Once a registered dietician always a registered dietician. Although Jasen Moniz has recently retired after 25 years in the profession, she has not switched off on public health concerns, healthy eating or better lifestyles. In this interview with Lifestyle’s Nancy Acton, Mrs. Moniz looks at Bermuda’s nutritional habits and needs, and what she sees as greater opportunities for healthier choices in daily life, be they nutritional or recreational.

Twenty-five years ago Jasen Moniz came to Bermuda as a newlywed. Armed with both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree, she had also passed a national examination to earn the ‘Registered Dietician’ designation.

Ready to take on the world, she spent her early career in food service management and consulting, including the establishment of the first grocery store salad bar and in-store bakery in Bermuda.

Small hotels and guest houses also employed her to oversee quality and cost control programmes and staff training. Then came the opportunity to fill in for Government nutritionist Betsy Baillie at the Department of Health while she went on leave.

“It was a fascinating job with no two days alike,” Mrs. Moniz remembers.

Her duties included assisting with the design of the Westgate prison kitchen and menus, counselling with clients and public education, including talks at schools and rest homes.

“It was one of those jobs where you used all of your training: medical knowledge, food service management knowledge and some of training in architecture as well.”

It would be many years before Mrs. Moniz left to go into partnership with fellow registered dietician Janet Burrell as proprietors of Nutritional Services Ltd. before temporarily putting her career on hold to supervise the construction of her dream home.

In 1994 she joined the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital’s team of clinical dieticians as the outpatient dietician. With a clientele ranging in age from infants to octogenarians, she found the work “challenging and fascinating”, not least because — contrary to popular belief — she taught and counselled on the nutritional aspects of a large variety of health issues.

“People always associate the word ‘dietician’ with weight loss, but my work was far more complex than that. Dieticians also counsel and teach people about a huge variety of health issues: different types of cancers, swallowing, genetic disorders, renal failure, Crohn’s disease, osteoporosis and eating disorders among them.”

Mrs. Moniz noted that qualified members of her profession must complete 75 hours of continuing education on health and nutrition research over three years to keep their ‘registered dietician’ designation — something which can be very expensive for people living here since attendance at every conference and seminar requires a round-trip air ticket and hotel to pay for. However, Mrs. Moniz said on-line study is possible, and the Bermuda Hospitals Board was good about in-house continuing education for its staff.

The fact that she has recently retired to enjoy other interests has not lessened any of Mrs. Moniz’ concerns regarding the health and fitness of Bermuda’s population, and particularly Government’s role in promoting this.

“During my tenure with the Department of Health, a new position of Health Coordinator was created in the Ministry, and a lot of health care professionals had high hopes that this person would be a major instigator in steering Bermuda towards a ‘healthy public’ policy, but sadly that has not really happened,” she said.

“I have a real concern about the lack of such a policy, which is basically having everybody, as part of their natural decision-making process, evaluate their decisions and their options from a public health standpoint. Obviously, it should start with Government taking the lead in a ‘healthy public’ policy to have an impact on public health.”

Saying this could be “something as simple as changing the times when classes at the Bermuda College begin.

Instead of 6 p.m., Mrs. Moniz suggested that if courses began at 6.30 p.m., working parents would not have to scramble to collect their children and get them home and fed before rushing off with nothing to eat themselves until they returned home at 9 p.m. or later. Eating at such a late hour is very unhealthy for everyone, so if classes began at 6.30 p.m. students would have more time to sort out their children and have a sandwich and a glass of milk before setting off.

Mrs. Moniz also suggested that church groups could offer attendees soup and a sandwich at early evening meetings — another healthier option than people returning home to eat late. She also urged churches and similar organisations to consider serving healthier refreshments at social gatherings and coffee mornings.

In terms of exercise, the registered dietician questioned why Government did not provide volleyball nets at public beaches which are supervised by life guards, with the latter putting them up in the morning and taking them down in the evening.

“Nets cost almost nothing, and people could bring their own balls,” she said. “Volleyball is a healthy exercise which can be played by all ages.

In terms of raising healthy, well-adjusted children, Mrs. Moniz said people needed to give more thought to how their decisions impacted on having strong and healthy families.

“One of my big concerns is that there are a lot of young children who are not going to after-school programmes, even though they are readily on offer. More and more emphasis is being placed on physical activity, which is very welcome, so it is a safe place for children to be to let off a little steam.

“Instead, children get to nine or ten years old and their parents decide they would rather have them go home, lock themselves indoors totally unsupervised, and watched TV or play with their Gameboys while snacking endlessly until their parents get home from work. That causes me a lot of concern. I think our after-school programmes need to be so exciting and innovative that children really want to be there.”

Similarly, the dietician is unhappy about children who become “little hostages” because their parents don’t want them taking the bus alone. Instead, they sit in the parents’ car after they are picked up from school and wait while the parents go shopping and run other errands, arriving home after dark for yet another late supper, or maybe fast food.

“That has a huge impact on children because they have lost those precious hours of daylight between leaving school and getting home after dark to enjoy some recreation. Instead, it’s dinner, bath, bed,” Mrs. Moniz said.

In today’s busy world, where workplace demands are growing in disproportion to leisure time for many, unhealthy eating and mounting stress are taking a toll, and can lead to heart disease, but the dietician said there are healthy alternatives for those who don’t have time to prepare perfect meals every day.

“The good news is that healthy eating is getting easier and more convenient. There are excellent salad bars and grilled chicken breast sandwiches all over the Island, sushi is tremendously popular, and wrap sandwiches not oozing with mayonnaise are good options. If you are selective, you can even get a good, three-course meal at gas stations. Grocery stores stock healthy frozen entrees, and there are fresh vegetables about, already cut up and ready to cook,” she said.

Making wise choices is the way to go, but Mrs. Moniz warned that repetition can work for or against you depending on whether or not the weekly purchases are healthy or not.

“Repetition is really powerful — for better or worse. Sometimes I wonder if people ever calculate the cost per pound of things like potato chips and other snack foods. If they did, they would find that they cost a great deal more than boneless, skinless chicken breasts,” Mrs. Moniz said.

Other everyday choices she urged people make in terms of having a healthier impact on one’s life are the sort of milk we purchase, and the kind of shoes we wear.

“Are your shoes comfortable enough to walk three blocks in both directions without an ‘ouch’? Or are you wearing gorgeous, uncomfortable shoes and sending a colleague to pick up your lunch for you?” Mrs. Moniz asked.

Acknowledging that weight loss and weight control are not always easy, the dietician said that, contrary to popular opinion, members of her profession do not “yell and scream” at clients. Instead, their job is to counsel and encourage, and to help people through the process of change.

“We realise that change is stressful and difficult, so we offer strategies to make the changes as painless and successful as possible. We take a client’s lifestyle into consideration, including mode of transportation, whether or not they live alone, what their habits and stress levels are, medical history and more. So our advice is tailored to them as far as possible.”

To control stress and weight, Mrs. Moniz advised people to look beyond the sense of taste to the other four senses and indulge them all.

“Non-edible ways actually make weight loss easier. TV does not relieve stress the way creative pursuits do because you are not mentally engaged watching TV. We all need hobbies that allow us to lose track of time. These are the ones that are vital to health, particularly with stress control,” she said.

Small wonder then, that the woman who once “mushed” herself into a size 16 dress and is now a size 6, takes her own advice seriously. Gardening is a big passion, as are architecture, interior design and reading.

Retirement, she assured, would not be a time to put her feet up but rather to “follow her heart” and do a lot of volunteer work for her church, and for seniors in particular. She also enjoys handicrafts, and decorating projects for charitable organisations.

“I am never bored,” Mrs. Moniz said.