We Almost There Friends…Life Update

Life is busy busy busy my friends!

I’m two weeks away from being done my final placement for my degree (aside from starting with my future boss Andrea at Dietetic Directions) but there have been so many other things going on that I would love to update you on. Lets do that in pictures shall we because it means I can control my excessive talking.

1. First off, Happy Canada Day to all my Great White North friends! 

Was so happy to see the new baby, Charlie. She’s 1 month old and you can barely see her in this picture.

My favourite animal!

Penguins are my favvvv animal. What is yours?

Mukky and I went to the zoo yesterday…yes in the 40 degree heat wave…but it was amazing. He wanted to take me there as my birthday present and honestly it was the best thing. It was his first time and I just love going there!

My favourite animal!

Was so happy to see the new baby, Charlie. She’s 1 month old and you can barely see her in this picture.

We were exhausted by the time we left, that heat I love but man does it suck the life out of you (UV of 9 geesh!).

2. Speaking of Mukky..

We celebrated our 6 month this weekend too! I honestly don’t even know how I was so lucky to have had him drop into my life (thanks Tinder :-P). He has been my rock and we got really close very fast. I cannot be happier. I love him like no one else and honestly I could have never made it through this tough year, medically, without him.

He’s my world ❤

3. We finally got to go canoeing…

It was another first for him and aside from being unable to steer properly…I should have been in the front for better weight distribution…it was a lot of fun!

4. I had my Dragons Den Presentation and presented my thesis

This was our last class day and a summary of our hard work on a year long project (business project). Also, for those who were done, a showcase of our thesis research.

Don’t we look all spiffy?

My thesis was with my partner, Abby, and we were working at seeing if a foods lab course would improve upon food safety and skills and, as a result, lower convenience food consumption in 2nd year undergraduates. Although our results were not significant (we had a few biases in our subject pool and one issue with our data collection method), Abby felt that from a subjective standpoint, students appeared to improve, so maybe if the survey was fixed it would be better?

I’m going to miss them. My class of 21 really became a family… #MANFam…. but I know that the friends I made here will last a long long time and they will all graduate to do amazing things!

Countdown to graduation is officially less than 2 months!

5. I had another job interview!

…..and I believe it went really well. It’s at a Chiro and Physio clinic and honestly it looks amazing so I’m crossing my fingers. It would nicely cap off as two part time positions and would be both seeing clients in the way I have dreamed.

6. I started an IGChannel.

Video #2

I figured that this would be a fun platform for sharing information that wouldn’t be as energetically and time consuming as Youtube as I come into starting my career.

7. I have taught 2 classes…

At Langs, I have done the Intro To Diabetes and also another diabetes education talk at another the Cambridge Cardiac Centre and both went very well. I really love being able to do these types of presentations to the public and hope to incorporate things like that into my future career endeavours.

8. Medical update…

I think my hunt is finally over…I hope and pray. I survived through my second attempt at my procedure, barely, but it did come out with some results. Right than and there my doctor told me I had a tape worm..well actually a few. That was slightly shocking (have no idea where I would have gotten those…) but it made sense for many of my symptoms and for my lack of weight gain. Funny enough, many people have joked about that in the past.

I was given a hard single dose drug and hoped that would fix my issues.

I then received a phone call late the next week and he informed me that after taking a look at the biopsies done, I had colitis. Lymphocytic colitis to be exact and while they don’t know what the cause is, they had a guess that it was medications that I had been prescribed a long time ago after my diagnosis with GERD.

That one I didn’t handle well and I felt like I had a dark cloud over me for a day or two. The possibly that I can get rid of this completely is higher if it is the medication, as now I’m being medicated….again….and off those meds so it can heal BUT if that isn’t the case, it may be chronic and just management-based.

I really don’t want to live my life like this anymore. I don’t want to be looked at as frail by other people (who say some pretty nasty things sometimes when they don’t understand my situation) and just want to NOT feel sick anymore, but I’m trying to stay optimistic that this is my answer and it will be taken care of. My family and friends are very supportive and there to put me back in my positive headspace if I’m feeling overwhelmed but we going to get past this fam 🙂

To end on a positive note…

…this lil one had her birthday yesterday, mine is tomorrow and next weekend, as part two of celebrations for my birthday and Mukky and my anniversary, we have a nice Niagara hotel and falls trip booked. I’m so excited!

I hope you all have had a great long weekend and for those to the south of me, happy July 4th! 

-Chelsea

 

3000 Calories and On a Cut…BF Eats Edition

My friends!

I have wanted to do this post for a while because I get a lot of questions about how my boyfriend is loosing weight and continuing to eat ice cream and copious bowls of cereal. I figured I would show you instead of explaining it, but lets get the simplest explanation out of the way first..

You will loose weight if you’re in a caloric deficit (unless there is some hormonal or physical barrier, which actually is in only like 2% or less of people..). WITH THAT SAID… we want you to perform at your best, feel energized and enjoy your diet so you can sustain it.

My philosophy as a coach is that I want people to never feel deprived, as that leads to unsustainable dieting and weight regain. I also want people to be healthy so a nice balance of mostly wholesome, nutritious foods with a treat of their liking that fits within their macro meals is what I tend to do. This allows them to stay on track while also giving their bodies the fuel it’s wanting and used to using.

I’m going to say this now…your body runs BEST on whole, unprocessed foods. It just does. You will be leaner, have greater energy and perform better on those than a pile of junk, so those IIFYM people eating donuts pre workout…yeah they may not gain weight because they have factored it in, but do you think that donut will give them the best training outcomes?

Probably not.

Also keep in mind that a treat to one person is not the same for another person. While some would want to work in seem ice cream (like my bf), others may really really love a sweet potato with peanut butter as a sweet treat. They both can work as long as your other nutrients are in check.

So thats the shortest I can explain that, so lets get into food now so you can see it come to life.

Breakfast. I was off yesterday so I got out the waffle iron and made him some protein waffles.

Not pictured was the 4 egg whites scrambled with roasted red peppers, spinach and some cheddar Allegro (lactose-free) cheese

These used Yummy Sports Nutella protein and I topped it with caramelized banana + almond butter + Walden Farms syrup (doesn’t upset his stomach so he likes to use it)

Waffles–> blend together 2 tbsp coconut flour + 1 tsp chia seeds + 1/2 scoop whey + 40g oats + 1 egg white + 30g unsweetened apple sauce + 1/4-1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk + 1 tsp baking powder

Meal 2: This one he eats around 10ish and happened to be his pre workout yesterday. As a PT manager he works a split shift so gets some flex time late morning to go and lift

This meal is super easy to meal prep and he loves it. This version is with sweet potatoes and extra lean ground beef. He’s also pretty happy with the portion size on that one. #AlwaysHungry #BiggerPortionsAreBetter

Meal 3 –> This was his post workout. He got a bit delayed getting to the gym so he was starving. He does take some pre workout and the stimulants calm his appetite a bit during his workout, but afterwards…look out.

I like to call this the volume ‘kitchen sink’ stirfry. He has about 48g of carbs per meal but for extra volume uses the cauliflower rice to make this meal massive. With the remaining carbs he likes some roasted potatoes in his stirfry and this week, instead of quinoa, he added left over chickpeas to fill in the rest of the carbs.

Immediately post workout he also has a protein shake. No you don’t need to have a protein shake immediately post workout if you’re going to eat, but mentally he feels better if he does, so protein protein protein..

We found this company at the Pro Show and they are super yummy and have no fillers or even gums! Happy tummy’s all around.

He has another protein shake in the later afternoon…because always hungry and his protein is really high. The higher protein is an experimental thing that my coach suggested so he’s trying it out. He likes it so far.

Before any comments..no high protein doesn’t hurt your kidneys if you’re a healthy individual. Studies have also shown that even a surplus in calories in protein doesn’t lead to the same degree of fat mass gain as fats/carbs. They have also shown that higher intakes in those who are in a deficit maintain greater lean muscle mass while loosing fat mass than those following traditional macronutrient ratios

Down the hatch goes protein shake numero two.

This is also very easy for him to just have while busy at work with clients or his staff. Great flavour on this one too and we got this for like 10 bucks because it was on blow out at GNC.

Dinner –> As I was off, I like to make him fun dinners and I happen to see a Poke kit at the grocery store so that was all I needed. Deconstructed sushi is great in his eyes and I got to make a pretty Poke bowl like all of the ones I see plastered on IG

Great success. He loved it and basically everything (minus the rice) is raw so it’s fast to make too. He’s a bit picky about how he eats his mango, so he picked that out to save for last but other than that, it was a thumbs up from him.

In the bowl –> tuna poke + sauce, serving of sushi rice, seaweed salad from Zehrs, avocado, zoodles, sesame oil, ginger, 1 tbsp soy sauce and some wasabi…plus mango that he picked out.

Bedtime Meal –> So this is where his treat comes in. His last meal is eaten with me in bed every night for us to unwind and watch a show together. We love our bed time snack routine and he takes it as his snack treat time.

Protein is a standard (which we both have a protein to start..they are not eaten together haha) and than the fats and carbs are typically where he has some fun. Last night he tried out the popcorn I got for him, which was a white cheddar jalapeño flavour. He liked it and it had a nice kick to it.

…

So that is a day in the life of my bf on a cut. I won’t do the specific macro breakdown for you because that is personal to him and will serve nothing to you BUT he is loosing weight steadily and eating 3000 calories at the moment.

Ladies and gents, you don’t need to starve to loose weight. If you treat your body correctly and keep your metabolism high + your psychological self in check, you will get where you need to go. Patience and consistency are key and enjoying your life.

I hope that has helped a bit and thank you to my love for letting me steal pictures of all of his food yesterday before he ate it…

TGIF!

-Chelsea

One More To Go…

My friends!

Happy Thursday, today is quite the busy day for me but wanted to stop in to chat real quick as I have just finished up my first week in my new placement over at Lang’s Medical Centre in Cambridge.

Website

This will be my last official placement for my degree, but I added a final placement at Dietetic Directions because I will be joining Andrea’s wonderful team at her practice once I am finally done (job spoiler alert! Squeeeaaal). The placement with her will not only act as a training and overall welcoming to her biz but it also helps to me to cover some of the hours that I lost due to my many medical appointments following my GI issues and jaw accident.

Go say hi to Andrea over on her website http://dieteticdirections.com 

I’m so excited and thankful to join Andrea and her partner, as they are doing just what I have envisioned myself doing. So, really this job is a dream come true. I’m still on the look out for a second PT job, but I’m over the moon happy about this one and ansy to begin.

…..

As I begin this new placement I was sad to leave Amy and my previous placement because I really felt like she gave me the most opportunity (plus more) than I could have ever imagined. She really believed in my abilities as a counsellor and threw me into just about anything and everything from day one.

~I counselled my first client on day 2 and continued to counsel most clients that she saw afterwards

~I did my own Lunch-And-Learn on sports nutrition data for 8 FHT staff (dieticians, kinesiology and nurses)…which they said I did awesome so that was nice to hear

~I taught a cooking class

~I helped teach various groups for educating on diabetes and healthy eating

~I did a home visit with a family with a child with special needs (physically and mentally)

~I helped Amy pull together evidence to form a case against a fellow medical professional who was selling harmful advise and procedures to the public

Overall, Amy just made me feel as if I was competent. More than anyone has so far. We had a great working relationship and flow and I can’t thank her enough for everything she offered to me. It truly means a lot that she let me take charge with her patients, as it shows she trusted me and didn’t think I would royally screw things up!

…

I can say that even just being at Langs for a few days, I have come to understand my style of counselling even more. The charting system at Langs is much more structured and rigid, leading to a much more robotic counselling style. This may appeal to some, but for me, I feel as if it is less ‘client-based’ than just going with the flow of the client’s conversation and concerns and then free-style charting afterwards based on what you ended up discussing. I don’t like the ‘check off the boxes’ style sessions, it doesn’t seem as natural.

I also have not been able to counsel yet, which is hard because I was doing it every day and gaining more confidence than I already had before by doing it so often. I suppose they have to be comfortable too OR I just haven’t spoken up enough, but I want to be respectful and not overly pushy about taking over their patients while I’m there. After all, these placements are only 5 weeks due to my final placement being cut in half.

Regardless, I do think I will have a good time at Langs, as we still see a large variety of clients and I still get to take part in a class or two each week. One thing I have noticed is that I’m entering a new population demographic in the sense that many of the individuals seen here are low income, elderly and Indian. Many of these groups can be challenging because they have their own tastes and unique foods to understand (I have come to learn roti is eaten at practically every meal, paneer is a dairy product and eggs are not to be eaten in the summer…), elderly have appetite and many more other chronic illnesses (on top of their diabetes) and lower income often means much worse eating habits and more barriers to affect their stage of change.

With that said though, I’m always up for the challenge and going to take everything from this placement that I can just as I have always done.

….

Its supposed to be a beautiful weekend friends, so I hope you get outside to enjoy every ray of that sunshine!

…and to end your week on a funnier note, I saw this on IG the other day and, well, we students can relate.

Much love friends! 

-Chelsea

Also jumping into Thursday Thinking Out Loud with Amanda and the crew! Thanks for the link up!

 

I Didn’t Gym For 3 Weeks..And I Lived.

My Friends,

So after a slightly traumatizing event (insert jaw break) and a medical-forced eternal rest time from my favourite place (insert picture of Chelsea lifting weights in her dreams), I have finally made it back to my happy place…

Come follow me! MissMightyMouse

After just a week and a half back in I can say I have felt a bunch of mixed emotions..

~Frustrated because I’m not as strong as I was and that before my accident I had just reached my goal of my 2BW back squat. Looking at that weight and where I’m at right now, it looks impossible to reach again.

~Elated. The first day I stepped back I was anxious because I was afraid of my weaker and tired body but also relieved because it was a weird sense of painless-ness. My jaw didn’t hurt because honestly I was so focused on just breathing in my second home again that I didn’t think about it much.

~Supported. As I mentioned in my previous posts, the love of everyone in wishing me back and checking up on me was overwhelming in the best way. 

~Determined. I know my strength will come back. I have done this before. I have fought worse battles than this, I will get there again.

The biggest thing that I can say I took from all of this is that I truly understand my relationship with the gym. I need it, but not for what you may think.

Can I say I was (and still am…) addicted to the gym? 100% yes, but let me explain…

I used to think that my fear of not going was simply because I felt I would get fat and soft (sorry if that is triggering to anyone, I’m being honest here). I wanted to go because of my passion, I truly did, but the fear of missing a day was mostly based off of that.

The other fear was because my stomach is such a mess right now, consistency is what I lived to try to keep it somewhat happy. If I didn’t go to the gym, I didn’t know WHEN to eat, WHAT to eat and if I would ever get hungry at all! From my past, I’m left with a huge fear of stuffing or force feeding myself and the past year of struggling with this unknown GI distress has had me doing that a lot.

The difference post accident is that I had no “purpose” or reason to tell myself I had to do it. I wasn’t doing it to ensure I had fuel for my lift. Yes I realize I needed to be eating for recovery and repair, but stick with me here. How was I supposed to tell myself I had to eat when I wasn’t hungry when I couldn’t really ‘use it’ or perceive that I had a reason to use it?

In a lot of ways, the gym kept me in a routine of eating so that I didn’t lose weight while I was often really not wanting to eat. It was my crutch while my stomach was this tyrant leader that basically dictated my life.

But you know what? I got hungry, maybe not as much but I did before, but hunger came around. I basically broke part of my face, I would hope my body had some ability to tell me it needed energy.. So I got a sense of relief a bit because hunger is a real emotional thing for me because its not always there during these times.

Aside from that, I took a much bigger lesson out of this. I learned that I need the gym because it gives me life and a sense of strength because I feel my body is failing me sometimes, which makes me feel weak. Even when I felt like crap with a flare up, I could somehow get my mind and body to perform at it’s peak in the gym and that made me feel even a bit better in the moment.

The gym also helps clear my anxiety, so I need it in my life for that and I literally felt a piece missing from me during those three weeks. Pushing my bf to sadly leave me to go because I knew that I wanted him to enjoy the very thing that gave me so much joy. If I couldn’t, at least he could and that made me happy.

Placement helped a lot. This is the best placement I have had and really solidified what I want to do with my life but man is it busy and mentally draining. Kept my busy mind from focusing on what I didn’t have.

Going to stop making this sound like a sob story, not my intention, just trying to portray how important this was for the next lesson to make sense

One ultimate thing that I learned through all of this…

Although its still hard for me to take a day off, this experience has shown me that my two biggest fears will not happen if I did for one or two days. I will get hungry and be able to eat AND I won’t literally die without it. I will not lose all my progress. I will not randomly wake up with a little pot belly (again sorry if that is a bit much, but my mind thinks irrationally sometimes) if I don’t go a day because there was something that took me away all day.

Like a nice weekend in Niagara with my love

Its still hard, but I’m learning that I can break routine once and a while and things won’t fall to pieces.

I’m also starting to slowly gain my strength back as my food comes back up and I’m feeling better as a whole.

I really had to think about whether I wanted to post this or not, but what the hell, I posed for a reason. Everyone has some rough morning faces no?

So heres a thumbs up to…

1. Gaining back my strength

2. Eating solid foods again

3. Being able to have my source of stress relief back in my life

4. Joining my favourite person in our favourite place once again and eating back at my table at Movati post workout as I always have.

Much love my friends! Happy Monday and sunshineyyyyy day!

One Week Down And I’m Hooked

My friends,

I have officially finished my first week in placement and I knew I would look forward to my clinical placement for a reason…

But before I get into all that…

Before my placement began this past Tuesday, I dragged my bf to the KW Pet Expo in Kitchener and got to pet all the doggies and even see a kangaroo!

Hi Buddy!

Now I’m always stuck between not liking the fact that this guy is in a cage and enjoying the ability to see them up close and personal but I kind of always feel selfish for not being 100% opposed to the whole thing. I have this same moral dilemma with the zoo. They don’t deserve to be in that little cage, but I have to be honest when I say I was super happy to see this guy.

#MyGuiltyConscienceIsBuilding

What I can say is that I do not agree with this..

No. I don’t care if the dye is not harmful to the dog, you don’t do that. They are not a play toy. They are a living creature and I’m sure that is not something a dog would really want.

Do you believe in changing the colour of a dogs hair? 

Anyways, so onto placement..

What a busy week BUT I literally enjoyed every second of it, well maybe except for the need to fill up Dori more than I would have liked because the gas companies are trying to kill us all.

Like actually though…My thumb will be sticking out the next time I have to fill up.

#PrayersForCanadianDrivers

Let break down my days into nice easy bullets of fun

Tuesday

• Did my first chart note. Apparently I’m a fast charter, which is good because all you hear is dietitians talking about how they are always getting behind on their charting
• Got to sit in with my first client and my supervisor called me the “expert.” She was an IBS client and I swear she turned to me half of the times. Makes me feel all good about myself.
• Amy (my supervisor) challenged me on a number of questions related to Diabetes so I got to do lots of research and learn a few things
  • Did you know that smoking with diabetes increases your risk of having to have a limb amputated? Due to already having vascular and circulatory issues, the ‘diabetic foot’ is already prominent. Add smoking to that equation and you create a hypoxic (little to no oxygen) environment that doesn’t allow for healing.
• Got my calendar for all of the things we will be doing. So many things to attend and learn from
• Was able to listen to a client phone call
• Got my research project
  • The various recent diets and how they impact type 1 diabetes

Wednesday

• Keto presentation at another FHT!! Blog post to come but OMG this was such a good lecture. Was mostly about it’s applicability in the paediatric epilepsy population but she (the presenter, expert on the topic) discussed all of the risks and cautioned about it’s use in various other clinical applications and advised against the use of a traditional keto diet for weight loss purposes. Gets my mind going.

• More charting…
• Helped run the Craving Change class that ran from 5:30-7:30. This is a class for people who struggle with their eating and trying to use a form of CBT-like therapy to understand their thought and emotion patterns and how that relates to their eating. This week we discussed WHY we eat, whether these are stomach, mouth or mind reasons and discovered that most of the time, we are eating for something emotional.
  • I also had to be prepared to brief a client on the previous class (which I didn’t attend either as I wasn’t there yet) because she missed it before that class began.

Thursday (Busiest day!)

• 9am Diabetes Network committee meeting at a hospital. I was a bit lost as I have no idea what the committee was talking about and what they were currently working on, but hey, I got to listen to their challenges and brainstorming
• 11:30 Lunch-and-learn about new insulin pump technology. This was basically half me stuffing a pin cushion with various pumps…

…and half telling them the event of my jaw injury because I wasn’t eating their lunch… #StillOnBabyFood

• 3-5 was the Intro To Diabetes group, which was educating individuals who were newly diagnosed (although some didn’t know of their diagnosis…yikes!) on the basics of diabetes and nutrition related to the condition.
  • I learned that many people don’t know that eggs DONT belong in the dairy family
• 6:30-7:30 I helped run the Healthy You class, which focused on teaching about healthier eating patterns, whether that relates to understanding portion sizes, making substations and helping with healthy and sustainable weight loss if that was a goal.
  • I’m supposed to teach the class by myself next week…0_0
• Before that I got pulled into another client education session with the FHT Diabetes Educator. This was cool because I got to hear another professional’s counselling style and how she dealt with a client who was originally against making changes.
• Finally I was asked to run MY OWN lunch-and-learn on sports nutrition for a table full of dietitians from surrounding FHT’s so they can be educated on what to do with their clients. I was so honoured (hello it’s my third day) but slightly terrified at the same time. I know I can do it but my mind is swirling with how to present this thing…and it’s my third day!

Friday

• This is my research day. I can work from home but it’s doing my research project.

Overall, it was a great start to this placement. I enjoyed every moment of it and my supervisor, Amy, is amazing. I feel like she really believes and has a lot of confidence in me and my abilities and that’s really amazing to feel, especially so early on.

I have found my happy place guys. I’m a born counsellor and this is where I need to be.

Was there a time that something you were doing just ‘clicked,’ like you knew that this is really what you wanted to do? Yup, that was me this week.

Have a great Mothers Day weekend my friends, I took my Mom to the Butterfly conservatory today and it was tons of fun. Hope you have something fun planned with your loved ones!

When Your Man Is Cutting…

I’m backkkkk and I have more time than ever so you all are going to help keep me distracted mmmkkayyy?

So when you’re a nutrition consultant and your boyfriend asks you to help him cut, you be a good girlfriend and not only help slow his roll with his cutting style, but you track his macros and make sure this cut is more successful than previous cuts.

Most people like to cut crazy fast and so that is actually a challenge all on its own because he wants to drop faster than this ‘Pro’ wants to because #Impatience. But leave it to me and science and he will see I will come out on top in the end. He will be keeping as much of that muscle as possible due to slower cutting.

The numbers are only one part of the equation though, you see, when in the bodybuilding lifestyle there are many a things a girl should do for her man to show her support during the hard times of “Summer Shredding”

You must tell them they are not getting small. 

There is a fine line between telling them they are getting shredded vs them perceiving you think they are getting small and scrawny. They are getting leaner BUT they are also growing massive shoulders at the same time….Really emphasize that! LOL! Keeps their ego happy while they feel they are starving, despite only a 200 calorie deficit.

Guys can shush it when the are loosing weight at 3000 calories

You have to constantly remind them that if they’re hungry that just means they need more veggies in their life…Or water.

If I ever didn’t have time to help him prep his food for the day, it was missing a certain filling and micronutrient dense addition. He has quickly learned how much veggies help keep his stomach from growling longer.

If they are also doing a caffeine/Pre/Stimulant detox…watch out. 

Oh boy, a cut PLUS no pre-workout. That is fun times. You’re job is to be the motivator and not cave when they say you can look at the protein powder while they “talk to the sales person,” which means they are getting a pre-workout sample.

#ISeeEverything

You should help them with their food…

Or else they will be lazy a bro and just pack chicken and rice…than complain how much they hate chicken and rice and how life sucks.

Work on those wifey skills and help them out. I have taken it upon myself to be on top of his meal prep but MAN I did not realize how much food was needed for 3K calories…

Maybe bit off more than I could chew but the creativity is a’ flowing friends.

Here’s some ideas for you based on some of his favourites. 

Turns out he loves spaghetti squash. Hello volume! Plus he likes how filling it is while saving some extra carbs for later when he gets his fun meal..aka cereal

Cauli “rice” was also a great fine. that whole pot was 4 servings…FOUR and it’s massive.

We experimented and made cannelloni stuffed with Lactaid cottage cheese (higher protein, less fat) + canned crab meat. He liked them but with the amount of protein he needed, he felt like the crab was lost.

Shepherds pie was also a success. Really simple recipe too!

For 4 servings…

~2 large sweet potatoes, roasted and than mashed with rosemary, garlic powder and chili flakes

~around 800g of extra lean ground beef that was sautéed with mushrooms, zucchini and onion + liquid smoke, rosemary, 2 tbsp tomato paste and some fennel seeds.

Plop the beef mixture in the bottom of a sprayed tin and top with the mash and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the top browns a bit (you can add some butter on top, I just sprayed it a bit with some coconut spray)

He loved his little dairy free mac n’cheese cup. I used a lactose free, skim mozzarella cheese that we recently found at Zehrs and mixed it with some quinoa pasta (again, higher protein) and baked it in a ramekin until the top got nice and toasty. Served with a baked (my tin foil method) turkey breast fillet with steak spice and sautéed snap peas.

 

He was very very happy with his waffle sandwich. I tried to do the whole sweet potato chicken n’waffles thing but it had to be more macro friendly so I made a kabocha squash waffle (lower carbs) with chicken breast meat, his lactose free mozzarella cheese and a runny egg and he quite enjoyed it…

When the photographer/chef says you have to show the sammich contents while pretending to eat it…

Kabocha Waffle (makes 2 waffles)

Blend together –> 90g cooked and mashed squash + 1/2 cup or 40g oats + 1 tsp baking powder + 1 egg white (32g) + Italian spices + water to make a thick batter. 

Spray your waffle maker (mine is sad and makes flat waffles…) and cook your waffles as directed. 

Annddd these little beauties were a quick and fun lil recipe from The Lean Green Bean that he actually loved.

I used a lactose free white cheddar in the centre of each meatball (which was made with extra lean ground turkey + some chorizo sausage) and then rolled them in panko + Italian spices. The cheese burst while they were baking and turned out great over zoodles and sauce with spinach (cuz micros…).

And finally…breakfast. He has come to love avocado english muffins with runny eggs and turkey bacon but sometimes breakfasts sammiches sneak in there too…

His camera makes this food look all glowy and such

Turkey bacon + spinach + Chicken breast + runny egg + sriracha and mustard on a whole wheat bagel. Good to go.

Ladies, if you and your man are into the bodybuilding lifestyle the time between March and summa generally means cutting season. Put your apron on and get your ‘swole’ comments ready because he would do the same for you so make him feel special during this hardship.

Have some fun and surprise him with some fancy feasts that fit his macros and you will win his heart and keep him shredding 😉

And if you don’t do that lifestyle, hope I gave some interesting food prep ideas!

Much love friends! 

Best food prep staples?

Its Crazy How Much Love Can Lift Your Spirit

My Friends…

My amazing and supportive family. Words cannot express my gratitude for all of the kind words of support, love and encouragement that I have received from all outlets following my accident on Saturday.

I will not retell the thing in detail as it is not only traumatizing to me, but also to those who were here at the time, but I will briefly state that in prepping for my GI procedure my little body just didn’t appreciate the prepping and I managed to find myself passed out on my bathroom floor at 4am.

#FacePlant Legit.

1 broken jaw, 5 stitches, a few broken teeth and many hours in Guelph General Emerg later, I was home and ready to stop feeling sorry for myself and try to put this terrifying incident behind me and move forward.

It is now a fresh week and man have I had my moments of frustration and sadness, while also feeling bad that this has hurt those around me who love me, but honestly all of the support you have all shown me has given me so much life and lifted me up when I truly have needed it.

We all break sometimes and it is in those moments where the village you have created around you on your better days come to your rescue and keep you positive and smiling.

To my bf, I’m sorry. I’m sorry this nightmare happened and you had to come rescue me and keep it together. You have been my knight, my rock and my sunshine.

To my parents, I’m sorry I had to call you in the early hours of the morning and wake you suddenly to tell you I needed you. That I had let this happen. I’m sorry. Thank you for everything that you always do for me and for always being by my side and telling me it will be all okay. No matter how old I get, I need my parents to tell me that sometimes. 

To my friends, my family and even those who may only know me in passing, thank you for your words of encouragement and your love. Every wave, “well wishes” and “you’re gunna get back at it in no time” really does just bring a bit more pep back into my step. 

Choose your family wisely friends. They are your sanctuary and I appreciate mine more than I ever have before after this scary thing.

What things have I learned from this event…

1. Water. Water is great, even feeling like you have to drown yourself in the amount you need to drink in these situations. Next time I will do better.

2.Chewing is honestly something we all take for granted. God I want my rice cakes so bad.

Would you believe thats tuna mashed in there?

3. Feeling bad for yourself gets you no where. It happened so move on.

4.I will be okay not going to the gym…I keep telling myself this day after day.

5.Sometimes it’s okay to ask for help and not feel you have to be 100% independent ALL of the time.

6.The events that happen to you don’t just happen to you. That trauma finds itself lurking in those around you too. Although it takes effort, take the time to update them and tell them you are doing okay. They need that comfort.

7.Patience. Every day I wake up and the swelling is still here and there is a new travelling bruise on my body I have to just remind myself, healing takes time. Be thankful that your body didn’t fully put up the white flag and show it some consideration and care in how to speak to it.

8.It’s okay to be frustrated. Acknowledge it and than let it go.

I cannot thank you enough my family. I send so much love back to you all!

I Did A Thing…

My blogging game needs to get ahead of my other social media outlets, but hey gotta share with the blog peeps too!

Choppity chop.

…thats what I was saying to myself…You see I have always been told that I would look good pulling those side bangs back to the front and rocking the front fringe BUT when you have childhood memories of these bangs…

…you may be slightly afraid to actually do it yourself as an adult…

But you see, I have been starting at Miss Beautiful Courtney King’s hair for a little bit and than this picture was uploaded..

I loved her hair…like LOVED it. Miss Olympia can rock pretty much anything (I mean hello…GORGE!) but I needed a little push I guess because..

#ChangePhobe.

My bf told me that he thought I would really suite them and so off we went (in the middle of the ice storm mind you…) and off they came.

I know bangs may not seem like a big thing for some but I literally feel like I re-did my whole hair look haha. I have to say that I’m still adjusting to them. I feel like my hair is crooked because I’m not used to having hair touch my left brow but I do like them. I also had this weird feeling that I would have to actually wear something on my face eye makeup wise so it would look better but I just don’t, so natural it is.

Oblicatory SC filter picture because I’m obsessed with filters…

So there you have it friends. The day Chelsea decided not to be a change phobe and make a slight change to her appearance. This is a win I swear ha!

I hope you are having a great day lovelies! 

Thought for the day..

Show yourself some love and speak easy and kind to your soul, your mind and your body always. Just like you would someone else, respect yourself and not be the abuser of your beautiful self. ❤

-Chelsea

Two Down, Three 2 Go

Hat so big they had to staple it together for me.

My Friends!

Thursday marked the end of my second semester and my second placement of my Master’s of Applied Nutrition (MAN) Program. I handed in my paper and I’m done with it all..

…for 3 weeks…

Lesssss be honest, I would never throw my Mac out the window tho..

I was looking so forward to relaxing over the next 3 weeks. Doing life the way I wanted, whenever I wanted. The only plans I really had (which I was super excited for…) was to be shadowing Andrea (RD at Dietetic Directions) and meeting with my 3rd placement preceptor, but it seems like life doesn’t like simplicity.

Lets see…

~Stats meeting for my thesis Friday + interim report due that night

~Oil change this Tuesday morning, so I have to go home and stay there overnight because it’s at the crack of dawn

~Graduate pictures with my favourite fellow MAN grad, Frannnnaa Bannnannnaa Thursday

~Colonoscopy prep all Friday and Surgery Saturday morning… Maaaammmmeee

~Gastric emptying test at McMaster at 8:30am the following Thursday

~Training my client Karl 3 times plus my other clients (I have two brand new clients adjusting to plans)

~Moving into my summer sublet..with babes ❤

…So, well I like to be busy?

Aside from my forever busy schedule (okay okay thats half my own doing, I’m in my 20’s reach for the stars right?), I wanted to conclude this placement with a little list of things I learned and gained.

These placements are supposed to be about growth and guide you towards your RD career and I think with each placement thus far I have really strived to push myself to take on opportunities that will benefit me and my future. This semester has been the best so far so I cannot imagine what next semester will bring me.

I was placed in Hospitality Services for this placement, as it was my time to do food service. I was supposed to be working at adding nutritional information to all recipes on campus using their new software system…

Unfortunately the software was being a bit more finicky and had more ‘bugs’ to work out and my project was than essentially put on hold for the summer interns to take over. As a result, I was able to jump into various positions from cooking in the kitchen, working with the team at SNAP (student nutrition awareness program) and helping upper management with their allergy awareness food line and training modules to help complete my competencies.

I was able to learn a lot and I’m glad that I had the variety because one thing that I really have learned about myself is that I get bored easily and so having more than one task or thing to think about keeps me mentally stimulated the best.

What else did I take away from this placement?

1. A new Food Prep company in the making…

I met Aaron Crawford (Tourne Cuisine) during my kitchen time and he stated that he was interested in starting up a meal prep service alongside his catering company and asked for me to help with recipe planning and macronutrient counting.

We than moved forward with this idea and we are on our 3rd week of supplying to a customer, who happens to be a trainer at my gym. I hope it can grow from here but I suppose I must be patient as we still haven’t been ‘alive’ for more than a month.

2.  Even those things you aren’t looking forward to may have their purpose.

I will be honest and say that I was NOT looking forward to this placement. Out of the three types of placements we have to do, Food Service was my least favourite. I figured I would be in the back gagging over the hospital food…

But Ed was great and he allowed me to work fully independently and have lots of tasks to do during my time there. It was a good learning experience and not as bad as I thought.

Still being honest…Could I see myself going into a Food Service job…? No, not really. Clinical and Community are my niches.

3. I loved the ability see my friends every day.

The placement itself did NOT include seeing my friends but I was so centralized on campus that it was rare that I didn’t meet up with one of my friends for lunch. It was so nice to catch up with everyone, including friends I made in the Wellness Centre during my last placement.

Lesson learned: I need my friends in my life, even when it’s super busy.

4. I hate change but it’s also not so bad and will work it’s way out. 

I get super anxious at the beginning of any new start because my body HATES change to my schedule. Thanks IBS… but it will all be okay once you get into that routine. The gym has always been the biggest and more anxiety provoking change, where I have to switch from my beloved late AM workouts to PM (prime time) but if you love something you will always get it in, no matter where it has to fall.

I also learned how much I needed that stress relief. I was dancing around in the last hour of my day just wanting to go and lift. Brought new insight into my love of lifting.

5. I can fall into work-a-holic tendencies…

I always preach having your down time but I fail at being able to do that myself. With the number of clients I have, my volunteer work, my placement, school and now this prep company, I feel like any second I have I tend to spend working (if I’m not working out). When you are single you don’t tend to notice this, but it becomes more apparent when you find yourself feeling bad about working so much because you want to spend time with your person.

He didn’t need to tell me that I worked too much or that I needed time to myself because I knew it and I wanted to spend more time with him so I knew that I needed to re-proritize and re-balance. It turned out to be something I have to continue to work on but I’m getting better with taking care of myself and having some non-work fun.

The other thing is that I truly love working with my clients. I really really do so it was hard for me to just let that go, even just for a single day. The thing everyone has to learn is that you need time to refuel your tank so that you can help them. It’s also NORMAL and NEEDED to take time for yourself and be ‘selfish’…despite it not being actually selfish. I’m still learning this lesson.

6. Sleep…sleep is important.

Yes I obviously know this, but with everything going on with my health I was literally told by my ND that I needed to actually legit make it a priority. I have been doing my bestest and I have to say that I have done better now probably more than I have in a long time so I’m proud of myself.

Fun fact, my fav animal is a penguin…and I have a stuffed one on my bed

More lessons to learn as I head on into my summer placements. But for the next few weeks its about taking that time to myself and recovering from those few procedures I have to get done.

Much love my friends! 

Whats one lesson you learned from your University days?

Where the Sun Don’t Shine…

Hello again my friends. As promised I said I would come back and share my updated GI health story with you all…

If you followed way back, you know for the longest time I had been dealing with GI issues. It wasn’t until a random conversation at the gym, that the idea of a parasite was brought up and I asked to be tested.

I came back positive…very positive

Blasto was his..their..name. And making my tummy miserable was their game.

I was treated. Twice.

Medical interventions for them buggers, well they suck.

As I had told you all afterwards, basically the treatment for parasites is a full on ‘death by meds’ to your gut flora. It doesn’t matter if they are useful or not, they will all be killed off. That was not pleasant, as they are integral for digestion and so I was left being unable to tolerate a lot of foods because I just couldn’t break them down like a normal person.

No veggies. No high fibre foods. No red meat. Careful with too much fat in one sitting…it goes on. And the award for the most “unhealthy” dietitian goes to…

The biggest sadness that came from that was the loss of some of my favourite foods…

My beloved oats were kicked to the curb after my stomach spazzed so hard that I almost passed out.

I still needed carbs. I’m an athlete and I’m also a notorious carb-burner. Everything became rice.

Cream of rice replaced my precious oats.

yesss to peanut butter not leaving my life…and yes I save that blob for last. Judge me.

I went through 5-6 bags of Lunderberg brown rice cakes a week because I used them as “easy on the tummy” carbs.

I learned to accept it and was content.

…Minus the lack of being able to go out. But hey, life sucks sometimes so I had to move on. 

I was under the impression that now my gut just had to heal, but I was very wrong.

Fast forward two years, I’m entering my Master’s program and probably the most school pressure and stress I will ever face, and here I was the sickest I have been since my eating disorder.

I knew there was something wrong. I have known the entire time but it was frustrating because the medical system would just yell at me for being underweight and say either…

~”gaining weight is hard, it may be uncomfortable.”

~You know we don’t normally treat parasites…” <- Really something is stealing my nutrients from my body and you don’t think thats an issue?

~”Maybe this is just “Chelsea”..Maybe this is just the way you are”

~Oh and just for shits and giggles…. “you’re so small. You have no blood” <- Bravo GI doc… 

Here I was trying my best to just eat my maintenance and I felt like every medical professional was against me. I told them I was bloated 24/7, felt full randomly all the time and just didn’t feel normal anymore and they didn’t listen.

“It’s just the past ED…”

It wasn’t until a few months ago where things got really bad.

Dumping syndrome (I will spare you the lovely details, go look it up if you would like to know..) began happening multiple times a week..

My iron levels and overall blood levels were falling through the floor

My electrolytes all fell

My last blood pressure check was 90/55 (today)

My kidney and liver function were compromised

And I just looked grey all the time. I still do because it hasn’t stopped yet. 

I had pretty much given up at this point but the doctors finally looked concerned and I began seeing them more than my friends, or it felt like it, but they did nothing except tell me I was a concern. As a last resort I sent out a message to my friend, Andrew, an NP and he ordered me the GI map test (basic sense, its a map of your entire gut biome, good and bad, plus other markers of gut health and stress).

If you’re interested in the GI map, its $$$ but I wish everyone could get it, heres the link.

On top of some other critters, Blasto made his appearance once again along with a lovely sheet full of red markers stating I had SIBO (bacterial overgrowth), leaky gut (high zonulin levels), parastic pathogens AND the calprotectin signals that I should be checked for Inflammatory Bowel Disorder (IBD) and/or infection.

So I have the problem diagnosed right?!? They will believe me know right?!?

Wrong. Well at least from the MD side. My family doc didn’t even know how to read the fricken report.

ND had a much more active approach. Andrew listened and gave me his parasite purging/ gut healing protocol.

I take a lot of supplements (especially right now, low absorption..) but I have never taken so many pills in my life.

this x like 5 …

It is a liver support + parasite purge + gut healing protocol and I would be at it for about 6-8 months. So that was where I sat. MD continued to be useless until they scheduled me into a new Gastro doctor in Burlington.

So to a new GI I went, that was this past Saturday. Much nicer doctor and more open. He doesn’t think the parasite is my biggest concern but has put me in for a gastric emptying test and a colonoscopy for two weeks.

*** Any friends reading this who sees me in two weeks..please do not be alarmed. Colonoscopies make me look like death after… ***

So, after a pretty emotionally draining weekend (thank god for my bf..honestly), I now get to wait. Wait for that horrible test and continue to feel the same way for two weeks.

I’m frustrated that my emotions have been up and down, so I tell myself this on the daily

I’m not trying to sound whiny and complain but I have to admit that I’m a bit scared to say the least. I know I have to know but the test itself and the results scare me. Most say that they don’t think I have Crohns but the possibility is there.

Pun intended, that scares the shit out of me.

But we wait and until then, I will continue to keep doing me and staying busy because you know what? I need to do what I need to do. It will be good so I need to just move past it.

This is my journey of gut healing and I want to share this not for sympathy..

PLEASE PLEASE don’t think I’m sharing this to get an “I’m sorry you have to go through this.” Other people have things way worse to go through. I’m doing this, being vulnerable, because more people than ever have been having stomach issues and I hope this can reach them and if they have questions they can ask me or it can give them some idea on what things to ask their medical team. 

My goal is always to educate and relate. If I can help one person stand up for themselves and seek help and GET some relief, this post has served its purpose.

I will keep you updated my friends. Thank you for always having my back.