Eat, Read, Learn | April 2024

NS Dietitians: Check out the DNNS Facebook page for more new foods, thought-provoking reads, and continuing education opportunities – and please share your own contributions as well!

If you have comments or suggestions, you can reach Meredith at meredith.lapp@gmail.com

EAT

Consider Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership in 2024

We all know the importance of supporting local food systems in Nova Scotia. But it can feel like a challenge if your usual grocery store doesn’t stock local items, or if you aren’t able to consistently attend weekend morning farmers’ markets. A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share might be worth considering this season – it’s a curated weekly box of locally-farmed produce, meat, eggs, or all three – that is available to pick up on a designated day from a central location. Consumers register for their annual share at the start of the season which allows the farm to budget accordingly, knowing they have confirmed funds from CSA members, and allows consumers to count on getting a bountiful and varied selection of the year’s harvest. TapRoot Farms in Port Williams is a farm that has participated in CSA since 2009 – you can see what’s available in their seasonal boxes (this week folks are receiving some sunchokes, a fibre superstar!) and sign up for the 2024 growing season (boxes start May 8!)

READ

Mindful discussions on “mindful eating”

The April 2024 issue of Today’s Dietitian contains a useful piece about accurately presenting the concept of “mindful eating” to nutrition counselling clients. Although this is an American publication, one of the key voices in the article is Canadian dietitian Vincci Tsui RD, founder of Weight-Inclusive Dietitians in Canada (WIDIC), who speaks about expanding mindfulness to “also what purchasing or acquiring food looks like, and preparing it, and then the actual eating experience and what it feels like afterward. I think that’s the big benefit, that it’s about engaging with the whole experience of eating in a way that might be different.”. Overall, the article makes important points that the cultural understanding of “mindful eating” as sitting in silence while eating and engaging strong focus on physical sensations during the process may not be appropriate for neurodivergent people, people with food/body trauma or a history of disordered eating, and others – we can, as one contributor notes “mindfully [choose] to be mindless, mindfully [choose] to eat with distraction […] we can bring mindfulness to eating experiences, even if we’re not being mindful with the eating experience.”

LEARN

Are you taking the Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) Exam in May 2024?

If you haven’t found this resource already, the CDE Study Guide website hosted by Esmond Wong, CDE, is an invaluable resource and step-by-step roadmap to ensure you’re spending the right amount of time on the broad range of topics covered by the exam. It includes chapter-by-chapter study guides (including appendices, position statements, and updates), video pathophysiology lectures, live Q&As, and full practice examinations. Wong has helped thousands of candidates pass the CDE, boasting a 97% pass rate and a money-back guarantee if you participate in the Study Guide’s resources and fail the exam. Check out the free sample quiz here.

Follow the DNNS Facebook group for more new foods, thought-provoking reads, and continuing education opportunities – and please share your own contributions as well!

Curated by Meredith Lapp, RD

If you have a blog, book, or online course that you would like to share with your fellow network members, please forward information to Meredith at meredith.lapp@gmail.com