Two new facts for National Nutrition Month

In com­mem­o­ra­tion of National Nutri­tion Month, I have two announce­ments to make. March has been National Nutri­tion Month for decades, and each year I make it a point to write some­thing spe­cial to honor the stuff that we chew and swallow.

First, the pro­fes­sional orga­ni­za­tion that has pro­moted and sup­ported nutri­tion pro­fes­sion­als for years, the Amer­i­can Dietetic Asso­ci­a­tion, has changed its name. This group of food­ies includes research, clin­i­cal, out­pa­tient, well­ness and other spe­cial­ties. From now on The Acad­emy of Nutri­tion and Dietet­ics is the new label for those con­nected with how the human body needs and uses nourishment.

Dieti­tians no longer have to be labeled the same as the Amer­i­can Dis­abil­i­ties Act, The Amer­i­can Den­tal Asso­ci­a­tion or Ada, Okla. The Acad­emy of Nutri­tion and Dietet­ics still uses eatright.org as their web­site name.

By the way, The Acad­emy of Nutri­tion and Dietet­ics will con­tinue to spell dietit­ian with two t’s. Most com­puter pro­grams spell this word with a t and a c: dieti­cian. Talk to any­one who has spent more than five years of their life work­ing toward the dis­tinc­tion of becom­ing a nutri­tion pro­fes­sional and the mis­spelling of the word is con­sid­ered an insult. Just because spell-check spells the word with a t and a c does not make it cor­rect. Dietit­ian is the Amer­i­can spelling; dieti­cian is how the rest of the world spells this word.

The next bit of earth shat­ter­ing news to share is a per­sonal exper­i­ment that I have been con­duct­ing for the past 12 months. Last Feb­ru­ary, I had a lipid panel done for the Well­ness Pro­gram at work. Well­ness pro­grams are designed to keep the employee as healthy as possible.

When my cho­les­terol num­bers from the lab revealed a group of val­ues that were above the range for a healthy adult, my physi­cian advised me to go on med­ica­tion. I am not alone; more than 20 per­cent of the peo­ple in the United States have an ele­vated cho­les­terol number.

High cho­les­terol is one of the many risk fac­tors for heart dis­ease. Over three quar­ters of the peo­ple with heart attacks have high cho­les­terol. Rou­tinely doc­tors and nutri­tion­ists tell peo­ple with high cho­les­terol num­bers to change their lifestyles with health­ier eat­ing habits and more exercise.

Last year my doc­tor had his pen to his pre­scrip­tion pad and I stopped him. Although my total cho­les­terol and my LDL, the bad kind, were over the limit, I refused to take a statin med­ica­tion to lower my risk of heart disease.

Instead, I fol­lowed the port­fo­lio diet. More soy-based pro­tein prod­ucts replaced ani­mal pro­tein and the more car­diac friendly my meal plan became. High fiber foods, par­tic­u­larly sticky fiber like oats, bar­ley, okra, egg­plant and psyl­lium, decreased harm­ful LDL cho­les­terol. Soy-based fats replaced ani­mal fats, such as but­ter and mar­garine. The biggest change that I made was eat­ing about 1 ounce, a small hand­ful, of heart-healthy nuts, specif­i­cally wal­nuts and almonds, daily.

Add a drum roll; my cho­les­terol num­bers dropped 60 per­cent with­out med­ica­tion just by fol­low­ing a heart-healthy meal plan. The body is a mirac­u­lous thing and believe me or not, those dieti­tians really do know their stuff.

Bob­bie Ran­dall is a cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor, reg­is­tered, licensed dietit­ian. She super­vises a dia­betes self-management train­ing pro­gram at Aultman-Orrville Hos­pi­tal, Orrville. Con­tact her at bobbie.randall@aultmanorrville.org, 330–684-4776.

Posted by Bobbie Randall on Mar 28 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.