Hey docs,
Apologies if this has been covered in a previous podcast, but I wasn’t sure about this question specifically. Have listened to a number of the nutrition and obesity podcasts and don’t recall this being covered in detail.
As far as I understand BBM’s position, food environment plays a very significant role in adherence, caloric intake and a number of factors that create a more or less successful platform for overall health (one I wholeheartedly agree with). While I try to maintain a relatively “sound” food environment in the house at the present state, there is the reality of local cultural factors at play as well that affect overall environment in terms of food costs, commuting distances, etc that affect what people buy/eat and how much they “unconsciously” exercise.
What a diet should mostly be made up of isn’t rocket science to me at this point. What I’m less sure of are a few different things:
-How to deal with pickyness, or whether or not pickyness needs “dealing with” in the first place. I’m not striving for or expecting a “perfect” or “optimal” pattern by any stretch of the imagination
-How to conceptualize nutrition in a way that imparts principles and communicates the gravity of consistency over the period of one’s life, while avoiding fearmongering or a “perfection” attitude
-How to conceptualize nutrition and the tie of weight management to health while divorcing it (as much as possible) from concepts of self-worth, “body image”, etc
I have young daughters (<7y/o), so the last point is especially important and somewhat difficult for me to come to a conclusion on. The numerous socio-cultural and biological factors at play regarding women’s beliefs about self, body image and their relation to food means that this point seems to be particularly difficult for many if not most women. I’ve heard all number of approaches to these from various nutritionists, but I’m not really certain which is evidence-based, or at least comes from practical wisdom (which I’m also perfectly fine with, collections of anecdotes aren’t useless even if not formal recommendations). I’ve heard everything from “dessert is just food and should be included wherever”, “don’t condemn any food items including ultraprocessed food”, etc, but I’m also intent on raising my children as realists and equipping them over the long haul. Body-image and similar isn’t a topic of conversation yet, so looking to pre-empt as much as possible when it does arise, but we’ve had conversations about people having unique body-types, the importance of exercise as staying strong regardless of one’s preferences, etc.
My strategy thus far has been to emphasize whole foods, lean protein as a building block, healthy fats and fruit/veg. I don’t generally restrict access to any whole food. I do mention that fries or ice-cream or similar can be eaten occasionally as a treat but that it’s fundamentally not “what your body is looking for when hungry”. Those things are generally unavailable in the house on a day-to-day basis. I should also mention that I disallow any form of social media or general “free media” access aside from specifically curated films, so I’m not as concerned about cultural and social bleed-in at this point.
Is there much to do beyond this? Any resource ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks!