Nutritionist or dietitian?

gettinfitmama

Has anyone ever seen a nutritionist or dietitian to analyze your food intake?
I had another frustrating weigh in today and gained 1.6 pounds.
I would like to sit down with someone and see if I can figure out my relationship with food.
I know I shouldn't eat some of the crap I do but I thought I was doing well this week....

Just feeling so frustrated right now!

lutzsher

When my husband had some health issues a few years ago we met with a nutritionist to evaluate our diet and talk about what changes we should make. Basically we now eat VERY clean, absolutely no processed items and only lean meats (we havent eaten ground beef or bacon to mention a few in the last few years) and live by the "everything in moderation" rule.

I add a few of these portions each day for my husband and he is bigger and has a physical job but basically I eat the following each day:
2 proteins
2 fruit
2 complex carbs
2 fats
1 dairy
3-4 veggy

Each item is a basic serving, 1 cup for most veggy and fruit, 4 oz for most protein (chicken breasts I top up a bit or very lean meats to 5 oz). It is basically making sure you provide your body with the correct amount of each of the important food groups each day, not too much in one category. I love this site to help me kep track of how many of the food group items I get each day to ensure Im fitting in each one.
Since my husband now has a red flag with his blood sugar we actually have gone a step further and are only choosing items that are fairly low on the glycemic index. I actually am down 8 lbs in the last 12 days by making this tweak alone so I know it works.

Good luck to you!

Iceprincessk25

Dieticians are required to have a BA and be licensed where as a Nutritionist is only required to be licensed. I would go with the dietician...but that's just me.

tcac

how do you find how foods rate on gycimec index?

lotusfromthemud

Has anyone ever seen a nutritionist or dietitian to analyze your food intake?
I had another frustrating weigh in today and gained 1.6 pounds.
I would like to sit down with someone and see if I can figure out my relationship with food.
I know I shouldn't eat some of the crap I do but I thought I was doing well this week....

Just feeling so frustrated right now!

You would want a registered dietitian with good credentials.

However, it seems like what you are talking about is a therapist who specializes in emotional eating. The dietician will tell you how to eat better, but can't really help you with issues along the lines of knowing what you shouldn't eat, but doing it anyway.

If you'll allow me, one of the things that really transformed my relationship with food was journaling. Not just writing down my food intake, but writing in a journal about what I was feeling when I turned to bad food. I started to realize by doing this that there were direct connections between bad food cravings and my desire to stop negative emotions. I found, for example, that I ate potato chips when I was angry about something, but couldn't express it/change the thing I was angry about. Drawing connections like this gave me a lot more power over food.
HTH.:flowerforyou:

Also, if your food diary was viewable, I'd be happy to take a look at it. (I'm no trained professional, but I've consulted lots of them...you could benefit from my second-hand knowledge, if you like.)

lutzsher

how do you find how foods rate on gycimec index?

There are a few places online I've found lists . . . for example http://www.glycemicindex.ca/glycemicindexfoods.pdf. You will notice how low "most" veggy is and how high some of those carbs are. We still eat at least 2 servings of some type of complex carb each day but consult this for the best choices.

623Hernandez

WOW! vivakay that is such great advice. I have been trying to understand why I turn to bad foods too. I have not started a journal though. I did noticed that at the end of the day when I am hungry and tired I crave fast food. And I mean CRAAAAVE!!! Now I am trying to have small snacks to avoid it. I am trying to replace potato chips with cucumber. Another favorite snack of mine is watermelon. Good luck to everyone!

lotusfromthemud

WOW! vivakay that is such great advice. I have been trying to understand why I turn to bad foods too. I have not started a journal though. I did noticed that at the end of the day when I am hungry and tired I crave fast food. And I mean CRAAAAVE!!! Now I am trying to have small snacks to avoid it. I am trying to replace potato chips with cucumber. Another favorite snack of mine is watermelon. Good luck to everyone!

It really helps. At first you feel goofy (or at least I did) sitting down and writing three pages when I felt like eating...but...amazing stuff comes out. You just write three pages of whatever you're thinking at the moment (I had some entries that ended up being lists of things to do, or even meal plans.... then, I would get a major "a-ha" statement like "what x,y,or z did today really hurt my feelings and I wish I had said something to stick up for myself."

gettinfitmama

wow! thanks so much everyone.
I am still frustrated but I am trying to go a little easier on myself.
My husband keeps reminding me that I have more energy and I LOVE exercising now. But I keep eating the "junk" I have 2 young sons and I guess I feel like they shouldn't have to do without because mom can't keep her hands out of their snacks!

Viviakay- what you say about journaling is a great idea! I think sometimes I eat out of boredom and I know I could be doing a ton of different things instead. Any ideas on how I might find a therapist who specializes in emotional eating?

But I figure if I can't figure out about my relationship with food (instead of using food as fuel) I will never break this unhealthy lifestyle.

Thanks so much everyone!

lotusfromthemud

wow! thanks so much everyone.
I am still frustrated but I am trying to go a little easier on myself.
My husband keeps reminding me that I have more energy and I LOVE exercising now. But I keep eating the "junk" I have 2 young sons and I guess I feel like they shouldn't have to do without because mom can't keep her hands out of their snacks!

Viviakay- what you say about journaling is a great idea! I think sometimes I eat out of boredom and I know I could be doing a ton of different things instead. Any ideas on how I might find a therapist who specializes in emotional eating?

But I figure if I can't figure out about my relationship with food (instead of using food as fuel) I will never break this unhealthy lifestyle.

Thanks so much everyone!

Your GP should be able to recommend a good therapist. Most should have some experience with dealing with compulsive behaviours.

On another note, I would try to limit the amount of junky things in the house. When you think about it, it's not good for your beautiful children either. I really wish now as an adult that my mom had encouraged healthy snacking more often. I can't remember a snack as a child that wasn't a little debbie or a bag of chips or something similar. I'm not a person who thinks that kids (or adults) can't sometimes have a junky treat, but healthy stuff isn't "doing without", right?

In the meantime, be patient with yourself...we all have rough times, but the trick is to get right back on the horse and make your next choice a better one.:flowerforyou: