What I Eat in a Day as a Dietitian and Busy Mom
Key takeaways:
Dietitian Eling Tsai’s nonprofit work made her realize that people from all socioeconomic levels have complicated relationships with food.
The busy mom’s love of cooking has developed gradually, and she relies on one-pot dishes and nutritious snacks.
She encourages intuitive eating and dropping “good” and “bad” labels for foods.
Eling Tsai’s approach to “what to eat” is more holistic than simply planning menus.
Eling, a 36-year-old registered dietitian and eating disorder specialist in New York City, says she likes to help people find peace in their relationship with food.
When she was a graduate student at Yale School of Public Health, Eling worked at a shelter for young people experiencing homelessness. It exposed her to community nutrition programs and sparked an interest in food and nutrition and the way people interact with it.
It made Eling want to connect with people about food, ultimately to help them improve their health.
“I work with people who have dysregulated relationships with food and people with medical conditions who need nutrition guidance but are seeking an approach that is more holistic than someone just saying: ‘Here’s what to eat,’” Eling says.
She says her job is to make sure nutrition guidance fits into the context of people’s lives.
Love for cooking has developed over time
Eling’s love for cooking grew slowly. Motherhood has made the kitchen a place where she comes to relax and have a little “me” time.
“I try to cook because I see the value in it for myself. It makes my life a bit easier,” she says. “I also find that it brings me joy. I love to put a show on my iPad and cook.”
She especially likes making Italian and Asian dishes. “My family is Taiwanese, and that food is comforting and easy for me to make.”
She also splits cooking responsibilities with her partner.
“I hate cooking on Mondays,” Eling says. “On Sunday, I typically make a pot dish, such as a stew or a large curry or something I cook in one pot. Then the whole pot goes in the fridge when I’m done serving Sunday dinner so we can eat leftovers on Monday.”
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Nutrition and simplicity characterize what she typically eats in a day
As a registered dietitian and busy mom, Eling says she has a disclaimer: “What I eat in a day will look different from day to day,” she says. “And also, it isn’t a reflection on what other people should eat. But I am really happy to share just for fun and for some context.”
Breakfast
Since becoming a mom, she calls her typical breakfast “a work in progress,” as mornings are hectic.
“My staple breakfast is yogurt and an English muffin with peanut butter. It is an easy, no-brainer option. It’s just enough for me to get me going.”
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Lunch
Lunch often consists of a tuna avocado rice bowl (with the rice prepped ahead of time).
Dinner
Dinner is made up of a protein, a vegetable, and a starch. Some dishes in rotation are:
Pasta with turkey meatballs and broccoli
Baked fish or chicken with air fryer potatoes and vegetables
Curry chicken and veggie rice bowls
A stew or soup that contains all the food groups
Snacks
Whether she’s working from home or on the go, she likes these snacks:
Protein or granola bars
Chips and hummus
Fruit (bananas and tangerines are favorites)
Yogurt drinks (she likes to grab one at the airport when traveling)
Intuitive eating gives meaning to her nutrition practice
The concept of intuitive eating has helped shape Eling’s practice and differs from traditional dieting.
“I define it as listening and using the cues from your own body to reduce feelings of restriction and improve one’s relationship with food,” she says. “Intuitive eating removes intentional weight loss as a goal of eating, but rather prioritizes positive health outcomes and one’s ability to regulate themselves around all types of foods.”
Today’s toxic diet culture has permeated mainstream ways of thinking, Eling says, from promoting overexercise to labeling foods as “good” or “bad.”
“Toxic diet culture promotes thin bodies, and equates thinness with goodness,” she says. “We can see why people are interested in pursuing that thin body at all costs, right? They want to be perceived as successful. They want to have access to the privileges that thin people have access to.
“We’re told from a young age, particularly girls and women, that to get the job, the relationship, the friends, or feelings of success and acceptance, you must have a thin body. I hope to move people away from diet culture so they can be more connected with their body’s needs.”
3 things she keeps in mind about nutrition
There are three key things Eling recommends focusing on when thinking about what you eat.
1. Are you eating regularly?
“With the rise of things like intermittent fasting, dysregulated eating is normalized in our society,” Eling says. “If people come to me complaining that they’re always hungry or that they’re always getting way too full, those are signs that they’re not eating regularly.”
2. Are you getting enough of the nutrients you need?
The second thing Eling says to look at is adequacy — or whether you’re getting enough nutrients.
“Within those times that you’re eating, are you getting enough of the things you need?” Eling asks. “That’s enough protein, enough carbs, and enough fat to make it satisfying and filling. If you notice your plate is just one type of food — whether that’s just protein or just fat or just carbs — we know that you’re likely not getting an adequate amount of the other nutrients you need.”
3. Are you eating a variety of foods?
The third thing to look at is variety when you prepare meals, Eling says.
“Once you have regularity and adequacy figured out, look at where you can start to bring in variety,” she says. “We know different foods offer different nutritional value. Being able to say you get your carbs from not just one type of grain, but different types of whole grains, that’s only going to be better for your body. Variety is a place where we can start to have fun and be really experimental and break people out of their comfort zones in terms of monotone eating.”
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