Hi friends! I was up wayyyyy early this morning (like, 3 a.m. early – oof) to head to the airport – I’m off to Colorado for the annual symposium for SCAN, which stands for “Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutrition” – they are one of the practice groups within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I’ve never been to their conference before but have heard really good things, and the sessions this year sound great (it’s basically a mix of sports nutrition, general wellness, and disordered eating related talks, which fits the majority of my private practice work) so I decided to go for it. I’ll be back with a recap from the plane on Tuesday – and check in on Monday for a guest post while I’m away! The conference ends on Sunday but I’m staying an extra day to spend some time with a couple of my best friends from grad school who will be there, too. <3 As always, you can see what I’m up to on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook while I’m away! Will I see any of you guys at SCAN?
Anyway – it’s been a really busy week! On the food front, my favorite lunch of the week was on Tuesday when I worked from home and enjoyed some leftover Crustless Quiche with Spring Vegetables (<—click for recipe). Yes, a crustless quiche just = a frittata. But crustless quiche just sounds way cooler, don’t you think? 😉
I topped the quiche with some smoked salmon (which reminded me of my old fave Smoked Salmon & Vegetable Egg Casserole – love the smoked salmon/egg combo), and enjoyed it with some string beans and microgreens. Ever since I was little I’ve been obsessed with string beans – I eat them with my hands like fries. 🙂
I had some crackers and cheese on the side, too, because I need carbs and something crunchy in my meals or else I’m not satisfied!
Have you guys tried microgreens before, by the way? I picked some up at Whole Foods the other day but have gotten them from our farmers market in the past, too. In addition to having a fun, crisp texture and making a great aesthetic addition to salads (Matt and I also like them in tacos and sandwiches/wraps!), they pack a huge nutrient punch. A study out of University of Maryland found that leaves from microgreens have four to six times more nutrients than the mature leaves of the same plant. Crazy, right?
Microgreens look a little like sprouts, but they’re not the same thing; sprouts are germinated in water just long enough to grow roots, a stem, and premature leaves. Microgreens, on the other hand, are given at least 7 days to grow (involving soil and sunlight) before being harvested.
Okay, nutrition lesson for the day is over. 😉
Moving on! Since I already mentioned tacos once, let’s mention them again! My favorite dinner of the week award goes to Wednesday night’s District Taco feast with my friend Karen! We met up for a 6 p.m. yoga class at Epic Yoga via ClassPass (Karen just signed up for ClassPass too and is also obsessed)…
And then it was Taco Time! I LOVE District Taco so when she suggested it for a low key dinner following our yoga date I was all about it. I got their 3 taco deal, but they were huge so I ate two and saved one for lunch the next day. One chicken, one pork, one beef! Plus black beans, guac, lettuce, veggies, cilantro, salsa, and tomatoes in corn tortillas. Hit. The. Spot. I could probably eat tacos every day for the rest of my life and be happy. Anyone else?
The rest of the week’s dinners were very much one of those “every man for himself” sort of weeks – Matt and I both had a lot of evening events so we mostly just threw together random things from the fridge. He made us a huge pasta with veggie-packed meat sauce on Saturday night before the GW Parkway Classic 10 Miler, so we ate the leftovers from that quite a bit, too.
As for last night, I spent it speaking on a panel at Rock Recovery’s signature event, “Building Bridges: Living An Integrated Life.” Rock Recovery is a local non-profit that works to promote health and wellness and bridge gaps in the treatment and understanding of eating disorders and related issues; the event raised funds to support the much needed work of Rock Recovery in our community. It’s an amazing organization and one I was honored to get involved with, especially given that I work with a lot of clients struggling with disordered or emotional eating. On the panel, we discussed the importance of prioritizing health, well-being, and self care.
I shared a couple of my favorite tips for promoting calm in my life:
- Moving my cell phone outside our bedroom so I’m not checking emails right before bed and right when I wake up.
- Turning off all notifications on my phone (except for phone calls).
- One I forgot to share but that is worthwhile: I asked for a real watch for Christmas (thank you again, Mom!) so that I don’t have to look at my phone anymore for the time. Checking it for the time usually meant I’d then suddenly realize it had been 30 minutes and I’d gotten completely distracted/sucked in to something random.
- Not multitasking anymore – closing all windows when I’m trying to work on something. Doing one thing at a time and focusing on it. For me, multitasking usually = less productivity and more stress.
- Giving yourself breaks throughout the day – taking a real break for lunch even if it’s short, getting in walking breaks when possible to reset, etc.
There was also some great discussion on the panel about the comparison trap – I shared one of my favorite quotes which is “Another person’s success does not mean your failure.” And fellow panelist Lindsey Mask shared a great tip about how whenever she is jealous of someone else, she stops herself, asks herself what it’s really about, and then pays that person a compliment. Turning it around into something positive – I loved that approach.
Finally, we also discussed some ways to know if it’s time to seek help – some of the red flags I shared are when you find yourself:
- Thinking about food ALL the time
- Finding food a big source of stress rather than enjoyment
- Experiencing a lot of guilt around food
- All or nothing mentality – either “perfect” or “totally off the wagon/failure”
- Declining social events because you are nervous about what you might have to eat/drink
Thank you again to Rock Recovery for having me last night! It was an honor to be included.
And now, to end this random post and catch up on some emails before we touch down! I wish I could sleep on planes (I always try and it’s a big fail), but at least I end up getting a lot of work done instead. Buying wi-fi is always SO worth the cost.
Catch you guys next week!
Weekend reading:
- Check out my interview over on Rebel Dietitian – I talk about why I love being an RD, who my RD superhero is, and more.
- The Full-Fat Paradox: Whole Milk May Keep Us Lean (you guys know I’m a big proponent of having full fat vs. low or nonfat dairy!)
- Why You Shouldn’t Skip Savasana – when I first started yoga about 10 years ago, I was totally that person who left during savasana (I know, terrible). Now, I challenge myself to really slow down and embrace it – and it’s become my favorite and one of the most important parts of my yoga classes!
- Tackling Excuses: “I Can’t Run. I Have No Motivation!” – great (and funny) advice – also, that first picture is hilarious.
