Green beans anyone?

Health Tip: Protein is not the cure all when it comes to dieting. In fact, studies show that most of the rapid weight loss from protein only diets is fluid loss, which explains the difficulty of maintaining the weight loss. Most people need about 1gm of protein daily for every kilo (2.2lbs) of their body weight.

The key to remember that, as in all things, dieting requires a balance. Carbohydrates are an essential part of everyone’s diet.  The best way to eat carbs is to eat them in small amounts and regular intervals, throughout the day. The problem is that most of us will sit down to a carb rich meal (pasta, potatoes, bread, dessert), and then we are overloading on carbohydrates. Indirectly, this can lead to diabetes as we overwork our pancreas.

I love to remind myself daily that food was made for the body, but, I will not be mastered by it ( 1 Cor 6:13) The truth is that dieting can often make us feel like we are slaves to the food we are trying to avoid. Ultimately though, as we gain control of our own daily diet, we have a freedom that comes from knowing we are not being mastered by our own cravings!

Ok, so the point of today’s blog is to remind you that dieting is all about balance. For the sake of your metabolism and overall health, try not to cut out any food group from your diet completely. Rather, learn to have a balanced, scheduled daily diet. As difficult as it may be, this is the sure way to maintain our healthiest weight.  Of course, when it comes to vegetables, its highly unlikely that you could ever eat too many;-) Pass me the green beans please;-)

Information Therapy

Information is the most important tool your healthcare clinician can offer you.  In fact, I have often heard that our goal as clinicians should be to provide information therapy to our patients. Basically, this means you are given the information on your condition or health from your clinician, and then you make the decision on what you want to do with that information. This may seem like common sense to many, but, the truth is that the vast majority of people go to the doctor to be given directives. Sometimes people look upset  when the doctor gives them the information needed, and then empowers them to make their own decision on which route to take. This is especially true when our culture effects how we perceive our health. When it comes to long term illness, there are often ways to improve quality of life without providing a cure. This is important to understand in each unique situation we face. Our cultural perspective can also hinder or enhance our understanding of our unique health situation.

Its easy to overlook the impact that our culture can have on our perception of disease. As nurses, we are challenged to try to understand and respect a patient’s cultural perspective on the treatment and prevention of disease. Having worked in the Amazon for many years, I came face to face with understanding the importance of cultural influence on a person’s health choices. I think of the little baby boy from a remote indigenous tribe, in a coma, struggling to fight meningitis. He was given a 25% chance to pull through on the IV antibiotics. The parents concern was that we were only giving the baby water (IV fluid) and not rice, fish and bananas. They were convinced this is what led their little boy into a coma. Thankfully, after a few days of IV antibiotics the little guy was able to fight off the meningitis, and recovered completely. His parents ideas of IVs changed after that, and they were more willing to entrust their children to modern healthcare. And yet, my goal the whole time was to make sure they understood the importance of the IV antibiotics, so they could make an informed decision.

When you visit a healthcare clinician, I think it is important to recognize that medicine, like any other area,is a dynamic field. I want to encourage everyone to gather as much information as possible when it comes to your individual health, and in so doing, hopefully make an informed decision about the route you wish to take; even if that does mean deciding contrary to the guidance you may have received.