Positive Eating...a "New" Trend

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15recipekids-intro.html?ref=fitnessandnutrition

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/dining/17diet.html?ref=todayspaper

I will admit I read the New York Times every morning I can. Doing what I do, I tend to read the Science Times, Dining In/Dining Out and any other health related articles of the day first. This past week 2 articles caught my attention; both focused on this trend known as positive eating, a concept that looks at food in a positive light as oppose to a negative one. One article focused on children while the other more geared towards adults--interestingly enough the general message was the same.

There is little debate that we are a society obsessed with diet foods; fat free this and low carb that have become a staple in our homes and on our supermarket shelves. Every diet book or magazine we read tells us to eliminate certain foods; there is never too much talk about food in a positive light. Food is not good or bad; its just food. Furthermore, the more we emphasize that "bad" foods "should" be avoided, the more we want to eat these foods (sounds similar to a previous blog?). This change in thought will not only help manage our obesity epidemic, it will also help control our growing eating disorder problem.


Its nice to see that the media is finally starting to catch on to what goes on in many nutrition counseling sessions, although it will be some time before there is a complete conversion to positive eating and positive thinking about all food.

Orthorexia = Healthy?

First, my apologizes for my month long hiatus--it was the summer!

We have all heard of anorexia, but what exactly is orthorexia? Believe it or not, it is the obsession over "healthy food". I use quotation marks because I look at the term as more subjective than objective. Most people, and most nutritionists, would define healthy foods as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

I would like offer an alternative definition of healthy food; healthy food=all foods. Why does a food have to be either good or bad? Can't it just all be good? I am not suggesting that we eat cookies all day, but I am also not suggesting we munch on carrot sticks either. We should eat everything we want to eat--the trick is incorporating our likes and dislikes into an eating way of life.

Maybe if we did not dichotomize food into good and bad categories Anorexia and Orthorexia would not exist? Sometimes it is just the lure of the food that makes it so appealing...so maybe the answer to our society’s eating problems is to take out the lure...

Is a Picture worth 1,000 words?

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/07/29/2008-07-29_rep_madonnas_the_victim_of_a_bad_pic.html

How appropriate is it to have my first post on my new blog on the same day I have my first quotation published in a New York City publication. I received an email from a writer at the New York Daily News; at first I thought it was Spam.

I was asked to comment on Madonna's latest picture from a dietitian's perspective-I was not able to ask her a single question, only to look and speculate a possible explanation.

It was not the first time I was asked to judge people on looks alone without the ability to ask a single question. When looking at this picture obvious words come to mind-anorexic is probably the one that poped out first. But I caution you not to draw conclusions--we have no idea how much she is exercising or what she is eating. The old saying is so true...don't judge a book by its cover!