Nutritional Gatekeepers and the 72% Solution

More than ever, we make food choices in distracting, media filled, food-rich environments. It is not surprising that some clients — even some registered dietitians — become fatalistic about the limited influence they believe they have over the nutrition of their family. They come to believe that they have little power when competing against incessant advertising and easily available, inexpensive, tempting foods. As food and nutrition professionals, it is difficult to encourage or empower a fatalistic person to provide better nutrition for their family. It can even lead us to be pessimistic, “How can we possibly empower anybody when we are overworked, overstressed, and over budget?” While new data suggest some new answers, the question has deep roots. It begins with an insight from a famous anthropologist. Margaret Mead first hinted at it over 60 years ago — in 1945 — here in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association