Hello,
I have moved my site and blog over to WordPress, please link on over to check us out. If you would like, feel free to contact me via email heather@intuitive-nutrition.com
Thanks for visiting, be well!
http://intuitive-nutrition.com/
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Moved to WordPress
Hello Followers,
I have moved my site and blog over to WordPress. I will be making new posts to WordPress from now on. Check it out. Here is the address www.intuitive-nutrition.com
Thanks for following, hope to see you continue your support on the new site!
I have moved my site and blog over to WordPress. I will be making new posts to WordPress from now on. Check it out. Here is the address www.intuitive-nutrition.com
Thanks for following, hope to see you continue your support on the new site!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Why don't diets work, and what does.
The following is an article I wrote that is soon to be published in Golfer's Digest:
By Heather Rudalavage RD LDN
Heather is a registered dietitian and owner of Intuitive Nutrition. She uses a non-diet approach to teach her clients to become their own nutrition expert so they can achieve their optimal weight.
America’s alarming rate of obesity has been well-documented in the popular press. Here in Pennsylvania, more than 25% of the adult population is considered obese, which is defined as having a BMI >30. Simultaneously, Americans spent over $40 billion on diet books and programs last year. How can a nation that is obsessed with dieting continue to have increased obesity levels? It seems the more we spend on dieting the larger our waistlines grow. But, are diets really the answer? Increasingly we are seeing research studies that show not only is dieting not an answer, it may actually be contributing to our weight gain.
For example, a team of UCLA scientists reviewed 31 long-term studies on dieting and concluded that: 1) dieting is a consistent predictor of weight gain; 2) up to two-thirds of the people regained more weight than they lost; and 3) diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people. [1]
Most, if not all, diets are deprivation diets, forcing us to give up a certain type of food or even an entire food group. Through the years, fat, protein and carbohydrates have all been on the “bad” list. There are three main reasons why deprivation diets tend to fail. First, our brain fights against them. If we consciously deny ourselves something again and again, we are likely to end up craving it more and more. Secondly, our body fights against them. Millions of years of evolution have made our bodies smart. If we drastically cut back our calories, our metabolism slows down and our body becomes more efficient. Thirdly, our environment fights against diets. We are a society built upon instant gratification. There’s a Starbucks on every corner. Remember the “Hot Light” at Krispy Kreme donut shops? Fast food restaurants continually tell us that we can have it “our way” without the wait. Not to mention the constant advertisements on every television, magazine and billboard showing us the warm connection between food and feeling.
What to do? If diets are not the answer, than what does work? In recent years, a non-diet approach to weight control has slowly been gaining popularity. Research shows that allowing ourselves to eat what we want, while tuning into our hunger and satiety cues, which is the basis of a non-diet approach, can lead to success. I know what you are thinking, but keep reading. Most people believe that if they were “allowed” to eat whatever they wanted they would never be able to stop eating; if they take one bite of chocolate they won’t be able to stop. This may be true, in the beginning, but more often than not, just permitting yourself to have a forbidden food (unconditionally), can cause it to lose some of its appeal. In addition, while no food is forbidden (unless it causes you bodily discomfort) you have to be hungry to eat it. This means tuning in to your body and determining if you are hungry before you start eating, and throughout the meal, asking yourself, “Am I still hungry? Does the food still taste good?” You may be surprised, the more you practice this, the better you become at tuning in.
If you have the goal of losing weight in the New Year, don’t just fall into another fad diet trap, and let a book or a program tell you what and when to eat. Start tuning into your own inner wisdom and discover the no willpower way to lose weight. Just like Dorothy from Oz, you had it in you the whole time, you just didn’t realize it.
[1] Mann, T. Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer. Am. Psychologist, 2007; 62(3): 220-233.
By Heather Rudalavage RD LDN
Heather is a registered dietitian and owner of Intuitive Nutrition. She uses a non-diet approach to teach her clients to become their own nutrition expert so they can achieve their optimal weight.
America’s alarming rate of obesity has been well-documented in the popular press. Here in Pennsylvania, more than 25% of the adult population is considered obese, which is defined as having a BMI >30. Simultaneously, Americans spent over $40 billion on diet books and programs last year. How can a nation that is obsessed with dieting continue to have increased obesity levels? It seems the more we spend on dieting the larger our waistlines grow. But, are diets really the answer? Increasingly we are seeing research studies that show not only is dieting not an answer, it may actually be contributing to our weight gain.
For example, a team of UCLA scientists reviewed 31 long-term studies on dieting and concluded that: 1) dieting is a consistent predictor of weight gain; 2) up to two-thirds of the people regained more weight than they lost; and 3) diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people. [1]
Most, if not all, diets are deprivation diets, forcing us to give up a certain type of food or even an entire food group. Through the years, fat, protein and carbohydrates have all been on the “bad” list. There are three main reasons why deprivation diets tend to fail. First, our brain fights against them. If we consciously deny ourselves something again and again, we are likely to end up craving it more and more. Secondly, our body fights against them. Millions of years of evolution have made our bodies smart. If we drastically cut back our calories, our metabolism slows down and our body becomes more efficient. Thirdly, our environment fights against diets. We are a society built upon instant gratification. There’s a Starbucks on every corner. Remember the “Hot Light” at Krispy Kreme donut shops? Fast food restaurants continually tell us that we can have it “our way” without the wait. Not to mention the constant advertisements on every television, magazine and billboard showing us the warm connection between food and feeling.
What to do? If diets are not the answer, than what does work? In recent years, a non-diet approach to weight control has slowly been gaining popularity. Research shows that allowing ourselves to eat what we want, while tuning into our hunger and satiety cues, which is the basis of a non-diet approach, can lead to success. I know what you are thinking, but keep reading. Most people believe that if they were “allowed” to eat whatever they wanted they would never be able to stop eating; if they take one bite of chocolate they won’t be able to stop. This may be true, in the beginning, but more often than not, just permitting yourself to have a forbidden food (unconditionally), can cause it to lose some of its appeal. In addition, while no food is forbidden (unless it causes you bodily discomfort) you have to be hungry to eat it. This means tuning in to your body and determining if you are hungry before you start eating, and throughout the meal, asking yourself, “Am I still hungry? Does the food still taste good?” You may be surprised, the more you practice this, the better you become at tuning in.
If you have the goal of losing weight in the New Year, don’t just fall into another fad diet trap, and let a book or a program tell you what and when to eat. Start tuning into your own inner wisdom and discover the no willpower way to lose weight. Just like Dorothy from Oz, you had it in you the whole time, you just didn’t realize it.
[1] Mann, T. Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer. Am. Psychologist, 2007; 62(3): 220-233.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Halloween Survival Tips
Here is a great article on how to survive all the Halloween treats without feeling guilty. I love her books and site, very helpful to those who are trying to control their weight without dieting.
www.amihungry.com
This was the first year that I actually waited until this week to buy candy for the Trick or Treaters. In the past, I would be in Sam's club in September and get swayed into buying a jumbo bag of candy for the Trick or Treaters and the kids and I would eat half the bag before Halloween night. Also, this year I bought candy that other people in the family like but I don't. This wasn't hard because I am a candy snob and really only like Twix and Milky Way bars. I don't like chocolate and peanuts together so I bought Peanut Butter cups to hand out on Halloween. I like to hand out non-candy items too- individual lip gloss pots leftover from my sister's baby shower, Fast food kids meal toys, bags of chedder Sun Chips, and leftover party favors.
Happy Halloween Everyone- save the Milky Ways for me ; )
www.amihungry.com
This was the first year that I actually waited until this week to buy candy for the Trick or Treaters. In the past, I would be in Sam's club in September and get swayed into buying a jumbo bag of candy for the Trick or Treaters and the kids and I would eat half the bag before Halloween night. Also, this year I bought candy that other people in the family like but I don't. This wasn't hard because I am a candy snob and really only like Twix and Milky Way bars. I don't like chocolate and peanuts together so I bought Peanut Butter cups to hand out on Halloween. I like to hand out non-candy items too- individual lip gloss pots leftover from my sister's baby shower, Fast food kids meal toys, bags of chedder Sun Chips, and leftover party favors.
Happy Halloween Everyone- save the Milky Ways for me ; )
Friday, October 2, 2009
Americans found to be deficient in Vitamin P
What , you say- you never heard of Vitamin P?? Okay, so it's not a real vitamin, but most of us are deficient in it. It's called Pleasure. I heard this play on terms somewhere and it got me to thinking. Especially when a good friend of mine started to talk about how "the kids" were killing her marriage. "Honey, the Kids are Killing Us"- The Prequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. We both agreed that our marriages were in need of some romance, joy, fun, (you know, like in high school) maybe this lack of pleasure has something to do with the extra weight I am still trying to shed. Could it be that if I went out dancing or if Chuck and I ran around the high school track and then collapsed in a fit of giggles and started making out under the stars, these last few pounds would budge?
It's ironic isn't it, that we Americans have more choices, more income, more food, more house, more car and more STUFF than any other nation on the planet and yet we are not the happiest or the healthiest. Could it be that we have begun to look towards food in an attempt to find pleasure? But, in a sad twist, have effectively taken pleasure out of our food and reduced it to numbers- how many calories does it have, how many fat grams, how many carbs, is it healthy, is it good or bad, should I or shouldn't I. And now, we keep eating more food and still not getting any pleasure from it. Take for instance, wine. When we realized that the French have less heart disease, but eat more "rich" foods and drink more wine than we Americans do, we figured it must be the phyto -chemicals in the wine, if we could just bottle up the those chemicals in the form of a pill, we would have less heart disease too. Right?? Here's the vital piece that may be missing. Maybe it's not the chemicals in the wine, maybe it's the fact that the French linger over their meals, sipping wine, chatting and laughing with friends. Over here, on this side of the pond, we are far too busy to linger over dinner. We rather shovel it in as fast as we can and then take a pill to make up for the rest. We have to take the kids to baseball, soccer, dance, spanish, piano...
What if we began to find more ways to add pleasure to our life, not in the form of accumulating more stuff, but working less and spending more time with our selves, our spouses our families our friends? What if we worked less and had less money to spend on after school lessons, but had more time to play a game of tag in the yard or go for a bike ride. What if we made a date night with our significant other at least once a month? What if we began to say grace and offer gratitude for our abundance? I wonder if these acts of attempting to add more pleasure to our lives would have an affect on our waistlines? I think it would, but even if it didn't effect our waistlines we would still be better off.
Recently, I read about two different families who didn't spend any money (other than necessities, groceries and entertainment) for a year. Both families saved about $10,000. As much as I would like to not see that credit card bill every month, I just don't think I could do it. What about birthdays and Christmas how would I explain to my kids that Santa had to cut them off the list this year due to the recession? But, maybe it doesn't need to be this extreme. Maybe I could find small ways to spend less and add more joy. Remember that friend of mine who said the kids were killing her, I mean, her marriage? She and I decided to swap babysitting services for an overnight. That way, we can each spend a night alone with our hubby's and we don't need to spend a dime, unless we wanted to go to dinner or something. Let the pleasure begin :)
Anyone have any thoughts they want to add? Anyone have any ideas on how to get off the hamster wheel?
It's ironic isn't it, that we Americans have more choices, more income, more food, more house, more car and more STUFF than any other nation on the planet and yet we are not the happiest or the healthiest. Could it be that we have begun to look towards food in an attempt to find pleasure? But, in a sad twist, have effectively taken pleasure out of our food and reduced it to numbers- how many calories does it have, how many fat grams, how many carbs, is it healthy, is it good or bad, should I or shouldn't I. And now, we keep eating more food and still not getting any pleasure from it. Take for instance, wine. When we realized that the French have less heart disease, but eat more "rich" foods and drink more wine than we Americans do, we figured it must be the phyto -chemicals in the wine, if we could just bottle up the those chemicals in the form of a pill, we would have less heart disease too. Right?? Here's the vital piece that may be missing. Maybe it's not the chemicals in the wine, maybe it's the fact that the French linger over their meals, sipping wine, chatting and laughing with friends. Over here, on this side of the pond, we are far too busy to linger over dinner. We rather shovel it in as fast as we can and then take a pill to make up for the rest. We have to take the kids to baseball, soccer, dance, spanish, piano...
What if we began to find more ways to add pleasure to our life, not in the form of accumulating more stuff, but working less and spending more time with our selves, our spouses our families our friends? What if we worked less and had less money to spend on after school lessons, but had more time to play a game of tag in the yard or go for a bike ride. What if we made a date night with our significant other at least once a month? What if we began to say grace and offer gratitude for our abundance? I wonder if these acts of attempting to add more pleasure to our lives would have an affect on our waistlines? I think it would, but even if it didn't effect our waistlines we would still be better off.
Recently, I read about two different families who didn't spend any money (other than necessities, groceries and entertainment) for a year. Both families saved about $10,000. As much as I would like to not see that credit card bill every month, I just don't think I could do it. What about birthdays and Christmas how would I explain to my kids that Santa had to cut them off the list this year due to the recession? But, maybe it doesn't need to be this extreme. Maybe I could find small ways to spend less and add more joy. Remember that friend of mine who said the kids were killing her, I mean, her marriage? She and I decided to swap babysitting services for an overnight. That way, we can each spend a night alone with our hubby's and we don't need to spend a dime, unless we wanted to go to dinner or something. Let the pleasure begin :)
Anyone have any thoughts they want to add? Anyone have any ideas on how to get off the hamster wheel?
Monday, September 21, 2009
Exercise resistance
I am just coming up to catch my breath now as the beginning of the school year is always so crazy for me! Just finished writing my Fall Newsletter. The focus of this newsletter is exercise resistance and I know for most of us we either have it now or had it at some point in our lives. Since I am always most interested in why people do what they do, I decided to focus on ways to overcome your resistance as opposed to stating all of the well known reasons to exercise.
For me, my resistance was in the, "I don't have time and it would be too selfish of me to make the time" category. I was able to finally overcome this attitude by forcing myself to just start exercising. Once I actually started to exercise, I found out that my old perception was outdated and wrong. I found that I had more energy, so getting all the items on my "to do" list wasn't harder, but easier. I had to update my perception and since your body follows your mind- it goes to say that changing how you think will change what your body does.
For some of my clients, pain is what holds them back. The "my doctor says I can't exercise because of my knee pain" is a quote that I have heard a few times. It became so common that I actually discussed this with a physical therapist, do you want to know what he said? He said that working with a physical therapist can be the answer. Physical therapists not only help clients recover from injury, but they can also show clients flexibility and strength moves to prevent injury and pain- Duh!!
Other clients allow bad childhood memories to hold them back, and for these clients the act of forgiveness can be the answer. Forgiving the coach who said you were fat, forgiving your parents who forced you to run laps, forgiving the gym teacher who always picked you last for the teams. Forgive them and move on- literally.
Once you begin exercising not to lose weight, but because it makes you feel good and you are having fun doing it, you will have little to no resistance anymore. Try it out for yourself! By the way, if you are already exercising and it isn't any fun, then it's time to find a new routine.
Happy exercising!
For me, my resistance was in the, "I don't have time and it would be too selfish of me to make the time" category. I was able to finally overcome this attitude by forcing myself to just start exercising. Once I actually started to exercise, I found out that my old perception was outdated and wrong. I found that I had more energy, so getting all the items on my "to do" list wasn't harder, but easier. I had to update my perception and since your body follows your mind- it goes to say that changing how you think will change what your body does.
For some of my clients, pain is what holds them back. The "my doctor says I can't exercise because of my knee pain" is a quote that I have heard a few times. It became so common that I actually discussed this with a physical therapist, do you want to know what he said? He said that working with a physical therapist can be the answer. Physical therapists not only help clients recover from injury, but they can also show clients flexibility and strength moves to prevent injury and pain- Duh!!
Other clients allow bad childhood memories to hold them back, and for these clients the act of forgiveness can be the answer. Forgiving the coach who said you were fat, forgiving your parents who forced you to run laps, forgiving the gym teacher who always picked you last for the teams. Forgive them and move on- literally.
Once you begin exercising not to lose weight, but because it makes you feel good and you are having fun doing it, you will have little to no resistance anymore. Try it out for yourself! By the way, if you are already exercising and it isn't any fun, then it's time to find a new routine.
Happy exercising!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Portion size
Portion size tool by Web MD
So, above is a very cool site from Web MD. I found it on another RD's blog and thought it was a great way to help consumers. It gives you a visual of how big or small your portion size should be if you are eating anything from a hamburger to a bagel to an apple. Many of my clients don't realize that a bagel from a bakery, can count as 4-5 servings of grains. That is almost half of the RDA for the day. Since the site has such great visuals, I think you'll have a good chance of remembering what your portion should look like the next time you grab a bite to eat. Since we have become accustomed to huge portions, this is a great tool to use to keep portion sizes in check.
So, above is a very cool site from Web MD. I found it on another RD's blog and thought it was a great way to help consumers. It gives you a visual of how big or small your portion size should be if you are eating anything from a hamburger to a bagel to an apple. Many of my clients don't realize that a bagel from a bakery, can count as 4-5 servings of grains. That is almost half of the RDA for the day. Since the site has such great visuals, I think you'll have a good chance of remembering what your portion should look like the next time you grab a bite to eat. Since we have become accustomed to huge portions, this is a great tool to use to keep portion sizes in check.
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