www.lifestylemanagement.com
Interview with Dr. Jane Pentz by Gina White
www.lifestylemanagement.com
As the president and CEO of Lifestyle Management Associates, a company dedicated to providing the highest quality nutrition education to professionals, Dr. Jane Pentz sees a need in the improvement of today’s low quality food industry. “Unhealthy eating practices and inactivity have led to the obesity issues that many people, including our children, face today. I am very worried that other health related concerns will make it hard for the younger generation to outlive us older people considering the weak dietary foundation they are getting.” With that in mind, Dr. Pentz has written several interactive books for children from kindergarten through 6th grade familiarizing them with basic dietary principles so they can become proactive and develop good eating patterns early on.
Dr. Pentz would like to see physicians, who don’t have the time or resources to learn about dietary requirements, work more cooperatively with those skilled in the dietary field. “Medical doctors need to start referring patients to nutritionists and dieticians who can better deal with the preventive angle versus addressing a problem once it is already present. I am happy to say that I am starting to see more of this happening.”
She comments that the history of “dieting” began in the 1800’s but the concept had nothing to do with health. Actually, fat accumulation in those times was an outward sign of prosperity often enjoyed by wealthy merchants - not a problem encountered by most. But more recently, rising cholesterol and blood pressure, cancers, heart disease and other not too delightful diseases and conditions associated with obesity began killing us off with all too often frequency, perhaps as economic success reached a broader demographic who were able to afford more ‘treats’.
The paradox is that the government subsidizes cheaper foods, primarily to schools, with the results beginning to show across the board at younger ages. Dr. Pentz sympathizes, “When you are dealing with the general population, as well as government managed entities, money is an issue so trying to buy higher quality, organic products can be difficult. Parents and school officials need to become involved. Putting pressure on our elected officials in the only way we can bring about change.”
She adds that people should practice the rule of thumb that most nutritionists do which is shopping the outer aisles of the grocery store for fresh produce and less processed items. “I also recommend natural, hormone free meats in limited portions.” Of course, she states, that one of her biggest aggravations are the convoluted labeling laws which are so misleading to people who are trying to eat better. “In regard to trans fats, for example, packages can say 0 trans fats when in fact there are partially hydrogenated oils present.” This is unfair to the consumer who is trying to make a conscientious effort to improving their food choices.
“People are ingesting more chemically altered foods but the nutritional research which needs to be conducted is complicated,” she adds. "It's very difficult to design research, if not impossible, in which one chemical can be identified as the culprit when there are so many possible culprits. Unfortunately, our unhealthy eating habits including our fast food consumption, are spreading to other countries as chains such as McDonalds begin to migrate there. In essence, we are exporting obesity.” Some researchers claim that for the first time in recorded human history, the number of underfed people in the world has been equaled by those overweight since the early 2000’s.
The solution? "The healthiest eating plan is obviously one that incorporates more 'real', whole foods. The process, however, has to be fit into an individual's lifestyle. The goal is to move forward towards eating 'real' food centered around individual preferences. We must begin with little changes and move forward from there as people's tastes begin to develop," concludes Dr. Pentz.
Dr. Jane began her career in nutrition with an undergraduate degree in nutritional biochemistry from Vassar College while simultaneously raising three children. Her education continued at Tufts University where she received her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in nutritional biochemistry; she is one of only several hundred to ever earn a Ph.D. in Human Nutrition Sciences from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University .