The purpose for including a blog on my website is to give my readers and clients an insight into how I live, eat and think as a dietitian. I believe there are misconceptions that dietitians are scary "food Nazis" or the "fun police" who frown upon your chocolate addiction, or belittle you for having McDonald's for dinner every Saturday night. In my experience, this couldn't be further from the truth. I myself am by no means perfect in what I choose to eat or how I exercise - and I wouldn't expect anyone else to be either. Though, if we make healthy choices most of the time, and learn to love ourselves again, we can reap all the benefits of good health, including the ability to satisfy those chocolate or Big Mac cravings without guilt. So come along with me on this journey and I'll show you how you can have your cake AND eat it too!
For my initial post, I thought it fitting to take a look at where I came from, because it is fair to say that my parents played a huge role in shaping the person and nutrition advocate I am today. I grew up in the gorgeous town of Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, where the air is as fresh as it comes and the vineyards flourish all year round. Mum & Dad fueled my passion for nutrition from an early age, and there was without fail, fresh fruit and vegetables on our plates and in our lunchboxes every single day. We still had take away on Friday nights, cake on our birthdays, treats on the weekend and way too much chocolate at Easter so I never once felt deprived. Vegetables I hated were never forced down my throat. Mum patiently allowed me to refuse pumpkin throughout my childhood, and it wasn't until I was 18 years old that I tasted it again and realised how delicious it actually is! It's only now when I look back I realise how lucky I was to grow up with such a positive relationship with food.
Aside from family, my favourite part about my childhood home was (and still is) the garden. Mum and Dad have the most incredible veggie patch you will ever see! It's home to tomatoes, eggplant, pumpkin, zucchini, an abundance of herbs, chillies, capsicum, lettuce, spinach, an avocado tree, a lemon tree, an apple tree, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and so much more. The newest fruiting addition is an amazing passionfruit vine dropping 10+ passionfruits daily while in season. It's so inspiring and I can't wait to create my own masterpiece like theirs!
The passionfruit vine
Thank you for reading my first blog post right to the end!
Emily x