WHY I HAVE WRITTEN THIS BOOK

As a dietitian over many years, working in many different places in many different positions, I became acutely aware that ‘the what’ and ‘the how’ of much of my information to patients and consumers was not what resonated with them. And that I didn’t have the time in standardized appointments and limited contact to sit down and explain the story.

For example, being told you are diabetic is traumatic for most people, even if you secretly suspected that you were! No one remembers all they were told at that appointment.  I remember a patient collapsing in tears at my clinic, without an appointment, totally traumatized after a visit to the Supermarket. She had thought she knew how to read a food label. She had told me so. But faced with information and having to make choices, she was all confused about carbohydrates – she knew sugar was a carbohydrate but why was it separate from the others on the food label? And then there were starches which change to sugars. How was she to deal with that information? Then she saw an ad in the potato section proclaiming – low energy potatoes. She knew potatoes were starch so how did they fit into her diabetic diet. Did it mean she could eat them? Or not?

To add to the stuff whirling around in her head there were the digestible and non digestible carbohydrates which we had talked about and not mentioned on the label at all using those words.

And how do you kick your Sugar habit? Is all sugar really to be forbidden?

My patient saw a whole Diabetic section in her Supermarket which had processed foods claiming to be useful in diabetes. What did that mean? Could she use these foods for weight control?

And a whole list more of questions. My patient was so apologetic for asking questions. I was so pleased she did. It was a matter of who was teaching who. She was showing me that I really did not give her what she needed.

It has taken me a few years to organize what I wanted to say that would be a helpful conduit between the language of science and the language of marketing and  advertising. And in all that time there has not really been another publication which helped the shopper with these questions.

Shoppers in Supermarkets without specific problems but who just want to eat well have similar dilemmas. Who to believe? What is scientifically established and what is valid opinion? And then there is advertising and marketing. Is the product you heard about on television superior to the little jar quietly sitting on the shelf beside your large labelled and well- known brand?

I have chosen Sugar as the pivot around which much of our food discussion exist. We make choices so often based on taste rather than on logic. In fact, taste is so important that I chose it for its own chapter very early on in the book.

Why is sugar such a bad guy at present since it has been used as a preservative since ancient civilizations? I like sugar. I like sweet.

Furthermore, many of us are wanting to develop life styles which are kind to the planet. How does sugar fit into that? Few understand that sugar is a great sequester of carbon dioxide. Sugar is a natural product.

Food shopping should be a delight. If it is a chore and you order in prepared meals or a regular list of ingredients then this book is also certainly for you.

And don’t forget your friendly Accredited Dietitian.

Happy reading.

Post Views : 263