Short Update

Hello lovelies. I have been a terrible blogger and for that, I apologize. A quick, vague update.

--Good stuff is happening and I may be polling you guys for some market research.

--I got a sweet ass fancy dslr for my bday! (which technically isn't until Wed, but whatever.) So I'm going to actually use it and try to post more...pictures of my dogs. B/c, let's be honest, they are about the only thing I take pictures of. They are much more adorable than me.

--Going to the beach next week for birthday spectacular! So I won't be around as much (not that I'm around much lately!)

--I promise to get back on the posting bandwagon when I get back. 

Harry Potter Nerd Alert

TODAY I FINALLY GET TO SEE HARRY POTTER! DYING OF EXCITEMENT!

I love Harry Potter. Unashamedly. I wanted to go to the midnight showing of DH2, but we literally had to get up at 3:30am to catch our flight to Toronto. You can imagine how I felt about this. Then yesterday M was on home call, so we couldn't go. Tonight, as God as my witness, I will be seeing Potter.

Since I knew I was going to be spending hours in planes/airports, I decided to re-read Deathly Hallows. I really could not remember 75% of what happens in it b/c I just speed skimmed it through to the end. It remains amazing the second time through. I was finishing it up waiting to board our first plane out. I basically just had to close it and put it away like 30 mins before we got on...because I was about to start openly weeping. I thought I could not cry the 2nd time. Wrong. I know I'm going to be a blubbering mess at the theater. The Forest Again? The Prince's Tale? TEARS. Plus no more Potter. My heart can not go on
.

 

 I can't y'all.

So in preparation, I'm reposting some pictures from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (which was super fun and amazing, though sadly pretty small.)

OMG I'M AT HOGWARTS!

Butterbeer is delicious and amazing

 

I could literally post picture after picture. The detail in the castle was fantastic and I took pics of each piece. The portraits, house points, Dumbledore's office, the Goblet of Fire...I geeked out about all of it. 

Does anyone else love Potter? Have you seen DH2 yet? If you haven't read them: DO IT!

Legally changing my name

I got this as a captcha the other day and loved it. I may make it my official blog alter ego name:

Senisha Tunvegan

Isn't that a great name blog name?

It is almost Dietitian Day

March 9th is National Dietitian Day!

From ADA: Registered Dietitian Day was created by the American Dietetic Association to increase the awareness of registered dietitians as the indispensable providers of food and nutrition services and to recognize RDs for their commitment to helping people enjoy healthy lives. Registered Dietitian Day and National Nutrition Month® promote ADA and RDs to the public and the media as the most valuable and credible source of timely, scientifically-based food and nutrition information.

So I thought we could do an Ask an RD Day here. Ask me anything and I will try to answer. Nutrition recommendations, research, questions about your intake, etc. Anything you want! If I don't know, I'll research it. You can leave me a comment or email me at confessionsofadietitian@gmail.com. I'll post answers this week! 

Fun with Excel

You know what is nerdy? Spending like 20 mins building an Excel line graph for weight loss using both my actual weights and projected goal weights. But it is a pretty awesome graph, I'm just saying. And formatted in such a way that all I have to do is put in my daily values and it will plot it. It looks better than a lot of the online tools I have found!

This is pretty much my only scientific or former accountant type skill-fun with graphs and charts. Really, all visual representations of data.

I have more stuff to write about, but it will have to wait.

Hipster Ariel

This sums up my entire life and clothing philosophy

Am I right? Megan? Put the word 'Grandpa' in front of the word 'cardigan' and I will buy it for sure.

Wrong!

I think I have the opposite of body dysmorphic disorder (from wiki: a psychological disorder in which the affected person is excessively concerned about and preoccupied by a perceived defect in his or her physical features/body image.) If I work out a few times or lose a couple pounds, I start thinking I'm a fitness model with a 6 pack. And then I look in the mirror and am so confused and disappointed! I guess this is a better problem to have than horrible self-image.

30 Day Shred. A daily timeline.

10am-wake up. nah, go back to sleep.
11am-wake up. Actually get up. Eat breakfast.
12pm-Think "oh crap. I have to do 30 Days of Evil. Again."
12:05pm-More TV.
1pm-Yep. Still have to do it. Oh, hey! TV.
2pm-Ok. Really going to do it! This is it!
2:05pm-TV
3pm-This is happening. I put on my exercise clothes. Which are very different from my pajamas.
4pm-You should really do this before the entire day is over. Hey, a Friends rerun!
4:30pm-I should stretch or something. That takes a very long time.
5pm-Sigh. Let's do this. Just get it over with.
5:05-I really hate jumping jacks. More than is rational. It is just jumping. But they annoy me.
5:10-Lunges are of the devil.
5:20-Oh hey! We are almost done. I'm barely warmed up!
5:30-Yay! done! Yay me. That was so easy and short. I don't know why I dreaded it all day. I am going to go run on the treadmill!
5:40-Oh look, a Friends rerun.

And that is how it is done, folks-5 hours dreading approximately 25 mins of activity. Good plan!
    

Diet Soda and Heart Attack/Stroke Risk

So, one of my initial plans when starting this blog was to talk about nutrition topics in the news and various research that has come out. Instead, it has been mostly random rambling b/c that is who I am. In an effort to be more educational and helpful, today we are going to talk research. Specifically this new study that has come out linking diet soda and stroke risk.

Let me preface this with I LOVE DIET COKE. A lot. I don't even pretend. I know it isn't good for me. I don't care. I need it to live.

I've seen several articles and posts mentioning this study. I feel the media tends to take research and make sweeping statements as to why we're all going to die immediately. They like to jump on "study results" and go nuts. There is much, much less information about the study methods, results, and actual statistics. When I went to grad school I thought I would be learning *more* about nutrition, since that is my field. Nope! It is all research. How to analyze, perform, and interpret whatever research is happening in your area. Y'all, I hate hate doing research. I don't mind doing a nice lit review or meta-analysis, but I would rather be punched in the throat than have to design and actually do my own study. The moral of this story is: grad school wants to teach you how to be a good consumer and interpreter of data. It is your job as the expert in whatever field to look at the actual study/stats/methods and turn it into easily understandable, meaningful information for your target audience.

The number one rule of interpreting results is Correlation does not imply causation. It is very, very difficult to prove that one variable causes anything. 

So let's talk about this study, shall we? To be fair, I can't access the full actual paper yet since it is from a meeting and hasn't been published yet. Interestingly, there is exactly 1 result when "diet soda stroke" is searched for in PubMed (and it has to do with epilepsy.) So there obviously aren't tons of studies out there on that subject. Researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine found that in a group of 2500 participants, daily diet soda drinkers had a 61% greater risk for stroke/heart disease than drinkers of regular soda.

First the good stuff: 
-It is longitudinal. It took place over 9 years which yields much more information.
-It has a large-ish sample size-2500 participants.
-It identifies soda vs diet soda drinkers, not soda vs non-soda drinkers. (Also, it is very hard for my extremely southern self to call it soda. Everyone knows Coke=any soda.)
-Sample was diverse. 
-Researchers did control for age, history of stroke/heart disease. 

Now, here are some criticisms

-Yes, the study had 2500 participants. Of those, 900 participants claimed to drink no diet soda. Only 160 (8%) said they had diet soda everyday. Results found in 160 participants aren't necessarily applicable to the general population.

 -They gave a food intake questionnaire (and I've spent literally months in epi discussing the efficacy of each possible intake tool. not sure which one they used or it's validity.) at the beginning of the study and then never followed up. They just assumed intake remained the same over a decade.

-The study used self-report to identify intake. Self report is just a bad idea in nutrition research. People vastly overestimate the good and underestimate the bad stuff. Or they lie, b/c they think it is what you want to hear or they are embarrassed. 

--It is hard to tease out and quantify, but there is a segment of the population that eats terribly and drinks diet coke. Diet coke is associated (meaning it doesn't cause) obesity, in some part due to the fact that those who are overweight can be trying to cut calories by drinking diet. There is discussion on how insulin responds to artificial sweeteners and whether or not that can be linked to insulin resistance/ diabetes.


-They didn't look at sodium intake which is a known risk factor for vascular problems.  

-They did not look at weight/obesity over time. Which again, is a known risk factor for heart disease/CVA.

--But here is the key: THEY DID NOT CONTROL FOR OR ANALYZE THE DIETS OF THE PARTICIPANTS. So the participants might be drinking 1 Diet Coke with the 3 Big Macs, supersized fries, and apple pie daily. We don't know. -



Studies like this make headlines because the results are sensationalized. The media makes it sound like "If you are totally healthy, run 5 miles per day, are vegan, and a healthy weight...but drink 1 diet coke/day you are 60% more likely to have vascular complications." Which is just not possible to say based on these results. Again, this is the first study to link diet soda and vascular disease. If there is a link, it will be be able to be duplicated in studies that come after.

The biggest problem with nutrition research is that it is so difficult to isolate effects. Disease risk is multi-faceted, and sometimes we just don't understand it. Scientists are able to agree that it is better to get your nutrients from foods vs supplements, but they have been unable to determine exactly why. There are so many individual components of food: vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, macronutrients, etc and they all work together in a unique way that isn't found artificially. Good health is a combination of so many genetic, environmental, and behavioral components that it is very hard to isolate the effect of each little piece.


I'm obviously not making a case that Diet Coke is good for you. It isn't. Go drink some water or green tea instead. What I'm trying to do is help people be informed consumers of research. Look at the methods, use common sense, and above all trust an RD ; ) Anyone who looks at the methods can see they didn't analyze or control for diet and realize that makes the results pretty weak. Just not everyone goes that next step. I would encourage everyone to really try to examine the study, not just the 'results' the media grabs on to. You might look at the methods and find them convincing. That is great! Just make sure it is an informed decision. Or just ask me and I will tell you what to do.

What do you think? Is this study significant enough to cause a change in your Diet Coke consumption? Am I completely wrong and blinded by my love for coke? Have any questions? 

I'm a winner!

I won a blog giveaway from Karissa at Cardio Foodie for mascara, which is seriously my favorite makeup product. I am forever buying new mascara looking for that magical one. So I was happy to win a new one! I never win anything.

I thought I would take some pictures and give a mini review for y'all since she was so kind to send it to me : )

I won Loreal Voluminous, which I love and is a great, basic volumizing mascara, and Maybelline Great Lash Big. Great Lash is supposed to be this amazing, classic mascara...and I think it sucks. It just doesn't do anything for me at all. But people rave about it and it is one of the all time best selling mascaras! I don't get it. So I was moderately skeptical about the supposed Big version.

You can see how fat the Big wand is.

Now for the scary part! On me. Let me tell you, taking close up self portraits is humbling. "Why is my face askew? Do I have that many freckles? My nose is totally asymmetrical. I should put on some concealer. Dude, I am radioactively pale."

Without any mascara. Or enough sleep, apparently.

Using Great Lash Big

Wow, that is a lot of pictures of my face. Anyway, I surprisingly really liked the different Great Lash! It has a fat wand which is good for volume. My eyelashes are longish but thin, so I use volumizing mascara. It has the right amount of mascara on the wand from the start-not too runny, not clumpy at all. It wasn't OMG AMAZING, but was pretty great for a $4 mascara. It would make a great everyday mascara. I didn't take pictures of the Voluminous, but it is one of my all-time favorites. I do think that it can be too thick/runny right when it is opened. It works great on almost everyone, so I didn't think it warranted pictures. The Great Lash was surprising, so I took some pictures : ) 

Thanks Karissa for the giveaway!!


What is your favorite mascara? Have you ever won anything? Are you working out today? 


I think I'm taking today off, my legs are just too sore from a good run yesterday!