How A Duke Dietician Revamped My Eating Habits
A Duke staff member uses the free nutrition consultation benefit for employees
I kept a food journal for three days in March. I documented everything I ate and drank, what time I ate, and how long it took me to finish meals and snacks.
Read MoreThe results were a little alarming, albeit not surprising.
It takes me three hours to eat an apple. I focus more on work at my desk than taking a lunch break. Sometimes, I come home at the end of a day hungry and rush off to improv comedy practice, leaving me eating an ill-planned dinner at 10:30 p.m.
Interested in learning more about nutrition, I talked with Esther Granville, nutrition program manager for LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke’s employee wellness program. LIVE FOR LIFE provides free nutrition consultations for staff and faculty, and Granville suggested I keep a food journal before meeting with her to discuss nutrition and health goals.
I was a little nervous as I entered Granville’s office, clutching my food journal, almost expecting to be reprimanded for my poor meal time-management skills or the day I ate too many chocolate chip cookies in one sitting.
“We’re not here to judge you,” Granville said.
She told me it is healthy to “graze” throughout the day but to make sure I keep easy, grab-and-go snacks with me, such as healthy protein bars, fresh fruit and string cheese. She read my food journal and recommended I add more vegetables and whole-grain bread and crackers, as well as replace almond milk with soy milk for more protein.
We talked about how to manage to cook well-balanced dinners by preparing bigger meals such as crockpot chicken on days when I’m free. This way, I can save part of the meal as leftovers or freeze portions for later.
“It’s about making the foods available to you that you know are healthy and finding things that are not going to take a lot of extra work for you to put them together,” Granville said.
Since my consultation, I am more strategic when I go to the grocery store. I stay away from processed food and purchase nuts, fruit and veggies to enjoy on the go. I also pick up all ingredients to make large dinners that yield leftovers. More importantly, though, Granville affirmed for me that being a “grazer” is okay, as long as I eat a variety of nutritious snacks that cover the main food groups: Fruits, grains, vegetables, protein and dairy.
Look in my Duke lunchbox now, and you’ll find raw walnuts, fresh strawberries, baby carrots, Greek yogurt and a nutrition bar – all grab-and-go items to accompany my main-course leftovers and a perfect recipe for more energy and a balanced diet.