I'm a Registered Dietitian and I'm very detail oriented. I love lists, I love budgets, I love writing menus. I used to love filing my taxes by hand, filling out each little individual box on a form. The only reason I stopped was so that I could file online and get my money back faster. I've met other dietitians who are this way.
When they taught us how to generalize the calorie content of different food groups in order to create a quick calorie count, I went home and promptly put myself on a diet with a menu plan. I accounted for three meals and a snack and made a lot of my food from scratch.
I wasn't always like this. I recall rationalizing my addiction for Dr. Pepper while I was in college. I declared unequivocally that the 150 calories per can was a worthwhile treat each day and I wasn't going to deprive myself, even though I was also working on a weight loss goal. I've gotten into exercise hard core and when it made me hungry, I allowed myself to eat a donut for breakfast.
But I became a dietitian so that I could learn about and educate others about an eating pattern that was considered quite weird at the time, vegetarianism. I became a vegetarian in 1999 and while you would think it would be quite accepted, it wasn't. Everyone I knew thought I was going to die from protein deficiency. Everyone had such strong opinions on how I should be eating. No one I knew had a working knowledge of nutrition. So I basically chose a major so that I could argue with people who wanted to tell me how to eat.
I find it amusing that the people with the least amount of information tend to have the strongest opinions.
My goal, starting from 1999 on, was to have my behaviors and my choices match my goals. My goals to be healthy and not contribute to industries that I disagree with. Not to push that on anyone else, but just for me because I can't control others. They are not my responsibility, I am.
My challenge in life now is not to show others how to be healthy vegetarians, it is rather the opposite. My challenge is showing others how to commit to a bariatric lifestyle. While this is mostly a "meat-itarian" lifestyle, the overall concept is the same. Bariatric patients have to commit to eating in a way that is markedly different from the way others eat, they have to face unsolicited comments from people with limited information and strong opinions who want to control the way they eat. People who think they're going to die from a protein deficiency - it's the same but different.
The biggest similarity, the piece that holds it all together, is knowing what you want and sticking to it. Wherever you are on your journey - with money, with food, with whatever, you need identify your goal. What is your end game? Why are you doing this? Make it a little specific, don't just say "eat healthier" because thats so vague it could mean very different things to different people. Be honest with yourself. What do you really want? Where are you really trying to go?
Did you come up with something?
Good. Now make your choices match your goals.
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