no. 51 - The Upparent Episode

12/10/18 • 26 min

Word of mouth has always been one of the ways parents get recommendations on things to do with kids. Upparent.com makes finding these recommendations easier than ever before.

Intended as a way for users to browse parenting-related content and recommendations, Upparent.com is quickly becoming a go-to resource for parents who want to spend less time researching and more time enjoying activities with their kids.

In this episode I interview Upparent co-founder Alexandra Fung as we discuss:

Which markets Upparent currently provides market-specific content for
What types of information parents can find on Upparent, including topics that range from the best sippy cups for kids to races the entire family can run
How content on the site is generated, curated and monitored for quality control
Why the topic of volunteering as a family is popular on the site and with its founders

I close out this final 2018 episode with a brief discussion about the Cool Stuff page, where I include my choices for favorite and recommended products, including a recommendation of my favorite natural deodorant by LaVanila ( LaVanila's underarm detox mask as shared with me by their team, in case listeners are looking for a way to transition from traditional deodorant to a natural one.

Thanks to every listener who has helped to make 2018 an amazing year for me and this podcast! I look forward to bringing you all new episodes in January of 2019. ~Regan

This week’s episode is brought to you by Audible, who is offering a free trial and free audiobook download to This Unmillennial Life listeners who visit audibletrial.com/unmillennial

This Unmillennial Life is available each week via iTunes, NPROne, Libsyn, iHeartRadio, Spotify and coming soon, Podcasts on Pandora. Each full-length show is also now available via ReganJonesRD on Facebook making it easier than ever to share with a friend.

Musical support provided by Ben Williams at Kudzu Studio. Website support provided by Katy Widrick at MakeMediaOver.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit reganjonesrd.substack.com

Word of mouth has always been one of the ways parents get recommendations on things to do with kids. Upparent.com makes finding these recommendations easier than ever before.

In this episode I interview Upparent co-founder Alexandra Fung as we discuss:

Which markets Upparent currently provides market-specific content for
What types of information parents can find on Upparent, including topics that range from the best sippy cups for kids to races the entire family can run
How content on the site is generated, curated and monitored for quality control
Why the topic of volunteering as a family is popular on the site and with its founders

Thanks to every listener who has helped to make 2018 an amazing year for me and this podcast! I look forward to bringing you all new episodes in January of 2019. ~Regan

This week’s episode is brought to you by Audible, who is offering a free trial and free audiobook download to This Unmillennial Life listeners who visit audibletrial.com/unmillennial

Musical support provided by Ben Williams at Kudzu Studio. Website support provided by Katy Widrick at MakeMediaOver.com.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit reganjonesrd.substack.com

Previous Episode

{wednesday rewind} no. 17 - The Menstrual Cycle Episode

If you're an unmillennial you've been having periods more years than you probably care to remember. So what in the world could a podcast tell you that you DON'T know about your menstrual cycle? How about the fact that you actually burn more calories after ovulation OR that right after your period may be the best time to try for a new PR in your fitness routine?

Today's episode of the podcast features an interview with registered dietitian, nutrition coach and flexible dieting expert, Emily Field. In the episode, we discuss:

How Emily and I started working together
Why I'm trying out macro tracking that correlates with my menstrual cycle
How the hormones estrogen and progesterone, which change throughout the month, affect fitness, coordination, hunger, mindset and more
What these changes mean in terms of the exercises you choose, in both your follicular phase (the beginning of your cycle) and the luteal phase (the end of your cycle)
The increase in calories metabolized at the end of your cycle and why the types of foods you eat might need a shift during this time

To wrap up the show, I recap a recent NBCNews.com article that details "Why the Future is Female" and give my own thoughts about what this message means in terms of inspiring and empowering us as women after age 40. I invite all guests of the show to Tweet Me @ReganJonesRD and tell me why YOU think the #FutureIsFemale. Or you can leave me a voicemail OR join the This Unmillennial Life Facebook Group and let me know what you think!

As always, thank you for listening, subscribing and sharing with a friend! Listeners tell me it’s the kind of podcast you want to tell your girlfriends about. So if you haven’t done that, please share!

Thanks for subscribing. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review!

Until next time,

~Regan

Never miss another episode! This Unmillennial Life is available each week via iTunes, NPROne and Libsyn.

This week’s episode is sponsored by HealthyAperture.com — the web’s first and only dietitian-curated recipe discovery site.

Musical support provided by Ben Williams at Kudzu Studio. Website support provided by Katy Widrick at MakeMediaOver.com. Additional support provided by Robin Plotkin of RobinsBite.com.

Next Episode

{blog bonus} Macro Counting - An IIFYM review, A Dietitian’s Perspective and Top Lessons Learned

A few years ago I stumbled into macro counting as an experiment via the popular online site, IIFYM. But after seeking the support of a fellow registered dietitian to learn more about the popular plan, macro counting quickly became a way of life for me — one that I’ve been embracing for more than two years now. The reason I originally tried IIFYM, what I learned from the experiment and most importantly, how macro counting actually helped me eat more, feel stronger and be happier in my body are detailed in this podcast, which is a read version of this blog post from my website. Much of this content originally appeared on Healthy Aperture but has subsequently moved to This Unmillennial Life and updated here with recent insights. ~Regan

***

Part 1: The IIFYM Experiment

Are you a sucker for before and after stories like I am? Are you hoping you’ve clicked into this post today and are about to be amazed by pictures of the transformation I’ve undergone as a result of trying IIFYM?

Sorry to dash your hopes.

I guess I’m just an old-fashioned unmillennial, but I still believe there are some things that don’t need to be shared online.

And by “some things” obviously I mean me in a bikini-clad before/after picture collage.

Instead, I am going to share in this post a very detailed account of what it was like to sign up for a “flexible dieting” plan via IIFYM, what happened with my weight, how I felt adopting a higher calorie eating plan and what I learned from Emily Field– a registered dietitian who specializes in macro counting – about how this type of eating plan can be the right fit for some people.

But first, a disclaimer and then, a bit of background.

Disclaimer

There are a number of dietitians I’m associated with professionally who advocate for a diet-free approach to healthy eating. I do wholeheartedly agree that many people can and should approach a healthy lifestyle without a focus on dieting and being a slave to the scale. But I personally stop short of the mentality that loving your body and wanting to change/improve your body are mutually exclusive. In fact, as you read this post you’ll learn about how this experiment actually helped me personally get in touch with my own intuitive desires for what I want and need to eat each day.

I’d also add that if you personally struggle with obsessive eating thoughts and behaviors, I don’t recommend a self-guided plan like this or macro counting in general. You should seek out the support of therapists and dietitians who specialize in disordered eating.

Now, The Backstory

A few years ago as I was doing some prep work for Healthy Aperture and looking at trending topics on Instagram, I stumbled across a cluster of hashtags that all centered on macro counting. Known by many different names (flexible dieting, IIFYM, reverse dieting), macro counting has been popular in the bodybuilding ranks for years. But recently, it seems to have made an upswing in mainstream popularity. Without knowing much about what exactly it entailed — I already understood it meant counting the basic dietary macronutrients of Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate — I asked Lindsay to pull together a round up of “macro” focused recipes.

She was completely clueless what I wanted.

And so was I.

Knowing nothing about the community of folks devoted to macro counting, neither of us had any idea what recipes macro-counters were looking for. So I decided to do something totally outside of my comfort zone. I found the most popular macro counting site I could (IIFYM), signed up, ordered their “blueprint” and started tracking macros based on their recommendations daily for two months.

An RD signing up for a non-RD developed eating plan. It’s a little weird, I know. But I wanted to experience a mainstream plan to better understand what IIFYM fanatics were really looking for.

IIFYM Review – The Sign-Up

It wasn’t hard to find a community to join. One of the most popular hashtags being used among macro counters is #IIFYM (“If It Fits Your Macros”). The central premise of many macro counting plans is “flexible dieting,” where you can “eat whatever you want” as long as it works into your daily set of macros (hence the “If It Fits Your Macros” moniker.) This freedom of choice wasn’t exactly new to me. In my job as an editor at Weig...