National Registered Dietitian Day!

If you didn't know March 11th is National Registered Dietitian Day! So if you know a dietitian then you should definitely wish them Happy RD Day! I think it is excited that there is a day during National Nutrition Month when we get to celebration dietitians. I may be tooting my own horn, but RDs do so much behind the scenes in hospitals to help provide care to sick patients. To give you a glimpse into what an RD might do during their day here is a list of things that I did today: 

• Sat in a 2 hour meeting about a fortifier to use in human breast milk and the feasibility of getting this product in our NICU. 
• Put together a display for National Nutrition Month for the cafeteria on Smart Snacking. 
• Charted on NICU babies - assessing calorie/protein/fluid needs, growth and updating their nutrition plan of care. 
• Spent 1 1/2 hours working with a patient on our Med/Surg unit who needed some soup and supplements that we didn't end up having in house, but got those items finally to the patient. 

That is just a glimpse into the variety of things that I find myself doing each and every day as a Registered Dietitian. For more information about Registered Dietitians CLICK HERE.

Smart Snacking

Smart Snacking ... what does that mean? I don't know about you, but I love a good snack. Maybe it is because I love food, but I am always looking forward to my mid-morning snack and my afternoon snack. It is important to make these snacks healthy. Don't get me wrong, I understand sometimes you just want a cookie for a snack and that is fine (if it is only one cookie and it doesn't become a routine). The key is making sure that other snack options are healthy. 

What types of foods do you think are healthy and good to include in your day as snacks? Some times it helps to think outside the box and maybe try some new foods. Variety is always important when it comes to eating healthy and getting all the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to run efficiently. 

Listed below are some great tips from the ChooseMyPlate.gov website. 

Snacking Tips from www.choosemyplate.gov website. Check it out for more healthy tips!

Water Jogging

Some of you may know this, but I love to run. In fact I have been training for a marathon for the past 9 weeks. My first marathon every and I am super exciting and yes slightly terrified. Well after my 16 mile run last weekend I started to experience some knee pain. I knew right away what was going on .... runner's knee. This is an inflammatory condition of the muscles surrounding the patella that is due to weak quadriceps muscles/hip muscles, poor running form, bad shoes or over use. Well I knew that if I didn't change up my routine then this pain was going to persist and get worse. I did end up running 5 miles on Monday, but I ended up walking some, because I didn't want to push too hard. From Tuesday through Thursday I took time off. I spent Wednesday evening doing hip strengthening exercises for an hour. Then Friday morning I went water jogging. I found a community swim time at the Zionsville High school and headed over there to run in their deep end of the pool for 60 minutes. It was quite the work out and I think I am going to work water jogging into my routine. 

                                                                                  http://tinyurl.com/or72lod

If you aren't familiar with water jogging then here are some good articles: 

Latest Research from Runners Connect

Pool Running is Great Recovery 

Off the Deep End

National Nutrition Month 2015

March is National Nutrition Month. Now you might be wondering what that means ... well in the world of dietetics this is the month that we work hard to promote leading a healthy lifestyle! I love the logo and slogan for 2015 because it talks about biting into a healthy lifestyle. The goal is to live healthier, one small step at a time. 

So what can you do this month to live healthier? Are there any habits that you have that you have wanted to change? Start with one thing .... I want to stop snacking late at night or walk for 15 minutes each day. Pick one simple goal and make that attainable this month! 

One of the most common complaints that I hear about trying to live a healthy lifestyle is that it is expensive. I believe that there are ways to make healthy, budget friendly choices. Plus being healthy now helps to decrease healthcare costs in the future, therefore saving you money in the long run. Check out these Healthy Eating on a Budget Tools from ChooseMyPlate.gov. 

Another helpful tip to saving money when eating healthy is to prepare your food at home. This can help you save money and enjoy delicious meals at home. There is a great recipe book that provides ~30 recipes from cookie recipes to dinner entrees using healthy foods that is available from ChooseMyPlate.gov - CLICK HERE for the Cookbook. 

Welcome!

This is my new blog home. I was very excited to actually create a professional website and blog. I have spent the last 5 years writing on my Life Through Green Eyes Blog and then separately posting on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Here recently, Chas (my amazing husband) came up with the idea to have my own centralized webpage where I can have a more professional media presence. I thought it was a great idea and so what you are seeing if hopefully the start to something amazing. We were able to purchase the domain name www.RDAnna.com and hoping to build off of that. It is a work in progress so bare that in mind as we get started with this new website and blog platform. 

Hopefully this will be a great place to post information about new nutrition research, recipes for you to try, tips about being healthy and can be a platform to share my media work with my friends and family.