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My name is Lynda McIntyre, and I'm a
registered and licensed dietitian.
And I primarily work with cancer
patients going through treatment with
their families.
And then afterwards we work together to
help prevent recurrence of disease.
Healthy eating is so important, and
there's been such a
shift in the emphasis of, how we promote
healthy eating.
When I first started practicing, I only
saw patients once they had developed an
illness.
And it was working with them on helping
them to manage their symptoms of that
illness.
Now, I see patients before they're sick.
And I teach them about diet in
relationship to staying healthy, and
preventing diseases like cancer, heart
disease, diabetes, stroke.
Healthier diet is really about eating more
of the right types of foods.
Eating more fish, eating more whole
grains, eating more nuts.
Eating more brightly colored fruits and
vegetables.
Really eating from the rainbow.
This is an excellent example of eating
from
the rainbow with all of the different
colors.
To really make sure you're eating the most
nutritious foods, you
want to find foods that are the deepest or
darkest in color.
Broccoli is a great example of this.
Whole grains are a great way to get more
fiber into your diet.
Fiber is an important component of food
for a number of reasons.
And diets that are high in fiber tend to
have decreased risk
of both heart disease, diabetes, as well
as some forms of cancer.
When making choices on a healthy diet, the
things to avoid
are things that are particularly high in
fat, especially animal fat.
Also, looking to limit the amount of salt
or sodium in your diet.
Really looking for foods that have very
short ingredient lists.
Whole foods, foods that come from the
ground are important to look for.
Super foods are foods that are
high in either antioxidants or
anti-inflammatories.
Both properties are important in foods, to
help to prevent diseases.
Super foods include broccoli, carrots,
cauliflower, all
of the berries like blueberries,
raspberries, strawberries.
As well as apples, apricots, and also
spices can
fall into the super-food category like
cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric.
When patients change their diet, they have
so much more energy.
They're so much more productive.
I also see patients that come in and they
have family
members that may have developed heart
disease, or diabetes, or cancer.
And by changing the diet, they're able to
avoid developing these
illnesses themselves and go on to live
much longer, more productive lives.
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