SportMedBC RunWalk Nutrition Tips – Part I

Where Do You Get Your Nutrition Information?

By Cristina Sutter, SportMedBC RunWalk Dietitian

As you read my weekly nutrition articles in The Vancouver Sun beginning next Monday, January 23rd, you will learn about why we eat, how we eat, how we feel about food, and how this impacts our nutrition, health and fitness.  

In this information age, there is a new diet, new super food and a new super vitamin every day. There is an ever-growing list of nutrients that we should not eat: salt, fat, sugar, carbs, gluten, the list goes on. The most frustrating of all is that the two lists contradict themselves:

Eat whole grains but don’t eat carbs. Eat fruit but not if it has sugar. Eat protein but don’t eat red meat. Eat yogurt but not if it has fat. Drink milk but not from a cow.

These conflicting messages have confused everyone, and in the process, we have lost sight of the big picture.

All these food rules leave us wondering what we can eat. What concerns me most is that our children are hearing these messages and many of our youth have developed their own strict set of food rules. In our effort to learn about nutrition, we have somehow forgotten a few fundamental truths:

·         Eating is enjoyable.

·         Food is nourishing.

·         Eating a variety of food is healthy.

·         Having regular meals is important.

·         Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full.

·         Eat mostly vegetables and fruits. 

·         Drink mostly water.

·         Diets don’t work.

My upcoming nutrition articles will share wisdom from the collective expertise and research in intuitive eating: Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole, Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family by Ellyn Satter, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink and Mindful Eating by Jan Chozen Bays. 

If you have any questions about your own nutrition as you train for The Vancouver Sun Run, remember you can always call the BC Health Line at 811 to speak with a registered dietitian, a free and confidential service in BC.

Cristina Sutter is a Private Practice Sport Dietitian at Optimal Performance Clinic in Vancouver. For more information, visit cristinasutter.ca.