Diet, nutrition, and Diet, nutrition, and health: health: Issues in Issues in Leadership Leadership

for for Adventure EducationAdventure Education

Robert Swoap, Ph.D.Professor & Chair of PsychologyClinical and Health Psychologist

Taking the lead: Personal Taking the lead: Personal choices and leadershipchoices and leadership

Personal choices (e.g., recycling, driving less)Dietary impact on health (for you, the leader, and for your group members)Dietary impact on environmentImplications for leaders

Setting the stage: Setting the stage: WhoWho are you are you leading?leading?

The public health plan hatched a decade ago was to get three-quarters of Americans to eat at least two servings of fruit a day and half of Americans to eat three or more servings of vegetables.

The results for 2009 show that only 32.5 percent of adults are hitting the mark for fruit and barely more than a quarter — 26.3 percent — are getting the job done on vegetables.

Healthy eating: A Healthy eating: A biopsychosocial perspectivebiopsychosocial perspective

Nutrition and WellnessEating to feel well (as opposed to simply getting calories) -- mens sana in corpore sano(Psych-Bio / Mind-body)Sociocultural factors

Social/Cultural factors in eating behavior

Advertising / Expectations of what we “like”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeDjuKYzX8w&feature=player_embedded#!

Is it smart to get a full serving of veggies, or whole grain pasta into a child’s tummy no matter what -- even if it means you hide it behind loads of salt, fat and sugar?

Chef Boyardee Jumbo Spaghetti & MeatballsServing Size 1 cup (255g) Servings Per Container about 2

Amount Per Serving 280 kcal

Calories from Fat 120: Total Fat 13g Saturated Fat 5g

Sodium 730mg Sugars 7g

How do kids learn their eating patterns? Sociocultural & familial influences

Should we address it directly and positively when children are young?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdltYiFouVo

(Luis and Elmo)

And/or should we use fear tactics?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F4t8zL6F0c

Our food environment (cheap, hi-cal, lo-quality food available) Absence of supermarkets in lo-income

neighborhoods (Food deserts) Way too many of our calories are coming from

junk food (Sugar: 172 lbs/pp per year) Governmental subsidies We are simply eating more (next slides)!

Social/Cultural factors in eating behavior

What has changed?

1980 2008

Children w/ obesity (ages 6-11) 6.5% 19.6%

Overweight adolescents (ages 12-19) 5.0% 18.1%

then

then

then

then

now

now now

now

20 Years Ago Today

270 calories 5 cups

MOVIE POPCORN

1700 calories21 cups buttered

Social/Cultural Factors in eating behavior: Too much confusing and conflicting information

Paleolithic diet vs. Atkins vs. Zone

“In defense of food” (M. Pollan)

USDA’s MY Pyramid vs. Healthy Eating Pyramid (Harvard)

My Plate Slow food, fast

food, no food, ???

What is the impact on the average person?

Social/Cultural Factors in eating behavior

“We live in a toxic environment. It’s like trying to treat an alcoholic in a town where there’s a bar every ten feet. Bad food is cheap, heavily promoted, and engineered to taste good. Healthy food is hard to get, not promoted, and expensive.

If you came down from Mars and saw all this, what else would you predict except an obesity epidemic?”Dr. Kelly Brownell, Yale, (Nat’l Geo. Article: The heavy cost of fat, 2004)

Diet and Disease

H eart D isease C an cer O th er C on d it ion s

Im p ac t o f d ie t on :

““[People] dig their graves with their own teeth and die [People] dig their graves with their own teeth and die more by those fatal instruments than the weapons of more by those fatal instruments than the weapons of their enemies.”their enemies.”

-- Thomas Moffett, 1600-- Thomas Moffett, 1600

Example: Relationship between diet and heart disease

risk for heart disease is linked to diets high in saturated fats, found mostly in animal and processed foods

dietary cholesterol is found only in animal foods

plant foods contain antioxidants –these protect against atherosclerosis

Example: The obesity “crisis”

U.S. is heaviest country in the world -- 68% of population is overweight or obese (obesity

trends slides -- CDC)

Quick review of nutrition

Macronutrients (1) Carbohydrates

Macronutrients Macronutrients

(2) Fats

Fats (cont.)

Fats (Fatty Acids) Saturated (SFAs) – limit these Monounsaturated (MUFAs) –

better choice Polyunsaturated – (PUFAs) –

consider the Omega-3 / Omega-6 balance

Trans-fat (avoid) – (hydrogenated)

Macronutrients

(3) Proteins

Micronutrients Vitamins

13 known vitamins, classified as either fat-soluble (A, D, E, K) or water-soluble (B and C)

C & E are antioxidants Minerals

Inorganic elements (e.g., calcium -- for muscle contractions, nerve transmission)

Micronutrients

Phytochemicals Bioactive chemicals found in plants

with potential health-promoting qualities (e.g., anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant)

Flavonoids -- compounds found in fruits, vegetables, and certain beverages that (e.g., Queretin, a potent antioxidant -- free radical scavenging activity)

Eat these in their natural forms! Good resource

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/

So then… What to Eat?? (considering impact of yourself, and upon those you lead)

Eat food Not too much Mostly plants

Go over Food Diaries – Questions? Impact of diet on mood/behavior? For you?

For group members – e.g., OBH participants?

Do I have to be a vegetarian?

Vegetarian diets are associated with a reduced risk for obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, certain types of cancer, and kidney disease

-- (American Dietetic Association: Position on vegetarian diets)

The American Cancer Society Dietary Guidelines: Limit consumption of meats and shift the balance toward a more plant-based diet

The American Heart Association is also supportive of a vegetarian diet for heart disease, explaining that vegetarians have a lower risk of coronary heart disease, heart attacks and high blood pressure.

Bottom line: Eat lower on the food chain for better physical health. And eat colorfully.

As a role model / leader -- If you were doing As a role model / leader -- If you were doing one one thingthing that was contributing to: that was contributing to:

•Poorer personal health Poorer personal health

•Spread of diseaseSpread of disease

•Deforestation & ErosionDeforestation & Erosion

•Fresh water scarcityFresh water scarcity

•Air and water pollutionAir and water pollution

•Climate changeClimate change

•Biodiversity lossBiodiversity loss

•Maltreatment of animals/humansMaltreatment of animals/humans

•Social injusticeSocial injustice

•Destabilization of communitiesDestabilization of communities

Would you Would you change that change that one thing?one thing?

That one thing is That one thing is consuming consuming products that products that come from come from factory farms.factory farms.

Holistic health: Diet and the environment

Good News!!Good News!!

Eating a diet that is healthy for me Eating a diet that is healthy for me and for my group is better for the and for my group is better for the health of the planethealth of the planet

Personal choices, global effects Supply and demand Society’s demand for inexpensive,

readily available meat; cheap sugar drinks; etc.

Animal agribusiness and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)

Chickens raised for meat are crowded by the thousands in "grower houses" where each is given approximately half a square foot of space. (Even worse for layer hens.) How do these birds establish a “pecking order?”

CAFOs

Confined in crates just two foot wide, veal calves don't have space to walk or stretch their limbs.

CAFOs

Factory farm pigs are typically raised in small pens with slatted or concrete floors and metal bars. Breeding sows

are treated like “piglet-making machines.”

CAFOs

Personal choices, global effects

Question: How does our choice to eat shrimp relate to the health of bird populations?

Or vice-versa, How does our choice to eat birds (i.e., chickens) relate to the health of fish and shrimp populations?

Diet and the environment

W ater L an d A ir A n im a ls

Im p ac t o f d ie t on :

Relationship between diet and water quality

The Problems Manure Fertilizer and other chemicals

used in animal production (e.g., antibiotics)

Relationship between diet and water quality: Effects of manure

““Livestock excrement is the single biggest cause of declining Livestock excrement is the single biggest cause of declining fish populations in 60,000 miles of polluted waterways.”fish populations in 60,000 miles of polluted waterways.”

-- joint declaration by the Environmental Protection -- joint declaration by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Hog farms: A case study in N.C. factory farming

Although pigs have been an historical part of the state's agriculture, it is in recent years that the sector has experienced exponential growth. Within a decade, the hog population jumped, from around 2.6 million in 1988 to over 8 million in 1997.

The increase in the total population of hogs was accompanied by a concomitant decline in the total number of hog farms. In 1986, there were 15,000 farms with at least one head of hogs in the state. By the year 2006, there were only 2,300 such farms remaining.

Hog farms: Manure’s effects on waterways

9,500,000 wet tons of hog manure in North Carolina annually

Too much to simply put on the land as fertilizer Waste held in storage lagoons and discharged as “treated”

wastewater into rivers Problem: waste lagoons often built in ecologically sensitive

areas (e.g., marshes, floodplains). Lagoons not always constructed well.

Pig Waste Lagoon -- Spills

25.8 million 25.8 million gallons of gallons of concentrated hog concentrated hog waste spilled into waste spilled into the New River the New River polluting the river polluting the river and killing and killing thousands of fish.thousands of fish.

Dietary choices affect the land: The case of cattle ranching

The destruction of riparian areas Erosion Species loss and wildlife

extermination Over-use of water Deforestation

Dietary choices and the air Deforestation Global warming Air quality

Trends and Outlook In the U.S., we eat 58 million cattle, 103 million

hogs, 300 million turkeys, and 9 billion chickens per year.

The meat industry is aggressively pursuing an increase in worldwide production of meat and milk in the 21st century.

Throughout the world, there is a trend toward eating higher on the food chain, placing more demand on meat production. Impact on health??

Summary Be aware of the impact of your

personal dietary choices (and your choices for outdoor education participants)

Educate others by example through compassionate leadership and activism

Organizations to learn more…