Salads so yummy that I will eat it every day: Dine Out Vancouver

Every year, during Christmas, I look would forward to Dine Out Vancouver which happens during my birthday month (January). For those who don’t know what Dine Out is, it’s essentially the Vancouver version of Winterlicious from Toronto. Participating restaurants create a set menu that is not usually offered at their restaurant. My experience with Dine Out have always been mediocre. However, this year I fell in love with the salads at Lamplighter. The salads were so good I had to pack it home and that is not something I usually do. Here is a picture of a piece of the amazing kale salad I had.

Kale so perfectly charred on the outer edges

12 Things Nutrition Students Do

As a dietetic student studying nutrition, I’ve always been hit hard with stereotypes and misconceptions people have about my field. Some of the common questions/comments I get from people:

Them: Hey, so are you a vegetarian?

Me: No, I eat meat just like everybody else…

Them: What’s the difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian? 

Me: A dietitian is licensed and regulated, unlike a nutritionist, we have to go through intensive training like an internship and write a board exam to become registered. Most hospitals only hire dietitians because we have actual training working in ICU and working with tubefeeds. Basically we can do whatever a nutritionist can do, but they can’t do what we can do.

Them: Oh I bet you don’t eat this *looks at their plate of food and feels bad*

Me: No, I eat them too! (Along with poutine, icecream… list of food continues)

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What I want to say is that, “we”, the people studying and working in the dietetics field are just like every other person. We aren’t the food police! We just love talking about food and learning about how food can be used as a preventative measure to decrease risk of chronic diseases.

I love food and it means I will eat everything in moderation which means my plate isn’t just full of vegetables and fruits! My obsession with food is pretty crazy. To get a sense of the types of food I eat and think about, check out my list things I do as a nutrition student below. As you can see 90% of my spare time is food related.

Nutrition Education Session: Chia Pudding

This term I am a teaching assistant for a third year nutrition class. As a teaching assistant, I was eligible for the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) which focuses on enhancing teaching practices of graduate students and improve lesson planning. As a undergraduate student, I felt overwhelmed because I knew the other participants would be very experienced in teaching.

For the first workshop session, I have decided to teach chia pudding. As a dietetic student, I had plenty of practice developing nutrition education sessions, so lesson planning was not too much of an issue for me. However, at the ISW we only had 5 minutes to teach! It took me awhile to finalize my topic for a 5 minute lesson- I mean what can you teach in such a short period of time? Eventually I decided on demonstrating how to make chia pudding.

Vancouverites: Do You Have an Earthquake Emergency Kit?

Earthquake in Vancouver is a big deal because we are surrounded by water and people fear tsunamis and natural disasters. When I felt the Victoria earthquake aftershock about an hour ago, I was trying to come up with a plan/actually tried to pack all the necessities I needed in case of emergency. Here is an impromptu blog post of my afterthoughts from this earthquake scare. 

Last Minute: Christmas Gift Ideas For Foodies

Because my last post was pretty intense, I’ve decided this next one is going to be more uplifting and holiday appropriate. So here is my blog post on “last minute Christmas gift ideas”

I’ve always been a pinterest junkie. This Christmas I decided to do a 12 days of Christmas countdown pack for my significant other. So I definitely needed a lot of inspiration and pinterest saved the day!

The most popular thing in the year of 2015 obviously is mason jars. I reused an idea I had done before from previous year: the hot chocolate mix in a jar gift.

Hot Chocolate Mix in a Jar

Experience as the patient: acid reflux & dysphagia

Today, I had my first endoscopy. I was nervous about it for over two months. Let me bring you back to why I even needed an endoscopy in the first place.

All the meds I had went through since summer.

5 months ago, I was coughing really bad. The doctor told me I had lung sensitivity. The slightest smells from perfume and scented lotions would get me on a coughing fit. Commuting was difficult. I did not realized how many people doused themselves heavily with fragrances until then which made me realized how important it is for doctor clinics, senior homes and hospitals to be SCENT FREE. For people with healthy bodies, these scents won’t trigger a reaction but for others who have lung disorders, it creates a huge amount of distress.

2 months later, the doctor thinks acid reflux probably irritated my throat causing me to cough, so I was given Tecta (a proton pump inhibitor). I was finally not coughing  but in early November, I felt a lump in my throat.