Alcohol. Feh.

Who here knows that alcohol is not good for you?  Raise your hands.  Right.  All of you.  And if anyone out there doesn’t raise their hand, you’re in denial.

Alcohol is a known bad boy (and I use that gender intentionally).  It’s a drug, though legal IF you’re over 21, IF you’re responsible, IF you maintain control.  But the problem with alcoholic beverages are the IFs.  Those under (and over) 21 want to indulge.  Too many people drink and then drive, putting themselves, and innocent people in danger.  And what I see is that people want more than one serving of the elixir.  What’s the big kick in alcohol anyway?  Relaxation?  Take a nap or meditate instead.  It lowers your inhibitions?  Yup.  Who needs that?  It tastes good?  Not to me.  Tell me what else you think alcohol is so good for.  You can’t.

Alcohol is addictive, wreaks havoc with your liver, and is known to be a risk factor for developing certain cancers, including breast cancer.  I have seen head and neck cancers attributed to alcohol (and smoking) abuse and they're not pretty.  Actually, they’re quite ugly and debilitating.   Think facial surgery and swallowing impairments.  I have seen alcohol-induced pancreatitis and  cirrhosis.  And remember, I’m just the dietitian.  A doctor could tell you much more—car accidents, alcohol intoxication in teenagers, injury from falls from alcoholic stupor.   But I've also listened to sick patients tell me they don't get help at home because someone in their family is too focused on their own drinking.  This is an especially sad predicament.  I admit that these are the extreme cases of alcohol abuse.  But I ask again, why do you want to even drink the stuff?

Alcohol has  no nutritional benefit--no vitamins, no minerals, no protein.  you can check this out on this  government website.  As a matter of fact, use the site to look up the nutritional data of just about any food and fluid.

So alcohol has no good stuff in it.  Even a whopper has protein and some iron.  As they say, pick your poison.

I’m going to get a little personal here.  Do I drink?  Hardly.  I have never liked the taste of alcohol, finding it bitter and offensive.  I will occasionally have a sweet drink that doesn't taste like alcohol, like a cosmo (mainly because it’s pink) or a margarita (on the off chance that I’m not counting calories that day).  I will have a drink at a wedding, bar mitzvah, something like that.  Will stop at one.  I absolutely hate the taste of wine or beer, can’t even stand the smell.  The only alcohol I have in the house is Broccoli Rob’s cheap wine which he mixes with (get this!) diet sierra mist and diet iced tea nightly for his ‘cocktail.’  I won’t buy the wine—he has to do that himself as he knows I’m against him even drinking this small amount.  I haven’t kept hard liquor in the house in at least 10 years as I didn’t want the stuff in the house to entice the kids and their friends.  

But have I abused alcohol? (Here’s the personal part).  Yes.  When I was in college, the legal age to drink alcohol then was 18, and we had a pub on campus.  My roommate was the bartender, her boyfriend was the pub manager.  I could drink for free!  And I did, even though I didn’t like the taste of the beer or the smell of the pub itself.  And I got smashing drunk to fit in or to flirt, or both.  The last time I got drunk was right after college, New Years Eve, turning into 1976.  A boy I liked came to the party with his (previously unbeknownst to me) girlfriend.  I felt so sorry for myself, drank to excess and at midnight, was barfing into the toilet.  I have proudly never repeated this incident as that night was enough embarrassment for my lifetime.  

I know some of you will say "but there's nothing wrong with having one drink to socialize."  You'll have a hard time to convince me of such, since I consider alcohol a controlled dangerous substance!   Why bother with something that isnt nutritious?  Maybe you think I live in the Prohibition Days.  Heck, there's a reason why alcohol was outlawed.  Call me the president of the sobriety club, but this is my blog and my goal is to say what I want to say.  Especially with our health in mind.  You can always say your part as well.  But I'm forever staying on this side of caution.

Next time you want to meet a friend or a new date, go for a scenic walk.  A cafe for appetizers.  A roller coaster ride.  Think of something else than "let's meet at a bar."  Re-think your reasons for drinking alcohol and try to find safer venues.  And for that matter, also stay away from Burger King.

I Yam Who I Yam

At age 59, I've been questioning my career choice.  Granted, I've been questioning my role as a dietitian for about 20 years.  I gave it up for 7 months back in 2005 to pursue a stay-at-home role as an eBay seller, but the lack of a steady paycheck plus the lack of health insurance brought me back to my senses.  I had also gotten friendly with another eBay seller whom I chatted with often on the post office line.  I remember telling him that I had been a dietitian before the eBay thing and he told me to stop reinventing myself and go back to the field that I was trained.  I think I did that the following day because he made so much sense at the time.

But, here I am again, trying to decide if becoming a dietitian was right for me.  When I applied to college back in 1970, I wasn't a free spirit or an out-of-the-box thinker.  Women, for the most part in those days, went to school to be a teacher or a nurse.  No blame on anyone but myself, but I didn't have any guidance when it came to considering career choices, so I applied for a major in elementary education.  Ah, if I had truly pursued that career in education, I could have been retired by now, with a pension and health benefits to boot.  Instead, after working in healthcare on and off for the past 32 years, I won't retire with those great benefits.  Of course, I'll have my 401K but I will need to pay for my own medical coverage.  (A little ironic for working in a hospital all these years).  Maybe that's what has gotten me to think about this profession.

And when I reflect about my career in this field (which admittedly, is not a smart thing to do in the first place), I get a little sour about the benefits I am receiving right now.  Back in 1981, when I got my first job in the field (yes, if you do the math, it shows that I took an extraordinary amount of time to get my credentials), I received 20 days vacation, 12 sick days, 2 personal days and 9 holidays.  Admittedly, I earned $6.01/hour and had to work alternate weekends, but the hospital sweetened the pot by giving us full medical coverage for our family with no out-of-pocket cost to us.  And we were allowed to utilize the hospital pharmacy to fill prescriptions for no cost as well.  Boy, have times changed.  I know that times are tough, and yes, yes, yes, I've been reminded that I should be grateful to have a job, BUT today I am earning exactly what I earned in 2008.  No increases.  And I have much less paid time off.  Bummer.  So I've gone backward.  Now you understand why I've been reflective.  Oh, and the days are gone when there would be money toward continuing education and conferences.  It's zero now.  At one time, many moons ago, the hospital paid for the entire nutrition staff to go to the dietetics convention in New Orleans!

I made sure my children didn't become dietitians.  And I now tell people who are considering that career to hop onto a different train.  The best (non-doctor) careers in healthcare nowadays are speech pathology, physical therapy or occupational therapy.  Those positions pay good money and have some clout.  Granted, getting into a PT program is not easy, but once you're qualified, you can get third-party reimbursement for your services and you can even write physical therapy orders.  Many hospital dietitians can't even write an order for Ensure, and that's an over-the-counter supplement intended for weight gain.  And to be a speech therapist or occupational therapist requires a Masters degree, so be prepared to put in your time.  But you'll get a payback.

I do want to make it clear that the job I have now is a good one.  I enjoy working in the outpatient setting and especially enjoy working with cancer patients.  I find them to be pleasant and hopeful, which creates a nice atmosphere.  Plus, I have a beautiful office and work with a fine, compassionate group of people.  It's just the money thing.  I sometimes just feel like I should have done something else.  But hey, it's too late to make any changes.

My kids have good jobs and I'm thankful.  One has a degree in theater management and one has a degree in education.  One of them makes more money than I do.  The other is pretty close.  So I guess I should stop the bitchin' and remember that my assorted jobs as a dietitian has helped pay for our children to go to college.  And working as a dietitian "afforded" me the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom for a while (insert my kids groaning right here).  So, I'm feeling better now and want to thank you for letting me write down my thoughts and then let me come back to my senses.  I'll go to work a better dietitian tomorrow!!

School Lunch Program + School Breakfast Program = Obesity

It was a while ago, but there was a big uproar nationally about the changes to the school lunch programs.  Something about smaller portions, higher cost and, (heaven forbid), more vegetables.  No one liked these changes.  There was a local boycott in the Parsippany, NJ schools, though I never did hear about that outcome.  But it brought me to question the role of the school lunch and breakfast programs.

I can understand the point of reduced cost lunches to those who are TRULY needy and certainly there needs to be a cafeteria providing food to all students and staff who would like the option.  But I feel there's a tremendous waste of money and resources here.  Why can't we make school cafeterias privatized and let it be for profit to take the burden off the taxpayer?  Why do I have to foot the bill to feed someone else's children?  People go out for lunch all the time and pay for their lunch, don't they?  They should do the same in school.   Especially now when everyone just laughs at the school lunch options.  (Side bar here:  I've spent a lifetime listening to complaints about hospital meals, airline meals, school meals.  So maybe we can make the first change with the school meals).

First, let's talk about providing free breakfast to students.  Why in heaven's name is any child leaving the house without eating breakfast?  Aren't parents/caregivers/older siblings there to assure small children are getting something to eat before they leave for school?  Yogurt, cold (low sugar) cereal with milk, some toast with peanut butter.  Why is this so hard?  There's no cooking involved.  You just need to have the right ingredients in the house.   Get up a few minutes earlier to take care of "the most important meal of the day."  That goes for the adults AND the kids.  If the child is old enough to prepare something for themselves, then get with the program.   Just Do It!  I see plenty of people in line to get Egg McCrappiness so people have a buck or so for their own breakfast.  And to boot, kids are fatter than ever and some of this obesity is being blamed on the documented junky food that kids are eating for breakfast and lunch at school.  School cafeteria managers complain that kids don't eat the good food--eggs and oatmeal for breakfast, salad and vegetables for lunch--so they are forced to sell what the kids want.  And what the kids want are donuts, bacon, pastries, french fries and such.  Hence, obesity.

Secondly, why are we forcing the school lunch program to provide milk?  I know it helps keep the cost down if you get milk with your meal, but it's a well documented fact that most of the milk is tossed out.   I don't drink milk.  Neither do my kids or my husband.  For that matter, neither does my brother, sister-in-law, etc.  So why are we paying for the milk in school?  It's being pushed from the US Department of Agriculture as a food commodity and I guess it started being pushed because it has calcium.  (I even remember the small cartons of milk when I went to grade school--I think it was 7 cents.  There was no option to refuse.  We just didn't opt-out in 1967.  I took the milk but I never drank it).  But let's get back to the calcium.  We know that there are other foods we can get calcium from.  Kids are certainly eating enough cheese to get their calcium, but we can get calcium from broccoli, kale, (reminder:  eat these) even calcium-fortified orange juice.  So the milk is a waste.  Get rid of it.  (There's also the issue of the majority of the corn and grain farmed in this country to feed cattle and the cattle using our natural resources.  And I'm still trying to understand what a carbon footprint is).

There's also a suggestion over whether low-fat chocolate milk should be a substitute for the "white" milk in the schools.  Now that stuff really goes off the shelf--the kids love it.  But it has additional calories from sugar and is another cause of the obesity epidemic.

I think I'll stop raving here and provide you with what I think we should have.  Home Economics.  That's right.  I think the good old home ec classes should be reinstated.  Teach people how to cook, teach them how to shop wisely and cook healthfully.  Teach people what they should eat to reduce their risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer and other illnesses.  That's what dietitians should be doing.  There would be less obesity if people could make their own breakfast and pack their own lunches.  Let's get with THAT Program!

Hair Raising Experience

I'm disturbed about the price of a haircut.  For my latest haircut, I paid $60 plus a $12 tip.  For $72, I should be happy with the results, but as usual, I'm not.  Allow me to backtrack.

Up until about 3 years ago, I used the same hair stylist at the same salon every month, without fail, with very good results.  It was relatively inexpensive for a trendy salon, about $40 plus tip.  The beautician was a young gal with pinkish hair and we got to know each other very well.  I loved seeing her and hearing about her single-lifestyle and the reflection in the mirror was of 2 rather smiling people.  And then what happens?  I get an email from the salon that Amanda is no longer employed there.  I try connecting with Amanda through phone and facebook, but with no luck.  She and my happy haircuts are no longer.

I've run through a very long string of hairdressers since, some with recommendations, some  just because they're cheap and/or local.  I've paid premium moolah (up to $80, pleased don't tell Broccoli Rob) because the salon was supposedly some feng shui place, but discover that the person cutting my hair is actually just an apprentice who needs experience.  I don't return.  Other places have similar situations, but one thing is for sure, no one ever cut my hair like Amanda.  I have short hair that I like to keep spiky, but don't want to put much bother into styling it in the morning.  I think it should be easy to get the right haircut but it's not.  And to boot, I'm somehow paying for privilege without getting any reward.

Which brings me to the question.  Why are we paying so much money for a haircut?  (I take poetic license with the "we").  To go to beautician school, you don't need a college degree.  Okay, I for one would never wash someone else's hair and I don't trust myself with scissors or razor blades.  But for heaven's sake, how much time does it take to get a beautician's license?  I could look that up, but I'm pretty sure it's 2 years or less.  And then you work at a hair salon, starting with sweeping up the floor and washing hair and move up.  So, to put things into perspective, I am paying about triple my hourly wage to someone with very little education and whose said education cost, I don't know, about 5% about what I just spent on my daughter's college education.  I'm not happy about this and now that I think about it, I'm not a huge fan of giving tips after already paying a significant amount for dinner, haircut, manicure and other stuff.  But I'll keep those thoughts under safe keeping for another chapter.

So I guess it all comes down to value.  I have just an okay haircut, but one that I don't think is worth $72.  I would expect that a more expensive haircut would give me the haircut that I'm pleased with but #1) I don't want to pay more and #2) I've given this a try without success.  My daughter with the expensive education is presently unemployed despite having scholastic achievements.  I have a reasonable education with modest compensation, certainly nowhere near the exalted hairdresser.  All I can say is...Mothers:  let your children grow up to be beauticians.  And Amanda, if you're out there, call me!

That's one small step for dietitians...

     People don’t listen to registered dietitians for good, solid, nutrition advice.  Nope.  They prefer to heed the recommendations from health food store owners, unlicensed nutritionists, gym owners, Dr. Oz, next door neighbors, anybody.   Of course, since I’m a registered dietitian, I believe that RDs are your best source for information regarding what to eat for health or to treat your disease.  I’ve been a RD for 30 years and there has been absolutely no improvement in the dietitian’s status as a healthcare provider or promoter.  

     What threw me over the edge earlier this summer was my spinning instructor’s advice to the group while we were stretching after the workout.  He told us to eat eggs for protein and to have eggs with either spinach or black beans.  And if we choose the black beans, he recommended that we add cheese since the beans are an incomplete protein and the cheese protein will make this meal ‘complete.’  Well, I have some issues with this.  First of all, he’s wrong.  But no one knows that he’s wrong, and spinners are hanging onto his every word.  I checked his background.  Nutrition?  Nope.  He has a college degree in a foreign language and has no advance credits or certification in the field of nutrition.  But dang if he isn't a delightful guy with a great body and a full-time smile to boot. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about.  So people listen.

     I did approach him after class to ask why we need cheese at all with the eggs since the eggs are the best source of protein, and complete at that.  He kinda just reiterated that the cheese has protein to complete the beans.  I double checked with another spinning instructor who happens to be a RD and she agreed with me.  (Dietitians do stick together).  But the point is that the great body guy is giving out nutrition advice willy nilly.  And dietitians are left in the dust.  Here he is promoting saturated fat and sodium in cheese, when, in fact, it's not needed at all.  Heck, just eat the eggs.  Personally, I wouldn't think of adding black beans to eggs but if you want to do it, then fine.  No problem there.  Skip the cheese though.

     The following week the not-nutrition guy told everyone to eat 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate for its antioxidant benefits.  The class was really happy to hear of this tidbit.  Did you know that 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate has about 450 calories?  I can think of better ways to get antioxidants.  But I'm sure lots of people left the spinning class and went to get the Hershey's Special Dark Bar that was suggested.  And to make matters worse, the spinning instructor told the guys in the class not to eat soy because it lowers their sex drive.

     I go back up to him again.  I didn't even bother to speak about the chocolate but I did tell him that I've done research on soy and the rumor that it lessens a man's sex drive is unsubstantiated.  As suspected, he held firm to his recommendations, stating that this information was in "research" that he had reviewed.  When asked about the "research," he cited Gentleman's Quarterly and Prevention Magazine.  Hah!!  Now, did I tell him that I'm a RD?  Nope.  Because he had already said that someone in another class had a comment about one of his suggestions and he lamely mentioned to the class that "she was a registered dietitian."  I didn't wish to be ridiculed.

     BUT, and here's the big but (pun intended)...Who are people listening to?  Not me, that's for sure.  I'm no PhD or researcher, but I've been a clinical practitioner for a long time and read loads of evidence-based articles about food, nutrition and general health.  I don't know everything, (nutrition is an ever-changing science) but I do know what's in the research and I only promote well-studied nutrition information to my patients and co-workers.  But the guy on the lead spin bike is reading lay magazines and then spewing back awful advice that people accept as gospel.  

     For many years there has been a campaign to get NJ dietitians licensed so that we would be the only ones, by law, allowed to dispense nutrition information.  That bill has yet to pass the NJ Assembly.  There has been great opposition, with lobbyers better than the dietitian's groups, allowing anyone (and I do mean anyone) to speak about nutrition and get away with it.  I'm now too old and too unmotivated to continue to fight for my profession.   But RDs are well-educated in their field, have to pass a national exam and maintain continuing education credits.  The guy on the bike--he just has to be super friendly, read a supermarket magazine and spit back the information.  It's frustrating.  And even more frustrating that he puts down a dietitian and I don't have the guts to take him on.  So here it is--I should tell him that I'M the nutritionist and that he's giving inaccurate advice and should stop!!!  Shame on me for not doing this.  THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH ME AND WITH DIETITIANS IN GENERAL.  We're too meek and non-confrontational.  I pledge to do better next time.

     So go ahead and eat eggs. You can even safely eat an egg every day.  They're not the culprits for raising your blood cholesterol.  They have a wonderful protein content, a bunch of vitamins and minerals and are inexpensive.  Just skip the cheese and butter--that's where the saturated fat is that will affect your blood cholesterol.  Eat soy--it's safe.  Limit dark chocolate to one SMALL square (about a half ounce) daily.  Trust me.  

Celebration for a Revelation

I may be a dietitian, but I'm a bit chubby.  Always have been.  Except for that time I first joined "Lean Jeans" and was following the Weight Watchers diet and got down to my thinnest, a size 10.  I was actually very heavy at one time as well, about 15 years ago.  Really don't know what happened, but I exploded to about 180 or 190 pounds, even with exercising.  But for the better part of my 58 years, I've been somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.  And that's with regular exercise and with some mindful eating.  And the truth of the matter is that I've obsessed about my weight and how I look.  And I want to change that.

For years, years, years, I've weighed myself.  Get up.  Pee.  Take off pajamas and get on the scale for the lowest weight of the day.  Base what I wear on that morning's weight.  Look around whatever room I'm in later that day and determine if I'm the heaviest one there.  I can even tell you how much I weighed at any particular event.  Count calories, Weight Watchers points, grams of fat, write it all down.  Put it onto an App on my iPhone.  Subtract points/calories with exercise.  Continue same, every day, ad nauseam.

But now, I'M DONE.  Done with getting on the scale.  Done with getting on the scale and determining how my day will go with my mood, based on the scale's read-out.  Done with counting calories and writing it all down.  Done with worrying about how I look to others.  Done with being disgusted with myself.  It's gotten me nowhere except to a place that's sad and self-depreciating.  Do I wish to be thinner?  Yes.  Have I tried my darndest to get my BMI to 25?  You betcha.  So I turned to Dr. Weil's readings about what to do next.  His answer--If you've tried and you're still not at the weight you love, then try to be in love with the weight you're at and the person that you are.  Whew.  But it's not so easy to dissolve those old thoughts.  So it's one day at a time.  One meal at a time.  Stay with it.  I know how to eat healthfully.  I always plan for 5 days of exercise weekly.  What more do I need?   But what happened yesterday?  One of the patients that I work with looked at me and said "hey, you've gained weight".  I was sunken.  He may have been right as my clothes may not be as comfortable as they used to be.  But boy I could have popped him on his skinny head when he made that remark.  So today's a new day and I'm going to TRY to love the body that I have and the person I am.  Stay conscious.  And I'm off to spinning class!

THE JOY OF JOYVA

I'm still working on making some dishes from Dr. Andrew Weil's 2011 newsletters.  Last week, I tried the recipe for homemade hummus.  This is a really easy recipe because it has just a few ingredients--canned chickpeas, sesame tahini, lemon juice, cumin, garlic, olive oil and a little water.  And it requires no cooking.  What it did require was a food processor though, which I didn't have and I didn't realize that I didn't have it until all the ingredients were in the bowl.  I had forgotten that I had given my food processor away to my daughter since I didn't use it much.  (I had found that I prefer to chop vegetables by hand, considering it to be therapeutic, therefore not needing the big machine on my counter).

So when it came time to puree the chickpeas with the other ingredients, I really needed to use my noodle to make the hummus.   I tried to use a potato masher.  Didn't work.  At all.  I then tried a blender.  Have you ever tried to use a blender to puree something solid?  I found that it just doesn't work.  Blenders are great for blending liquids, but the blender didn't do a thing to smooth out the beans.  I tried adding more lemon juice and water, but it didn't budge.  I tried futzing around with using a chopstick to move the stuff around in the bottom, and all I got was a chopped up chopstick.  So just when I was about to dump the whole concoction into the trash, I remembered that I had an immersion blender.

This is a great, inexpensive kitchen gizmo for blending/pureeing items right in the mixing bowl or the cooking pot.  I use the immersion blender for making butternut squash soup and potato soup.  And now it has a new use--for making hummus.  BTW, my daughter has since returned the food processor back to me since she said she barely uses it.  And I gave her a new immersion blender!!

But back to the hummus.  I mentioned that one of the key ingredients is sesame tahini.  I bought this at the supermarket, right by the packaged hummus containers.  I only saw the Joyva brand and I admit the turbaned-guy on the logo looked a little scary to me.  If there was another brand available, I probably would have bought it to avoid that Aladdin icon.

But, when I opened the can, the delicious scent of the sesame paste opened my memory.  What came to mind immediately was the scent and taste of the sesame confection halvah, and with that, the memory of my maternal grandparents, Ruth & Harry (Nan & Pop, to me).  

The aroma of that tahini brought me back 50 years to my grandparents kitchen, with them taking the halvah out of the package and slicing it into generous chunks.  And the 3 of us sitting at the kitchen table enjoying the halvah (though we pronounced it "hal-a-vah") and each other.  I could practically taste the halvah again, and vividly remembered their kitchen, their cabinets, the window looking out to the backyard, even the view of the neighbor's house over the kitchen sink.  All this love and joy from taking a whiff of the Joyva tahini.  I have just found out that Joyva halvah is still being made--by the Joyva company!  How did I miss seeing the halvah in the store all these years?

So, if there's a bottom line here, it's to eat more beans, use sesame tahini for its healthful and delicious fats, and, always, to remember and honor the people that have been important to you.  Nan & Pop were the best.  They lived right downstairs from my family and I saw them every single day while I was growing up. They treated me like a princess.    And I'm going to have some halvah in their honor.