The Healthy Cookie

(This post is here temporarily until I find a proper home for it).

I received my first bit of hate mail.  My first response was sadness.  I felt sad that someone working in a field intended to help people, would communicate such hate towards others trying to do the same thing.  It amazed me that a little two line comment could invoke such animosity, resentment, feelings of inferiority and defensiveness in someone who is apparently qualified in their own field of healthcare. Had the individual not been so highly reactive to compose this long winded attack on me personally and my profession as a whole, they may have noticed that we, as a collective,  embody the exact opposite of conflict and negativity.

This person, unfortunetaly, was not brave enough to leave a real name or email address for either myself or my colleagues to respond to ( yes respond, not defend). As natural and holistic nutritionists, we do not feel the need to defend our credentials, our philosophies, or our practices. The proof that what we do works, is in our results.  The proof is in our clients lives and in many cases in our  own lives. The proof is in each and every cell of our body and in thousands of years of tradition.

This is what happened: Last week, I was reading the Globe and Mail online when an article, caught my attention. It was an excellent article with great explanations, tips and solutions to help people stop snacking through the stress of the workday. Posting any article online that allows people to comment, invites people to do just that. I posted the following response to this article:

“No one diet or pattern of eating will work for everyone. This certainly offers some great advice- but sipping on low fat latte’s? Never a healthy option.”

Someone, felt so angered and hateful by this wee little comment to post this defensive response on my blog- which meant they went through my website to get to this place where they could leave this comment anonymously. And this is what it said (and yes- I chose to keep their typos in there- why waste my time editing such nonsense):

“I just read your comment on the Globe & Mail online – “but sipping on lattes? never a healthy option”. I find it amazing and astounding that someone with your credentials (or lack thereof) has the gall to criticize a suggestion from a Registered Dietitian – a nutrition professional with REAL credentials and an actual science-based education. Lattes are coffee and milk and neither one, contrary to what ‘holistic nutritionists’ believe, are unhealthy. Health Canada’s recommendation for caffeine is 300mg per day which is equivalent of about three 250mL cups of coffee. The recommendation for milk & alternatives is two to three servings per day. So tell me then, based on your ‘expert’ option, why sipping on a latté is ‘never a good idea’? I should follow your advice, why? Simply because it is what you believe?

The problem with quasi-professionals such as you is that you speak as though you are the absolute authority of everything related to food and nutrition, however, your education and credentials do not hold up and they certainly do not qualify you to speak so absolutely on the subject. The designation “Certified Nutritionist” means nothing in the real world. You operate your own private practice (as most holistic nutritionist do) because that is essentially the only place someone with your credentials is allowed to practice (expect for maybe a chiropractic office which is a joke in itself). Your education does not qualify you to work in a medical setting such as a hospital, public health unit, community health centre, medical clinic, diabetes education centre, etc. You do not have the credentials to work in these settings, and provide nutritional advice to those patients, yet you fell you have the credentials to question the advice of an RD?

Maybe when you exert your professional expertise in a hospital setting where you are counseling patients with acute renal failure, congestive heart failure, insulin-dependent diabetes, or a combination of all three, will you have the right to criticize an RD. Maybe when you have made nutritional recommendations for a patient in the ICU having to receive parenteral nutrition because he is on a ventilator, will you earn the right to criticize an RD. These are all area where RDs are hired to practice because they are qualified to do so. They have minimum of 5-years of university level education (science-based nutrition and medical nutrition therapy) and medical-based practical training. Do you honestly think your credentials are superior?

The Institute of Holistic Nutrition is a two year program that requires ONLY high school diploma to be accepted. Wow. And grade 12 English is the only pre-requisite course. No high school sciences? 19 courses? And you think this qualifies to provide nutritional advice to people with health conditions? I surely hope you are not counseling people with diabetes, kidney issues or other challenging medical issues.

The field of nutrition is becoming a joke and sadly people like you are the reason. People who are unqualified, yet present themselves as the absolute authority on nutrition. The general public may not be savvy enough to assess your credentials and discern that they are bogus, but those of us in medicine certainly do. We know that you and your holistic colleagues are fakes with no ability to understand or apply the science. We are on to you.”

Reading this comment, the first thing that came to mind was something that one of my teachers often said “Where everybody thinks alike, no one thinks at all”. What is wrong with differing opinions?  And where did I mention anything about the superiority of my credentials?  What made this person so angry to get so personal? As Mr. Tolle wrote in A New Earth, that which you react to in another, is in you. Hmmm. And why would this person waste his or her time writing to little me? Why not get at the big guns out there who are also educating people and curing the very sick with the most basic of healing remedies: whole foods from nature- People such as Dr. Weill, Dr. Oz,  Dr. Cousens, David Wolfe, Brian Clemente,  Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, and Charlotte Gerson to name only a few.

I can not get angry by such an attack and do not take it personally in the least. I cured my own Crohn’s Disease using the very principles that I studied and that I practice with my clients. I did so by going against the advice of science and against the recommendations of many Medical Doctors and Registered Dietitians.

We are not interested in working in hopsitals, our goal is to keep people out of them, to keep people from getting sick and to educate people on how to reclaim health naturally should they fall ill. I speak on behalf of my colleagues and myself when I say that there is no single practitioner or modality of practice that will suit everyone. We all need to do what is right and as holistic practitioners, we are just an extension of a free-choice health care system that allows those in need to choose how they want to be treated and how they want to manage their health. That, luckily, is a right that we have in this country.

My colleagues and I do our work with a shared purpose. That purpose is not to put other practitioners and practices down, but to support each other in the same goal, which is to bring health and happiness to those that seek our help. We support each other fully. We share information  and we consult together on challenging clients. And we certainly do not put each other down as a way to lift ourselves up. We rise up together, and will continue to do so as people begin to make the connection between natural living, natural foods and the natural state of the human body- which is to be healthy. That is what we are here for.

I shared the nasty comment I received with my colleagues as a reminder that we must keep on doing the amazing work that we do, that we must continue helping people as we do and that we don’t need to fight or defend against the people who choose to keep their minds closed to other options available and to what may be best for their client or patient on an individual basis. The responses I received were highly positive and encouraging, and not surprising, did not put anyone or any other profession down to legitimize our own. We don’t need to do that. Please read below for some of the comments I received and feel free to add your own.

“This [person] definitely does not have an understanding of what “holistic” is, if that’s the garbage that’s coming out of his [or her] head. And how could you give a critical opinion on something you don’t truly know about… Yes, we come across many “non-believers” in this profession but, you can break the laws of men and women, but you can’t break the laws of mother nature. I have yet to come across a low-fat-latte tree. If anyone finds one please let me know ASAP. We’ll patent it, name it Lattezapam, and sell it for a 134,034% mark up.  Here’s to all “underqualified” nutritionists going where no “qualified” dietician/doctor has gone before!”

“Unfortunately the world is full of narrow-minded people who do not understand what we as ‘holistic’ practitioners try to accomplish one person at a time.  I feel sorry for the author of that email because the anger behind their thoughts left to fester will surley be their down fall.  Keep up the good work and we will make a difference.”

“Clearly this person has no experience with health issues and nutrition at all, yet seems to have just done a bit of reading about the basic Canadian Food Guide and regurgitated it. So so so sad.  Oh well, we know what we do helps people.  We both know from personal experience how it can improve our own health and change our lives. I have done the dietitians degree, the five-year course he [or she] raves about and can tell you it is no more science based than our holistic course.  It is so much longer because it is filled up with English and history and geography and all the other electives they make you take that do not pertain to nutrition at all.  In following those guidelines for my diabetes I ended up getting quite sick. Only since I have changed my eating and lifestyle habits, as learned in our holistic classes, have I been able to heal myself, cut my insulin doses in half and feel better. When you are going into insulin shock dietitians recommend a diabetic to eat lifesavers. I guess their science background didn’t quite cover the effect of food colourings and chemicals on the liver which becomes rather compromised in someone with this condition. The proof is always in the pudding. Sometimes we will just have to look past those pompous opinions of those people too often found in the medical/science profession suffering from a condition referred to as “The God complex”.

“This individual went to a lot of trouble to seek you out, find out you are a Nutritionist, know you went to IHN, find out it’s a 2 yr program etc. and write an extremely long long note…. For someone to lash out like they did, there is more to it than this.  Your comment was in no way offensive, but is certainly true. We need to build some really thick skin to shield ourselves from people like this individual.  We’re all here to make the world a better place.  Obviously, this individual respects no one else’s contributions to the health of mankind and no other profession but theirs. Sad, very very sad.  One thing we were taught at IHN was to respect other professions like doctors and dietians.  We all have something to contribute toward helping individuals to achieve optimum health.  Even the Canada’s Food Guide- it is what it is. We do’t go around slashing it, instead we praise them for the beneficial changes they made to it.”

I have written a lot in this blog over the past year and a half about sunshine and rainbows, looking on the bright side of things and always doing my best to encourage you to be your best, to smile at strangers, to take things lightly when possible and let life unfold as it may. As much I encourage everyone else to do this, I try and do the same.

But then there are times when I get angry. Right now, I am angry.

There is a Bill, Bill C-51, being sped through legislation that essentially will make what I do for a living a criminal offense. But I’m a nutritionist you say. That’s right. With this Bill and the slightest word change- the entire natural health industry is in trouble of being dominated, like everything else relating to health and disease, by the pharmaceutical Industry. The following summarizes the little change that has huge impact:

“Among the changes proposed by the bill are radical alterations to key terminology, including replacing the word “drug” with “therapeutic product” throughout the Act, thereby giving the Canadian government broad-reaching powers to regulate the sale of all herbs, vitamins, supplements and other items. With this single language change, anything that is “therapeutic” automatically falls under the Food and Drug Act. This would include bottled water, blueberries, dandelion greens and essentially all plant-derived substances.”

It would become illegal for me to recommend any food for its therapeutic function. Does that mean that ground flax seeds will no longer relieve constipation or that turmeric no longer eases inflammation? Of course not. I just can’t say so. Does it mean that pharmaceutical companies may go the way of ‘agricultural’ companies like Monsanto (which is really pharma as well) and start trying to patent food? I wouldn’t be surprised.

This Bill would make it illegal for me to state that I use food as medicine for its healing properties. It would be illegal for me to either recommend or sell any type of food or supplement for therapeutic purposes. Does this make it illegal for me to give chicken soup to someone when they’re sick? I think it just might.

I believe that there should be some regulation as to who can and can not recommend and sell supplements. I do not, however, think it should be up Health Canada, the FDA or any other governing body controlling this. So yes, this regulation and the fact that it is moving through at an extra super fast speed makes me angry. What really angers me are statements such as the following that I have not been able to find anyone else’s commentary on. (The following comes directly from the bill)

2.3 The purpose of this Act is to protect and promote the health and safety of the public and encourage accurate and consistent product representation by prohibiting and regulating certain activities in relation to foods, therapeutic products and cosmetics.

So that sounds innocent enough right? But it goes on to state the following:

3.1 (1) No person shall tamper with a food, therapeutic product or cosmetic — or its label or package — with the intent to

(a) render the food, therapeutic product or cosmetic injurious to human health; or

(b) cause a reasonable apprehension in others that the food, therapeutic product or cosmetic is injurious to human health without themself believing that it is so.

So then, the government believes Vitamin C to be harmful and dangerous but approving such things as aspartame, margarine (and other hydrogenated carcinogenic oils), Genetically Modified food, and oodles and oodles of chemicals to be used in the growing of our food to be rendered harmless simply because it is governed and went through an approval process. This Bill would make it illegal for me to recommend or sell multi vitamins, and I could have my home raided without a warrant for doing so, but it is still perfectly legal to sell cigarettes at any old variety store as long as the purchaser is of legal age.

4. No person shall sell or import for sale a food that

(c) is injurious to human health;

(d) is adulterated; or

(e) was manufactured, processed, prepared, preserved, packaged, stored or conveyed under unsanitary conditions.

Again, where do GMOs fit in? What about the farmed fish being imported from China? And hello? Since when was CocaCola and McDonald’s not injurious to human health? I’m just asking….

And finally- 12. (1) No person shall advertise, sell or import for sale a therapeutic product that does not have a market authorization or is not a designated therapeutic product.

I don’t even really get what that means. Most of the Bill is very wordy anyhow. What I do know is this; the government has major control over our food supply (raw milk anyone?), profits off of the pharmaceutical industry and I believe is realizing what the public realized a while back- natural healing methods work as both preventative and treatment. The government wants in on it.

Reading books like Michael Pollan’s ‘In Defense of Food’ and Marion Nestle’s ‘Food Politics’ clearly illustrates where the government and general population have gone awry when it comes to taking care of our own health. Where we went wrong was listening to what the government said we should be eating and trusting the chemical laden foods they approve as safe, eating in line with their food pyramids and Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs) of nutrients.

I think the biggest challenge I have with this Bill, and likely the reason I haven’t been willing to give it much thought, is that I don’t believe this will actually happen. I know it’s possible, but I just can’t believe our government would pass a bill that would ensure the health of this country continues in a downward direction. But then again- why would I assume differently? When I got sick two years ago and couldn’t find a doctor to help me, my family paid for my natural healing route which included acupuncture, supplements, herbal remedies, whole foods, and yoga. With these natural therapies I stayed off prescription medications, out of a hospital bed, out of the operating room, and away from any leaves of absence from work. I saved the government thousands, maybe tens of thousands of dollars. When I submitted my expenses for tax purposes and was granted a refund of close to $3,000.00, it only took three months for them to realize their error and ask for the money back… and of course they charged me interest

If this Bill is passed, it will dramatically alter the way we, natural/holistic practitioners, have to practice. I have no doubt in my mind however that we will manage. That we will find ways to get what we need for our clients, for our families and for ourselves. Unlike the pharmaceutical industry and the government, our commitment to the health industry is about making and keeping people healthy, not making our shareholders happy. Laws such as these make our jobs more difficult, but government approval to promote certain chemical based foods such as margarine as a means of reducing heart disease, has already done that.

I promise my next post will be back to sunshine and rainbows. Until then- I encourage you have a read through the Bill and make your voice heard.

The first thing most people say to me when we sit down to have a consultation is “I think I eat fairly well”. The trouble with that statement is that eating well is a relative thing. And also- I am not sure that any of us really know what ‘eating well’ means anymore.

I spent this past week a the Canadian Holistic Nutrition Conference listening to about half a dozen different speakers, meeting with product reps, and speaking with other nutritionists.  Many of the speakers had conflicting ideas on what constitutes a healthy diet. Two of the speakers actually sited the same study, but used it in completely opposite arguments. So if nutritionist are confused about what to eat, I can only imagine how the public feels.

Everyday there are new studies coming out about what to eat, what not to eat, what will save us, and what will take us down.

In my opinion, it is not even so much what we are eating that makes the difference but more so where, how, why and when we are eating it.  Very few people these days take the time to go to the store, buy groceries, prepare a fresh meal, sit down at a table and enjoy the food. Most often we are doing a million things at one time and eating just happens to be one of them.

We are so preoccupied with the what- that we seem to have forgotten the vital importance of the where, how, why and when. Are we at our desks, in front of the tv, or in the car? Is our food coming from a restaurant, a microwave, a deep fryer? Are we eating because we are sad, lonely, stressed, bored? And are we having our first meal at 3:00 in the afternoon and our last meal at midnight?

I do believe that we all inherently know what we should and should not be eating and the best ways in which we should be enjoying our meals. Sometimes, though, it helps to have some guidance, some support and some motivation.

As I wrote about back when I was in St. Lucia, I was eating to my little heart’s content. With a piece of bread and butter in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, I knew what I was doing. I knew what these foods were doing inside me and I knew how that would make me feel long term if I kept it up. I was also fortunate that I knew what to do to get myself back on track, and I now am.  I did however go and see a nutritionist.

I didn’t go see someone because I needed help. I went, mainly because seeing this nutritionist is a patient requirement of my doctor. Despite knowing as much as I know, I learned from her. It is much easier to give someone else advice than to give yourself advice. We looked at my diet, noticed some macronutrient imbalances and she made recommendations for me. I left there with a packet of information, most of which I was already familiar with, and a collection of recipes. I was motivated! I came home, cooked up some new things, added new foods into my diet and a week later, I am already feeling wonderful.

Nutritionist are great people to have in our lives. I am happy to have one and I am happy to be one for others. Just like we all have dentists and doctors, many of us may have physiotherapists, massage therapists, psychotherapists, naturopaths, and personal trainers, I think we should all also have a nutritionist.  Whether we know what we should eat or not, a little motivation and a little guidance goes a long way. No matter how well, we think we might be eating, we can always learn from someone else.

I am officially opened for business! My practice is all set up and I am busily collecting new clients. Want to be one of them? Go to www.meghantelpner.com for more information on my services and to find out a little more about what a nutritionist can do for you.

Yes, I have returned from St. Lucia and just in time too. Today was my graduation ceremony from the Institute of Holistic Nutrition. And I did consider skipping it and staying SL a little while longer- but then- who would have delivered my valedictorian address?  Sorry the video is a little fuzzy. The ceremony took place in a cinema and it was a wee bit dark in there.

My stay in St. Lucia went by so fast that when the time came for me to go- I just wasn’t ready.  So here I am. Still here. Still happy. Still loving the sunshine and rainbows. I will be home next week.

Eating three meals a day at a resort has apparently been taking its toll on me. I am getting fat. Yes. Fat. And I am perfectly a-okay with that.  It has been a super fun process.

Three and a half years ago, when I stayed at this resort with my mother for my 25th birthday, I was not well. I couldn’t eat anything without getting sick, and worse than that, I was afraid to eat. I spent a week eating only steamed vegetables and rice. Come to think of it, I spent nearly four years eating only steamed vegetables and rice.

Over the past 9 weeks that I have been here, I have slowly begun to realize that I can now eat whatever it is that I want… in moderation of course.  It is extremely difficult to stick to any sort of health regime when living at a 5-star resort with healthy buffets, yummy wines and amazing desserts available any time of day. So yes, I have been eating three big meals a day, treating myself to cakes and cookies and drinking wine and loving each and every second of it.

I have been breaking all my rules of healthy eating. All my rules but one- sometimes when something is good for our spirit, it is good for our health. There is no point indulging if we are going to feel guilty about it. So I indulge and I enjoy it and I smile. My not worrying about each and every little thing I eat, is good for my health.

A friend had once said to me that coming out here would give me a good dose of reality. I would be removed from my little nutrition bubble and be exposed to the way ‘normal’ people eat. He was right… at least about this.

I would say that 80% of the people I meet with, meet with me because they are unhappy with their weight. Most of them look perfectly healthy to me. When the symptoms of Crohn’s got worse for me, I went on this extreme detox program where I lost close to 20 pounds in under a month (a lot for me being only 5 feet tall). The sick thing was how many people, including the personal trainer that I was working with at the time, told me how great I looked. That’s enough to screw up anyone’s self image.

As I got healthier and began to gain the weight back, I was very conscious of each and every pound. I have never been a skinny girl- never really wanted to be. I have at last come to embrace each and every pound (and the few extras collected while down here) as a sign of my good health. For me, it is a sign of health that I have the capacity to gain weight. I may have gone a touch overboard while being here, but I am no longer afraid to eat, to try new things, or to treat myself, once in a while.

Of course though, everything I say here must be taken with a grain of salt (no pun intended) as I am quite sure that my idea of indulgence is still far from the way the average person eats.

When I go home at the end of the week, I will be back to my old healthy eating. It has nothing to do with how much I weigh, or how tight my jeans might be. It is about how I feel. It has always been about how I feel. Nine weeks of indulgence- eating too much, having a drink now and again, sneaking in an oatmeal cookie, not sleeping nearly enough… well- it has taken its toll. I am ready to get back on that healthy train. I am ready to get back to my fighting weight- not for the sake of actually fighting the weight but about getting back to a place where I feel my absolute strongest and healthiest.

My life at home is very different than my life living at a resort. For the last 9 weeks I have been feeding my spirit each and every thing it desired and it has been blissful. I know that I could not live like this forever but I wouldn’t want to. I have had a tough four years with my health, and I honestly could not think of a better way of celebrating my journey than by indulging in a glass of wine, while watching the sunset with good friends and an ocean breeze.

I can not stress enough, and I tell each and every person I consult with that if we are going to treat ourselves, we must treat ourselves with the best. The best butter, the best cheeses, the best wine, the best bread, the best chocolate, the best pastries. The best the best, the best… of the things that are the worst for us. We must enjoy them with good company, in a good environment, with a good mood, a good toast, a good celebration. We must make these indulgences count. We must ultimately enjoy them. If that piece of chocolate cake will make us feel guilty, or that second trip to the buffet will cause us to make excuses- the negative feelings we have about ourselves or about our actions will be more detrimental to our health than the actual indulgence itself.

There is no harm in treating ourselves once in a while. Once in a while that is. Overindulging our spirit, for too long, will leave our physical body in a less than optimal state.

During this amazing time in St. Lucia, my spirit has been thoroughly nourished. I am now ready to get back to the leafy greens.