Diet, nutrition, and health: Issues in Leadership for Adventure Education

1. Diet, nutrition, and health: Issues in Leadership for Adventure Education Robert Swoap, Ph.D. Professor & Chair of Psychology Clinical and Health Psychologist

2. Taking the lead: Personal choices 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 environment Implications for leaders

3. Setting the stage: Who are you 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.

4. Healthy eating: A biopsychosocial perspective Nutrition and Wellness Eating to feel well (as opposed to simply getting calories) -- mens sana in corpore sano (Psych-Bio / Mind-body) Sociocultural factors

5. 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

6. 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

7. Social/Cultural factors in eating behavior • 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)!

8. What has changed? now then then now now then now then

9. MOVIE POPCORN 20 Years Ago Today 270 calories 5 cups 1700 calories21 cups buttered

10. 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?

11. 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 heavycost of fat, 2004)

12. Diet and Disease “[People] dig their graves with their own teeth and die more by those fatal instruments than the weapons of their enemies.” -- Thomas Moffett, 1600

13. 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

14. Example: The obesity “crisis” • U.S. is heaviest country in the world -- 68% of population is overweight or obese (obesity trends slides -- CDC)

15. Quick review of nutrition • Macronutrients • (1) Carbohydrates

16. Macronutrients • Macronutrients • (2) Fats

17. 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)

18. Macronutrients • (3) Proteins

19. 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)

20. 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/

21. 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?

22. 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.

23. As a role model / leader -- If you were doing one thing that was contributing to: • Poorer personal health • Spread of disease • Deforestation & Erosion • Fresh water scarcity • Air and water pollution • Climate change • Biodiversity loss • Maltreatment of animals/humans • Social injustice • Destabilization of communities Would you change that one thing? That one thing is consuming products that come from factory farms.

24. Holistic health: Diet and the environment Good News!! Eating a diet that is healthy for me and for my group is better for the health of the planet

25. 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)

26. 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?”

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

28. 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.”

29. 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?

30. Diet and the environment

31. Relationship between diet and water quality • The Problems • Manure • Fertilizer and other chemicals used in animal production (e.g., antibiotics)

32. Relationship between diet and water quality: Effects of manure “Livestock excrement is the single biggest cause of declining fish populations in 60,000 miles of polluted waterways.” -- joint declaration by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife

33. 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.

34. 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.

35. Pig Waste Lagoon -- Spills 25.8 million gallons of concentrated hog waste spilled into the New River polluting the river and killing thousands of fish.

36. 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

38. Dietary choices and the air • Deforestation • Global warming • Air quality

39. 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??

40. 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

41. Organizations to learn more…