One of the downsides to being a professional in the world of nutrition is people in your life expect you to have it all together. They look to you as an example. Everyone from my family to my babysitter to my coworkers are interested in what I'm eating, and if I have it in my house, or I eat it once it is seen as an endorsement. That is a lot of pressure. And now I am feeding an almost 10 month old, who is interested in everything Mommy and Daddy are eating and I feel overwhelmed by all of it because while I have a lot of information, I don't have all the answers, and I don't even follow my own advice sometimes.
Even more than the fact I don't have a ton of time with a full-time job and a baby, that is what has kept me away from this blog. But at the same time blogs that are bossy and take the tone that they know everything sometimes irritate the crap out of me. So here it is-- I eat probably 70% whole foods, paleo-ish, with too much gluten-free bread and way too much chocolate. I have been experimenting with dairy-- I think I am doing better with cultured dairy than I used to-- yogurt seems ok, and cultured butter, small bits of cheese but too much dairy gives me a stomach ache. My digestion is not all that good. My energy is up and down, but I also have a child who is a terrible sleeper, which is the other part of the puzzle-- being chronically exhausted doesn't lead to making the best food choices. I am still breastfeeding so I need a good dose of calories and carbs, and I realized recently I eat meal portions I would have eaten pre-pregnancy and then I'm still starving an hour later and I eat too much sugar or bread. Eating MORE real food helps. Planning ahead, cooking ahead, and being best friends with my crockpot helps.
I do need a reset, a chance to give my body a break from sugar and grains again, so after Thanksgiving (which we are celebrating Friday instead of Thursday) I'm going to do the Whole 30/sugar detox deal until Christmas. It's not going to be low carb. Low carb does not work for me even when I'm not nursing. Though I could stand to drop some body fat it isn't actually about that either-- my main concern is that I am the primary food supply for my kid-- I plan to keep breastfeeding until he's 18 months or so. But getting more nutrients in and not abusing my poor gut would be a good thing.
Max eats 90% food I make with a little bit of Ella's Kitchen stuff thrown in for convenience. He mostly gets pureed food-- generally a starchy vegetable (sweet potato/carrots/squash) and or fruit (apples/pears mostly), sometimes greens and usually bone broth. He gets cod liver oil maybe every third day when I remember to put it in his food. In the past couple weeks I've started adding chicken and tomorrow he's getting leftover beef stew, pureed. He does munch on brown rice puffs, but it's more for him to practice eating then substance-- he probably ends up eating a teaspoon of actual rice as mostly they end up on the floor. I don't otherwise give him much in the way of grains. He does eat chickpeas a few times a week as I discovered at a party that he adores hummus. He sometimes will feed himself pears or banana, but so far self-feeding is messy and not very nutritive. He's an enthusiastic eater and likes everything I've made him so far, though not a fan of the majority of commercial baby food for some reason, other than the Ella's kind.
As he approaches a year, I have to make some decisions about if I will introduce dairy, if so when and what kind (goat? cow? raw? organic? only cultured? etc.) and at what point I will give him a bit of gluten to test for a reaction (I don't anticipate gluten being a big part of his diet, but I need to know what if any reaction to expect if he gets it accidentally.
I would love to get more exercise-- I get to the gym 1-2 days a week. Less if Max is really sleeping poorly, more if he's doing better. 3-4 days a week would be awesome, but sometimes (most times!) I am just too tired.
I would say I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, and back to my pre-paleo, pre-crossfit body but I really could do better and want to do better. Soon. Crossfit is not in the budget at the moment and doesn't have childcare, so I'm doing a weights program on my own at a gym with daycare.
So there it is-- the ugly truth. The dietitian is not perfect. But working on getting better for sure.
Even more than the fact I don't have a ton of time with a full-time job and a baby, that is what has kept me away from this blog. But at the same time blogs that are bossy and take the tone that they know everything sometimes irritate the crap out of me. So here it is-- I eat probably 70% whole foods, paleo-ish, with too much gluten-free bread and way too much chocolate. I have been experimenting with dairy-- I think I am doing better with cultured dairy than I used to-- yogurt seems ok, and cultured butter, small bits of cheese but too much dairy gives me a stomach ache. My digestion is not all that good. My energy is up and down, but I also have a child who is a terrible sleeper, which is the other part of the puzzle-- being chronically exhausted doesn't lead to making the best food choices. I am still breastfeeding so I need a good dose of calories and carbs, and I realized recently I eat meal portions I would have eaten pre-pregnancy and then I'm still starving an hour later and I eat too much sugar or bread. Eating MORE real food helps. Planning ahead, cooking ahead, and being best friends with my crockpot helps.
I do need a reset, a chance to give my body a break from sugar and grains again, so after Thanksgiving (which we are celebrating Friday instead of Thursday) I'm going to do the Whole 30/sugar detox deal until Christmas. It's not going to be low carb. Low carb does not work for me even when I'm not nursing. Though I could stand to drop some body fat it isn't actually about that either-- my main concern is that I am the primary food supply for my kid-- I plan to keep breastfeeding until he's 18 months or so. But getting more nutrients in and not abusing my poor gut would be a good thing.
Max eats 90% food I make with a little bit of Ella's Kitchen stuff thrown in for convenience. He mostly gets pureed food-- generally a starchy vegetable (sweet potato/carrots/squash) and or fruit (apples/pears mostly), sometimes greens and usually bone broth. He gets cod liver oil maybe every third day when I remember to put it in his food. In the past couple weeks I've started adding chicken and tomorrow he's getting leftover beef stew, pureed. He does munch on brown rice puffs, but it's more for him to practice eating then substance-- he probably ends up eating a teaspoon of actual rice as mostly they end up on the floor. I don't otherwise give him much in the way of grains. He does eat chickpeas a few times a week as I discovered at a party that he adores hummus. He sometimes will feed himself pears or banana, but so far self-feeding is messy and not very nutritive. He's an enthusiastic eater and likes everything I've made him so far, though not a fan of the majority of commercial baby food for some reason, other than the Ella's kind.
I would love to get more exercise-- I get to the gym 1-2 days a week. Less if Max is really sleeping poorly, more if he's doing better. 3-4 days a week would be awesome, but sometimes (most times!) I am just too tired.
I would say I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, and back to my pre-paleo, pre-crossfit body but I really could do better and want to do better. Soon. Crossfit is not in the budget at the moment and doesn't have childcare, so I'm doing a weights program on my own at a gym with daycare.
So there it is-- the ugly truth. The dietitian is not perfect. But working on getting better for sure.
