I recently requested a nutritionist referral from my doctor. I knew I needed to lose weight. As a fairly educated individual I had knowledge of what to eat and what not to eat.The suggestion to buy most of your food on the perimeter of the supermarket and less food within the aisles was something I knew well. However, the need to have a one-on-one consultation with a food professional was rather alluring to me.
I was recently diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my knees. The constant aches and pains where becoming unbearable. My workouts slowed down and weekly dancing served severe consequences for the next day.
Not only was my leisure time affected by what I lovingly called “old people aches and pains” ; my job was affected as well. As an educator of young children I need to be just as active as my students. Sore knees did not fit neatly into the equation.
I happily met with a friendly (and rather petite) nutritionist one day after work. She shared with me many things I already knew. She even had examples of food and appropriate servings of food. As a life learner, I basked in our open and honest dialogue about food and about what I was really consuming.
During our hour long consultation, the one thing that was my “Ah Ha” moment was when she discussed looking closely at food labels. Not so much about calories and nutritional values. Rather, she discussed the need to pay close attention to the actual ingredients in the the food. Here’s what stood out the most:
Look at the ingredients. If you don’t have easy access to everything on the ingredients list, don’t buy it. If the ingredients list is really long with words that are hard to pronounce-don’t buy it. The shorter the list the better the food item is for you. Long list, long, complex words-avoid.
This made sense-stay close to nature as much as possible. Cook more. It’s healthier and you may have more control of the ingredients and portions (it’s more affordable!). I am a self-proclaimed FOODIE! For me, food is love. However, the need to be more mindful of what I purchase and what I eat has become rather important as I limp my way off the dance floor. Peace and much love.
Sula 
True, nature is health.
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Yes it is. It’s unfortunate that access to simple, healthy food is not as commonplace as one would like. For our fast paced lifestyles, it’s much easier to
stop at a fast food drive thru than to have access to wholesome, healthy food without breaking the bank.
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And at times you find that buying healthy food actually costs more than the junk food itself. At times we are pushed into eating junk, becaise the options are limited
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Yes! I think about that all the time. In a lot of urban cities in Connecticut, there are limitless fast food restaurants on every corner, yet access to full service grocery stores are limited. That’s a problem.
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This is so beautifully written, and yes you are right.
Praying your knees recover. You are to young to be going through this. My mum has this type of pains in her knees, she finds walking helps
Blessings And Love
❤️
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Thank you. Yes I feel like these pains should be reserved the the old and gray (never mind the few silver strands one may find in my head!). I’m genetically predisposed to arthritis-many in my family have some form of the disease. Losing weight will help-exercise like walking like your mom has discovered also helps.
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We also have a history of arthritis in our family as well. I am interested in understanding more about mental health and it’s roots in black families including mine.
Exercise is definitely a top priority, it has unlimited benefits. Let’s make it our priority 2019 and onwards
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