05/09/2022
Most Sundays one of my wonderful friends( who also happens to be an EDRD) and I do a “catch up and cook” session where we prepare delicious meals for the week and talk on the phone for around an hour. I typically make 2-3 meals that have multiple servings + some snacks. I’m really intentional about looking in my fridge, seeing what needs to be used up and coming up with food ideas around that. I also think about foods that will go well together considering flavor, texture, nutrition and pleasure.
Let me just say I’m an 85%er. A good enougher, even. I prepare what I can, but some weeks I pick up take out(which I recognize is a privilege in itself) and eat frozen meals(shout out to TJs, luv you boo) due to busyness, due to energy levels, due to ADHD. It ebbs and flows.
I was reflecting this week on how many of my cooking skills and techniques were developed and learned through becoming a dietitian- we study food chemistry and food science, food service and recipe development, and a whole lot more. We got hands-on experience making balanced meals for the masses. We learned what maillard reaction is, and why we need certain ingredients to emulsify. We learned the liquid separating from yogurt is whey and just needs to be stirred back in. This is just the surface of it.
We also unfortunately learned a whole lotta bu****it about diet culture and fatphobia. But there were real, helpful, life skills integrated throughout the program too.
I offer all this to say: I am a nutrition professional. I studied how to feed myself and others (simplified, to say the least). Unless you were lucky to have a person in your life who had a healthy relationship with food AND was a cook, you probably didn’t learn how to feed yourself. How to cook for and nourish yourself. How to utilize ingredients and minimize waste and make delicious food. So if you’re having a hard time with this, a hard time with your relationship with food and body- it’s not your fault. Diet culture was likely your teacher.
That’s one of the cool things about being a dietitian in this space- talking with clients about very real, tangible ways to care for themself around food.
