Unlocking food’s potential
Registered dietitians host meet-and-greet at Slemon Park Medical Centre for Nutrition Month
Bernadette Campbell was on Kijiji the other day looking for tickets to a concert.
While doing so, she noticed multiple advertisements promoting a diet pill.
It showed the before and after images of someone’s body and it said only two pills a day could make it happen. Everybody wants a quick fix. “There is so much information out there now. It’s a multibillion-dollar diet industry, and everybody is trying out some new fad.”
Many of the diets suggest restricting food groups. What dietitians teach is not about restricting anything, said Campbell, who is a registered dietitian at Harbourside Medical Centre in Summerside.
“It’s about enjoying an assortment.”
March is Nutrition Month, and March 14 was National Dietitians Day. One might think this was supposed to be a day when dietitians, like Campbell, could put their feet up and have everybody wait on them. But that’s not what’s happening, she said.
“A lot of it is promoting awareness of what dietitians do and us being credible sources of nutritional information.”
In line with those celebrations, she and Katelin Campbell, who is also a registered dietitian, hosted a meet-andgreet at Slemon Park Medical Centre.
With high rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease on the Island, they thought it was a good time to promote the services they have to offer.
“Just highlight nutrition and offer some resources to the community.”
There is a lot of information out there that is not accurate. Dietitians are available to the public, and their knowledge is evidence-based. They will teach menu planning, label reading and recipe ideas.
Both of these dietitians focus on chronic disease prevention and management. They are not necessarily promoting a quick fix, Campbell said
“We are generally fixing the quick fixes that go by the wayside.”
When Joannie Carroll saw the advertisement for a seminar for food, she was interested because she wanted to learn new eating habits.
Her family seems to fall into the same patterns: days being so busy and not having the time to put good food together.
They just want to open the fridge and see what’s the easiest thing to make, Carroll said.
“I want to get out of that habit.”
After the meet-and-greet, Carroll learned some new food combinations and snacking she would like to try. Her husband is a truck driver and comes off the road soon, she said.
“There will be different snacks when he comes home.”