All posts by : amwadenutrition

FILL MY PLATE, HOLD THE WEIGHT GAIN

With the Holiday Season right around the corner, most families are filling their refrigerators and bringing out the pants with the elastic band. If your priority this season is to eat yourself into a food coma and sleep through the Thanksgiving Day football game, more power to you! But what about those of us currently focused on losing weight? After months of careful planning the pounds are coming off, and the holidays present a new obstacle many feel unprepared to face. How can we be expected to over come the temptation? The secret lies within the Lifestyle Triad: balance, moderation, and variety. Here are some tips to help you and your goals survive the holiday season.

Diet and exercise always work well together. Whether you are trying to build muscle or lose weight, one without the other hinders results. When an athlete follows a structured exercise routine and fails to eat properly, optimum performance cannot exist. In competition, this is a tragedy. All the time and sweat invested in training wasted because the plate was deprioritized. Investing in your diet is crucial, and hopefully after this article, it will be much easier to prioritize!

“Strong and fit is the image to aspire to.”

“I feel like I don’t have any energy. What can I eat to give me energy?” This is a quote I hear from new clients on a regular basis in my private practice. Being a Dietitian and self-cited mediator of information, what better way to answer this question then a quick Google search? In 0.28 seconds, Google finds me 24 million results that supposedly answer this seemingly popular issue. Upon further inspection of the information at my fingertips, I find an article on Business Insider: “10 Foods that will give you energy”. Sounds perfect!  Here is an abbreviated list of the cited foods:

•       Almonds, Dark chocolate, Salmon, Spicy herbs, Greek Yogurt,  Popcorn, Leafy Greens, Whole Grains, Blueberries, Eggs

A colleague of mine once observed that efficiency is reduced when there are “too many chiefs and not enough Indians”. That remark correlates with my current view of the health industry; it’s a mess. Thanks to extremely transparent access in all media, everyone is a health expert. Personal trainers, doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, nurses, and dietitians all offer professional services that occasionally step into the realm of the one another. When the education, experience, and application are relevant there is nothing wrong with this coverage. A problem arises when an expert decides to branch into a new area without the proper education or ability. This is one of the most direct causes of contradicting recommendations, which creates a medium for overwhelming confusion and misinformation.

This series (“Vexing Vocabulary”) is written with the intention to clarify or correct common misconceptions in the health industry, specifically the confusion caused by buzzwords. In most industries, information is spread using commonly accepted terms to raise awareness or drive trends. While this allows us to communicate and receive information at an increased rate, it is also responsible for the rampant spread of partial and even complete misinformation. Personally, I think it is because most buzzwords have multiple meanings, which creates an overlap of information that is not compatible. Being able to understand and identify that most commonly used terms have multiple meanings is the first step towards becoming an informed consumer. As you read this blog, if you think of some commonly used buzzwords that you would like to see a post on, let us know!

You’re busy. Each day you find yourself more heavily invested in life with higher expectations and more responsibilities. Stress is an ever-present factor, and with it, sometimes life seems to get in the way of truly living. This cycle is far too common in our society. It is the same cycle that leads to sedentary behavior and poor eating habits. From these habits come the sacrifice of health and what Jack Lalanne considered the most fundamental American tragedy. People are living longer but less able to participate in the activities they love. Said another way, life is measured in quantity not quality. The average lifespan is 85, but who cares when a majority of adults stop doing what they love by 60? There needs to be acknowledgement of the difference between living and existing. It is easier than one might think to invest in a life that favors living. All you need is a little attention to lifestyle.

Hello, and welcome to the Pittsburgh Dietitian Blog! My name is Andrew Wade, and I am the creator of this site.  I will be posting here as much as possible. Before I get started writing about all the things that get my keyboard excited, I thought it might be worthwhile to talk briefly about who I am, and what I plan to do with this blog.