Fulfilling Nutrition
Nourish Wellness, Unit C V9M 3M7 Comox, BC, Canada

In honour of Diabetes Awareness Month, I want to address another misconception around type 2 diabetes. There is so much stigma around the disease in general, and one specific area is around medications used to manage diabetes. - Many people express guilt, shame, and feelings of failure around using medications to manage their blood sugar with type 2 diabetes. There is this narrative that the right way to manage type 2 diabetes is through healthy lifestyle changes, and if... you end up needing medications, you have failed. - Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not against lifestyle changes! I am a dietitian, after all, so obviously I believe nutrition can play a role and enjoy supporting people with making changes that work for them. Nor do I want to dismiss anyone’s very valid concerns about the potential risks & costs associated with medications. - However, stigma, judgment & shame help no one. In fact, it can lead to delays in starting treatment - treatment that can provide immense benefit in management of blood sugar levels, which is key in preventing long term complications from diabetes. Stigma can also lead to stress, social isolation, and avoidance of healthcare - all things that hurt people’s health. - Diabetes is a complicated and progressive disease, and appropriate & effective treatment needs to be individualized. Of course, a thorough exploration of risks & benefits of all the different options is necessary, but can we stop putting those different options in some sort of moral hierarchy? See more

In honour of Diabetes Awareness Month, I thought I’d do some posts on this topic! Today I want to talk about a pretty pervasive and harmful myth. That is, the notion that type 2 diabetes is somehow self-inflicted or a moral failing of the individual. - This is simply not supported by the evidence. Although lifestyle factors like diet & physical activity do play a role, the development of type 2 diabetes is very complicated. Genetics & family history play a huge part, for o...ne thing. And social determinants of health like income, racism, education, employment, access to healthy food & safe places for physical activity - these all factor in as well. - This is not to say that healthy lifestyle changes are pointless - for sure they can help in prevention of diseases such as diabetes. But there are other factors at play as well, from our genetics to the environment we live in. And the reality is, not everyone has equal access to the resources required to engage in health-promoting behaviours. Let’s take the blame and shame out of conversations about diabetes. - #registereddietitian #rdchat #rd2be #type2diabetes #diabetesawarenessmonth #diabetesawareness #diabetes #healthyeating #dietitiansofig #dietitiansofcanada See more

Exploring satisfaction is one of my favourite parts of working with people on their relationships with food. Getting in touch with hunger & fullness cues and honouring those cues is important, but satisfaction is also key, and it’s not the same thing as physical fullness. - Oftentimes the messages we get around healthy eating make us feel like we need to find ways to fill ourselves up with as few calories as possible. If we are cutting out carbs, cutting out fat, or constant...ly trying to find lower-calorie substitutes for the foods we ACTUALLY want, this can leave us feeling unsatisfied. You might notice that you find yourself thinking about food a lot, or that you continue to eat past the point of comfortable fullness but still feel like something is missing. - There is often some fear that allowing ourselves to pursue pleasure in eating will lead to overeating. In fact, feeling satisfied allows us to stop eating because we genuinely feel that we have had enough. - Planning meals that include a balance of macronutrients (carbs, fat, & protein) helps us on a physiological level. Considering our preferences & what we really feel like eating helps with the mental piece - do you feel like something warm & savoury, cool & refreshing, etc? - Now, this isn’t to say that every meal has to be perfect. There are lots of reasons that we may not have the resources to have exactly the meal we want at any given moment. But we can still try and identify if we are choosing foods from the perspective of trying to minimize calories/carbs/fat/etc, and then challenge those notions so we can invite enjoyment & pleasure into our eating experiences. See more

This coming week (Sept 28 - Oct 2) is Weight Stigma Awareness Week. Weight stigma is a real threat to mental & physical health - please check out this article for more info.

Rice bowls are one of my favourite meals to use up a bunch of veggies I have on hand. I love how you can experiment with different flavour and texture combinations! - This version included: lentils zucchini sauteed with onion & garlic ... roasted brussels sprouts diced bell peppers pickled cabbage (recipe from @jessicainthekitchen) sauce with miso, tahini, nutritional yeast & a bit of ACV (plus water to thin the consistency) See more