Archive for February, 2010

Just a reminder this week kicks off the Rebecca Bitzer and Associates Exercise Challange. Get your body moving at least 30 minutes a day 5 days this week. Keep track of your workouts here- comment and let us know what you’re doing each day! We are excited to workout and discuss our progress with you! Good luck everyone.

Here is a summary of week 1:

Watch our chief dietitian on cable television.  Here is a sample of one of  Shelley’s  cooking sessions illustrating how easy it is to prepare a healthy meal in minutes.  You can easily purchase salmon patties at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.  I thought this would be a fun post to inspire anyone who wants to cook fish for dinner tonight or for a tasty lunch over the weekend.  Enjoy!

I just read an article on White Space and it reminded me of the recent blizzard. I loved the blizzard in one respect because it forced me to slow down, to stay at home and to reflect on my life, my career, my family, and my surroundings.

…read more on White Space

Check out our inspirational interview with Traci, another one of the many successful clients at Rebecca Bitzer and Associates.

Name: Traci

Age: 49

Starting Weight/ Current Weight (optional):  292 start weight; 250 today .  Lost 42 lbs.

What have been the keys to your success?  (Do you keep a food log?  Do you count carbs or calories or portions?) …read more on Traci- Successful Client Reduces blood sugar medication

Has the hard winter put a dent in your exercise routine?  Have you been dormant from exercise for awhile?  Maybe a long while?  Need encouragement to get it going?  You are not alone.  Many clients and even some of us dietitians are needing some encouragement along these lines.  Look no further.  Here is the answer:  The RBA Exercise Challenge!

Everyone here at RBA is getting moving and we would like you to join us in our challenge. Walk or run 30 minutes a day, bike, or take part in any other aerobic activity 5 days a week for the month of March in honor of National Nutrition Month! Each week we will check in and see how everyone is doing, as well as post updates from previous weeks. Keep us posted on how you are doing and feel free to provide motivation for everyone who joins our challenge. There will be prizes for all who complete the challenge as well as a chance to win a grand prize!

I did a lot of snacking this past week during the snow storm, but I did my best to make conscious choices and snack on healthy foods. One of my favorite snacks from the past week are Pop Chips.

These chips aren’t fried or baked, but rather “popped” and I think they have a tremendous amount of flavor and crunch for a relatively healthy product. Additionally, they have no saturated fat and no artificial ingredients. Pop chips only contain natural potato ingredients (potato flour, potato starch) safflower oil and/or sunflower oil, rice flour, sea salt, and soy lecithin. …read more on Pop Chips – New Snack Food

Let’s share some of our “dinner on the table with very little cooking ideas”! Mine is a new chicken teriyaki recipe. I think that alot of people cringe at the thought of a crockpot meal, thinking that it must be some kind of mushy stew-like dish; however, you can make delicious healthy foods using a crockpot and it is so simple.  It took me longer to type up this recipe than it took for me to prepare it.  This dinner takes 5 minutes of prep.  I actually used the kitchen timer and was finished in less than 5 minutes. 
…read more on Fast dinner ideas

We grow up loving food. Food is a natural earthly pleasure. What happens to many of us as we grow up, is unfortunate, many of us start to distrust our bodies and our appetites and start to have unhealthy relationships with food. Some of us, overeat, way past our feelings of pleasure and find ourselves uncomfortable after eating and after years of overeating, find ourselves at war with the body that has grown out of control with the accompanying health issues. Others of us, are at the other extreme, furiously counting calories, fat grams and stressing out if the gym is closed due to the blizzard conditions. Neither of these extremes are obviously healthy, however, there are many people who are not at either of these extremes, but have forgotten how to enjoy, truly enjoy food. …read more on For the love of food

Frank’s  Inspiring Story:

November 2009, Frank was 240 pounds and he realized he was not getting any younger. When I asked him why he wanted to lose weight he told me he has a granddaughter and he wants to see her graduate college and get married. Frank was also taking a lot of medications and knew it was time to lose weight.  Frank said he had been to nutritionists in the past but realized he wasn’t fully ready to lose weight because he was not making any progress. At the time, Frank’s wife was seeing Rebecca Bitzer and making great progress and Frank wanted the same for himself.

Frank claimed that Rebecca was very helpful throughout the entire process; he realized he needed to be educated about food exchanges and carbohydrates and Rebecca helped him make smarter choices. He did not go on a diet he was just more conscious and wrote down everything he ate. Frank and his wife also started eating out less and focused on the preparations of food, using less oil and fat when cooking. “Rebecca was a life line coach” and she has helped Frank tremendously. …read more on Successful Client- Frank loses weight with Registered Dietitian

Here is an interesting comparison of destructive thinking which leads to overeating vs a more gentle approach to eating which helps develop skills of intuitive eating. Your nutritionist can help you identify, learn and practice healthier ways to deal with food to prevent overeating.

…read more on Recipe for Overeating