Reflections on Ales 204

Fig. 1. The Lookout (2008) Chris Gin, [digital image]. Retrieved April 12, 2012

from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_gin/3066290522/.

Spring is in the air and as the semester comes to an end, I am thankful to be parting ways with Ales 204. Though I have learned a lot from the class and I believe the inspirations and goals of the class are extremely valuable to my generation, I feel the course is still in an experimental stage and will be more valuable in a few years. That said, however, I will definitely update my Facebook page to one applicable to my practice and continue to use my LinkedIn profile after graduation as business tools that allow me to contact a vast audience of potential clients. I commented in agreement with Daniel Schwenk's points regarding the value of social media for both scholarly communication and business ventures. This class has certainly opened both of our eyes to the immense opportunity to further our careers using social media.

The highlights of the class for me were the Wikipedia article, the paper on science articles, and the personal post. Though I have used Wikipedia extensively for years, having the opportunity to contribute really helped me understand the importance of the general public to such a valuable and current source of information. I will continue to use the skills I gained in this class and my education to aid in keeping nutrition articles as scientifically correct and updated as possible.



For the science article, I chose to write about the Open Access Movement, something I have taken advantage of and benefitted from since the beginning of my university education though had never been aware of. This opportunity helped solidify in my mind the importance of the internet in scientific communication and made me extremely grateful to live in a generation in which such immense communication is attainable. Sydney Killoh also wrote on the Open Access Movement and it allowed her to realize the importance of her mother's career in the movement. I commented to aknowledge the value of the opportunity that Ales 204 has provided.


I found the free post a great opportunity to use the skills I learned in the class and put it towards something I'm passionate about: nutrition, of course. I was able to use Google Scholar, Wikipedia, and journal articles more effectively than I had in the past, and evaluate the information more critically. Josh Perryman's choice for his free post about how propaganda influences our decisions, is a constructive use of social media, I commented to commend him for his valuable post.


In the future, I think it would be valuable to start the semester with a topic relating to our fields and have all the lab assignments relate to it, building a blog with a better flow and giving our e-portfolio's a better overall objective. I feel it would not be a difficult task to have the Facebook page, free post, Wikipedia article, and science article based around a central idea. This would help the evolution of our online communication in a more directed, organized manner. I'm happy to see other students providing feedback for the course, such as Erin Amun, who pointed out the value of Pinterst in a field such as design. Although it communicates mainly through photos, it encourages a level of creativity that may be inaccessible with simple text. I commented to let her know I agree that Pintrest is a valuable social media tool, and also hope it can be incorporated into Ales204 in the future.


Overall, I have learned many things in this class and will continue to use the skills gained well into my professional practice as a dietitian. When commenting on others blogs it was obvious that many students have increased their ability to effectively communicate online. Jenn Wheeler's blog stood out in the vast improvement from her introductory post to her reflective post regarding her CSL placement. I commented on her final post to let her know how much her online communication skills have benefitted from the class and her CSL experience. I hope other students who take this course use their online communication skills in a positive manner to cultivate a more informed adult population with the ability to elect a representative government and make positive changes for our future.


Have a great summer,

Kandice

Nutritional Benefits of Beans

I was recently given the opportunity to organize nutrition month at St. Josephs Hospital here in Edmonton though a dietetic volunteer position. I was allowed to chose any topic I saw fit considering current dietary patterns and problems facing our population. After much thought, I decided to focus on beans. I made this decision because the typical western diet has far too much fat, sugar, and salt, and lacks fibre. A diet high in fat contributes to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation outlines dietary guidelines to reduce heart disease risk here, which encourages both vegetarian diets and high fibre choices. Too much salt can cause hypertension, a main determinate of heart disease. While a diet high in sugar is often blamed for the endemic of diabetes mellitus in North America; the Canadian Diabetes Association outlines the importance of soluble fibre consumption for diabetics here.

Beans are an ideal choice for someone looking to lower their risk of these far too common and often diet related disease. Beans are low in fat, salt free, and high in fibre. In addition, they are extremely inexpensive and produced right here in Canada (view a map of Canadian bean growing regions). For all of these reasons and more, Loblaw chief Galen Weston has referred to beans as "the food of the future" in this video from the Canadian Food Summit.

Fig. 1. Bean buckets (2008) Vilsesogen, [digital image]. Retrieved April 12, 2012 from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vilseskogen/2736507245/.

The most important reason one should include beans as part of a healthy diet is their high fibre content. Most Canadians don’t consume even close to the adequate intake of fibre recommended by Health Canada. When fibre is mentioned people instinctively think bowel regularity. Though this certainly is a benefit of insoluble fibre, the benefits of soluble fibre may have a more significant impact on the average Canadian’s health. Read what the Dietitians of Canada have to say about different kinds of fibre here. The fibre content of beans is mostly soluble, it dissolves in water and has been shown to lower blood cholesterol and regulate blood sugar. Lowering blood cholesterol can decrease chances of heart disease by preventing build-up of cholesterol in coronary arteries. The ability of soluble fibre to aid in blood sugar regulation is valuable for both diabetics and athletes. Beans are a low glycemic index choice, meaning they gradually release glucose into the blood and do not cause spikes in blood sugar levels. This also allows for long term energy for endurance activities and athletes.

Aside from the fibre, beans also contain plenty of iron, folate, and protein. They are virtually fat and sodium free, but be sure to drain and rinse canned beans as it will reduce the sodium content significantly. The protein found in beans is considered “incomplete” simple because it lacks 2 of the 9 essential amino acids. This is easily remedied by consuming beans with whole grains or nuts, which is how they have been traditionally consumed around the world historically. For example: black beans and corn(grain) in central America, soy beans and rice(grain) in Asia, and hummus made of garbanzo beans and tahini(sesame seed paste) in the middle east. This is known as protein complementing and it is possible to get all required protein from plant sources.

Here are a few meal ideas to get started:
-Try adding lentils to tomato sauce served over whole wheat pasta
-Add beans and barley or quinoa to soups to increase fibre and protein
-Include cooked black beans and nuts such as pecans or walnuts to a salad instead of meat
-Spread hummus on sandwiches instead of mayonnaise or other high
calorie spread
Print this cookbook from Pulse Canada that focuses on bean based meals and snacks!

To find out more about how and why to use beans to reduce your risk of disease:
Watch the documentary Forks Over Knives. View the trailer here
Check out the Pulse Canada website
Follow @Pulsecanada or @EatPlantBased on Twitter
Pick up Spilling the Beans cookbook by Julie Van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan
Visit my Classmate Yuhan Jiang's blog to find out why the animal protein in milk is being questions, replacing cow's milk with soy is yet another bean replacement!

Thanks for reading and eat beans!
Kandice