Growing up I was always an athlete. I played pretty much every sport under the sun before zeroing in on volleyball and playing year-round competitively for several years. When I went to college, I was tired and burnt out so I picked up a new sport- rowing. After a couple of years, I was having trouble with my lower back and I gave up organized sports all together. For the next two years, I exercised sporadically and enjoyed college life.
It wasn’t until I graduated from college that I got serious about eating right and being healthy. I needed to lose some of the weight I’d gained in college and I finally realized that living on Cheerios, bagels and frozen yogurt just wasn’t going to cut it in the real world.
I moved into an apartment with my then boyfriend (now husband) and got to work. After a few months of watching my sodium and sugar intake, exercising regularly and cooking healthy, nutritious meals at home, I was back in shape and loving my new, healthy lifestyle!
My love food and nutrition continued to grow and after a couple years working at a preschool and an insurance company, I decided I wanted to go back to school to study nutrition and dietetics. I did my research and enrolled in a Dietetic Technician program at a local community college, taking 3 classes per quarter and working 40 hours per week.
After about a year, I decided I wanted to go further and become a Registered Dietitian. I quit my job to go to school full-time, finished the Dietetic Technician program and then transferred to The Ohio State University to complete my last year of studies. In June of 2012 I graduated from OSU with a BS in Dietetics. In August 2012 I will start my Dietetic Internship, also through Ohio State, where I will complete 1200 hours of supervised practice with clinical, community and food service rotations. Upon completing the internship, I will be eligible to take the registration exam and become an RD!
Along the way I got married, bought a house, adopted 2 cats and 2 dogs and started a blog! I started The Lean Green Bean as a food blog in August of 2010, at the urging of my friends and family. I used it a way to share photos and recipes of the meals I was creating at home. As the blog has grown, it has slowly become a more balanced picture of my life. I share recipes, workouts, house projects, weekend activities and animal snapshots!
I do my best to show people that eating healthy can be fun! And that you can cook up some pretty delicious meals with just a little bit of planning and prep work. I share my workouts to encourage others to be physically active and to get out, move more and enjoy life! And I share little snapshots of my day-to-day life to prove that moderation is the key to success. Balance healthy eats with an occasional treat. Balance a tough workout with a day of rest. Balance work with life! And enjoy every minute
Lindsay Livingston is a celebrated food and fitness blogger, a registered dietician student, and an outdoors fanatic. She writes about fitness, food, and fun on her blog The Lean Green Bean
