NutritionWithMaidi

Healthy Eating At A Most Basic Level

I want to start this post by saying my diet is most certainly not peak health and wellness. I have a mad love for pizza and a good white wine and stealing the biscuits and chocolates from the hotel I work at. But that being said, if we want to eat slightly healthier and start making positive changes towards our diets there are guidelines we can follow that may not get you looking like Irina Shayk, but that can help lessen the excesses of sugars, salts and saturated fats and help us meet our requirements for other nutrients we may be lacking in. In reality, it’s easy for a doctor or a dietitian or some healthy eating infographic to tell you to eat more vegetables or you’re going to get diabetes and die, but the fact is that in practice it’s much harder to alter our habits that we’ve grown so accustomed to. I don’t believe that people can be spooked into changing these unhealthy eating practices through scare tactics. It’s far too common that people are shamed or frightened into trying to lose weight or alter their diets in a radical way through societal pressures and this just doesn’t work because a diet being pushed through shame and guilt and complete rigidity is not sustainable. This type of dieting will more than likely result in a person giving up on this “unattainable” healthy lifestyle and reverting back to old eating patterns that aren’t necessarily the healthiest either while feeling an increased amount of negative emotion. Well I’m here to say fuck that shit and that there are many factors that go into a person’s diet and body shape and you should never be ashamed because you can’t fit into size 6 jeans.

A person’s body doesn’t necessarily reflect how healthy they are or how they feel about themselves and when it comes to slowly forging healthier eating patterns, it is very important to remember that. Here is one guideline that I have learned about that is sustainable and and will create confidence in your ability to fuel your body in a healthy way. This method is easy to follow and flexible, and will celebrate the small, everyday achievements of forging healthier eating patterns that will help you rediscover the joy that food can bring to your life when you aren’t jumping from surviving solely on soup and smoothies for days to eating a whole birthday cake and a family bucket of KFC chicken.

Perfectionism Has No Place In A Healthy Diet

I’m sure we’ve all had a class week where we’ve eaten so healthy, no takeaways or chocolate or white bread, turning down any treat offered to us and feeling like a health and wellness queen only to crash come Saturday and have a massive takeaway and demolish every snack food in the house. You look in the mirror and see the bloat resulting from a full belly (which is fully normal and fine btw) and it makes you feel like you’ve ruined all your hard work, that you’re back to square one again. This is a cycle and it’s one that does nothing for you except make you feel like shit. In fact, this sort of perfectionist attitude towards diet can be very damaging to your mental health as this can quickly lead to a number of eating disorders where perfectionism and control are major factors. If your opinion of yourself is dramatically altered based on your ability to deny yourself a kitkat at lunch then this is unhealthy and this is an issue.

The fact is that you are human and humans are not designed to be perfect. By accepting nothing but perfection in any aspect of our lives we are setting ourselves up for failure and self-loathing because it’s often just not possible, and honestly kinda dull like who wants to be with mr. perfect over there who won’t even eat a bag of skittles for fear of losing his gains. The first step to creating a healthy diet for ourselves is to accept that we aren’t going to be perfect and to give ourselves the space to enjoy a treat every now and again because we fucking deserve it.

Leanne Ward is a dietitian from Australia who has described this strategy of accepting imperfection in many of her podcasts which I will leave linked below. Basically, this guideline is about recognising that near enough is good enough and that a diet most certainly does not have to be perfect in order for it to be healthy, in fact it shouldn’t be. Leanne achieves this by breaking up her five meals for the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks) into percentages, so 20% per meal. So lets say you have a lovely healthy breakfast of porridge with maybe raspberries and blueberries sprinkled on top and a cup of tea. This is a very healthy breakfast so in your head you can be like oh thats 20% got for breakfast. Then lets say you’re at work and it’s someone’s birthday so everyone’s having a slice of cake at breaktime. You consider eating the cake and think “oof this is unhealthy” but you eat it anyway because it’s a lovely thing to celebrate someone’s birthday plus birthday cake is delicious. Now you’re at a crossroads. You’ve just eaten this delicious cake and your perfectionist, diet-driven mindset is telling you you’ve fucked it and you’ve ruined your diet for the day. You feel guilty and a bit ashamed. But with is new way of thinking where near enough IS good enough, you consider “well I’ve eaten this cake that isn’t really healthy but I’ve had a healthy breakfast. I have 20% and there’s still three more meals in the day so it’s ok”. You continue with your day and at lunch time one of the girls suggests getting a takeaway for lunch. You consider, and one side of you, the perfectionist side, thinks ” well I’ve already fucked up my diet for today with the cake so I might as well go all out with a takeaway,” while the other, more reasonable side thinks “Well I have 20% from breakfast, I may have missed out from my snack but I can eat my healthy, packed lunch instead of a takeaway and gain another 20%”. So you eat your packed lunch and instantly feel better about yourself because look you’ve gained yourself another 20%. So feeling hyped from your two healthy meals, you go home and decide you’re going to keep this streak going and make a class dinner with maybe some spaghetti bolognese and some salad on the side, giving you another 20%. Now you’re flying it at 60% and you might decide to have a quick snack before bed of maybe some wholegrain toast and butter with maybe a glass of milk but you also decide you want something sweet so you have a cheeky biscuit as well. Do you feel guilty? No because you can still surely reward yourself 10% for this meal making a grand total of 70% for the day. That’s a H3 grade in the Leaving Cert baby and you should be proud!

What I love about this approach to healthy eating is that it promotes rewarding yourself for eating well because so often in diets we focus solely on punishing ourselves for eating unhealthy foods and this is just not very helpful (think syns in slimming world, like please don’t think of eating food as a sin). I also love how accessible this approach is. There’s no fancy meal plan or anything like that, as long as a person has a basic understanding of what foods are healthy and fuel our bodies and what foods aren’t the best, then they can use this method. The best thing about this strategy is that it keeps you from giving up because with every meal there is something to be gained and so it creates more positive feelings around food that many people today just don’t have. In conclusion, in terms of basic a guideline to follow to generate a healthy eating pattern, I think this method is brilliant, it’s positive, it’s easy to understand, it’s maintainable it’s a brilliant place to start.

Leanne Ward’s podcast: https://leanneward.com.au/podcast/

The B Series ~ Thiamin and Riboflavin

So there are like eight different B vitamins so I have decided to split them up into different posts just to make things easier and less confusing. What makes a B vitamin a B vitamin is that they are all what are known as metabolic co-enzymes, which basically means they are needed in the chemical reactions used by the body to break down and utilise our food. They all have this same general function but are used in different reactions and for different purposes. In this post I will focus on thiamin and riboflavin, better known as vitamins B1 and B2.

So What Are Vitamins B1 and B2?

You have probably seen the words thiamin and riboflavin thrown around as additives to breakfast cereals like cocopops in order to give them some form of nutritional benefit so you’re not eating *complete* shite. You’ve probably also seen them in vitamin waters and things like that promising an energy boost. In essence these two vitamins are water-soluble B vitamins, meaning they dissolve in water and are therefore not stored by the body, and they are coenzymes meaning they are needed to carry out certain reactions within the body. If we don’t consume enough of these vitamins, the reactions that they relate to cannot take place leading to some pretty serious deficiency diseases which I will explore later on in this post.

The Importance of Thiamin

Thiamin was first discovered as an important nutrient in the years 1910-1913 when a Dr. Edward Vedder discovered that rice bran extract (high in B1) could be used to treat beriberi, a disease that causes heart failure, paralysis and mental decline which was later to be discovered as a direct consequence of thiamin deficiency. Thiamin is needed by the body for cells to produce energy which is a reason why B1 is an ingredient in many energy drinks today. It is needed specifically for the conversion of the carbohydrates that we eat into energy for the body and this energy is mainly used by the brain and nervous system. Thiamin is also important for muscle contraction. In terms of deficiency, early symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, nausea, constipation and depression which if left untreated will lead to beriberi. Another illness caused by thiamin deficiency is known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a disease most commonly found in chronic alcoholics due to poor thiamine absorption inhibited by alcohol.

The Importance of Riboflavin

Riboflavin on the other hand, is essential for the breakdown of all the macronutrients, protein, fats and carbohydrates so for all those gym nuts out there counting their macros, this one’s for you. It also acts as an antioxidant, which is a substance that prevents damage to cells by free radicals and is thought to play a role in preventing cancer and heart disease. Deficiency in riboflavin is quite rare in the developed world but can occur in chronic alcoholics as the alcohol can inhibit it’s absorption. Symptoms of deficiency include burning of lips, mouth, tongue and eyes, a swollen tongue and cracked lips, but again this is very rare and typically not one to worry about.

So Where Do We Acquire These Wonderful Vitamins?

Thiamin is in many different foods and is found in a few of the different food groups. Good sources include wholegrain cereals, nuts, beans, meats and dairy products. When it comes to cereals, thiamin is often lost in the milling process that is used to produce bread and breakfast cereals and other products, but may be added back in afterwards like with cocopops. As for riboflavin, this vitamin is typically found in dairy products, eggs and leafy green veg like lettuce. It is recommended that we consume around 1-1.5mg of thiamin per day and around 1.1-1.3mg per day of riboflavin. Again, it is not likely that a person would be lacking too much in either of these vitamins but just to give you a rough idea of what you would be consuming, I’ll provide a a table of sources. It’s worth noting that because these are water soluble vitamins, they’re susceptible to being lost during cooking. For example, raw broccoli contains 0.12mg of riboflavin but boiled broccoli contains 0.06mg.

Food:	Thiamin Content per 100g:
Brown Bread	0.22mg
Ground almonds	0.21mg
Baked beans	0.21mg
Grilled beef	0.12mg
Greek yogurt	0.12mg
Whole milk	0.03mg

Food:	Riboflavin Content per 100g:
Whole milk	0.23mg
Greek yogurt	0.13mg
Boiled eggs	0.20mg
Lettuce	0.14mg
Broccoli	0.12mg

Thiaminase and it’s effects

Thiaminase is an enzyme that breaks down thiamin and makes it unusable by the body. The result of a high consumption of thiaminase is thiamin deficiency which can lead to beriberi. This enzyme is found mainly in raw fish and shellfish. Thankfully, this isn’t really a problem at all in this country but in countries like Cambodia and Thailand where there is high consumption of raw fish and shellfish and a high consumption of polished or white rice, this is still a big issue. Often those affected do not have proper resources to vitamin B supplementation and cannot therefore be treated effectively. This is also an issue among refugees who are very vulnerable in terms of proper healthcare and nutrition. This is an issue that is still very prevalent in the world today and shows that in terms of the Sustainable Development Goals regarding good health and no hunger there is still a long way to go. Vitamins such as thiamin and riboflavin are extremely important when it comes to the body’s general well-being and the efficiency of its functioning so it is important that we address these vitamins as well as trying to provide basic rations to the vulnerable.

The Rabbit Vitamin

Did your mam ever tell you to eat your carrots and you’d have amazing eyesight like a rabbit? Or maybe she promised you you’d have class night vision if you just take one more bite of your bloody carrots. So what’s the secret ingredient in carrots that we were promised would give us these incredible powers? Well my friends, that would be none other than Vitamin A!

Right so maybe your eyesight isn’t perfect, you might even need glasses and that’s probably not because you didn’t finish your veggies as a child but one of the many functions of vitamin A would be to produce a pigment called rhodopsin that does indeed help us to see in dim light. Maybe not exactly night vision goggles vibes but close enough!!

So What is Vitamin A?

Like all vitamins, vitamin A is an organic substance meaning it is made from plants or animals. It is one of the four fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E,K) meaning that they are soluble or able to dissolve in fat and these vitamins in particular are stored in the liver and in fatty tissues. Due to this ability to be stored, it is possible, but very rare, to overdose on these vitamins so don’t down a bottle of vitamins please! Now, vitamin A can be split into two basic groups: the provitamin form, in particular a form known as beta carotene, and the preformed form, in particular retinol. Both are quite essential to the body and the main difference is that the proforms must be changed by the body in some way in order to be absorbed.

What’s So Important About Vitamin A Anyway?

We need vitamin A for lots of things in the body, it is not just used for our amazing seeing skillz. Like many vitamins, it is essential for a healthy immune system (f you corona) and it is also very important to maintain healthy, moisturised skin and mucus membranes. This is why retinol is often in anti-aging creams and just general skincare type products as a lack of vitamin A in the body would dry the skin out.

It is quite unlikely that you would be overly deficient in vitamin A to the point where you would be showing symptoms, as it is present in lllooootttttssss of different foods but a slight deficiency isn’t entirely unusual. The signs to look out for include dry skin and eyes, rashing, night blindness, acne, frequent throat and chest infection and possible infertility. Again, clinical vitamin A deficiency is very unusual in the developed world so it is definitely not something to be overly concerned about.

Where Is This Amazing Vitamin Found?

Beta carotene is what is known as a pigment, meaning it gives colour to it’s various sources. It is found in red, yellow and green fruits and veg. as well as seafood including salmon, trout, prawns and lobster. So if you see carotene added as an ingredient to a food, it is usually thrown in there to give an orange colour and provide a source of vitamin A. Meanwhile retinol is typically found in fattier foods such as dairy, egg yolk and fish liver oils. As you can see, as long as you have a varied diet with some amount of fruit, veg, dairy and/or fish, you’re likely receiving an adequate amount of vitamin A.

So How Much Vitamin A Do I Need In A Day?

According to the NHS, it is recommended that women aged 19-64 consume about 600µg a day and men in this age bracket consume 700µg a day. Here are some examples of sources of vitamin A to give you an idea of what you need to be consuming:

Food:	Vitamin A Content: per 100g
Atlantic salmon	16-19µg (retinol)
Carrots	11764µg (carotene)
Red peppers	580µg (carotene)
full fat milk	38µg (total retinol)
eggs	126µg (total retinol)
tomatoes	349µg (carotene)

The Big Vitamin A Problem

Unfortunately, vitamin A deficiency is a huge issue in many developing countries particularly in parts of South East Asia, The Middle East and Africa. This is due mainly to a lack of animal sources of vitamin A due to the fact that these can be expensive creating a reliance on provitamin A sources. If the crop fails due to flooding or drought, there is no vitamin A source. As well as this, if an individual is particularly malnourished, the body finds it difficult to convert provitamin A into a form necessary for absorption meaning that the vitamin A that is consumed isn’t used.

Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children worldwide with around 250,000 children going blind as a direct result each year. This blindness is entirely preventable and it is a tragedy that this still occurs around the world today. Vitamin A supplementation and food fortification with vitamin A could change countless lives. I will include links to one or two charities at the bottom of this post who give out these supplements to children in these affected countries. I also did an assignment on the issue of vitamin A deficiency for college so I’ll link that down below too for anyone who might be interested 🙂

Wow Vitamin A!

I think I have covered all the basics of this lovely vitamin in this post. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and maybe learned something new. Thank you for your support!

https://www.givewell.org/charities/helen-keller-international

https://www.vitaminangels.org/vitamin-a-deficiency

vitamin-a-deficiency-in-the-world-today Download

The College Diet

So there’s this really fun perception of nutrition students that we’re really healthy people who never eat shite food and are sports stars or do yoga at 7am or something. Well, unfortunately for us nutrition students we often don’t practice everything we are being taught in our lectures. I honestly think the nutritional science student is a prime example that just giving someone the right dietary information doesn’t mean that they’re going to suddenly throw out all their alcohol and junk food and start sprinting around the garden to get in a calorie deficit. When it comes to me and my peers a good chunk of us smoke fags on the regular, those of us in college accommodation drink at least twice a week and trust me we are not sticking to the recommended alcohol guidelines. We’re all broke bitches so you bet we’re eating fuck all during the day so we need to buy less alcohol to get drunk and then feeling starved at around 11 o clock and ordering take away. Just like three weeks ago, me and the nutrition gals ordered a takeaway I think five days out of seven so ya know, we aren’t the best.

When it comes to why a person eats in a certain way there are so many factors involved, but in this post I’m going to be focusing on the diet of college students and I’ll throw in a few tips and tricks to at least somewhat get some form of good nutrition.

Why College Students Have Such A Tragic Diet

Mammy is no longer cooking dinner for us and if you haven’t done junior cert. home economics or haven’t been helping mammy make dinner in the kitchen then you’re fucked. No chance are you cooking a meal from scratch when you can’t even chop a carrot so you’re surviving on frozen ready made meals, takeaways, sandwiches and pot noodle (green pot noodle is the best. Fight me).
We have like zero time to actually make meals most of the time. Granted in lockdown we’re at home more but still, between college work, chatting to roommates, drinking, acting the bollox, going for a stupid little daily walk and whatever else, cooking is often fairly low down on the list of priorities. There have been so many days where I’m like why would I make a proper dinner where I have to actually prepare stuff when I can just eat a pot noodle and like a carrot or some fruit??? Be grand like.
Student accommodation provides literally the worst kitchen equipment. From my apartment alone our fridge and freezer were broken from day one, our oven door fell off about a month in, one of the rings on the hob doesn’t work and the hobs take a good ten minutes to heat up, our chopping knives wouldn’t cut butter, one of our frying pans had a massive dent in it, we had one teaspoon between five of us and we currently share a whisk with two other apartments. It’s kinda funny but it would well put you off actually cooking anything.
College life in general just doesn’t promote healthy eating. Alcohol and healthy food obviously doesn’t go together. Have you ever woke up after a night of drinking and been like “damn I would kill for a smoothie bowl right now!”? I doubt it. Smoking suppresses your appetite so the avid smokers are likely to be low on a few nutrients. Stress is another huge factor, especially during this pandemic where lecturers don’t seem to realise that they’re giving many of us impossible workloads. For me personally, stress destroys my appetite and I can barely eat but for others they binge which promotes an unhealthy relationship with food. I’ve also known many people who barely eat during the day before a night out to look skinnier in pictures, which isn’t just a college student thing but is also a factor to be considered as there is a certain pressure there to “look your best” when surrounded by other young people.

Tips To Eating A Somewhat Healthy Diet

Let’s be real. We aren’t gonna stop drinking and smoking and eating convenience food but there are certain things we can do to ensure that we are meeting our nutrient requirements or at least getting close enough to them that we don’t develop scurvy or something.

Try to eat three meals a day: I’m the worst for skipping breakfast because I tend to go to sleep at like 4am and get up at 12 and because of this I often only eat two meals a day in college which is really bad. I also have quite a small appetite anyway so this is definitely an issue with me. Ideally, it is recommended that a person eats three meals a day plus two or three snacks but I think in college this is often hard to do especially when you’re out and about a good bit. What can help here is making a big batch of meals like lasagne or stir fry or something simple like that and freezing it. Also I think having a knowledge of really quick and easy meals is very important.
Have plenty of healthy snacks in the apartment. Some good examples are fruit, nuts, veggie sticks and hummus, rice cakes and peanut butter and popcorn. Fruit and veggies are high in many important vitamins and minerals like vitamin C for the immune system and calcium for bone health, nuts and nut butters are high in good fats important for brain and heart function, hummus is a good source of plant proteins and all of these options are great sources of fibre which can give you an energy boost. It’s better to snack on these kinds of foods as in comparison to things like crisps and chocolate, they’re lower in saturated and trans fats, sugar and salt and tend to be higher in essential vitamins and minerals. A good rule of thumb when picking snacks is that the more processed something is, the more nutrients are likely to be lost so it’s usually better to go for unprocessed options. I like to keep a bag of nuts on my desk to remind me to eat some grub while I’m studying and to give me a bit of an energy boost.
Learn a few easy to make recipes like stir fries and spaghetti bolognase. Ask your mam for some cooking tips. learn how to properly chop some simple veg with variety like carrots, peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms and things like that that can be incorporated into so many different meals. Learn how to boil a spud, you’re Irish you’ve got this. Basically become skilled enough in the kitchen so you know how to make two or three basic meals, make like 3 servings once a week and that’s dinner sorted for three days. Simples.
Opt for healthy-ish takeaways. Usually when me and the gals get takeaway, we get Ramen which is usually quite full up with veggies or sometimes we get falafel or burritos. Although these are likely still quite energy dense and salty, in comparison to McDonalds or something it is definitely healthier and much more rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre. As well as this swap fizzy drinks for water, choose smaller portions and maybe skip dessert if you can resist it.
Take yo vitamins!! You’re a college student, you probably need them.
Drink water. Lots of water. Drink it as soon as you wake up, with every meal, while you’re studying, before drinking alcohol, during drinking alcohol, after drinking alcohol, down that shit the morning after drinking alcohol. It’s so easy to become dehydrated so it’s important to make sure you drink lots of water regularly.

In conclusion young wans, don’t get too worked up if you’re finding it hard to eat healthy in college. We’re still learning how to be adults and it’s a turbulent ride in many aspects of our lives, including diet. I know myself when I’m at home I eat a lot healthier because my mam is minding me and cooking dinner for me and staring me down making sure I eat my greens but it’s a whole different story when suddenly you’re responsible for your own health (gasp!). We’ll get there in the end but for the moment it’s good enough to cultivate small good habits and just try your best!

Big Fat Hello!

A big fat hello to anyone who’s arsed to read this lovely blog. My name is Mairéad Mary Cecilia Francis Keane, the most farmer name in rural Ireland. My friends call me Máidí, pronounced Mawd-ee. People may ask “God Maidi why do you spell it so awkwardly?”, and I would reply “because i thought I was being very patriotic giving it an Irish spin by throwing in some fadas.” Through many years of Irish study, I later found out that Maidi directly translates to “sticks” in english which makes no sense but it sounds kinda gangsta so I just go with it.

About Me 🙂

I’m currently a 20 year old second year nutritional science student in University College Cork. I live part time in the bustling metropolis of Cork city (lol) and part time in the back arse of nowhere on a quaint little dairy farm in rural Limerick. Currently, I’m living my best life as part fancy city gal blinded by the lights and part super hick frolicking in the cow shit.

So Why Have You Decided to Make This Blog Maidi?

There are a few key reasons why I’ve decided to share my wisdom with you all:

Our work experience advisor said that people got job positions for having food blogs. That was the first reason because my CV needs a bitta thickening. Thing is though, this isn’t a food blog, which brings me to reason number two.
I want to share what I’ve learned about nutrition and diet and whatnot from class and from my own experiences and what I observe from the people around me.
I also want to emphasis the link between mental health and diet because personally, I feel like this isn’t discussed as much as it should be and I think it’s extremely important considering so many of us struggle with our mental health in this day and age, myself included.
I also want to chat about my own experiences with mental health and maybe throw in a few mental health orientated posts where I can share what helps me deal with my shit and just some lovely mental health opinions of mine that I can vent about.
I enjoy telling everyone my opinion because I’m really annoying. I also love writing and want an outlet that allows me to do that. This way I can combine my passion for all things nutrition with my love of writing and hopefully help a person or two with what I have learned. Because obviously at 20 years old I am extremely wise to the ways of the world ;).

My Philosophies

Real quick I’m gonna share my main ideals and values when it comes to nutrition just so we all know where my mind will be at in these posts.

Nutrition is a science, Eating is a behaviour, often based on emotion. This is veeeerrrrrryyyyyy important when it comes to a person’s concept of diet. I can tell you exactly what to eat in a day, making sure I incorporate all the key nutrients in your meals through intricate calorie counting and weighing out food and doing all these lovely mathsy calculations. Your boyfriend could leave you on read while your boss shouts at you for accidentally forgetting to send an email and then it starts pissing rain. So you naturally decide fuck my meal plan I’m guzzling a pint of Ben and Jerry’s like it’s a pint of water and I’ve spent a week in the desert. When looking at diet we must take into account the factors that influence diet.
Nutrition is complicated. Annoyingly so. Every country has a different recommended daily allowance for the vitamins and minerals and these are constantly being updated. Every nutritionist has a different opinion about what the most accurate values are which can be very confusing. As well as this, there are countless bloggers, fitness influencers, weightloss gurus distributing contradicting nutritional advice which can be really frustrating for people. There is nothing simple about this science so don’t feel bad if you’re struggling to understand what’s considered a healthy and unhealthy diet.
Weight loss and weight gain are simple in theory but can be quite difficult in practice and I think it’s very important to acknowledge this. To lose weight you must be in a calorie deficit. We get in a calorie deficit by either reducing energy intake or increasing energy output. Simple right? So why are people overweight? Are they just lazy? Stupid? In love with McDonalds? I want to make this very clear. Losing weight is never simple or easy. It often involves changing your whole mindset, educating yourself, reducing mental stress, improving your relationship with food and learning to love yourself. These are extremely difficult things to accomplish so no one should ever be shamed for struggling to lose weight. It can be the exact same challenge when it comes to gaining weight. Compassion is key.
It’s fucking hard to eat a healthy diet these days. There I said it. We live in such a busy society that often food just isn’t a priority or else it’s the total opposite where we live in such a busy society that we rely heavily on food as a stress reliever. Either way it’s not ideal. As well as this, advertisements and marketing psychology are making us crave shite food more than ever before while celebrities and influencer’s are making us feel shit about ourselves by posing with their skinny teas in bikinis saying it solved all their problems while their personal chef whips up a salad in the background, their personal trainer organises their next workout or their plastic surgeon has just come off the phone to them about their next liposuction appointment. So we’re here hating ourselves for eating food because we’re walking around in a stressed out daze unconsciously taking in a KFC advert, ordering chicken to feel better, scrolling instagram to also distract from our stress and seeing these influencers flaunting their societally desirable, unrealistic bodies, feeling even more shit that we don’t look like them and seeing an ad for dairy milk chocolate, buying a dairy milk because we feel shit and then throwing on the news and hearing about how we’re all fucked because we’re all overweight and we’re costing the HSE millions and feeling even worse. So ya, eating healthy is hard. Phew.

Questions I’m Always Asked As a Nutrition Student 😀

Let’s brighten this post up again with a bit of fun question time.

What’s the difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian Maidi?

A nutrition is someone who studies the science of nutrition which basically means we study the process of obtaining what the body needs for health and growth through food. A dietitian studies nutrition but also the application of nutrition to help treat and prevent different conditions and diseases. Another key difference is that any fucker who has done a two day online nutrition course can call themselves a nutritionist so the term ranges from those enlightened individuals to people like me who do a four year degree. Only a qualified and registered dietician can call themselves a dietitian. In terms of degrees there are advantages and disadvantages to each. Nutrition has a broader subject matter than dietetics when it comes to the science of nutrition itself. We study animal nutrition, sports nutrition and nutrition on an international level where dietitians would be much more specialised. Nutrition also has broader career opportunities than dietetics as they are trained solely in a clinical setting but we’re more geared towards lab stuff so we have more wriggle room when it comes to career choice. The obvious advantage to dietetics is that it sounds a lot better. The fact that someone who has done a four year nutrition degree and someone who has done a free online class have the same title is understandably annoying. Dietitian’s also work with patient’s which appeals to a lot of people. At the end of the day, they’re both very interesting and worthwhile degrees it just depends on personal preference.

How interesting! But what about nutrition and food science Maidi? What’s the difference there?

People often seem to think that food science is just a nutrition course for people who don’t get enough points in the leaving cert. to do nutritional science. This is not true at all, in fact they’re both very different courses. Food science is much more focused on the manufacturing, processing and storage of food as well as the scientific properties of food. Nutrition has more of an emphasis on the effect of these foods and the nutrients within the foods on the body. These do overlap at times but they tend to focus on two very different aspects of food. Ultimately, food science mainly focuses on what happens to food before it enters the body and nutrition mainly focuses on what happens to food once it enters the body. Both are very interesting sciences and again it just depends on personal preference.

What about food and nutrients Maidi? What’s the difference between a food and a nutrient?

The difference here is that a nutrient is present within food. The nutrient is what is absorbed and utilized by the body to perform various functions like allowing the body to grow, providing energy, keeping the immune system going and things like that. The food is the vessel for the nutrient.

How fun and sciencey! Ok one more, what’s the difference between a vitamin and a mineral?

Someone asked me this before and I was like uuuuuuhhhhhhhh you know what I do not know how to describe it. So I made it my business to figure this out cus it’s kind of an embarrassing one not to have a proper answer to as a nutritionist in training. So basically, vitamins are considered organic and minerals are considered inorganic. Organic in this case basically means that the vitamins are made by plants or animals. Minerals however, come from the earth, soil and water and are absorbed by plants or eaten by animals. They cannot be made by plants or animals, they must be obtained. In terms of chemistry, vitamins have much more complicated structures than minerals. For example, vitamin D has all the lovely bits of organic chemistry in its structure with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, a few double bonds and a few circley structures. Meanwhile iron is just an element, it’s just iron. Much simpler. Despite these differences both vitamins and minerals are essentials for a healthy diet and we must make sure we are reaching our daily vitamin and mineral recommendations to make sure we stay healthy.

In Conclusion…

I actually had a lot of fun writing that intro so I’m excited to dive into this little lockdown project. Me and my lovely blogging colleague Susan hope we can provide our readers with helpful, relevant and easy to understand information on all things health and nutrition that we feel we can write about from a place of experience. Hopefully, we can all chill and enjoy a bit of stress free nutrition together as a community.

Lots of love,

Máidí xx