Show n 'r ilwrfi Food People Newsfeatures Classified ads Igan Utah Wednczday March 1 1978 The Herald Journal— 17 Medical dietitians ready to help "t : By Edith Morgan food editor “What is cholesterol and what foods contain it?” “Why do I gain weight more easily than anyone else?" These are questions often asked by the recently service organized provided to Cache Valley residents by the Medical Dietetics Club at Utah State "Dial-a-Dietitia- n” University Calls are received by the campus Information Referral and Help-lin-e Center at USU and answered by medical dietetics students and faculty in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences (752-396- at 4) USU But what is a dietitian? And why should anyone want to call one? Dietitians are recognized as the more than 3500 members of the American Dietetic Association The official title of those members who practice dietetics is registered dietitian abbreviated RD according to Joan Staggers Medical dietetics instructor in Nutrition and Food Sciences at USU Members of the American Dietetic Association are sponsoring National Nutrition Week March 5 to 11 Most people probably first meet a dietitian (RD) in a hospital setting Many hospital patients receive care provided by dietitians whom they never meet directly Many dietitians are specialists in the area of food service administration The and preparation of all food production served in a hospital is often the supervisory and administrative responsibility of a dietitian The American Dietetic Association defines the dietitian’s role as providing nutritional care to individuals and groups people who are both sick and well Certainly providing the proper food to hospital patients is one very important part of nutritional care But all hospital patients must receive adequate food Generally patients are not seen by a dietitian unless they have some nutritional problem that needs to be taken care of in the hospital Those people most often needing nutritional care in a hospital are those whose doctor has prescribed some special or modified diet for them to follow Inthis type of situation the dietitian’s care comes partially from providing the proper food for the patient to eat in the hospital The medical dietitian selects those foods to send to patients who cannot receive the regular hospital meals because their physician has ordered a special modified diet for them The dietitian knows which foods are available at the hospital to send for each special type of diet A patient who cannot eat any food the night before surgery or one who receives only liquid foods right after surgery might be individuals on special diets Their physicians have ordered a particular type of diet and the dietitian is responsible for sending the right kinds of food — or no food — to those people But such patients rarely eee the dietitian face-to-faif they have progressed to a nutritionally adequate regular diet within a day or two HospitJ patients who are most often visited by a medical dietitian fell into two general categories sccording to Ms Staggers First there are those people who cannot easily receive adequate nutrition for any extended period of time in the hospital even if eventually they will be eating a completely regular diet when they go home A dietitian often talks with such patients or their families to select those foods most suited to the patient’s hospital needs Hie second group are those who must follow some type of special diet after they go home from the hospital In this case the medical dietitian must provide education as well as food The person must learn how to follow the special diet his doctor has prescribed for him to follow for some period of time The dietitian visits with patients and many times with their families to teach them how to select foods and prepare the right kind of meals for a special type of diet Frequently patients may attend classes taught by a medical dietitian at the hospital before or after a patient is discharge At Logan Hospital the medical dietitian Noreen Schvaneldt is part of an eductional team that provides classes for patients with diabetes (mellitus) and individuals who have been hospitalized with a heart attack Carol Istaelson R N directs these education classes at Logan Hospital with the assistance of Noreen and Cathy Wagstaff also a registered nurse and a master's degree student in health education at Utah State University Hospital patient education is often followed visits when the person is by discharged to go home Aside from overweight and obesity which most authorities agree are the major nutritional problems in the United States Noreen estimates that diabetic and various d cardiac diets especially diets are those she sees most often at the Logan Hospital for discharge dietary out-patie- nt sodium-restricte- education Weight reduction diets are used alone or with other dietary modifications to aid the management of many illnesses Many adults who develop diabetes can effectively treat their disease by losing excessive adipose tissue (fat) balancing their meals and avoiding concentrated sugar foods Controlling weight by controlling calories in the diet along with other means will be discussed in a future article Physicians often prescribe weight loss as part of the treatment for patients who have had heart attacks Some cardiac patients such as people with high blood pressure diets A diet may be prescribed for medical certain types of cardio-vasculproblems But what is cholesterol anyway? And what about dialing dietitians when you're fortunate enough not to be in the hospital? Cholesterol is a substance found in most animal fats that may need to be limited in certain individuals who have a disorder referred to as atherosclerosis and a later article will discuss some of the diets used for cardiovascular problems The service at Utah State is available to answer nutritional questions for people with no dietary modifications or disorders that require a special type of diet as well Questions about food composition and nutritive values food buying and normal nutrition are topics frequently encountered in recent calls The nutritional care provided by dietitians is needed by healthy people who want to stay healthy Ms Staggers said Many of the important aspects of good nutrition are in helping to prevent disease The focus of health care in this country has begun to look more and more at preventive medicine in recent years Developing healthful dietary habits may be important in ensuring Americans a better freedom from certain diseases Large numbers of dietitians are involved in proving nutrition education to people so they can learn to select good diets and become and remain healthy should follow sodium-restricte- d ar an all too Another topic encountered frequently by the USU dietitians and everywhere in this country is nutrition fraud and quackery Ms Staggers said Just as many of the nutritional problems of Americans are related to too much food rather than not enough many people receive too much nutrition informaiton of the wrong kind The nutrition industry is believed to provide a billion dollar market in fraudulent sales each year in the United States ry problem Attempts to treat a with special foods or supplements can be as serious as failing to follow the proper modified diet for a problem that is being treated by a medical doctor Ms Staggers non-dieta- One of the most vulnerable areas to quackery is the biggest US nutritional problem — overweight Countless diets and gimmicks appear on the market each year for “easy’’ weight loss Many of these are an unfortunate waste of money Others are potentially dangerous to the health of certain individuals Dietitians try to best handle all people’s nutritional care needs The USU program was initiated to make the professional services of medical dietitians more accessible to the residents of Cache Valley “Chick-n-brocco- Wash If you’ve always wanted a bit of Northwestern in growing there is a The Abundant Life Foundation describes itself as a “very small-time- ” Director operation Forest and e five or six helpers collect and sell seeds of the region’s endangered flora says the nonprofit educational Roth-Shom- er part-tim- Roth-Shom- er foundation after is modeled the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley Calif the only other organization in the United States devoted to the propagation and preservation of native and naturalized plants He and his helpers even collect such seeds unpopular of and malodorous plants as the cow parsnip clean them and mail them to garin deners mostly Washington Oregon and British Columbia He says there isn't much demand for some of the 400 seed listings in the foundation’s annual catalogue but he is not discouraged “We are serving the animal and plant community that share this space with us" he “We have a says number of tree seeds and wildflower seeds unavailable anywhere else because nobody sees any economic value in them To be honest we only sell a couple of packets a year of some of them "But we won't wildflower discontinue listings because we feel they're threatened and we don't want to see them go" The Department of Interior lists more than 2000 species of endangered flora in the nation many of them in Hawaii No one really knows how many trees shrubs and flowers in the fit that Northwest category — on n -- i w flaky refrigerated — Seed Wood Indianapolis Ind li Mrs Wood's pot pies with GARDINER wilderness your yard source win- and Mrs Calif Linda plants saved Pacific The two $25000 ners in the Pillsbury Co Bake-nf- f were Mrs Esther Tomich of San Pedro Wild (UPI) Baking contest winners won the biscuits refrigerated foods top Mrs and award Tomich’s “Nutty graham picnic cake” earned the grocery products prize Mrs Tomich is a widow and Mrs Wood is a secretary Paul Hill Long Beach Calif publications for the manager Professional Divers Association won $5000 with “Tomato cheese pie” Other $5000 awards went to Mrs Kathleen Arcadia Calif for "Chocolate Cherry Jubilees” and Mrs Reta Ebbink Torrance Calif for "Maple cream coffee NUTTY GRAHAM picnic cake the top prize winners is a moist hearty good tasting cake one of made with brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs treat" Here are the recipes: Mrs Esther V Tomich San Pedro Calif Nutty graham picnic cake A brown sugar glaze topped with nuts adds Just the right finish to this hearty cake It's moist and good tasting 2 cups all purpose or unbleached flour 1 cup (14 squares) graham cracker crumbs 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar '4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon soda h teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup margarine or butter softened 1 cup orange juice tablespoon grated orange peel 3 eggs 1 cup chopped nuts Glaze 2 tablespoons brown sugar 5 teaspoons milk 1 tablespoon margarine or butter cup powdered sugar l cup chopped nuts Heat over to 350 1 Using degrees shorsolid tablespoon tening generously grease and flour fluted tube pan or tube pan finish pan too) (non-stic- (Lightly 12-c- 10-in- k spoon flour CI1ICK-- Idea BROCCOLI that was worth into measuring cup level off) In large bowl combine all cake ingredients except nuts beat pot pie na $25000 to its Bake at 350 degrees for to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean Cool upright in pan 15 45 minutes at medium speed Stir in nuts Tour into prepared minutes serving pun completely 3 maker uses every day ingredients to turn out a delicious main dish invert onto cool plate In small saucepan heat 2 tablespoons brown sugar milk and butter just until melted Remove from heat add powdered sugar and blend until smooth ( Continued on page 18 ) |