I’d say I know it’s been a while, but posting once in a blue is probably the new normal around here. Even though I wish it could be a more regular thing, time is precious these days and I’ve been filling it with a lot of work, a little travel, running, yoga and other pretty fun things.
boston spectating!
Still, I think and talk about nutrition and food so much during the day and there has been a lot of stuff going on in the news I would have loved to post about if there were, say, 28 hours in the day. But instead, a couple of sentences on a few topics that come to mind:
- The FDA forcing Kind Bars to remove the “healthy” claim from labels: I support regulating bogus claims, but this isn’t one of them – the higher fat content in Kind bars (and reason for this action) is due largely in part to healthy fats from nuts, which are good for us! There are so many other companies and organizations I wish the FDA would focus their resources on, and Kind bars remain one of the only bars I recommend to clients (here’s a great piece from a fellow NYC RD).
- The letter from 10 Columbia MDs urging the University to cut ties with Dr. Oz for ongoing “quackery” and Dr. Oz’s response: I’ve never hidden my disdain for Dr. Oz, and like one of the Columbia docs said in an interview, I also spend a lot of time demystifying his ridiculous advice to my patients and clients. I’m really glad well-respected professionals in the medical field are calling him out on his unresearched and untrue claims. This is an opportunity for him to become a responsible health advocate (using evidence-based research) and he’s blowing it with the current reactions.
- Chipotle’s plan to stop serving GMO foods: the whole GMO vs non-GMO foods debate is really complicated, and I honestly haven’t done enough in-depth research on it to have a really thoughtful comment. But! I do think that any step towards limiting more processed foods from restaurants or grocery stores is a good one, and it’s highly likely that we’re better off consuming less GMO foods.
Running-wise, things are going well and I almost don’t want to talk about it for fear of jinxing what appears to be some solid progress. I ran a ~1:40 minute 10K PR earlier this month at the NYRR Scotland Run (45:35, 7:21/mile) and was really pleased with the effort and how I felt both mentally and physically during the race – positive, strong, and in an appropriate amount of pain. I hoped it meant good things for the NJ Half Marathon this past Sunday because I really wanted to achieve my goal of breaking 1:40 before transitioning to marathon training this spring.
Spoiler alert – it happened and I ate some very delicious post-race carrot cake. Official finish time: 1:39:40, 7:36/mile and 9th place in my AG (whaaat?). I had a great race which deserves a more detailed recap, and I’m really going to try to write that at some point this week while my runner’s high (and memory) is still intact.