April was another busy month leading into May wherein I am delinquent on my blogging. The end of my April was consumed with Final Exams and Final Projects to wrap up my first year of classes as a doctoral student at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

As a result, several of my new friends and I ventured to Ellerbe Fine Foods for an evening of camaraderie over an elegant meal. That outing is detailed on my examiner.com posting “Fort Worth, Friends and Fine Food”. However, other friendships yielded other opportunities to share and experience outside my norm.

First, I had the opportunity to host an intern from Guatemala at my hospital-based workplace, HealthSouth Cityview. Her visit with me provided an opportunity for her to learn about Medical Nutrition Therapy for patients recovering from longer-term injuries rather than acute illnesses. At the same time, her presence afforded me the opportunity to learn about another country.

Yet another friendship provided me the opportunity to experience The Chef’s Gallery at the Art Institute in Dallas. This venue provides the opportunity for the culinary students to practice restaurant management, serving and food preparation while completing their studies. My Guatemalan intern, Pilar, and I met there to discuss her project for the hospital internship while we experienced the food and fanfare of the culinary school. We also discussed her upcoming half-marathon and I cheered her on having run my own recently.

The menus created by the instructors focus on seasonal ingredients. Pilar and I spilt the steak that was flavorful and tender and accompanied by tender asparagus and lightly seasoned French fries. The desserts were amazing and included homemade ice cream, mine was rum raisin and Pilar’s pistachio featured here with mini key lime pie both of which quite literally and figuratively melted in your mouth!

Take opportunities such as new dining venues to try new foods, doing so only adds to the array of nutrients one can obtain from food as every food has a unique nutrient profile.

Located in the business development zone close to North Park Mall, The Chef’s Gallery at the Art Institute’s International Culinary School is a wonderful food experience highlighting food prepared by future chefs. Check it out for lunch or dinner and support their endeavors!

Although my travels have become more limited of late, cultivating multi-cultural friendships continues to afford me new experiences  in my own little corner of the universe. By stretching boundaries, one only adds to the depth and substance of existence. Understanding and learning about other cultures and foods does not require a trip around the world. So, take the time to get out and challenge yourself to experience something new!

 

In January, I had the opportunity to revisit my TravelingRD roots, traveling to Atlanta for the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitian Association (CPSDA) Boot Camp. The workshop provided a great opportunity for me to hone my sports nutrition skills but at the same time visit the city where I began my Dairy Council career.

Landing in Atlanta, my well-respected original supervisor from Southeast United Dairy Industry (SUDIA), Cheryl Hayn, picked me up. We ventured to the popular Atlantic Station shopping area for dinner at Strip. Strip claims to be Atlanta’s place for those craving both style and substance. They market the multilevel steak house with lively bars and patios on each level as having new meaning in the world of steak houses. This unique venue allows diners the experience of enjoying a great steak in a super hip environment. After a long, heart-felt visit dining on a wonderful filet with caprese salad and three-cheese macaroni and cheese, she dropped me off at my hotel near Georgia Tech where my conference took place the next day in the Wardlaw Center.

The conference day was beautiful and sunny as I walked down through the Olympic Village built to accommodate the 1996 Summer Olympics to Georgia Tech. After the conference, a local, hard-working dairy farmer took me to dinner. We dined at an Atlanta icon, Pitty Pat’s Porch. The restaurant is known for the down-home southern fare. We enjoyed fried chicken, greens, black-eyed peas and biscuits followed by a large slab of chocolate cake with ice cream. I love the country décor complete with unique dinnerware. We split the entrée and dessert. Later, we walked off our indulgences wandering through the Olympic Park viewing the Coca-Cola Museum and watching ice-skaters on the temporary rink.

All in all, I had an enjoyable and educational trip. Visiting Atlanta brought back many fond memories of my early years with the Dairy Council. Most of all, the trip emphasized the importance of cherishing good food and good friendships no matter where you roam!

 

 

This past weekend, I got to get back on the road and headed down to Georgetown to see my daughter, Megan, who was visiting her sorority and boyfriend at Southwestern University. Megan graduated in December and quickly whisked off to Washington, DC for an internship at Emily’s List. The organization assists women throughout the country with political aspirations build the skills and tools to obtain political office.

As always, Megan and I had a great time together pursuing our favorite pastimes; dining, shopping and movies. We started our adventure at a new restaurant in Georgetown, El Monumento. The upscale southern style Mexican restaurant with an elegant but casual feel is located on the banks of the San Gabriel River showcasing a beautiful glimpse of the hill country landscape of Texas. Owned by the same family who has owned The Monument restaurant also in Georgetown for years, the new restaurant we found just as delightful.

The portions are fairly large and since we ordered a cup of their Queso Blanco made from Oaxacan Cheese, to enthusiastically scoop with their thick, yummy chips, we split the El Mon Sunday Brunch Casserole which was served with cubed, roasted potatoes and fresh fruit. Oaxaca cheese is a mild tasting, gently salty, stringy white cheese with a deliciously chewy, full and filling bite.The casserole combined eggs, chorizo sausage, pablano peppers, corn tortillas and cheese into a light but satisfying blend of breakfast heaven. Eggs are a great source of protein and help provide a feeling of fullness and satiety while providing a number of important nutrients which play a role in good health. Each egg provides 6 grams of protein which is important to me as a runner trying to preserve lean body mass or a mom’s hard day playing and shopping. Pablano peppers are high in vitamin C and fiber also good for the antioxidant properties and digestive health. We enjoyed every nutritious and delicious bite and left satisfied and content.

After lunch, we headed down to Austin for some shopping at The Domain. The Domain is an upscale shopping and dining complex off the Mopac at Braker Lane that features a pedestrian friendly, open-air style experience true to the Austin spirit. We specifically visited Macy’s, H&M, Brighton and Forever 21 but there were many more shops we did not get to as we headed next to the movie theater to see Silver Linings Playbook, a must see movie in my opinion. All in all, our experiences and food were much enjoyed and would recommend them all on your next girls’ weekend, mother daughter trip or romantic getaway!

 

February was another fast and furious month full of soul filling gifts and surprises!

For those of you who follow my Examiner.com blog, you know that I recently  joined HeartGift! My  most recent blog post discussed the mission of the organization and the newly established HeartGift Fort Worth.

My special Valentine arrived February 2nd. His name is Jamar Dawson. Jamar and his mom, Shanda are from Belize. Jamar has come for his lifesaving heart surgery and done quite well! We are pictured here with the HeartGift Fort Worth Board.

Additionally, I was honored to speak on food safety in concert with the New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture at the joint meeting of the Dallas and North Texas Academies of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Fort Worth Dietetic Association. Jeff Witte came from a ranching background and yet, when I took him to my favorite place for steak, The Keg, he commented that it was the best steak he had in a long time. Even though Fort Worth has many other steakhouses in more recent years, something about The Keg just feels very Fort Worth to me.

Steak is not only delicious but it is a great source of iron, a nutrient in which women are more likely to be deficient and zinc as well as B vitamins which help convert food energy into energy to fuel the body. In fact, beef made a recent list of 25 Ridiculously Healthy Foods. Knowing that there are actually 29 cuts of lean beef helps to make that selection part of a healthy, balanced diet that provides ample nutrients to fuel your day.

The key is portion size and choosing additional nutrient-rich foods to accompany your protein selection as depicted in the MyPlate graphic for food guidance. To moderate portion, try to find someone with whom you can split your entree’ and then eat only until you are full and satisfied. The more we let ourselves enjoy our food, the more likely we are to adhere to balance, variety and moderation.

Knowing that many of you went out for Valentine’s to enjoy steak, the key is to enjoy your food in moderation rather than obsessing so much about what you are eating or binging because you have deprived yourself of foods you love. Whether friends, colleagues or family be able to enjoy the most important part, the people with whom you are dining!

 

 

January has started this year off with a bang! After ringing in the New Year dancing, I dove right back into my pending goals.

My perspective is that resolutions are seldom kept. So, why not just live the life you want to live every day? My January Examiner.com blog provided readers with New Year’s Solutions instead, simple ways to have a healthy and well year…every year.

In the blog post, I talk about skating, dancing or finding other fun ways to be active as well as creatively fueling your body with nutrient-rich foods.

Having read my blog, California Walnuts were so nice as to send me a sample to add to my personal solution. If you read my Examiner.com blog, Fall for Fitness, about  training for my half-marathon, nuts were one of the nutritious foods I craved from training.

 

Walnuts provide fiber, protein and are a rich source of many phytochemical substances that may contribute to their overall anti-oxidant activity, including melatonin, ellagic acid, vitamin E, carotenoids, and poly-phenolic compounds. These compounds have potential health effects against cancer, aging, inflammation, and neurological diseases. Scientists at University of Scranton, Pennsylvania discovered that walnuts have highest levels of poly-phenolic antioxidants than any other common edible nuts. These compounds are especially important when exercising and training for challenging events. Additionally, they contain Omega-3 fatty acids, manganese, copper potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium.

Coincidentally, my mom had just created a recipe for Savory Sauteed Zucchini with Walnuts…Yum!!! Incorporating nuts into recipes and foods (Banana-Walnut muffins are my fave!) is a great way to increase intake of these nutrient powerhouses. Or just grab a handful with chocolate milk after a workout or for a mid-morning snack!

My fitness, professional and personal goals for this year (and years to come) were highlighted this month on the Sound Bites RD blog, a blog dedicated to dietitians extending traditional dietetics through the media. 

One of my ongoing goals is to be a good role model. Not only for my daughters but also for my fitness and health clients as well as other RD’s. Your Health Journal recently featured my thoughts on role modeling for kids. These thoughts are closely tied to my New Year’s Solutions.

As you can see, January was a month filled with opportunities and solutions to be fit and well. Which solutions will you choose?

My older daughter, Megan, graduated from college this past weekend. Much like me, her path of choice is advocacy. Despite the fact that her degree is in political science and history and my degrees were in nutrition, we both have a philanthropic heart and mind as well as a desire to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Megan, as a result, is headed to Washington DC for an internship helping women enter the field of politics.

Just as Megan is following in my footsteps, I followed my mother’s passion, nutrition. Despite the fact that she never had a degree in nutrition or practiced in nutrition, the woman is a veritable encyclopedia (or Google search as it were) of nutrition and functional culinary facts. When I was a child, she was constantly reinforcing our need to eat nutrient-rich foods especially due to our limited means.

Thus, it is only appropriate that at the luncheon my mom held for Meg’s graduation, all of our food was enhanced or modified to ensure it packed the nutritional punch needed to get us through the ceremony. The menu consisted of Gluten-Free Lasagna, My Brother’s Famous Seven Layer-Salad and Vegan Fudge Cake. Many of you are now thinking, “Yuck!” However, my mom has experimented diligently for years and her nutrient-packed meals could please even the pickiest of palates. I know, because my younger daughter actually ate and enjoyed the meal!

I have linked the recipes from my mom’s website so that people can benefit from her expertise and try these recipes. In the fudge cake, she substituted ground chia seed mixed with water for the eggs. Not only does this add Omega-3 Fatty Acids, but also chia seed contains antioxidants, protein and fiber and my mom reports that many people tolerate chia seed better than flaxseed which was previously hailed for Omega-3 content.

The lesson here is that my 73 year old, healthy, active mom is living proof that eating for health doesn’t just “add years to your life but also adds life to your years.”
I for one will gladly embrace that Rite of Passage!

My older daughter Megan came home for Thanksgiving this year and her younger sister, Ryan, went with her boyfriend to his family gathering. As I baked the pumpkin pie that is Megan’s favorite and has come to be somewhat of a tradition when she comes home for the holidays, I pondered what all I was thankful for this year. Somehow, baking that pie makes me thankful for my wonderful daughter but also for all of the years I spent raising her, making plenty of mistakes mind you but to now be at a place of perspective to enjoy her company and look back on those years as ones well spent despite the stress of raising a family, working and somehow maintaining sanity in the midst of it all.

Having totally changed my life this year to go back and seek my doctoral degree, I am thankful for the opportunity to do so. I am also thankful for the extra time I have in my schedule now that I trained for and ran my first half marathon.

Given the opportunity to share a tradition that Megan has built with her dad of running the annual Fort Worth YMCA Turkey Trot was another experience for which to be thankful. Being in probably the best shape of my adult life, I was anxious to see if I could win my class in the race. I did place 6th out of 69 females in my age bracket and at the same time shaved a half-minute off my mile pace from the time I ran this same 5K, 13 years ago.

I attribute my success to my training since July but also to my applying my sports nutrition principles as a member of CPSDA to myself while training. I have been amazed at how quickly my body has adapted to my training with good nutrition and enabled me to achieve my milestones. It seems as if my thighs have no trouble covering ground at speeds and distances I thought I would never achieve physically. However, the big win was getting to spend this time with Megan and her dad and having Thanksgiving breakfast together at Denny’s afterwards.

Heading down to Georgetown to spend some time with my own mom brought another reason to be thankful. At the same time it was bittersweet because afterwards, I took Megan to Austin to help her look for apartments as she graduates from Southwestern University next month with a double major in History and Political Science. She is hoping to work as a legislative aide or lobbyist in the future.

We enjoyed our typical mother/daughter bonding of shopping, dining, talking and walking as she made plans for her future. It was with some hesitation that I dropped her back at school knowing that in the coming years as she becomes an established member of the workforce and possibly starts a family of her own, it may be more difficult to share another Thanksgiving like the one we shared this year. However, like all the years spent raising her, I will have the memories…and for this year at least, I can be thankful for pies and thighs.

I recently completed teaching a multi-week nutrition course at Nutriworks. Our last week was spent choosing healthy options for dinner at Central Market and reviewing tips for maintaining weight during the holidays.

I tried the roasted tenderloin with raspberry sauce remembering that if it is round or loin, it is lean beef of which there are 29 cuts. This was discussed previously in my Steak Times Deaux blog post. I accompanied with whipped sweet potatoes and green bean almondine as well as a whole grain roll. This visit compelled me to come up with some tips of my own for Halting Holiday Heft which I shared on my Fort Worth Nutrition Examiner.com blog.

Check them out and give yourself the gift of good health! Even better, share that gift with good friends such as the friends I developed through teaching my class and sharing topics such as judging true hunger, preventative eating, micro-nutrient importance and the role of exercise!

Have a Healthy Holiday Season!

October was a banner month. Not only did I run my first half-marathon, October is also my birthday month. I challenged myself to run the half-marathon as it has always been a dream of mine. In fact, 2012 has been a year of fulfilling dreams and giving back.

The Honored Hero Run, now in its third year, came to life in 2009 as a grassroots effort by a group of local leaders and friends who convened to create an event that would bring the community together in a collective effort to raise awareness of and funds for blood cancer research, while honoring those who have battled or are currently battling blood cancer. The run makes possible donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program to fund blood cancer research.

The course of the run wound parallel with the Trinity River along the Trinity Trails and the challenge of this physical endeavor gave appreciation of the long road and exhausting journey that the Honored Heroes endure receiving treatment for blood cancer. Personally, the experience was both humbling and fulfilling in being able to help in even a small way, contribute to this worthy cause.

On a comparable note, I additionally logged one more year on the road of life. Having recently left my job to pursue my doctoral degree, I have been spending more time in the city of Fort Worth so not only running my first half-marathon to celebrate my new life but also spending my birthday actually in my home town.

The day was spent with my best friend Diane as we enjoyed movie at the West 7th Movie Tavern. As you all know, I am the Examiner.com nutrition blogger for Fort Worth and luckily we were able to order food during our movie. Not only was I impressed by the structure of the theater with a three-story entry way, but also by the wide selection of food and beverages with healthy and not-so-healthy options as well as adult and not-so-adult beverages.

From the Movie Tavern Menu, I selected the Cranberry Pecan Chicken Pita with Sweet Potato Fries. This nutrient-rich sandwich was to die for delicious while contributing a good amount of fiber, vitamins and minerals from the cranberries, pecans, feta cheese and whole grain pita not to mention the yummy sweet potato fries. Good to know there are healthy options out on the town.

Afterwards, we headed to j.rae’s cupcake shop for a birthday cupcake of which I chose the German Chocolate. This little shop has an amazing array of cookies and cupcakes at affordable prices and proper portions for the young and young at heart! As a registered dietitian, I know that all foods can fit in a balanced diet and the key is eating a nutritious base to your diet while practicing balance, variety and moderation with a side of exercise. So, Happy Birthday to me!

Recently, I was asked to speak at a meeting about Lactose Intolerance. The thing about lactose intolerance is that many people with lactose intolerance avoid dairy. This is not necessary and can actually be detrimental to good health. The best way to diagnose lactose intolerance is with a breath hydrogen test. It is important that you Don’t Ditch Dairy until you know for sure as many cases are self-reported.

Dairy foods (milk, cheese and yogurt) contribute substantial amounts of many nutrients in the U.S. diet that are important for good health, including calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, protein, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B12 and riboflavin making dairy foods a great nutrient bang for your calorie buck!

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans confirmed the importance of milk and milk products in a healthy diet by maintaining the recommendation of 3 daily servings of low-fat or fat-free milk and milk products for those ages 9 and older. For children ages 4-8, the recommendation was increased from 2 to 2.5 servings, and for children ages 2-3, the recommendation remains 2 servings.

The key to enjoying dairy if you have lactose intolerance is using simple tips to limit or manage the amount of lactose consumed at one time.

These simple tips include:

• Use smaller amounts of milk and include with a meal or snack. This helps to slow the digestion thus, give the body more time to digest lactose.

• Take advantage of lactose-free or lactose-reduced products. New products are constantly being developed from real milk, just without the lactose, providing the same essential nutrients as regular products and taste great.

• Enjoy yogurt. The live cultures in yogurt help to digest lactose.

• Choose natural, aged cheeses such as Cheddar to top sandwiches, potatoes, soups or crackers. These cheeses are low in lactose.

At the seminar, Cabot Cheddar cheese was sampled. Cabot cheese has the only low-fat cheese on the market made from 1.0% to 1.5% low-fat milk. So, not only is Cabot cheese lactose-free but also meets the 2010 Dietary Guidelines call to consume more low-fat and fat-free dairy foods.

Registered dietitians and other health professionals advise that people continue to enjoy dairy foods to meet their nutrient recommendations for the nutrients dairy provides. Dairy foods (milk, cheese and yogurt) provide calcium, potassium and vitamin D, three nutrients of concern called out in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines as lacking in Americans diets. It is difficult to get enough of these nutrients without dairy foods in the diet…and with great tasting options like Cabot cheese. Why miss out?