Did you know that you can find valuable medical assistance outside of the
hospital? These days nutritionists and dietitians are helping transform the
health and the lives of their clients. So what's a typical day like for one
particular multi-talented New Zealand dietitian?
My name is Jess Moulds and I am a New Zealand registered dietitian. I actually did
my master's through Otago University. In my spare time I play netball for
the Mainland Tactix, which is heaps of fun, I love it and it's part of what I do...
...exercising is part of what I do every day, and I'm really really passionate
about helping Kiwis find a way of living and eating that works best for them,
because everyone is really different. Here I run my own private practice and I
see a range of different clients one-on-one from high cholesterol,
eating disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, gut health, and, yeah,
lots and lots of diabetes. So in particular, type 2 diabetes, I would see
two clients a day, on average, come in to see me around diabetes. So the diet in
New Zealand is really varied, we're really multicultural, which is awesome.
But with that I guess we've got a huge amount of access to a lot of
processed food. So, I guess, with the lifestyle we live today, we're very busy
people. So cooking food from scratch is often not a priority, and I think that
Kiwis are turning to takeaways more often now. So we're eating a lot more fast food
than what we used to. And with fast food comes processed carbohydrate, and a lot
of high-fat, high-salt foods. So if a diabetic client came in to see me,
generally the first thing I'd find out is a lot about their diet and lifestyle.
I'd make sure I have a really detailed understanding of what they
currently do and their current medications and medical status, and then
from there we would talk a lot about their diet in particular, and nutrition, and how
that can really help and reduce their diabetes, and reduce the medication that
they're taking. Change and habit changing is really tough. It's tough for
anyone. So we usually try and break the goals down and make them
really small and really achievable. The key thing that I'll try and change with
a lot of my clients is reducing processed food, in particular process
carbohydrate. So things like your white breads, cakes, biscuits, lollies, chocolate...
...all of those delicious things. But things that really do push
the diabetes risk higher. So I'd be trying to reduce those processed carbohydrates and
increase good-quality whole foods. It doesn't have to be fancy, but, plenty of
fruit and vegetables, you know, fresh fish, good quality meat, eggs, nuts, seeds...
...if they're doing that and we can get more of that in their bodies, then
they get good results. Generally my recommendation would be to shop around
the outside of the supermarket and, you know, just go into the the aisles for
basic things. But if you are buying a product then just read the back
of the label, read the ingredients list, and look at the top three
ingredients. If one of the top three ingredients are sugar then you know that
that's going to be a high sugar food. There's different ways that you can
eat good, nutritious food on a budget. So I would talk about ways to cut costs,
especially buying seasonal fruit, vegetables, buying things in bulk, using
cheaper things like chickpeas and lentils and whatnot to bulk up some of
their meals. But also I talk a lot about nutrients per gram, or nutrients
per liter. So if you compare bottle of milk versus a bottle of fizzy,
obviously, the fizzy you can get for a nearly a dollar or less when the milk
can often be $3.50 or more. But if you are comparing nutrients per liter.
You can charge as much as you want, you know, the milk's always going to win in
that perspective. So I would rather you buy no fizzy, buy yourself one bottle of
milk, and drink water for the rest of it. I think over 50% of Kiwis still don't
get 3 servings of vegetables every day. When you're eating more fresh fruit
and vegetables, then naturally you push out processed carbohydrate,
processed food, because they fill you up. So if that's one thing that we can start to
change is actually getting more vegetables into your day, and it could
just be, you know, for example, at dinner time - you're just trying to get half a
plate of non-starchy vegetables every single night. And be really creative with
how you do it. Grate them into your mince, make extra salad on the side,
a big tray of vegetables, whatever it is, that's something that we'll often start
with is, how do I get you to have more veggies and to actually enjoy them?
When you're cooking, you want to retain as many nutrients as you can in your
food, so things like steaming, or grilling, or lightly frying in a little bit of
olive oil, or baking, those are great ways to cook your food. But especially
when it comes to things like vegetables, if you're boiling them in a lot of
water, then a lot of the nutrients can actually leach out into the water.
So you're better off to just steam it with a tiny bit of water in the bottom, or
grill them, so that you try and keep as many nutrients as possible in the food.
The other important thing to think about is keeping fruit vegetable skins on your
food as much as possible, because just underneath the skin layer is where a lot
of their good nutrition is. So when you're peeling the skins off, you're actually
losing a whole lot of good nutrition. So try and keep them on as
much as possible. There's lots of different ideas at the moment out there
about how many times we should be eating, but when I work with my clients,
it's, again, about finding what works best for them. And every one is really really
different, so I've got some clients that function really well on three good meals
a day, and then I've got others that that love having eight small snacky meals.
So how you structure them in your day is completely up to you, but I would just
avoid going a really long time without eating, because that's when you can have
your blood sugar levels drop really low or, you know, when you're on medication,
that gets more complicated. So there really is no one-size-fits-all answer.
It's just a case of finding what works best for you and your lifestyle.
If you've got diabetes, then don't be shy to talk to someone about about it and to
get that nutrition advice, because I've seen time and time again with my clients
that just simply changing a few things with their diet can make them come off
medications, and can make them happier, healthier, more energetic people. So don't
be scared to talk about it and get some of that advice, because I've seen it over
and over again really help and really work. So, yeah, come and see us if you
need us.
Have you found a dietitian to coach you
towards a happier and healthier life? Let us know your thoughts on dietitians and
nutritionists in the comment section below. If you liked this vid, go ahead and
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link in the description below. Thanks for watching, have a happy and healthy day.