Be Healthy or Avoid being Unhealthy?

Ever since I decided to switch my career goal from Business to Nutrition, one of my close friend started sending all sorts of articles relating to health, fitness and nutrition my way. It boggles my mind that when I was in high school no one did a double take when I told them I wanted to work in the business industry. And now in university, if I express my passion towards nutrition, it needs to be followed up by a small explanation of what led me to this. Nevertheless, I find it interesting to see people's reactions as I tell them I want to be a nutritionist because I like to help people. I feel that nutrition is one field that aims to help individuals lead healthier lives by working with them and not for them. Every client is unique and has different needs. There is no set procedure to follow when it comes to leading a healthier lifestyle and that's whats so beautiful about nutrition, to me anyway! (see the immediate desire to defend my career aspiration : )  )

This time around, the article that was sent to me was called "Health and Fitness tip" from the healthzone section in the Toronto Star website aimed at providing health tips to parents with young children. I tend to be somewhat skeptical of health tip articles because they need to be simple and easy to follow, however, health is anything but simple! But at the same time, some information is better than none (provided the information is correct and relevant). The need for such a list is understandable because we need to get the message out there to the public in a way that is easy, accessible to large groups of people and interesting enough for them to read. .


While I was doing some research relating to this article, I did a quick google search and by the looks of it, it seemed like every other person (expert and non-expert) is handing out parenting advice which made me feel bad for new parents. Not only is there so much pressure to be a good and responsible parent on one hand, but on the other, there is so much information out there that it becomes  tough for a lay person to know what to follow and what to ignore (especially if one is unfamiliar with the topic, which is likely to be the case for most parents). It also seems like young parents are always under the watchful eye of the public- we tend to be rather quick to judge a parent if we see them scolding their child in public without even knowing what the situation is (perhaps the child was doing something dangerous). I am not claiming to be an expert in parenting by any means, and neither am I advocating a certain way of parenting. All I am trying to say is that we tend to be quick to judge parents at first glance (influenced by our experiences and/or bias) without really looking at the scenario from all viewpoints before forming an opinion.

In a nutshell, the article talks about 

•  understanding that "safe" does not translate into "without risk"
• what not to avoid: Bread crusts and

• what to have plenty of: vitamin D-3, folate, tomato products, cruciferous vegetables (think cabbage family), and yogurt.
• exercise!

I am just curious how the authors came up with this list. Moreover, all the recommendations have a prevent-cancer message following them, which is hard for me to swallow since this article is aimed at parents. Since when is cancer prevention one of the top priorities for new parents? In my opinion, our purpose as health professionals is not to scare individuals but to provide them with the tools necessary to lead healthier lives. Agreed, nothing is definitive in the world of nutrients as every individual is different and we speak in terms of risk reduction, but we have long surpassed the concept of health as being merely the absence of disease. Health is enjoyment of life and beyond. Perhaps, I was not expecting this article to have a risk reduction tone to it, but a more health promotion perspective to it (victim of my own bias?).With that thought, I will part and hope that with the nutrition month right around the corner everyone stays healthy, happy and safe!

Vanity Insanity

"This has got to be madness!"

said I, after I read the news article on a very much controversial procedure for losing weight. It involves stitching a small piece of plastic mesh onto a human  tongue so as to feel pain while ingesting solid foods. (Causes pain, did I mention that?) This is done to force a low-calorie liquid diet for weight-loss purposes.

Perhaps, I should not be quick to judge since I always tell myself to understand something before forming an opinion. So let's see what this is all about.

The patch sewn directly in the centre of the tongue is meant to cause discomfort so that people are able to change their eating habits. The person with the patch is on a 750 calories a day diet, which is less than half the recommended calories for a sedentary adult female as recommended on the health canada website (1900 Calories/day) and 1/3 of the recommended calories for a sedentary male adult (2500 Calories/day). Four or five stitches stiches are made in the direct centre of the tongue and it is removed later on. The idea is to teach people to eat differently so that when the sutures are removed, the individual is able to make healthier choices. It is for this reason, that the 10-minute surgery is accompanied with weekly psychological consultations and a diet and exercise plan for a hefty price of $3000.

Having thought about the procedure in my most rational mind possible, I still think it is unreasonable for a person to have to stitch their tongue to be able to learn healthy eating habits. Putting a person on a restricted diet of liquids only with 750 Calories/ day is unhealthy and would definitely have implications on the persons' entire body if they are not receiving any of the essential nutrients for a prolonged period of time. The liquid meals prescribed to the adult, in such a case, become absolutely essential as it is their sole source of food after the surgery. Whats worse is if someone forgets to take a prescribed liquid drink or decides to "speed" their weight loss procedure by reducing their intake- this would seriously jeopardize their health and put them at risk for malnutrition depending on their nutrient history and requirements (this does not sound healthy to me). Furthermore, the idea of having to hurt someone to "encourage" healthy eating habits is contradictory in its nature.We all know that eating disorders associated with malnutrition have come into the forefront along with distorted media images of "beauty" that is in reality unhealthy and unattainable. With the rise in obesity trends, it is important to promote healthy eating and living, however, "losing weight" does not equal being healthy.

news article: "Some find controversial new weight-loss technique hard to swallow"

Love of Cooking..

With time, Canadians are eating less meals at home and opting for prepackaged products that promise taste, nutrition and convenience. But the claims do not present the entire truth as also discussed in the article, "Frozen food is simple, yes, but is it good for you?" by Carly Weeks. Weeks argues that while companies marketing their products as nutritious alternatives to cooking  is working for them, consumers are at a loss here as the consumption of pre-packaged foods rise and so does their fat and sodium intake. It is also important to note, that the agencies responsible for designing ad campaigns for many million dollar corporations have years of education, training and experience with them in presenting objects in the best possible light. Knowledge of consumer behaviour, trend analysis and human psychology are just some aspects of marketing that are taken into consideration when designing advertisements for a product. We tend to underestimate the effect advertisements have on our behaviour, however, businesses track records of improved sales after a specific advertisement is aired show drastic improvements in sales. Meanwhile, busier working schedules and time-poverty leads to less time left for cooking. Cooking is not a skill set everyone has anymore. In my first year at Ryerson into the nutrition program, I remember discussing time-poverty and how it is affecting our everyday food choices in FNP 100 seminar. Before coming to Ryerson, I was accutomed to home-cooked meals and did not understand when someone talked about "missing" home cooked meals. For me, if anyone was going out for dinner meant there was a special occassion or a celebration of some kind and I would look forward to the monthly anniversaries, birthdays or traditional events to go out for dinner. However, moving away from home and working part-time while studying has changed how I view eating out completely and made me fall in love with cooking all over again!