Nutrition! Well, we all hear a lot about the word "Nutrition" but there is always a misconception about it. People always think of nutrition as dieting and diet is only for weight loss which is totally wrong. Nutrition is all about eating a healthy and balanced meal. I strongly believe that nutrition is important for everyone to keep their body fit and healthy. Importantly, nutrition plays a significant role in the culinary industry. Anyone can cook but cooking with the knowledge of nutrition holds a massive advantage. Maintaining a healthy diet majorly helps many ways especially in reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetics, cancer, etc.
We all know that cooking food will lead to some amount of nutrition loss, so it is the responsibility of the Chef to understand the nutrients of each ingredient in order to cook delicious food without losing its nutritious value. Nutrition in the culinary industry is widely increasing around the world because of two major reasons: Social media and Government.
Nowadays people are more conscious about their diet and food choices because of the media's influence and it has both positive and negative impacts. Because of the influence, the rise of superfoods in the market is enormous. Superfood is a nutrient-rich food that is beneficial for a healthy body. Chia seeds, avocado, quinoa are some of the examples of superfoods. Many changes are happening currently in the culinary industry because of the influence. Many restaurants started altering their menu by incorporating these superfoods like avocado in the wrap, replacing rice with quinoa, chia seeds in salads, etc. Chia seeds are also used in substitute with eggs. These changes are in trend now and eventually, this trend will increase more in the future.
And also, apart from the media, government plays a major role in increasing nutrition in the culinary field. The government contributes their part in promoting nutrition by introducing the habit of eating healthy food from the elementary school. It is saddening that kids are mostly influenced by food and beverage marketing and according to Food Secure Canada, the organization has taken active steps to control the marketing of food and beverage which is high in salt, fat, and sugar to young children. This action will not only promote positive food choices to children, slowly it will change the eating habits of adults and helps to incorporate nutritious food in everyday lives as well as in the culinary field.
The recent rise in personal chef jobs shows how nutrition is increasing in the culinary field. People hire personal chefs in order to maintain a healthier lifestyle. With people getting more conscious about health and with all the evidence above, I believe that nutrition is playing a major role in the culinary field and also, will be more important in the future.
The one nutrition topic that interests me is Metabolism. Growing up, I have heard many people talking about metabolism especially when they discuss weight loss. So, I always had a misconception that metabolism is much important only for weight loss until I did a little research on that particular topic. According to Medical News Today, metabolism refers to a biochemical process that occurs in all living organisms to lead and maintain a healthy life.
Colorado University, A. Metabolism [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.research.colostate.edu/healthyagingcenter/aging-basics/metabolism/
Food consists of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. These substances are broken down in the digestive system by enzymes and carried to the cell where are used as energy. The body either use it immediately or store it for later use. So, the process of converting food into the energy that allows the body to function is called metabolism. There is a myth that people who are slim have high metabolism than people who are fat. Metabolism refers to Catabolism and Anabolism. Catabolism is nothing but the breaking down of compounds to release energy and Anabolism is reverse to Catabolism, which building up compounds to use energy. Our body weight is the result of the amount of energy released minus the amount of energy gained. The excess energy is stored as fat in our body.
There are many factors that affect the rate of metabolism such a medication, age, sex, etc. Breakfast is one of the essential meals of the day as it helps jumpstart the metabolism and burn calories throughout the day. Age can slow down the metabolism. As we get older, our bodies gain fat and lose muscles. Another critical factor is being less active which slows down metabolism. Physical exercise can be done regularly to boost up metabolism.
Hormonal problems and underlying medical conditions affect metabolism. People who are larger or have more muscles will burn more calories when rest. And coming to gender, men have less body fat and more muscle which helps them to burn calories fat than women.
People think that gaining or losing bodyweight is only because of metabolism. But there are many factors related to weight gains like hormonal changes, diet, genetic issues, and lifestyle changes like stress, sleep, and physical activity.
These are the basic information I know about metabolism and I would like to learn more on this topic.
Comparing Nutrition blog and Websites to find a reliable website:
Personally, I do not follow any particular diet but I always believe that consuming fresh produce, cooking at home, and eating balanced meals helps in leading a healthy lifestyle. Nowadays, people are more reliable on social media and search engines for everything. There are many nutritional blogs/websites in a google platform and to be honest, it is really confusing which one to follow to get the right credentials. When I tried to understand how to identify a reliable nutritional website, I found that there are many points to remember like the domain of the website, author, author qualification, etc to check the credibility.
The website named "Peasandhoppiness" helped me to understand few facts on how to identify credible nutritional information. To understand the difference between reliable and non-reliable sources, I have selected a couple of nutritional websites. For a reliable source of website, the link https://uwaterloo.ca/health-services/nutrition-services/right-stuff-reliable-nutrition-and-health-websites helped to find the trustful information. After looking at all the websites, I ended up selecting Dietitians of Canada as my reliable source. And for the comparison, I googled and ended up selecting Nutritionbyamy as my non-reliable source.
When I started my comparison I found the following few differences:
About Section:
In the About section, the Dietician of Canada website gives a detailed history of when the association started. Also, the details are updated frequently. Whereas on Nutritionbyamy website, I do not find any professional information.
Author and Author Qualification:
The Dietician of Canada website does not have a particular author but provides more information on registered dieticians. Also, the page gives details of regulated health professionals. The author of Nutritionbyamy is Amy Conrad and she is a registered, nutritional therapist and emotional eating coach.
Advertisement and Selling:
Dietician of Canada website does not include any advertisement and no evidence of selling any products whereas Amy's website has a separate tab for shopping and it shows that the website making some profit out of it.
Contact information:
The dietician of Canada website provides all basic information (contact number, address, and email id) to get connected with the regulated health professionals whereas there is no contact information apart from the social media connect in Amy's webpage.
Other Information:
The privacy policy is without any ambiguity on the Dietician of Canada website. In addition, the website provides more information on insurance, the board of directors' details, and the Annual report. There is also a search engine available to find the nearest dietician according to your locality.
Based on the comparison above, I believe that the Dietician of Canada is more reliable and trustworthy. Since there are infinite types of blogs and websites available on diet and nutrition, it is important to follow the right one to get benefited. I hope this comparison helps someone to identify a reliable website. This comparison helped me to understand the major difference between Nutritionist and registered dietician. Though both of them provide nutritional services, the registered dietician is regulated by the college of dieticians and they have a license that is regulated in Ontario. The advice from a registered dietician is thought to be more accurate and safe. I also found that since registered dietician follows an evidence-based approach, it reduces the overall risk of their clients.
References:
Mayo Clinic, A. What exactly is metabolism?. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://diet.mayoclinic.org/diet/move/what-is-metabolism?xid=nl_MayoClinicDiet_20150910
Calhoun Rice, S. (2018). Nutrition and Metabolism Disorders. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://www.healthline.com/health/nutrition-metabolism-disorders
Mayo Clinic, A. (2020). Can you boost your metabolism?. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/metabolism/art-20046508
Waterloo, U. Reliable nutrition and health websites | Campus Wellness. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/health-services/nutrition-services/reliable-nutrition-and-health-websites
Kent, A. (2016). 5 Steps for Identifying Credible Nutrition Information Online — Peas & Hoppiness by Ann Kent. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://peasandhoppiness.com/nutrition/2016/12/11/5-steps-for-identifying-credible-nutrition-information
Dieticians of Canada, A. (2020). Dietitians of Canada - About Dietitians of Canada. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://www.dietitians.ca/About/About-Dietitians-of-Canada
Amy, N. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://www.nutritionbyamy.ca/
Foodsecurecanada, A. About Canada's Healthy Eating Strategy. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://foodsecurecanada.org/healthy-eating-strategy-take-action
Nutrition Clinic, M. (2019). What is a Registered Dietitian?. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://mintnutritionclinic.com/blogs/nutrition-for-life/what-is-a-registered-dietitian
Roth, S. (2019). Nutrition FAQs [Image]. Retrieved from https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/blog/topic/nutrition-faqs
Colorado University, A. Metabolism [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.research.colostate.edu/healthyagingcenter/aging-basics/metabolism/
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