Women Health Words of Wisdom: alMost Everything I Learned About Nutrition I Learned From My Mother!

Women Health Words of Wisdom

OK, so you need to know that when I was 16 years of age, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  This was in 1973 and a diagnosis of this kind was very serious and very scary.  What is wonderful is that my mom lived for 22 very healthy years after her diagnosis.

My mom grew up the oldest of 9 on a farm on the Canadian Prairies during the Depression.  Believe me, she learned how to re-use, reduce and re-cycle! Her family and neighbors all grew their own food in a summer garden and then harvested, canned and ‘put by food’ for the long winters.  Living on a farm, my mom was very connected to her ‘women health’, food supply, milking cows for milk and cream, picking eggs from the hen house, helping to butcher chickens, cows and pigs for meat.  I know some of this sounds very ‘earthy’ to our pasteurized ears, yet, to this day, our food does come from farms!

Having a ‘lived experience’ of being a nutritionist, with her diagnosis, my mom also under took an intense study of natural nutrition and healing.  Not having access to scientific research articles (which likely was a good thing), she did the best she could and signed out all the natural nutrition books from our local library.  She read the books by Catherine Elwood, Adele Davis and “A Diet for A Small Planet” by Francis Moore Lappe.  We had to drive from Fort St. John to Dawson Creek for some of the foods and supplements as it was the closest health food store.  She radically changed how we all ate; gone were the soft doughy cinnamon buns;  replaced by ‘whole grain everything’, nuts, seeds, small portions of wild meats (we were living in Northern BC and received venison and moose as gifts) and chicken and lots of vegetables grown in her garden.  She herself went on a ‘rejuvenation diet’ complete with fresh juicing, brown rice and lots of supplementation.  I recall a drink made with liquified organic baby calf liver, however, I may have dreamed that one 🙂  My mom did have conventional treatment too and had a mastectomy and radiation therapy.

I also read everything I could about natural nutrition and healing and became so interested in the subject that I decided to study nutrition in University.  I truly value my university education and learned a lot about health and disease, food chemistry, nutrition, biochemistry, physiology and more than I wanted to learn about organic chemistry!  In my university life I enjoyed cooking and sharing meals.  I remember a huge Greek themed feast for about 18 and a particularly enjoyable Thanksgiving when I made stuffed rock cornish game hen and other delicious foods.  After completing my degree, I practiced as a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist for over 20 years (BCDNA Regstrant 1980 – 2003).

Reflecting on the last 38 years (age 54-16) that I have been a Nutrtionist, I can say that alMost everything I learned about natural nutrition, I learned from my mom.  Here it is:

– eat real food

– cook and eat meals together as a family (whichever constellation that might be)

– enjoy your food and meals

– grow your own food, if you can’t,  get it at the local farmer’s market or ‘buy local’

– eat whole food in as natural a state as possible with as little cooking as possible

– eat lots of whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes and vegetables and fruit

– when appropriate use special juicing, soups and ‘macrobiotic’ type recipes

– save the ‘cinnamon buns’ for very special occasions!

My mom died from breast cancer October 14th, 1996 and I still think of her as the first real nutritionist that I knew!

Enjoy your cooking, eating and food today and always!

Namaste,

Zoey