• Support
  • Advertise
  • Locations
  • Contact
Thursday, September 21, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTERS
Dana Point Times
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye On DP
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • DP Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • DP Surf
    • San Clemente Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of DP
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classified
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
    • Legal Notices
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well
    • Best of Dana Point
    • Crib to College
    • Dana Point Trolley Information & Route Map
    • Dolphin Football Preview
    • Festival of Whales Event Guide
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Money Matters
    • Ocean Institute Jazz Festival Fundraiser
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Turkey Trot Event Guide
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • DP Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye On DP
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • DP Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • DP Surf
    • San Clemente Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of DP
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classified
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
    • Legal Notices
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well
    • Best of Dana Point
    • Crib to College
    • Dana Point Trolley Information & Route Map
    • Dolphin Football Preview
    • Festival of Whales Event Guide
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Money Matters
    • Ocean Institute Jazz Festival Fundraiser
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Turkey Trot Event Guide
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • DP Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
No Result
View All Result
Dana Point Times
No Result
View All Result

Health & Nutrition 101: Nutrition Chaos

by Dana Point Times
April 15, 2022 3:20AM
in Opinion Columns, SOAPBOX
Health and Nutrition 101: Winning for Life

Gina Cousineau

0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Gina Cousineau

By Gina Cousineau

I love to hike, so I want to take this opportunity to introduce you to free docent-led hikes for all fitness levels with the Irvine Ranch Conservancy group at letsgooutside.org.

While there are awesome trail systems right here in our own backyard, I love the opportunity to meet new people and explore trails that I never knew existed in my 37 years of living and hiking here.

During these hikes, it is bound to come up that I am a culinary nutritionist, with a focus on preventing disease, and so the questions commence.

I happen to love talking all things food and fitness, so I welcome these conversations.

I begin these encounters by listening very carefully to the questions/statements shared with me. Then I thoughtfully decide what my next move will be, swaying between comments such as these: Where did you hear that? What are your goals? Or why would you consider that?

At the top of the list of comments I hear are “What do you think of the keto diet?” “I intermittent fast,” and “I was told to avoid dairy and gluten.”

I often cut to the chase with the goal of education and providing background to where the latest diet craze came from.

In the case of the “ketogenic diet,” this was a medical nutrition therapy designed by clinicians working with children who had uncontrolled epilepsy, way back in the 1920s. As you can imagine, this was a huge medical breakthrough, as every seizure potentially damages the brain, so taking extreme action was necessary.

These children were followed closely and supplemented with nutrients they would inevitably be missing from this high-fat, moderate-protein, and low-carbohydrate diet, missing out on important vitamins, minerals, and much-needed fiber. This was not meant for the general population.

Much of what I do in life is to try to get people to consider if their latest diet approach is reasonable. And for me, when we talk about consuming high amounts of fat, including “heart damaging” saturated fat, along with removing major food groups, aka the “keto” diet, I have to ask, “Why?”

Unfortunately, the nutrition strategy is usually driven by the desire to lose weight, not the desire to improve health.

And while most new clients come to me with the primary goal of weight loss, within a few weeks of educating them, I would say most, if not all, buy into the desire of preventing, halting, and reversing disease processes with the goal of a long, healthy, independent and joyful life. And, surprisingly, the almighty scale follows suit.

Most of my clients are excellent dieters, meaning they have tried many, and some admit to having been “on a diet” for most of their adult lives. When I ask about their success, they always state “the diet worked until I went off it.” (Deep sigh from Mama G.)

With the influx of social media and access to the internet, opinions abound in the multibillion-dollar nutrition and health industry, so we must be very careful with whom we allow to influence us.

While bullying and brainwashing have existed from the beginning of mankind, the concept of “gaslighting”—making people question the validity of their own thoughts—is alive and viciously present today.

My hope with my readers is to empower them with health and wellness information that is “reasonable”; consider goals when it comes to health; understand that a decrease in weight of only 5-10% can remarkably improve your health, but that it doesn’t have to come with a punitive and restrictive diet approach; move toward more wholesome food choices; gather in the kitchen to cook and eat meals together; and get outside and enjoy this beautiful place in which we live.

Gina Cousineau is an interventional culinary nutritionist. With an extensive education—a BS in Dietetics and MS in Integrative and Functional Nutrition, as well as being a trained chef and fitness professional—her goal is to help her clients’ health thrive using “food as medicine.” She is offering a complimentary, four-week webinar series this month (all sessions recorded). Subscribe at mamagslifestyle.com or at mamag@mamagslifestyle.com to participate.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
Tags: Dana PointHealthHealth and Nutrition 101nutritionNutrition ChaosOrange CountySan ClementeSan Juan Capistrano
ShareTweetPin

Dana Point Times

Related Posts

Dana Point Takes Next Step in Formation of Community Benefit District

Dana Point Takes Next Step in Formation of Community Benefit District

September 21, 2023
Dana Point Moves Forward with Services Agreement for Stonehill Drive Widening Project

Dana Point Moves Forward with Services Agreement for Stonehill Drive Widening Project

September 20, 2023
Festival of Whales Logo Design Contest Opens to the Public

Festival of Whales Logo Design Contest Opens to the Public

September 20, 2023
Firefighters Extinguish Late-Night Garage Fire on Vista Del Mar

Firefighters Extinguish Late-Night Garage Fire on Vista Del Mar

September 20, 2023
Next Post
Editor’s Pick: Springtime Egg Hunts

Editor's Pick: Springtime Egg Hunts

Discussion about this post

No Result
View All Result

DP Times Daily
Get important news and updates delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here.

Subscriptions
Don’t get the DP Times delivered to your home? Subscribe today.

Advertising
Get new customers and drive traffic to your business. Advertise with us.

Support Local Journalism
For less than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee a month, become an “Insider” member and continue to get “Local News You Can Use” from the only independently owned, dedicated local news organization in South Orange County.

Contribute today.

Picket Fence Media is a proud member of the SoCal Media Network.

  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Use
  • Dana Point Times
  • San Clemente Times
  • The Capistrano Dispatch
  • DP Chamber Directory

© 2023 Picket Fence Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye On DP
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • DP Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • DP Surf
    • San Clemente Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of DP
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classified
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
    • Legal Notices
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well
    • Best of Dana Point
    • Crib to College
    • Dana Point Trolley Information & Route Map
    • Dolphin Football Preview
    • Festival of Whales Event Guide
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Money Matters
    • Ocean Institute Jazz Festival Fundraiser
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Turkey Trot Event Guide
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • DP Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who

© 2023 Picket Fence Media