It’s , and local health experts talked about the importance of nutrition when it comes to reducing the risk of cancer.
National Nutrition Month is led by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Chef Marvin Jones during a nutritional health seminar with Ethnic Elders during Black History Month. Jones shows how to makes small changes to “grandma’s recipe” to make it healthier.
Chef Marvin Jones, with Healthy Eating and Active Learning Southeastern Wisconsin, has a rotation of senior centers he visits throughout the month to help educate people about healthy eating.
Last month, HEAL teamed up with Ethnic Elders, a group focused on keeping older adults connected with their community, to talk about the role of nutrition in cancer health as part of Black History Month observations.
During his visits, Jones cooks meals to teach people how they can have healthier, but still tasty, options. This can include replacing certain ingredients from “grandma’s recipe that you love” with healthier alternatives and other small changes.
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Healthier nutrition habits can help reduce cancer risks, Aurora Cancer Care Oncology Dietitian Liz Duchac said, such as excessive alcohol intake or obesity, which are both risk factors for various types of cancers.
Jones said it was important to create a safe space for asking questions and building trust with attendees. He wasn’t “there to save anybody,” he just had information to share.
But teaching better nutritional health has some hurdles, Jones said.
“People are listening until you start talking about portions,” he said, laughing.
Making the changes small helps people stick with new habits, Jones said, something Duchac agreed with. Drastic alterations to someone’s diet makes it difficult to stick to, and she said focusing on adding healthy food rather than listing things to avoid is more successful.
Many people know what habits they should be following, Duchac said, it was more a matter of sticking to guidelines and gradually building new behaviors.
“As people get older, they’ve been in their habits for so long, it’s harder to change them,” Duchac said. “We try to focus on what we can do at this time, we focus on small steps.”
For more information and nutrition resources, Duchac pointed to myplate.gov and aicr.org. She advised caution against fad diets and other speedy solutions.
“Always start with something small, reasonable and achievable. A lot of these fad diets promise fast results … but there’s a cost to that in terms of other health problems,” Duchac said.
For more individual advice, people should go their primary care physician, she said.
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