My name is Emily, and welcome to my food blog! Eating Chalk is where I share my food and fitness adventures as I try to find the healthy lifestyle that works for me. This is a food blog – Eating – but I’m back in school as a Dietetics major and I’d like to share that part of my life as well – Chalk!
I was born and raised in the Virgin Islands, went to college in Miami, worked as a teacher in Brooklyn for two years (during which time I wrote the 1st Eating Chalk), and recently moved to Buffalo, NY with my husband Adam, a 3rd year medical student. I’m 26 years old and I’m currently back in school, working to become a Registered Dietician.
As an undergraduate I double majored in English and Education at the University of Miami. In December of 2007 I married my high school sweetheart; on a beach, in flip flops, with lots of rum. Adam took two years before starting medical school to volunteer with Teach for America, and we fulfilled my lifelong dream of living in NYC. He was the one who was supposed to be in the trenches, but I accepted a teaching job at the 10th lowest ranked middle school in the city. During the two years I taught 8th grade English in East New York (actually I didn’t teach much of anything but that’s another story…) I realized that my passions had shifted; I wanted to work with the same population but I wanted to teach nutrition. When the husband was accepted to medical school in Buffalo I quit my job and decided to go back to school as well.
I also began writing the blog Eatventures. (In fact, every post dated prior to 8/10/10 is technically my Eatventures content!) If you’ve been following me at Eatventures, you know that since my move to Buffalo I’ve had minor foot surgery, as well as a serious stress fracture. You also know that I eat far too much popcorn. The end result is that I gained almost twenty pounds in the last two years. My forced couch time wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t eaten a steady diet of jalopeno nachos. It wasn’t all bad luck, but some bad decisions too!
For my height, my current weight and body fat percentage are still within the healthy range. But I don’t look or feel my best. Twenty pounds are a lot, especially on a small frame! I don’t feel the way I’d like to at 26. I don’t believe in crash diets or crazy weight loss schemes, I wouldn’t be a very good future R.D. if I did, but I am making small tweaks to my lifestyle that will help me to slowly find my way back to my personal healthy. I’ll try to document these on the blog, as well as keep you apprised of my progress. I hope you enjoy taking this journey with me!
awesome new blog—adding to my google reader! and I do hope to hear more reflections on your teaching experience someday
Looking forward to reading! Good for you for surviving the NYC department of Ed! That takes a lot out of anyone – for real, yo
Great blog!
I am exactly like you. I am perfectly inside my healthy weight range, but I’m not particularily happy there. I am trying to lose 15-20 more pounds. (This loss would still be inside my recommended range.)
Good luck to us both!!
Thanks for stopping by! Good luck, and welcome!
I am healthy living blogger from buffalo as well! great to find ya!
Welcome! It’s great to find another Buffalo blogger
Going back to school is a HUGE committment – so congratulations! I just finished another semester of my Master’s program, and I feel a little bit like I am decompressing! Some days I wonder why I chose to go back!
I lost over 120 pounds over a period of five years – so I know weight loss is tough! I’ve found blogging to be one of the best motivators AND the best way to stay accountable!
I just discovered your blog! Looks great! Looking forward to reading more!
Welcome! I hope you stick around
Emily,
Love the blog! It has been so long since I have seen you but it looks like your doing great! I just started reading your blog and you def have a lot of great stuff! I am right outside Syracuse,NY so I believe I am like an hour and a half from you. Anyways keep up the great work and I will keep reading I am always looking for good healthy food tips and recipes.
Love
Heather ” Long lost St. Thomas classmate”
Hey, Heather! It’s great to hear from you!
Just wanted to stop by and say I love your blog and recipes! I loved the Bananas Foster Bars! Sooo good
You made them? Yay! I’m so glad you liked the recipe!
Nice photo graph in restaurant.
Interesting story.. 10th lowest rank? I think I might be scared to even get out of my car there! Props to you. I look forward to reading you blog. I intend to go to medical school, and it will be good to see how you deal with a husband going through it!
-Eleah
I agree, 15 pounds on a small frame looks like 50 or something!!
One of the curses of being short.
Is that boba/pearl milk tea in the last photo? LOVE IT
Yep; one of my favorites!
Just discovered your food blog and so glad I did! I recently lost 12 pounds (was healthy before, still healthy after!) and now am in the process of trying to keep it off/maybe lose a few more… Sounds similar to your story! Looking forward to reading more
Welcome!
So great meeting you and being your roomie this weekend!!
What is your twitter handle? Please stay in touch.
You too! It’s @EmilyWax
Thank you! I’m off to check out your blog to see how you guys do it!
I just randomly clicked here from a comment you left on another blog & saw you are from the VI! I grew up on St. Croix but since we seem to be the same age & I don’t recognize you… are you from STT?
Too funny! Yes, I’m from STT. I only made it over to STX a few times for football games (I was a cheerleader at Antilles) but I bet you met my friend Lana…
Hi! I just found your blog & love your approach to food and living a healthy lifestyle! I can’t wait to read more of your great ideas!
Oh my gosh – I used to read your blog when you first started. I’m glad I found it again
Oh yay, me too!
Hi Emily,
Heidi from East Park Pops here. I just read your post regarding the pops and am so disappointed to hear you were unhappy with your experience. It’s really important to me that everyone loves their pops, so if you can, please contact me. I’d like to resolve this for you, and your feedback will help me identify future improvements to make so that you, your friends, my accounts and everyone who tries these pops will always enjoy them. Many thanks — and I promise you will love them!
Heidi -
I’m sorry you had to read a bad review; I try to strike a balance between always being honest with my readers while remembering that my tastes may not be shared by everyone. As Dietetics/Nutrition majors, my friends and I really adore the concept behind your company. We love that your pops are low/no sugar added, encourage people to eat fruit, and are locally made. We ordered the Mango Pineapple and the Strawberry Peach Tea, and thought that both sounded like great flavor combinations. Unfortunately, we found the pops to be too hard. They were difficult to eat (compared with other popsicles that have a slightly softer feel) and the ice-factor kept all of the flavors from coming though. We wondered if perhaps Delish is storing them improperly and that led to our issue?
Thank you for reaching out to me, it’s clear that you are passionate about your pops. I hope my response is helpful to you. I wish you luck in the future!