Our body is complex. Every individual part, whether it be your muscles, nerves, organs, tissues or bones, relies on one another (for the most part) in order to properly function. There are also hormones that like to be regulated and hate being out of control. But above all, the food in which we provide our body has the power to help control almost every function in our body. For it is the vitamins and minerals in the food that we choose to eat that help foster proper metabolism and body functioning.
So while we know the importance of food to help nourish our body, I find it equally important to "train" the mind. For we spend much of our day sitting, often doing monotonous tasks, and our brain takes a backseat. As a clinical dietitian, I am constantly learning. My brain is always working, trying to figure things out with my patients and learning about new diseases and conditions. There isn't a day when I don't use my calculator and regardless of whether or not I have a patient on tube feeding or TPN, every patient is unique and special in his/her own way. Then there are my athletes that always keep me on my toes. For every person is an individual and I love finding creative and balanced approaches to helping people reach individual goals.
I am sure that every person challenges his/her own mind in some way. Perhaps you are a thinker when you are training. I know for myself, swimming is the time when I come up with most of my blog posts and articles. I can totally zone out during a swim practice, which isn't the best if my lane mates are relying on me to keep track of yardage.
While we all love a good sweat and exercising our body, I think it is very important in this day and age that we exercise our mind. For much of our life is spent on computers and gadgets and we are slowly getting away from relying on our brain to figure out tasks. In one way, life seems more complex with all the electronics surrounding us but at the same time, life seems much easier because there is a gadget to help us with everything.
I absolutely love reading and learning new things. I also enjoy relying on my memory thus forcing my brain to think about things in more detail. With all the information available to us in magazines, on the internet and in books, I think it is important that when we read an article we don't just "assume" that the information in the article will apply to each and every one of us. We must read the info, process the info and then think about how we may want to use the new information in order to help us with our balanced lifestyle.
Here are a few articles that I found very interesting and wanted to share them with you all.
McDonald's to make Happy Meals more healthful
Counting Calories?
Athletic performance and monthly cycle
So while we know the importance of food to help nourish our body, I find it equally important to "train" the mind. For we spend much of our day sitting, often doing monotonous tasks, and our brain takes a backseat. As a clinical dietitian, I am constantly learning. My brain is always working, trying to figure things out with my patients and learning about new diseases and conditions. There isn't a day when I don't use my calculator and regardless of whether or not I have a patient on tube feeding or TPN, every patient is unique and special in his/her own way. Then there are my athletes that always keep me on my toes. For every person is an individual and I love finding creative and balanced approaches to helping people reach individual goals.
I am sure that every person challenges his/her own mind in some way. Perhaps you are a thinker when you are training. I know for myself, swimming is the time when I come up with most of my blog posts and articles. I can totally zone out during a swim practice, which isn't the best if my lane mates are relying on me to keep track of yardage.
While we all love a good sweat and exercising our body, I think it is very important in this day and age that we exercise our mind. For much of our life is spent on computers and gadgets and we are slowly getting away from relying on our brain to figure out tasks. In one way, life seems more complex with all the electronics surrounding us but at the same time, life seems much easier because there is a gadget to help us with everything.
I absolutely love reading and learning new things. I also enjoy relying on my memory thus forcing my brain to think about things in more detail. With all the information available to us in magazines, on the internet and in books, I think it is important that when we read an article we don't just "assume" that the information in the article will apply to each and every one of us. We must read the info, process the info and then think about how we may want to use the new information in order to help us with our balanced lifestyle.
Here are a few articles that I found very interesting and wanted to share them with you all.
McDonald's to make Happy Meals more healthful
Counting Calories?
Athletic performance and monthly cycle