What's in the Basket:
Food: Getting It In
Food: Keeping It
In
Micronutrients
Managing Meds
Grab Bag
|
A Sampling of
First Thing to Know: Things change...especially with HIV/AIDS! Most of the advice in these articles is still good, useful information, and will remain so; that's why we're making it available here, after all. But medical and nutritional science is always learning more...about human beings and about HIV...and some things in these articles could become-out-of-date. Protease Inhibitors, in particular, have already caused a sea change in the long-term profile of many people living with this condition. (For example, check two of my most recently updated articles, Upside Down Nutrition and Holiday Survival Guide for new concerns about cholesterol with some PWAs.) Point is, I'm not here to update myself. I mean, I'm here, in cyberland, but not in an earthly body anymore. So I can't write for you and give you the latest on nutritional healthcare. I'm relying on The Virtual Faculty for that through the Q&A feature. They're good too! (Virtual Faculty Note: As Jennifer just pointed out, use of Protease Inhibitors has caused some new concerns. For some interesting info on PI-associated problems, see the Q&A on the Lipodystrophy and Protease Inhibitors and Cholesterol questions on the Nutrition Power Q & A Page.) Everything here was written for an HIV+ audience...or, as I like to call my readers, Positive People. Years ago, I wrote more traditional articles on nutrition for magazines like Fitness Cycling, Mercury, various athletic club publications, and monographs for nutritional product companies. You know, how to lose weight, cardiovascular health, cholesterol, fiber...the gamut of what mainstream America wants to know about nutrition. And it's important stuff. But to be honest, it was a little boring to me. And there were just a little over a zillion other writers covering the subject already. Meanwhile, in my private practice I was seeing mostly HIV/AIDS clients and speaking to various groups on the peculiarities and specifics of nutritional intervention with that population. So why wasn't I writing in those types of publications for that audience? Simple...I hadn't been asked and was too busy to seek them out. But there were only a handful of nutritionists working dedicatedly in the HIV field, and even fewer writing about it. And some of them were the kind of nutritionists (not registered dietitians) who seemed to talk a lot about crystals and the vibrations of various foods. So I was delighted when I did start to be asked to write for such outstanding publications as the Being Alive Newsletter and Arts & Understanding Magazine. And quickly, that became the only writing I did. How I Got Interested in HIV/AIDS It was 1986. I was doing my internship for my Registered Dietitian (RD) credential at a Southern California hospital. There was still a lot phobia and misinformation about AIDS at that time, not that there still isn't a lot more than there should be, but back then it was, to coin a phrase, epidemic. One of the wings I worked on at the hospital had an AIDS patient on it. I'd never met one before. Jim's condition was not good and his family support was virtually non-existent, because as often happens, AIDS-phobia was coupled with plain old homo-phobia as well. My heart went out to him. He was so alone, battling a disease that no one was giving him any hope of beating. Others on the hospital staff would enter his room as infrequently and as briefly as they could. And if they could avoid touching him, they would. So I made it a point to spend some quality time with him. Just go in, without my coldly clinical lab coat on, sit on his bed and gab. I'm good at gab...world class even. We became friends. And I never left his room without giving him a big hug. Well, one day I was "written up" for the twin offenses of not wearing a lab coat while on duty and for hugging an AIDS patient. I was amazed, but my protestations fell on deaf, imperious ears. And I was beholden to this supervisor for a good evaluation so that I could get my RD. It was a frustrating time. So I came in to see Jim before my shift started so that I was seeing (and hugging) him on my own time...and not wearing a lab coat to do it either. Sometimes rules are made to be worked around. Suffice it to say, I got my RD. And a calling too. I worked from then on to find out as much as I could about how nutrition could have a positive impact on Positive People. I vowed I would never send a patient out of my office without a hug. And I never wore a lab coat either! One more thing. You may find, if your read enough, that I sometimes repeat myself. (I told you I was world class at gab.) I confess...when I come up with a turn of phrase that's full of pith, I use it a lot. And I intentionally make many of the same points over and over again in many of my articles, the more to drive them home. Food and water safety, for example, can never be over-stressed. What if a new reader hadn't read a previous article on that subject? (By the way, my husband writes for television where their motto is, Steal from the best! Personally, I think they usually end up stealing from the mediocre, but I try to live up to their motto...so I've stolen from myself a lot!)
|
Articles
