A visit with a nutritionist

My employer’s employee wellness program includes a limited number of sessions with a nutritionist, so after deciding to become vegetarian again, I got an appointment with this nutritionist. Check out her website – she’s not exactly a slouch!

Today was my first appointment, and it was very interesting. I’d had some “homework” e-mailed to me prior, which included logging my food intake for three days (I did it for four days, probably an indication that I still have a Type A personality - LOL). As an aside, I would really recommend doing this for yourself – you might be really surprised at what you’re eating and when, how hungry you really are (or aren’t) when you eat, etc. It’s even better when you have to show it to someone afterwards because (if you’re like me), you make better choices because you don’t want to be embarrassed when he/she reads about the junk you eat or how much you eat. But I digress …

Jean gave me a vegetarian food guide (produced by the Canadian government, but not nearly as glamourous-looking as the one that includes meats), reviewed my food logs and supplements, and generally commended me on my healthy choices (yay me!!!). But there are some areas for improvement, and I will work on those before I see her again next week.

Jean made two interesting comments today: 1) while she doesn’t consider herself a vegetarian, she did say that she NEVER cooks meat at home, and only eats meat when she’s eating away from home, as when she is visiting her parents – and she wrinkled her nose! (expressing distaste for the meat-eating, I’m sure, rather than for her parents!); 2) at a recent symposium she attended, the chair of the department of Organic Agriculture at the University of Guelph told the audience that if everyone in Canada decided to consume the minimum recommended number of fruit and vegetable servings every day, there would not be enough Canadian produce for them to do so! This latter point, I believe, is more about how we choose to use our agriculturally viable land for housing/retail and crops to feed animals for meat.

Anyway, it was a very valuable way to spend that hour of my day today, and I look forward to the follow-up visits as I fine-tune my diet for optimal health! :)