2020

How Our Diets Impact Sustainability – Insights From A Public Health Expert

by Christina
01/12/202021/11/2021

You may be wondering what your everyday diet has to do with climate change… and a few years ago I sat within that same position. Until I learnt that our aggressive production of some foods is harming the sustainability of our current environment.

Today, Farihah Choudhury, a recent postgraduate of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, shares the small things we can do to improve our impact on the environment. Farihah’s interests include food policy, systems, sustainability, food justice and culture. This amazing woman is also a Public Health Practitioner in a UK county council, leading on their Healthy Weight Strategy. I first encountered her on Twitter (@NutritionFSC) in a few AfNutr monthly chats and then while remotely volunteering with Food For All UK. I have been enjoying her Instagram posts where she shares lots of insight on sustainability, thrifting and reducing food waste for people like me who are working towards a more sustainable lifestyle.

This post is the first in many on sustainability as it relates to eating habits and food systems. Farihah is also featured on this month’s #NutriChat on sustainability and diet! (details will be on my Instagram @NourishbyCH). I’m excited to have Farihah share her expertise with us!

To find more of Farihah, you can follow her on Twitter @NutritionFSC or check out her Instagram @easypeasysustainability.

There was a time many years ago when I thought nutrition and planetary sustainability were two far removed issues, neither having a palpable impact on the other and that environmental issues were more about gas-guzzling cars and single-use straws. Slowly I started to realise that our diets, and by extension, the global food system, were one of the largest contributors to global warming and climate change, as well as habitat destruction, water scarcity and a host of other environmental issues. The sheer volume and demand for food, particularly animal products, has engendered a global appetite for supplying unsustainable amounts of food.

As many local and national authorities in the world are declaring a climate emergency, it is extremely important now more than ever as practising nutritionists, to incorporate sustainable eating into our practice. Indeed, it is possible to have both a sustainable and healthy diet – which is where nutritionists come in.

“Sustainable Healthy Diets are dietary patterns that promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and wellbeing; have low environmental pressure and impact; are accessible, affordable, safe and equitable; and are culturally acceptable”
FAO, 2019

Celebrating Bajan Food during November!

by Christina
11/11/2020

I feel like I end up saying this phrase quite often to people, “In Barbados…”, and some random Barbadian fact comes out. Either about our customs, cuisine or just how everyday life is. I’m sure you can put two and two together to figure out I’m from Barbados. Yes, yes, that’s the island in the Caribbean where Rihanna is from. And NO, we are not all on the same landmass as Jamaica, but rather very far away in our little Caribbean Sea. November is the month of our independence from English rule, which ended in 1966.

As we celebrate our 54th year of independence, I’ve decided to share some Bajan delicacies with you all. Barbadian cuisine has evolved from African, Indian, European (English, Irish, Portuguese) and even South American influences. It’s delicious food and anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Hopefully, you can either try to make them at home or come to Barbados to experience them.

Is Protein the super-nutrient I should be having more of?

by Christina
22/10/202010/04/2023

I know it can’t just be me that has noticed this, but many common foods and recipes have been pushing the “high-protein” agenda for some time. And why is that? Should we be concerned about not having enough protein in our diet? More importantly, what is protein and do we need to include more in our diets?

Protein is one of the three macronutrients the body needs to produce energy. Each gram of protein provides us with 4 calories of energy. I like to think of proteins as the builder macronutrient because it is one of the most important building blocks for the body. Proteins are made from hundreds of smaller molecules called amino acids, which can combine in a variety of ways to produce:

Muscles
Enzymes
Hormones
Immune cells
Skin
Hair
Nails

Should I avoid Carbs?

by Christina
14/10/202009/03/2022

I always found it confusing when people said stuff like, “oh I have to cut down on bread to lose weight”. From a scientific perspective, bread is not super-charged with anything to cause weight gain. It’s definitely not like the magic bean that Jack had. If anything, bread is one of the most affordable staple foods capable of providing energy and micronutrients that you may not otherwise be getting. So, why do people think it’s making us fat? What about other starchy foods and sweet carbs? Today, we’ll talk a bit about the role of carbohydrates in global diets and hopefully, you’ll be able to determine if it’s the cause of weight gain.

Carbohydrates are one of the macronutrient trio which supplies energy to the body. CHO, or Carbs are a diverse set of molecules which are derived from organic monomers (units) such as glucose, fructose and galactose. Plants are the most diverse sources of carbohydrates because they use carbon dioxide and water to create carbs for energy and structure. Carbohydrates can range from the simplest sweet sugars like those found in fruits, to long, branched chains which taste starchy, such as those in potatoes, ground provisions and starchy foods.

Lessons to Learnt from Lockdown

by Christina
08/10/2020

This is an extra short post because I feel like we’ve all learnt lots of wonderful and not-so-great things during the COVID-19 lockdowns including how to make sourdough bread. Here’s just a summary of what stood out to me.

Life lately… A recap of April to May

by Christina
10/06/2020

Hey everyone, I hope you’re staying safe and well-informed! With many global lock-downs easing up, the world slowly reopening, and my fellow black people protesting daily for justice and equality on the streets and internet, I think it’s some time for a bit of reflection on what has happened since last I wrote here.

Facing the Fats: 6 Truths and 1 Myth about replacing saturated fats in the diet (Part 4)

by Christina
24/04/2020

Thank you for continuing to follow this series on fats. I hope by this point, you have a better idea of the role of fats and know the differences among saturated, unsaturated, trans fats and essential polyunsaturated fats. Now as we don’t consider just nutrients when eating food, let’s talk about some practical ways to incorporate more healthy fats into our diets. I’ve tried to put together as many useful ways as I know, but if you have your own swaps and suggestions, feel free to sound off in the comments.

1. Eating Oily Fish and & Taking Omega 3 Supplements – TRUTH

Consuming oily fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel and pilchards are a great way to incorporate more EFAs into your diet. There are UK guidelines for the consumption of oily fish along with other fish and shellfish because there is a concern about mercury poisoning. They recommend two 140g portions of fish including 1 oily fish.

Increasing the amount of salmon we consume can improve polyunsaturated fats and hence improve heart health. — Salmon fillets are great sources of PUFAs and essential fats. Source

As I am not particularly a fan of eating fish (unless I have cooked it), I aim to get my omega 3 through supplements or vegetarian sources. There is some controversy on the usefulness of fish oil supplements as compared to eating fish, but if you do consider taking them, you should consult your medical doctor for the best advice.

Pilchard is also a great source of essential fatty acids. — Cold-water fish like pilchards are also a great source of essential fatty acids. Photo by Diane Helentjaris on Unsplash

The perfect chocolate chip cookies without an electric mixer!

The Perfect (no-electric mixer) Chocolate Chip cookies

by Christina
20/04/2020

I have a big secret… I’m a nutritionist with a big sweet tooth.

I mean, nothing’s wrong with that once I can control it. I’ve been this way from since I was little and I doubt that’ll change any time soon. I’ve actually been visiting le BF in Namibia for some weeks now and though I’m quite impressed by the selection of pastries here – pre-lockdown, of course – it’s been a while since I’ve been away from my usual sweet fixings.

Unfortunately, I’ve been craving some chocolate chip cookies for 3, maybe 4 weeks. We finally bought some from the store, and gosh were they weird and lacking chocolate. Le BF seemed to enjoy them, although they were rock hard. Definitely not what I was expecting from a cookie unless it’s a Bajan Rough Top.

I can’t quite get a taste for the cookies here. I don’t know what it is, but it seems that all of what I’ve tried are really sweet, dry with a slightly coconutty taste. And I feel like they’re missing something – aside from moisture – but I don’t know what it is. It’s a bit weird!

Fed up, I decided I’ll make some chocolate chip cookies and searched for dark chocolate each time we did a quick supermarket run. For the essentials, you know. Then last week I finally found a 500g bar in SPAR for N$46 (which is BB$5 or US$2.50). Not bad at all!

Chopping dark chocolate into chips for the perfect chocolate chip cookies — These blocks were so thick, this was a proper workout!

Silver linings & Upcoming Nutrition CPD activities for 19th – 25th April 2020

by Christina
18/04/2020

I’m from an island. Sometimes it does seem like I’m a bit alone out here being a UK-registered associate nutritionist, who is not in the UK.

While the situation around the globe has been causing many of us including myself some worry, I’ve seen a few silver linings to all of this. Every day I am reminded of how God provides ways for us to do what we thought to be difficult.

Recently I’ve been getting more updates from online Nutrition community on both Twitter and Facebook. I am very glad to see that many career development opportunities are moving online, allowing me to participate even if I am miles away. I can now say that after 4 months of attending chats, webinars and journal clubs – and of course individual research – I’m getting a better idea of where I may want to get stuck in as a nutritionist. Yippee!

Christina just being her awkward self — The awkward happy dance

So, I thought I should also share the upcoming activities with you. I’ll try to update the blog with the CPD activities I come across on a weekly or monthly basis. Most of these are free and have AfN Endorsement.

Facing the Fats: Polyunsaturated Fats and Essential fatty acids (Part 3)

by Christina
17/04/2020

So far in this series, we’ve talked about saturated, unsaturated and trans fats, now let’s deep dive into the polyunsaturated fats.

A handful of sunflower seeds can provide lots of polyunsaturated fats — A healthy handful of sunflower seeds can provide you with lots of PUFAs. Source

PUFA refers to another type of unsaturated fatty acids with multiple double bonds (polyunsaturation). The 2 main types are omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, but some omega 9 fatty acids also exist. PUFAs are named based on the position of their first double bond, but that’s a bit complex for this post.

So, let’s stick to omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, for example, gamma-linolenic acids (LA – omega 6), alpha-linolenic acid (ALA – omega 3), Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA – omega 3) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA – omega 3). These really seem like tongue-twisters to pronounce, but you don’t need to worry much about that.

Comparision of the structure of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids — Fatty acid chains with varying degrees of saturation.Pay close attention to the number of double bonds in the PUFA. Source

PUFAs have also been confirmed to have even better beneficial effects on blood cholesterol and blood lipid levels as well as heart health than MUFAs, and they have been associated with improved cardiovascular health. Especially omega 3 fatty acids which are considered essential fatty acids (EFAs) and are the building blocks of cell membranes, hormones and support inflammatory responses, as well as brain and nervous system function. The human body cannot produce ALA, EPA and DHA in sufficient quantities and so we gain them from a balanced diet.