Our first session on Saturday, after the Welcome and Introduction, was by Janel Ovrut, MS, RD, LDN.
Janel is a registered dietitian specializing in healthy lifestyles and diet. Her bio states:
“I am passionate about good food – I love eating, cooking, grocery shopping, creating recipes, and trying new things! I also enjoy helping others realize simple steps to take to improve eating habits. For these reasons, my goal as a Registered Dietitian is to help others understand the importance of eating well and leading a healthier lifestyle.”
One thing Janel emphasized is you don’t need to give up dessert to be happy – just savor high quality desserts! I love that piece of advice. Don’t eat a crappy cookie just because it is in front of you – make sure your cookie is delicious!
Janel also said to:
- Avoid enhanced waters – they are just like soda!
- Take your supplements – especially Calcium + D, Omega 3 and Daily Multivitamin with Iron (Janel recommended taking at dinner if vitamins make you queasy)
- Eat Like your Grandparents (similar to what Michael Pollen talks about in In Defense of Food) including whole foods, things with 5 ingredients or that you can pronunciate
- Eat your Wheaties – well maybe not Wheaties but breakfast. Her suggestions included a yogurt parfait, cereal (with a minimum of 5 grams of fiber/serving) and fruit, oatmeal with ground flax and banana
- Dinner – you can make a great meal in minutes with a well stocked pantry. I completely agree and am very thankful I went through my pantry last week and restocked!
- Snacks – her recommendations include fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, or a pretzel/raisin mix (I want to try this – I do enjoy the salty/sweet combo)
- Dessert – have fruit WITH your ice cream.
Janel said she has no “off limit foods” but enjoys things in moderation. I think this is a great point – if you want dessert, enjoy it. Just don’t eat a pound cake every day. Or she said, if you have a food you may eat a little too much of, have it at work only. You may be more distracted to eat it as often (or we all seem to try hard to behave at work).
I enjoyed hearing Janel speak and think I do pretty well with some of the things she recommended. I do want to try to find an Omega 3 supplement – I already take a multivitamin and calcium + D supplements.
I also need to get my brain in gear and read In Defense of Food. I have both that book and the Omnivores Dilemma sitting on my book shelf.
It is really great to hear some of the things Janel said. Although I think most of them were common sense, sometimes we need a little reminder to refocus ourselves and reexamine some of our habits.
Stay tuned for further updates!
