Dear Rebecca,

I've followed you for a while and love your encouraging words and enthusiasm, but I miss your nutrition information! Can you bring that back?

Dear Valued Friend,

Thank you for your longtime support! I can't tell you how much it means to know that you find my post and content encouraging and notice my genuine enthusiasm for your good health. But you won't find detailed nutrition information that gets off in the weeds here on my feed anymore. Let me tell you why it's a NO for me.

I tried to combat fad diets and "gimmicky" nutrition info out there for years by pouring my heart into an "educational" post or video. I took great care in those details as if I was teaching nutrition to a dietetic major.

But, it dawned on me.

It wasn't working.

It was only adding to the confusion.

And, YOU ARE NOT A NUTRITION MAJOR,

And you DO NOT NEED A DEGREE IN NUTRITION to take control of your health.

The general public is educated well above their level of obedience when it comes to health and wellness. I promise you, more information is not the most significant problem when it comes to our declining health status, yet rising eating disorder rates.

Getting hyper-specific about things that don't matter takes the focus off factors that influence your health and happiness. SO much of the internet nutrition jibber-jabber is fighting over the <1% of food and nutrition science that matters, without giving the 99% of lifestyle factors that have value and meaning adequate attention.

Your "health" isn't where you'd like it to be because you can't name the essential amino acids or lack understanding of bioavailability of heme versus non-heme iron, or don't choose the wheat bread brand with the most fiber or protein-fortified pancakes.

Good Health - the kind that carries you through your decades with grace, enjoyment and allows you to thrive is NOT a series of simple choices or understanding complicated processes like the Kreb cycle.

Good Health - (the kind you want whether you realize it or not) considers an INDIVIDUAL'S lived experience, personal values, genetics, their current phase of life, past traumas, chronic diseases, food intolerances, and preferences, etc. But most importantly, the non-negotiables that bring them joy.

There are plenty of bad @$$ dietitians fighting the fit of detailed scientific information. But I've decided that detailed nutrition education will stay between my clients and their individual needs. If you need to know my broader food philosophy, I shared those in Mind Over Fork.

But I hope you stick with me here on the world wide web! Let me be the voice that challenges your mindsets, not your food choices, who wants you more focused on your "why" than your "how" and the one that will keep encouraging you to be in the driver seat of your life and health, and with great enthusiasm wants you to realize your self-worth and salvation have nothing to do with your food choices or ability to lose weight.

Love you, mean it.

RT

PS - this is me in my cluttered and disorganized office. one of the best things that have come out of hosting Good Things with Rebecca Turner radio show - is being reminded of ALL the amazing people and topics of interest that are out there, doing God's work, and bringing joy, that has ZERO to do with weight or wellness. It is SO refreshing to be reminded that there is a great big world out there that doesn't give a darn about the size of my thighs or how many vegetables I ate today.

What a loaded question, but one I often get as a registered dietitian. It is a particularly popular question among those that don't have a polarized food ideology. Some of you feel very passionately that soda of all kind is the devil in a pop-top, and should be avoided at all cost – no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it.

Fair. I will acknowledge that sodas whether regular, diet, or any version in-between add zero nutritional value to one’s diet. If you so choose, your life and health will be no “worse” off if you sustain from fizzy or sweetened beverages from now till Jesus comes back. BUT, I will argue that you don’t have to abstinent from soda to be in good health.

The last gentlemen who recently asked me this very question got somewhat frustrated with me when he didn’t get a black and white answer from me, the dietitian. You might find yourself in the same boat - but keep reading.

I think my next book title will be “50 Shades of Healthy.” You want it black and white, but the truth be told it doesn’t work that way unless you are hard-pressed for it to be that way. (Which is an issue in and of its self.)

TRUTH: No-One should be drinking a volume soda or diet soda that would render a big-ole positive impact on their overall health if it vanished from their daily diet.

Meaning, regardless of your choice, one should at maximum be drinking them on occasion, defined as less than one per day, which means, on a daily bases your intake of plain water should double or triple in comparison of your sweetened (of any kind) beverage intake.

(Moderation is the most overused, undefined term, that makes your ego feel better about partaking in things not right for you. Life lesson, define it, or it is meaningless.)

To ask the healthier question, soda, or diet soda is to ask the wrong item entirely.

First, you need to answer the question, what are your overall goals?

If you are trying to manage diabetes or your weight, then you have objectives of higher value and choosing the diet route is going to be in your favor.

If diabetes or weight control isn’t of concern to you, ask yourself which beverage brings you the most joy and go for that.

The MILLION-DOLLAR question of the day– why do you need your beverage to be fizzy or sweetened to chug it down?

Humans are great at finding substitutions for things that please them but are killing them or putting them at high risk for unfortunate consequences.

“Light” Cigarettes still cause cancer.
“Light” Beer still impairs your driving and can make you fat.
“Artificial” sweetener is still unhealthy in large doses.
“Fat-free” is often just as unhealthy with added salt and sugars.
“Sugar-free” is often just as unhealthy with added salt and fat.
“Gluten-free” is just dumb if you’re not wheat intolerant.
"Dairy- and Meat-free" is just dumb if you don't have a doctor-diagnosed allergy or significant (family) history of heart disease not controlled by sensible lifestyle changes or have strong "emotional-feelings" towards ceratin farming principals.

You are looking for a unicorn without facing your real issue.
Remember, the truth will set you free.

Why do you “need “substitutes for your real issues?

Pull up your big girl/boy undies and deal with the elephant on your plate, or in your glass. Take time to explore and deal with your more significant issues. Your physical and mental health will thank you.

Love you, mean it.
RT