Occasionally, it seems redundant that I write about healthy eating and how to lose weight when there are so many hungry people in this country. As a nutritionist I choose to work in the community and just when I think I have seen it all something else comes along that shocks the daylight out of me and help me place things into perspective.Poverty is non discriminatory; there are no color or gender lines when it comes to suffering. One can be born into it or thrown into it. As we all know, we are just one paycheck away from being homeless, most of us at least. It is challenging to counsel and advocate for individuals who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, or those who live on just 10 dollars a day. The contrast between the haves and the have not is sometimes unbelievable, even for me.
With that said, the challenge is to figure out how to help those who cannot eat the way I do, or the way the majority of the people I know does. Can I live on just five dollars a day; can I feed a family of five on 10 dollars a day? If I had to, how would I choose which meal I ate or which ones I skip? Surely a meal or two would be skipped on just 10 dollars a day.
I ask myself these questions and place myself in the lives of those I provide service for to understand and to better serve them. Groceries are one of the most expensive commodities now and for many families eating from the dollar menu at McDonald’s is more cost effective than grocery shopping. I wrestle with the idea of restricting someone’s diet when I know that their diet is already restricted. Nevertheless, as a professional my responsibility is to help them understand the relationship between their health and the foods they choose to eat.
Eating healthy with limited resources is challenging. Consequently, cutting corners becomes the norm. Fresh fruits and vegetables may be replaced by canned ones, or eaten less, if at all. Purchasing whole grains, and higher fiber foods is no longer a priority, high fat, less expensive meats are just as filling as leaner meats. These are the challenges some of us as nutritionist/nutrition educators face every day, but we try our best to assist our patients, help them work with what they have and keep a positive perspective. Diet is not just about the foods we eat. It is our mindset, our relationship with foods, with money, and our concerns with feeding our families. Counseling and educating is still possible even for the bleakest of situations.
As community nutrition educators it is important that we remember, what we know has merit, but it has no bearings on how we counsel a family of 5 on healthy eating with a budget of 10 dollars a day. At this point what they know outweighs any education, degree or credentials we have behind our names. We can however encourage, direct, educate and assist our clients to eat better by providing them with the tools needed to plan, shop for and prepare healthier meals within their budget. It could be as simple as teaching them the benefits of rinsing canned vegetables to reduce the sodium content, or trimming fat and baking meats to limit fat intake. Having a positive attitude and understanding the communities you serve as a nutritionist, dietician, nutrition educator is paramount and will prove to be valuable.
