Mary Anne Burkman, MPH, Registered Dietitian
MaryAnne Burkman
About me:
Mary Anne Burkman is a registered dietitian and holds a master in public health degree. As the Director of Program Services for Dairy Council of California, she oversees adult nutrition education efforts. Consumer education is the work she finds most fulfilling – equipping people to make small, practical changes that they can maintain over time.
Progress, not perfection, is her goal. She has served on the faculty in the Nutritional Sciences Dept. at UC Berkeley and began her career as a clinical dietitian with two university medical centers. Mary Anne loves southern cooking and "moonlights" once or twice a month in the tasting room of a small Livermore, CA winery.
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In his 1945 #1 hit (yes, it’s old), Bing Crosby encouraged people to “accentuate the positive” and “latch on to the affirmative.” I flashed back to this song recently when I was reading a summary of the 2010 Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey results conducted by The American Dietetic Association Foundation. One of the overarching conclusions from this report was that families are more aware of what they should not eat than what they should eat.
I feel that the focus on negative dietary advice has gone too far. In the past five to ten years, I’ve seen the focus of nutrition recommendations and policy guidelines focus more and more on the negative—what “sinful” foods should be eliminated, restricted or taxed because of their fat, sugar, calorie or sodium content. But this approach of “villainizing” an ever-expanding list of foods just doesn’t work!
At Meals Matter, we believe you have to teach people about the nutrient-rich foods they should eat as part of their healthy family meals.
Throughout the month of January we will be sharing tips and practical advice for taking a positive approach to healthy eating and family meals with our New Year, New Approach blog series.
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Rather than focus on the negative, we need to heed Bing’s advice and focus on what we can “do” to eat healthfully; spend less time on the “don’ts”. A positive approach to eating also takes into account family cultural traditions, as well as cost and convenience. Respecting an individual’s food tastes and cooking preferences is part of the positive and realistic approach to eating that helps people eat healthier over a lifetime.
I am certain that once we take a positive approach to eating and preparing food, we will start to see that people can make healthy choices that are sustainable for long-term good health!
Mary Anne Burkman, Registered Dietitian