statement still haunts me, "you ran your body and your immunity down, you just need to eat better and take care of yourself."  Me! The Dietitian! My respected and intelligent doctor is telling me to eat better.  It was like a punch to my stomach. I was...devastated. How can I be a role model if I made myself sick!

That night I vowed to come of off this vacation lifestyle and poor eating habits. I thought of my mom and her recent heart episode this past year. Not only did I want to motivate myself to be healthier but I wanted to motivate her.  I Googled 10 K races and where my mom lives in Rehobeth Beach. The Rehobeth Beach Half and Full Marathon December 6th, 2014 glared back from my search. That's it! I can run the half marathon 13.1 miles, what a great exercise goal! I told no one in my family, only one patient who himself set a similar large goal.

Using the Nike Running app, I set my goal for 13.1 miles for December 6th.  Every week that clever little app had me on a running plan. Each week were a few small runs and a long run on the weekend. My first 3 mile long run was horrible. I thought I was going to die.  Then something happened and my inner warrior came out.  I ran the 3 miles and then kept going. I went to 6 that day.  The next days I ran about 3-5 miles, up hills, on a treadmill, and through the town of West Chester. I got the running bug. The cars with stickers such as Runner Girl, 13.1, and 26.2 I now officially got it.

My eating was balanced and I enjoyed the extra 3 whole grain or fruit servings the day before my long runs.  My weight and own body image was comfortable.  Running allowed me to eat more and feel good.  By October I was at 18 miles on my weekend long runs and I upgraded to the full marathon.  My mom even started walking more! Then life happened. My sweet six year old became severely ill the week before Halloween.  Nights became praying sessions with my husband that our sweet girl would be okay.  Routine and exercise went out the window. Meal planning for the week was a distant memory. I skipped long runs to monitor breathing treatments and slept in the morning recovering from our tough nights.

By mid November, I contacted the race organizer, (Mary Beth you are the most amazing race director!), and changed my bib to the half marathon. I had no doubt I can run 13.1 miles at that point. It was disappointing not to reach a goal I set, but I was relieved and confident about running in December.  When I got on the scale the weeks before the race, I was shocked my weight and body fat sky rocketed.  Apparently stress eating got involved during this time.   For those of you who aren't runners, gaining 10 pounds a week before the race, will completely kill your race time.  AND IT DID, BY ALOT.



I'm still running and ran almost every day on vacation.  My weight is not back to where it should be, but it is just a number. The important factor is I feel good and am back to healthy meal planning.  I froze a bunch of meals in case "life happens" and I can have a few days out of the kitchen.

As with most people, the arrival of a new year has cemented my health goals and I am ready to bring out my inner warrior gain.  My question to you is, will your inner warrior come out? Need help?  Meet me for a run:)

Cheers,

The Dieting Dietitian

Left over quinoa and bananas

Have you ever made quinoa and it tripled in portions? Stuck with my leftover quinoa, I got creative. Take small portabella mushrooms, a red onion, a yellow pepper and add chopped to quinoa. You can toss this cold over arugula, spinach or kale for a quick and filling lunch.

My fav was tonight I took Boston lettuce leaves, refried vegetarian beans, the quinoa mix and topped with Giant brand mango salsa (super low calorie...great with cucumbers). The pic below made 3 wraps which was under 300 calories, 2 carbohydrate exchanges and 1 1/2 oz of lean protein. Pics of food found at http://www.pinterest.com/dtownnutrition/ 

We needed something creamy, cold and sweet so we added 1 frozen banana, 1/3 sheet whole grain graham cracker and blended until creamy, topped with 1 tsp dark chocolate syrup (140 calories of basically fruit!). I challenge you to add peanut butter and try other fruits with this fab dessert! Pioics of food at http://www.pinterest.com/dtownnutrition/.http://www.pinterest.com/dtownnutrition/

Cheers!

The Dieting Dietitian 

The marriage of exercise and diet

I am often asked by patients, "which is more important to focus on exercise or what I eat?".  My answer every time is "the marriage of exercise and diet".   You can exercise every day, getting your heart rate in the target zone for about an hour, complete strength training such as planks and lifting. But, you can still have excess weight and fat around your waist if you eat a diet high in calories coming from refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats. Why?  All you are doing is burning off excess calories and possibly spiking your blood sugar.

A diet balanced with about 50% carbohydrates is important for fuel to support your daily activities and exercise plan.  The carbohydrates should be from whole grains such as quinoa, brown rice and oats, fruits, low-fat dairy, and vegetables (including starchy vegetables such as beans, peas, corn, potatoes, and cassava). Only about 20% of your calories should be from lean protein sources, including low-fat dairy, nuts, beans, fish, chicken and meat alternatives like tofu. Last, 25-30% of calories should come from healthy fats, such as salmon and tuna, nuts, seeds, plant-based oils, and avocado.

When exercise and a nutritionally-balanced diet is married, positive results are seen as early as 1-2 weeks! Of course, the summer brings many unhealthy foods including fruity high sugar alcohol beverages (hello margarita and mojitos), fat laden macaroni/potato salads, processed meats in hot dogs, and boardwalk treats. Life is meant to be enjoyed and to be "tasted".

 Follow the rule of eating 95% healthy majority of your day and you will be fine.  You should not feel guilty about having a boardwalk treat, that is what our summers are all about in the Northeast!  Remember to also enjoy our other summer treats, such as riding a bike on the boards, walking in the sand for miles, swimming, gardening, hiking,  etc. (there are so many great summer activities!).

As always, we are here to help you marry exercise and diet!

Cheers,

The Dieting Dietitian

Jen

Sometimes you just have to breathe

Happy Spring! 

For us Northeasters it has been the winter that killed healthy eating and exercise routines everywhere!  If you didn't meet you health goals, MOVE ON! Sometimes you just have to breathe, accept the past and grow with the future.  This  past year has brought on difficult challenges (fractured back, cancer, and a new home-of which I am recovered and healthy now!).  While I had times where eating healthy didn't matter (hello Twix, Twizzlers and pretzel bags), I learned that keeping an exercise routine kept me sane (even if it was the physical therapy stretches three times a day). Over time, I found I became stronger and can do more physical activity.  It was like starting from scratch in terms of exercise, but I kept with it, tracked my progress and reminded myself to breathe. Even when I felt like my body failed me, I used daily reminders to stay focused.  My favorite was keeping a dry erase marker on bedroom mirror and keeping motivational quotes or even simple ones (you are beautiful, smile, small steps lead to giant leaps, etc).  It was  great way to remind myself weight is just a number and I can count successes in other ways (I ran 3 miles in fabulous time)!

I'm loving the great weather this past few weeks and find it a great opportunity to walk outside.  Don't have a buddy to walk with?  Join us on Thursdays from 7-8 p.m. we have started "Walk and Talk" . A fun and inexpensive program that will keep you accountable to your health goals and keep you moving!  Call us to register!

I'm still trying to get back to my target weight, but have learned that I'm stronger than that number.  I can do a plank for over 3 minutes....never could do that before!  STRENGTH = HEALTH

Cheers,

The Dieting Dietitian

So over summer

I set a goal for myself "by May I will work on strengthening my core (aka rock hard abs) and feel good about myself." I wrote out a plan in December and worked HARD at it 4 hours a week taking different classes, eating healthy and balanced and logging what I ate. The end result: a happy confident person by May. The problem? I had way too much unplanned fun, new office, major stresses of selling a house (a tree fell on our home two hours before settlement!) and relocating to a different area. The real problem? A weight and body fat percentage I haven't seen since post pregnancy (yikes!).  What I found out about myself is that I am an emotional eater, boredom eater, and apparently a stress eater! I also didn't have good social support as my two best girlfriends moved away and my husband joined in the stress eating (he brought twizzlers home weekly).

So let summer wind down and the fall schedule hit me! I am excited to have my routine back, but that does not mean I'm delaying the new challenge.  Back on logging what I eat, eating for health, and being active DAILY. I took a picture of myself (not a flattering pic!) as a reminder of what hectic non cardio non strength training emotional/stress eating accomplishes! Let this be my forever reminder! In the back of the picture I write how I feel: low self esteem, lazy, uncomfortable and unhappy. I will not allow my emotions and life events effect my health! We work way to hard in life and we do need to enjoy it, however I want to be strong and able to enjoy my life and others for many many years!


Cheers,


The Dieting Dietitian

Winter Blues

Is it really going to be spring this week? Well it sure does not feel like spring in the Northeast!  Sometimes this time of year is difficult when you are trying to eat healthy and make smart food choices.   We can't help ourselves but reach for "comfort foods" such as cookies (those darn Girl Scout cookies!), chocolate and other starchy items.  Eating these foods make our neurotransmitters fire happy signals which makes us feel good. But it doesn't last long does it?  I've been off my routine for over a month now, with a recent move, sicknesses going around the home, and a family trip.  The lack of exercise in my schedule has caused me to feel tired and eat more (sound familiar?).   In addition, I've seen the scale start to go the wrong direction:(

Lets beat these winter blues, spring is right around the corner! Starting April 1st, our office is moving to 721 East Lancaster Avenue at the Impala Building in Downingtown. To celebrate this new change and recharge our health and fitness goals, I challenge everyone to the 30 DAY CHALLENGE! Starting April 1st I challenge you and your families to only eat nutrient filled foods such as:

• Whole grains-only foods with 3 grams of fiber or more per serving and whole grains as the first ingredient.
• Fruits-including unsweetened dried fruit, canned fruit in its own juice and fresh fruit (NOT JUICE)
• Vegetables
• Low fat dairy or high calcium and vitamin D foods such as low fat cheese sticks, almond milk, yogurt, etc.
• Lean proteins such as fish, beans and tofu (try Gimme Lean Tofu Sausage.....guarantee you won't notice the difference!)
• Healthy fats such as flax seed, nut butters, vegetable oils, and nuts. 

 If you can avoid foods that do not fit in these groups (such as candy, doughnuts, cookies, cakes, soda, alcohol, soft pretzels, fried foods, etc) you are well on your way to reaching your health goals!  Research has been pointing to avoiding foods high in fat, salt and sugar may curb your cravings.  Its worth a try to see if it curbs you cravings right?  Let's get ready for SUMMER!

I wish you lots of luck and health as you do the 30 DAY CHALLENGE!

Cheers,

The Dieting Dietitian