Eat, Read, Learn | November 2023
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
Hallowe’en candy – if you feel like it
There has been a noticeable shift in recent years in how Registered Dietitians recommend parents navigate their kids’ (and their own) Halloween candy consumption. Ten years ago, “sugar shocker” displays illustrating the sugar content in fun-size candies were common, and creative means of separating kids from their candy haul gained traction – offering money or toys in exchange for the candy, requiring it to be donated, or simply throwing it away. However, these methods reinforce the taboo around candy, making it an extra attractive “forbidden” food and supporting the diet-culture good/bad moral dichotomy around sweet foods. For this reason, many RDs now promote a much more relaxed approach around Halloween candy – essentially allowing kids free access to it in order to cultivate their own satiety cues, and to remove the allure around sugar. Following Division of Responsibility, parents can set kids up for a healthy relationship with sugary foods by curbing the amount of trick or treating done (to ensure the haul is a reasonable size), continuing to serve balanced meals and snacks during the post-Halloween period when candy is still exciting, and checking in with kids about how their tummies/bodies feel as they enjoy their Halloween collection. The October 2023 issue of Today’s Dietitian has a deep-dive article about cultivating children’s relationship with sugar for more on this topic.
READ
New nutrition care guidelines for osteoporosis/fall prevention and treatment
In October 2023, Osteoporosis Canada published new clinical practice guidelines on the management of osteoporosis and fracture prevention. This CPG replaces the prior 2010 iteration, with increased specificity around exercise as a preventative intervention, and nutrients of note beyond calcium and vitamin D. It also emphasizes the importance of screening for skeletal/bone health considerations in populations outside of postmenopausal women (such as older men and nonbinary people) who may otherwise be overlooked. From a nutrition perspective, dietary adequacy of protein, calcium, and Vitamin K are emphasized for people at-risk for fracture, with supplementation of these nutrients discouraged unless unable to procure from a balanced diet. (People using pharmacotherapy to treat osteoporosis may require individualized targets for calcium, which may include supplementation). All adults over 50 are encouraged to supplement with Vitamin D given the low levels naturally found in food.
LEARN
Incorporating aquatic “blue foods” into client care
This webinar from Food + Planet explores the nutritious and environmental value of incorporating often-overlooked sustainable aquaculture (sea vegetables and bivalves) into client care plans, including a free cookbook and practical examples of use – like a seaweed pesto, scallop ceviche, or blueberry sea moss smoothie!
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
