Blog Posts

A “Super Senior” Decision Led to Her Dream Job

By Jean Storlie / May 2, 2015 /

Something about my daughter’s text, “When are you getting home?” alarmed me as I was getting off the plane on a beautiful summer evening in late August 2013. I suppressed my “mother instinct” to worry as I drove home and joined my husband on our patio. About 20 minutes later, Abby came out and asked…

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Manny Opens Our Eyes to the Reality of Child Hunger

By Jean Storlie / September 1, 2014 /

It was 1984 and school breakfast programs were just starting in Iowa. As a new dietitian with the Midwest Dairy Council, I was sent out to experience a school breakfast program in Muscatine, Iowa. Taking my assignment seriously, I showed up at 7:00 a.m., dressed in my best business suit. When I walked into the…

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Life on a North Dakota Ranch Shows Us How Farmers Care

By Jean Storlie / July 3, 2014 /

On a cold, snowy night in late March on the North Dakota plains, I was 4 years old, and knew this was a special time of the year on the ranch. As my mom tucked me into bed, I asked, “Where’s Daddy?” Gently settling my covers, she answered, “He’s outside checking on the cattle to…

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Change is Not a Light Switch: The Grief in New Year’s Resolutions

By Jean Storlie / January 6, 2014 /

Bernie joined the Cardiac Rehab program where I interned in grad school. He was angry and resistant to the lifestyle changes we promoted. I remember him standing in the back of my nutrition class, making jokes and snide remarks under his breath – he was distracting and made me feel uncomfortable. He sent his wife…

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Family Meal Conundrum: Four Chairs for Five People

By Jean Storlie / September 5, 2013 /

Amy, the 17-year-old daughter of someone I know, spent this summer as a nanny for three amazing kids, age five to eleven. She learned to juggle a lot of comings and goings and stay on top of a hectic schedule of events. But in between tennis and golf camps, soccer practice, swim team, and play…

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Sunday Night Dinner: Rituals That Build a Family Narrative

By Jean Storlie / June 12, 2013 /

“I can’t wait until I go to college so I don’t have to sit through Sunday Night Dinner,” our 18-year-old daughter whined — creating tension and drama — as we gathered for our ritual meal around the dining room table, set with linens and lit with candles. Six months later on her first weekend home…

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When Opportunity is Disguised as Loss

By Jean Storlie / June 4, 2013 /

A year ago today, I was laid off from General Mills in a major corporate restructuring. My first reaction was relief – to be free from a job that no longer energized me – and excitement – for the chance to pursue a dream I’d been imagining. Arriving home that first night, I tossed aside…

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Fitness Carrot or Stick Debate

The School Fitness Debate: Carrot, Stick, or Neither?

By Jean Storlie / May 29, 2013 /

“Automatic out, Storlie’s up!” my classmates would chant when I’d get up to bat.  As a young girl in the 60s, I was a skinny, klutzy kid no one wanted on their team. Humiliated and defeated, I’d swing my three strikes and, maybe, get walked. I grew up hating PE and sports. As a nutrition…

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My Hospice Experience With Dad

By Jean Storlie / May 8, 2013 /

Last week, I spent 5 days and 4 nights in hospice with my father, Jack Storlie, who passed away on May 4. During this vigil, I experienced the emotional side of health in the deepest way possible. Before going into a coma, Dad was recovering from an emergency surgery that removed 25% of his small…

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My Mom’s Version of Healthy

By Jean Storlie / April 23, 2013 /

As a kid in the 60s, my sisters and I walked a half mile to school, came home for lunch, and went back again. My mom stayed home and ran our household with business-like efficiency. Lois grew up on a farm during the Great Depression and learned to cook for over 20, but her real…

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