I loved the recent statement made by the President of Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics (formerly known as American Dietetic Association), Ethan Bergman.  He said “All Registered Dietitians are Nutritionists but not all Nutritionists are Registered Dietitians”.

Although registration is not yet mandatory for all practicing dietitians in India, it’s only a matter of time for this to happen.  Basically the registration process separates the qualified dietitians and nutritionists from the quacks, semi-qualified and unqualified ‘nutritionists’.  This difference can matter a lot to the health and well being of the public.

If you need professional help with your food / diet / nutrition, approach a qualified person.

During an interactive nutrition session with badminton trainees, their parents and coaches, I was asked if a growing child can eat egg yolk.  I wondered why this question came up.  A parent informed me that her son doesn’t eat the yolk because he wants his heart to be healthy!  Good intention, indeed.  But is it necessary to avoid egg yolk totally?  No.

Egg yolk (the yellow part of the egg) is filled with nutrients like protein, choline, vitamin D, vitamin A, phosphorus, zinc, folate, etc.  Each of these nutrients is essential for good health.  Egg yolk is also high in cholesterol.  But there’s no reason for a child or a grown-up to avoid egg yolk, unless indicated due to health reasons.  Our body is designed in such a way that the cholesterol which comes thru foods can be processed and regulated by the digestive system.  Moreover, a single cholesterol-rich food will not damage the heart.

So, keep the yolk and enjoy a boiled egg or an omlet or scrambled egg.

As women, we always worry about whether or not we are getting enough calcium.  It’s becoming fashionable to take calcium supplements after stepping into middle age.  Do all women really need calcium supplements once they cross 40?  No.

Traditional Indian diets included adequate calcium-rich foods and there was no need for calcium supplements in the form of tablets.  Lifestyle changes over the last few decades have robbed calcium from our bones and supplementation has become common.

Some of the calcium ‘robbers’ are carbonated beverages, smoking, alcohol, caffeine, sodium and sedentary lives.  If the ‘robbers’ can be eliminated (eg – smoking) or restricted (eg – sodium), we have a greater retention of calcium in our bones and reduced need for supplements.

Also, include calcium-rich foods like soybean, horse gram, chick peas (channa), ragi, dairy foods, green leafy vegetables, fish, sesame seeds (til), cumin seeds (jeera), almonds, regularly in your diet.

Bariatric surgery, aka weight loss surgery, sometimes called metabolic surgery, is becoming more common these days than where it was 10 years ago.  Bariatric surgery is done in 4 different ways but sleeve gastrectomy (where a slice of the stomach is removed to reduce its size) is being used more frequently now.  A shrunken stomach holds less food than a normal sized one.  So it goes without saying that food intake is much reduced and as a result, weight plummets down.

Bariatric surgery is performed on obese patients of BMI (Body Mass Index) more than 35.  More recently, doctors have observed that bariatric surgery where gastric bypass method is used, not only brings down excess weight but also reduces or reverses diabetes.  Somehow the pancreas seem to function effectively after the surgery and this brings down the blood glucose levels.  However, more cases need to be studied before it can be advised as a routine procedure for diabetic patients.

If your BMI is greater than 35, and your looking to lose weight and keep it off permanently, bariatric surgery can be one of the options.  There would be life-long dietary restrictions after bariatric surgery.  Think about it, discuss with your family members and speak with a bariatric surgeon before you decide to have a bariatric surgery.

We received a gift box of dark chocolates and the label said ‘no added sugar, made with organic jaggery’.  I was happy to try this new product till I read the ingredients list.  At the top of the list was maltitol (a sugar alcohol) which is a sugar substitute.  Maltitol has about half the calories of white sugar and not as sweet as sugar.  Large quantities of maltitol can have a laxative effect.  The second ingredient listed was hydrogenated vegetable oil.  Hydrogenated oils contain trans fat which are not heart-friendly.  So, the 2 ingredients used in highest quantities in this new chocolate were not condusive to health!  Then came the better ingredients like cocoa solids and organic jaggery!  They seemed more like a consolation to health!!  So the sweetness in this chocolate was from maltitol and jaggery, and hence the claim ‘no added sugar’.

‘No added sugar’ does not necessarily mean that there’s no other sweetening agent in a product.  Sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, honey, jaggery, high fructose corn syrup are some of the ingredients that taste sweet but are not sucrose (white sugar).  So, beware of food products that make claims on labels.