Does feeling what you eat change how you eat? Implications of an intervention to promote consciousness of eating experiences

IntroductionThis work aims to understand the experience of participating in the Food and Nutrition Education Program workshops with Sensory and Cognitive Exercises (PESC) and measure its impact on eating behavior.MethodsThe PESC consists of four workshops with exercises stimulating perception and reflection on bodily sensations triggered in eating situations. It was developed to promote consciousness of eating experiences in women who reported difficulty in controlling their body weight and who increased over 5% of their body weight in the previous year. This is a mixed-methods study designed as a controlled trial. The intervention group (n = 19) was evaluated before the first workshop (T0) and after the last workshop (T1) and the control group (n = 18), which did not participate in the workshops, was evaluated twice (T0 and T1), with an interval of 3 to 4 weeks. At T0 and T1, it was applied the Intuitive Eating Scale (IES-2) and the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21). In T1, the intervention group also participated in a qualitative interview.ResultsAfter participating in the PESC, the intervention group showed an increase in the IES-2 total score (95% Confidence Interval = (0.10, 0.39)) and a decrease in the emotional eating scale score (95% Confidence Interval = (−16.03; −3.85)). The interviews’ analysis revealed the participants’ self-observation process, which led to the perception of their practices, priorities, intentions, eating difficulties, and the connection between these aspects and environmental issues. The following themes were considered: Food management/control, Body dissatisfaction, Reflection/re-signification, and Different ways of being in familiar contexts.DiscussionThe results allow us to infer that, after participating in the PESC, the intention to manage food intake became more effective, less susceptible to oscillations imposed by the external environment, and more supported by internal resources

Assessment and monitoring of the nutritional status of hospitalized patients: a proposal based on the opinion of the scientific community

OBJETIVO: A desnutrição pode afetar adversamente a evolução clínica de pacientes hospitalizados e aumentar o tempo de permanência hospitalar. O objetivo deste estudo foi certificar critérios para avaliação e acompanhamento do estado nutricional de pacientes hospitalizados aceitos pela comunidade de pesquisadores, docentes e profissionais da área de nutrição clínica. MÉTODOS: Com este propósito aplicou-se um questionário via Internet, à comunidade científica, cadastrada na Plataforma Lattes - sistema nacional de cadastro curricular unificado on-line -, para apoiar atividades de fomento de agencias federais e estaduais. O questionário é composto de recomendações acompanhadas por uma escala Likert e espaços para justificativas dos participantes em relação à opção de aceitação parcial ou discordância do procedimento proposto. Foi considerado aprovado o procedimento que teve concordância total ou parcial maior ou igual a 70,0%. RESULTADOS: Responderam ao questionário 35,2% dos profissionais contatados. A maioria (84,0%) era professor universitário, sendo 62,0% de universidade pública; 67,0% eram doutores; 63,0% tinha mais de 20 anos de formado; 74,0% eram nutricionistas e 25,0% médicos. Os procedimentos propostos versam sobre as seguintes necessidades: triagem para definição de complexidade da atenção nutricional, indicadores de avaliação e monitoramento nutricional durante a internação e equipamentos e protocolos para o atendimento nutricional. Todos os procedimentos foram aceitos pelos entrevistados. Foi proposto pelos autores um modelo de triagem para definição da complexidade do atendimento nutricional, considerando os procedimentos aceitos. CONCLUSÃO: A aceitação dos procedimentos propostos fortalece o reconhecimento da necessidade de implantação de padrões para a avaliação e monitoramento nutricional nas instituições hospitalares.OBJECTIVE: Malnutrition can adversely affect the clinical course of hospitalized patients and increase the length of hospital stay. The objective of this study was to certify procedures for assessing and following the nutritional status of hospitalized patients accepted by the clinical nutrition research community, professors and professionals. METHODS: For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered via the Internet to the scientific community registered in the Lattes Platform - national system of online, unified curriculum database to support the activities of the state and federal research funding agencies. The questionnaire consists of recommendations together with a Likert scale and space for the participants to justify their reasons for partial acceptance or rejection of the procedure proposed. The procedure that obtained total agreement or partial agreement >70.0% was approved. RESULTS: Roughly one-third (35.2%) of the professionals who received the questionnaire answered it. Most of them (84.0%) were university professors; 62.0% were of public universities; 67.0% had a PhD; 63.0% had twenty years or more of professional experience; 74.0% were dietitians and 25.0% were physicians. The proposed procedures cover the following needs: screening for defining the complexity of nutritional care, indicators of nutritional assessment and monitoring during hospital stay and equipment and protocols for nutritional care. All the procedures were accepted by the interviewees. A screening model to define the complexity of nutritional care was proposed based on the accepted procedures. CONCLUSION: Acceptance of the proposed procedures strengthens the acknowledgement of the need to implement standards for nutritional assessment and monitoring in hospitals.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Antropologia e nutrição: um diálogo possível

O livro traz reflexões unindo questões sociais, da saúde e da nutrição. Na primeira parte, apresenta uma ampla revisão bibliográfica sobre a área da antropologia e da nutrição. Na segunda parte, abordam-se os paradoxos e repercussões das transformações sociais e da internacionalização da economia na cultura alimentar. A terceira parte dedica-se à alimentação tal como ela se configura hoje nos diferentes espaços, privados e públicos, dos contextos urbanos e diante das transformações sociais ocorridas no país nos últimos 35 anos

Real Life Scenes to Study Emotions in Women

This study aimed to develop and test common scenes of real life to study emotions in women. The methodology adopted herein combined qualitative and quantitative methods and involved three distinct study stages: (i) use of a descriptive question to identify daily situations that evoked negative emotions among women; (ii) construction of everyday life scenes; (iii) assessment of how effectively the constructed videos manipulated emotions. The visual analog scale (VAS), a descriptive question, and a focus group were used to discuss the negative emotion and neutral emotional condition evoked during the experiment. The videos developed, Routine Life Scenes and Dramas of Life Scenes fulfilled the objective of the study. The qualitative approach helped to understand how the videos mobilized the emotions. The participants recognized themselves in similar experiences, in contexts of life, and by the worry and fearfulness of the possibility of living the same experiences.El objetivo de este estudio fue desarrollar y evaluar vídeos con escenas de la vida real para utilizarlos como herramienta de provocación de emociones en mujeres. Fue adoptada la metodología mixta, con metodología cualitativa y cuantitativa combinadas, desarrolladas en tres etapas: (i) Uso de una pregunta descriptiva para identificar situaciones cotidianas que provocan emociones negativas en mujeres; (ii) construcción de escenas de la vida cotidiana; y (iii) evaluación de la eficacia de los videos para provocar emociones. Para discutir las emociones negativas y neutras provocadas durante el experimento se utilizó la escala visual analógica (EVA), una pregunta descriptiva y grupos focales. Los videos desarrollados, Escenas de la vida rutinaria y Escenas con dramas de la vida cumplieron los objetivos del estudio. Los participantes se reconocieron en situaciones similares: contextos, experiencias y en los temores de vivir las mismas experiencias

Gauging food and nutritional care quality in hospitals

Background: Food and nutritional care quality must be assessed and scored, so as to improve health institution efficacy. This study aimed to detect and compare actions related to food and nutritional care quality in public and private hospitals. Methods: Investigation of the Hospital Food and Nutrition Service (HFNS) of 37 hospitals by means of structured interviews assessing two quality control corpora, namely nutritional care quality (NCQ) and hospital food service quality (FSQ). HFNS was also evaluated with respect to human resources per hospital bed and per produced meal. Results: Comparison between public and private institutions revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the number of hospital beds per HFNS staff member (p = 0.02) and per dietitian (p < 0.01). The mean compliance with NCQ criteria in public and private institutions was 51.8% and 41.6%, respectively. The percentage of public and private health institutions in conformity with FSQ criteria was 42.4% and 49.1%, respectively. Most of the actions comprising each corpus, NCQ and FSQ, varied considerably between the two types of institution. NCQ was positively influenced by hospital type (general) and presence of a clinical dietitian. FSQ was affected by institution size: large and medium-sized hospitals were significantly better than small ones. Conclusions: Food and nutritional care in hospital is still incipient, and actions concerning both nutritional care and food service take place on an irregular basis. It is clear that the design of food and nutritional care in hospital indicators is mandatory, and that guidelines for the development of actions as well as qualification and assessment of nutritional care are urgent.FAPESP (Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)FAEPA HCFMRP-USPFAEPA (HCFMRP/USP

Alimentação popular em São Paulo (1920 a 1950): políticas públicas, discursos técnicos e práticas profissionais

This article discusses how the concept of lower-class eating habits came about and developed in the intellectual circles of São Paulo during the first half of the 20th century. It starts by reconstructing the elements of the debate around the income and ignorance of the underprivileged as the main reasons behind their bad eating habits. Then, it looks at the focal points for interventions and public policies proposed by the government to deal with the problem thus identified, namely: training methods to produce sanitation counselors capable of offering dietary guidance as well; popular educational campaigns and new learning sites in addition to schools (e.g. healthcare centers and households); lunch and other means of offering food at schools; and diagnostic studies about food intake and eating habits among laborers. Because they were translated into technical and scientific language, the proposals and policies implemented in São Paulo left traces in a variety of supporting documents and media (photographs, primers, posters, inquiry notebooks, and academic literature).O artigo discute a construção da idéia de alimentação popular nos meios intelectuais em São Paulo, na primeira metade do século XX. Para isso, reconstitui, como motivos da má alimentação, elementos do debate em torno da renda e da ignorância dos mais pobres. Identificado o problema, as propostas de intervenção e as políticas públicas concentraram-se em alguns setores, abordados neste trabalho: métodos para a formação de educadores sanitários aptos a atuar também na educação alimentar; campanhas de instrução popular e criação de novos lugares de aprendizado (além das escolas, os centros de saúde e os lares); merenda escolar e outras alternativas de alimentação nas escolas; e diagnósticos referentes ao conteúdo e à forma da alimentação dos operários. Traduzidas em discurso técnico-científicos, as propostas e políticas implementadas na cidade deixaram indícios em documentação de suporte e tipologia variados (fotografias, cartilhas, cartazes, cadernetas de inquéritos e textos acadêmicos).Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)UNIFESPSciEL