A Blogging Dietitian Invites People to Watch Her Watch What She Eats

[Guest guest]

Washington Post

By LaRue Huget

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

On June 2, Cristin Dillon- had Kashi Heart to Heart cereal mixed with

Total Cinnamon Crunch, skim milk and blueberries for breakfast, canned

vegetarian black-bean chili and a mozzarella/tomato/basil salad for lunch,

and grilled salmon and potatoes with steamed broccoli for dinner. And she

has the pictures to prove it.

For the past two years, Dillon- has taken photos of every meal she has

eaten (at first just on weekdays, but recently on weekends, too) and posted

them, with nutrition information and commentary, on her blog on Self

magazine's Web site.

Dillon-, a 27-year-old registered dietitian, was working as a

nutritionist and running her own meal planning/grocery shopping/food

preparation business when Self asked her to start the " Eat Like Me " blog as

part of a package of new online health and fitness offerings. The idea was

simple: Show readers what a healthy young registered dietitian eats every

day.

Using an unremarkable Kodak digital camera, Dillon- takes plain-Jane

pictures of her bowls of cereal and fruit, peanut-butter-and-jelly

sandwiches and dinner leftovers turned into lunches. Rarely does her diet

venture outside the ordinary. Yet for those of us who have never learned --

or have managed to forget -- how a human being should eat to stay healthy,

the blog is oddly riveting -- and useful.

" Journaling, " or keeping a food log, is often recommended for weight loss

and control. Though Dillon-'s focus is not specifically on weight loss,

she joins others who have brought journaling to another level by taking

pictures of what they eat; many suggest using cellphone cameras because

they're always handy.

Dillon-, who lives in Boston, also takes her camera along to the

grocery store so that readers can see what she puts into her cart. Although

she doesn't expect readers to eat exactly as she does, her example offers

something solid and sensible to grasp, especially for those of us who've

been so buffeted by diet fads that we're not really sure anymore whether a

bag of pork rinds (a snack of dubious nutritional value made popular by the

high-protein Atkins weight-loss diet) is good for us. We who have struggled

with our weight might be both baffled and relieved to see that Dillon-,

a trim, athletic young woman, eats regular food, sometimes enjoying a

restaurant burrito or a takeout pizza (with a glass of red wine). On other

evenings, though, it's leftover lasagna and a salad for her and Chinese

takeout for her husband. Daytime meals often feature a turkey sandwich and a

latte, a baggie of Goldfish crackers (which she seems to eat more often than

you'd expect) and a peach for a snack.

With her blog attracting 65,000 unique visitors and 367,000 page views per

month, Dillon- has won a following with her down-to-earth approach, one

that doesn't insist on perfection or rely on calorie-counting. Instead, she

tries to eat according to the federal government's food pyramid, which

suggests the number of servings from each of six major food groups that we

should eat every day.

But she doesn't obsess over those numbers; if, say, her vegetable

consumption falls short one day, she makes note of the fact and pledges to

compensate the next day. " Long-term health " -- not quibbling over daily

details -- " should be the first priority, " she says. " You could have asked

10 different people to write this blog, and you'd get 10 different

approaches. Mine wasn't a perfect thing. That's why people latched onto it. "

Though advice-seeking readers often want to pin her down on calorie counts,

Dillon- says, " I stick to my guns. I don't count calories; I never

have. I just estimate portions from the food pyramid food groups -- grains,

fruits and vegetables, healthy oils and fats, and so on -- to achieve a

healthy balance. I try to include healthy food and limit the junk. "

People who have followed Dillon-'s dietary diary from the beginning

have watched as she trained for and ran in the Boston Marathon. They've read

about her wedding to Mike, the happy arrival of a puppy they named Bruce and

the even happier arrival of baby Will, who is now 7 months old. Along the

way, Dillon- has reported on the adjustments she has made to keep her

eating habits on track, no matter what's going on in her life.

Her good habits started early. " My parents never put any pressure on us to

eat restrictively, " she says. " I ate Lucky Charms, but also milk and fruit.

My mom cooked a lot, and she also baked. We always had sweets in the house.

Doing it at home was great, mixing good food with fun. . . . It's not just

like going to the store, picking up a cupcake and eating it. Making it

yourself seemed social and fun. " She still likes to bake, and she and her

husband cook together a lot, often making meals for friends.

Dillon-'s approach also derives from her conviction that keeping things

simple helps ensure success. " If it's not something you can do every day for

the rest of your life, then it's not worth it, " she says. " I don't want to

be at a restaurant and weighing food. "

And when it comes to treats, she's a big believer in indulging in the real

McCoy: full-fat desserts, for instance, instead of reduced-calorie or

low-fat versions.

-- " I never set rules. I just try to be healthy and to eat healthy. " That

means not completely ruling out any kind of food.

-- " People take an all-or-nothing approach to dieting. They say, 'If I have

a bad breakfast, then that day is gone.' Well, they should just have a good

lunch, maybe add some exercise " to their day.

-- " If there's junk food in the house, you constantly have to tell yourself

'no.' " Better to pass up the junk in the grocery store, then bake a

worthwhile treat now and then and relish every mouthful.

-- " I never wanted to go to a party and not enjoy myself. I realized that if

I did what I should do most of the time, then I can do whatever I want at a

party. "

-- " Having food as an enemy or nemesis isn't good. You have to eat every

day; you don't want it to be a constant battle. "