Skip to main content

Spotlight: The Time is Now




Tis' the season! Welcome to the Holidays. I believe it's safe to say it's some (most) of my client's hardest time of the year. Each year at Kindred Nutrition we talk about recipe modifications, goals for weight maintenance or loss, and how to just enjoy the holidays without feeling pressured to eat, drink, and be merry every.single.day. The most puzzling thing to me though, is that we move through these motions pushing off our goals to get fit or start a plan until the New Year. I think about this often and have come up with possible reasons why people tend to push this goal off.

1) Change is SCARY. Adults especially are set in their ways. It's scary to potentially change the way you buy your food, cook your food, and eat it. It's especially scary when you have a million other priorities you need to focus on such as work, kids, Holiday Shopping & Entertaining. I can't imagine starting something so different during this time either.

2) It's EXPENSIVE.  If you are paying out of pocket, nutrition counseling can be expensive. Did you know most insurances cover nutrition counseling? How about your flexible or healthcare spending accounts? They cover it too. Is the expense worth it? That's up to you, how many times do you eat out in a week. What is your discretionary spending? Can you flip priorities for a short period of time?

3) I might FAIL. What is failure? I don't believe anyone who comes to see me is a failure. A wise person once said failures are part of life, if you don't fail, you don't learn. If you don't learn you'll never change (unknown). Are you guilty of setting up rules that define failure and create fear?

4) It might not WORK.  You are right. It might not work.  That's why you should go to a specialist.  You can buy all the shakes, special measurement doohickeys, scales or more. At the end of the day it may not work for you.  A specialist is trained to assess your lifestyle, activity, likes/dislikes and more. If recommendations are made that can't come into fruition outside of the office, plans are tweaked. A specialist then focuses on motivation, how to hold you accountable, and when to integrate alternative therapies to solve a mystery and get to the end goal.

The time is now folks and a registered dietitian is the way to go. A trained professional who is good at their job will only recommend changes that are realistic. Realistic goals equal compliance. Compliance equals success.  There are many ways you can get assistance with expenses for nutrition counseling. If the group you want to work with does not take your insurance, ask for a Superbill so you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement.  There is no such thing as failure, stop making that an excuse and if at first you don't succeed, try again. If you are interested in learning more check us out at www.kindrednutrition.com.  We are taking on new clients daily and would love to have you join our Kindred Community! I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon. Take this as your "sign." 

In Good Health,

Amy

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Family Nutrition: What’s the deal with Multivitamins?

This is definitely one of my top ten questions from clients and frankly it’s a hard question because there isn’t a generic answer.   The internet and such stores as the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC continue to place a lot of focus on vitamins and minerals and some of my clients swear by their regimen.   I’ve even had some clients tell me they can tell a difference within hours of taking certain supplementations.    Since this is a subject I try to tame my responses too, I was very glad to see the article “Multivitamins, So Many Types, So Many Labels” by Melinda Beck in the Wall Street Journal published June 21, 2001.   Did you know that the multivitamin is the number one dietary supplement producing $4.8 billion back in 2008 and that one third of American’s take multivitamins religiously?   As Melinda points out there are many different varieties of multivitamins yet there is no specific formulation that specifies what a multivitamin should look like.  ...

Food Trends: A note about Stevia (zero calorie sugar substitute)

We’re all on the lookout for that sugar substitute that withholds calories, tastes good, and is natural and safe.   Recently I was asked what my thoughts were on Stevia?   Well to tell you the truth I didn’t have many thoughts on the product because basically I didn’t know much about it, except that in my mind it was a zero calorie product that could be substituted for table sugar.   I put this thought in my attic with the hopes of getting more acquainted at a later time. As I get myself more familiar lets start with the derivation.   Stevia is an herb that comes from South America and has been used by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay for over 100 years.   This is advertised on the Stevia website along with a statement that it provides zero calories because the body doesn’t metabolize glycosides from the leaf or processed forms.   Essentially Stevia is absorbed by the gut and broken down into Stevol which is excreted from the body as a waste.   Th...

Food Trends: Plant vs. Animal Protein

In my practice I see a lot of vegetarians who have a lot of questions about the types of protein they eat.   In case you need a refresher, animal proteins are proteins derived from meat, dairy, and eggs.   Plant protein is derived from nuts, seeds, beans, legumes and soy.   Most animal proteins are higher in saturated fat as well as cholesterol which have been proved to increase risks of arteriosclerosis, a precursor to cardiovascular disease.   A lot of the general public, not just vegetarians, are starting to focus on decreasing intakes of animal proteins and focusing on plant sources to decrease total calorie, fat, and cholesterol intake.   It’s important to know that most generally healthy individuals only need .8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.   Basically this means that a 150 pound man or woman requires about 54 grams of protein in an entire day. Protein is made from amino acids.   Although there are many amino acids, ther...