Kent State Interns

Since I enjoy cooking myself I found this article in Today’s Dietitian interesting. Preparing your own meals is the easiest way to eat healthier and unfortunately most people no longer take the time or even have the culinary skills needed to cook for themselves or their families. The article suggests a role for dietitians in culinary education and outlines ways to motivate your clients to try healthful cooking techniques. The article can be found on line at  http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/080113p28.shtml  JY 9/3/13

I was skimming the most current issue of Food and Nutrition Magazine and came across this interesting article here .   The story centers in Clark County, Washington, where over a quarter of children don’t know where their next meal is coming from!   Like many lower-income areas, transportation is an issue, so the Lewis River Mobile Food Bank was created.   The trailer serves as a source of foods and recipes and helps 110 households monthly.   Also featured in the article is a similar service – a Producemobile in the Chicago area, where as many as one in three people may be food insecure and food deserts are a reality.   Additionally, this program served 200,000 people in the past year.   Seeing as these programs have been successful thus far, perhaps other cities could follow suit with this approach to get fresh foods to those who need it most.   It will be interesting to see how this trend may evolve in the near future. Source: Sund, ...

             During my junior year of undergrad, I went on a spring break service trip, and one of the many projects my team worked on was building an urban garden in Jacksonville, Florida.   This sparked my interest in urban gardening, and for this reason, the New York Times article entitled “ Street Farmer ” caught my attention.   This article profiles urban farmer Will Allen who is the Founder and CEO of Growing Power farm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   Allen’s farm is composed of 14 greenhouses in an urban area which would otherwise be considered a food desert, located only a short distance from the largest public-housing project in Milwaukee.   The sheer amount of fresh produce that Allen’s farm provides city residents via the on-farm retail store, city famers’ markets, basket deliveries, and local schools and restaurants is impressive, but he doesn’t stop at this, raising livestock ranging from tilapia to goats to...

Here are 5 simple steps to aid your clients in achieving a successful long term lifestyle change! 1.        Recognize a need for change – Do you currently have a health condition, or are at risk for developing one? Is running a marathon on your bucket list? Or do you just want to look great at the beach this summer? There are many reasons for wanting to make a lifestyle change, and none of them mean that what you are currently doing is wrong – only that it may be improved. 2.        Establish a goal – When making goals, remember that many small, short term goals lead to larger, long term goals. Psychologist Paul Meyer has developed the acronym SMART to help you create good goals. Keep these in mind when creating your health goals! S pecific – Answer questions “how”, “when” and “where” M easurable – Use numbers to easily measure your accomplishments A chievable – Are your goals attainable? Remember to start s...

I found this article  in the recent Academy journal and thought it could be a good resource for improving counseling skills.  The use of open-ended questions is the basis of motivational interviewing, but some fail to facilitate discussion. For example a poor open-ended questions would be "What foods that you normally eat are high in calcium?"  A better question would be "How do you make sure you are getting enough calcium in your diet?"  This article explains how to develop successful open-ended questions that will encourage clients to share their thoughts, opinions, feelings, experiences, and hesitations. -KC

At my current rotation, I led a weight management class on body image. In my preparation, I found a great article written by a psychotherapist who specializes in eating disorders who interviewed a sociologist who studied the body images of black and white female adolescents with different degrees of weight loss. Important in any population with disordered eating habits, I think that body image and the psychology of food is especially interesting in the overweight and obese population.  It is the same old "chicken or the egg" argument - which came first? Disordered eating or poor body image. Even while leading the class, one student who had lost a significant amount of weight admitted that when she looked in the mirror, she saw herself at her heaviest weight - which is a risk factor for weight regain and therefore increased disease risk.  For anyone who is interested in weight management counseling, I think that this article reiterates the interconnectedness of psychology an...

I was reading through my daily emails from the Academy when I came across an interesting article about bariatric surgery.  The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the Obesity Society recently recommended that eligibility for weight-loss surgery be expanded to include mildly or moderately obese patients with diabetes or metabolic syndrome.  These patients would have to have a BMI of 30-34.9 to be eligible.  The previous criteria was severe obesity (BMI above 40) or BMI greater than 35 with a serious health problem related to obesity.  You can read more from this news release here . -KC