Leading dietician Aveen Bannon has teamed up with Flahavan’s and Keelings, this month for the 'Share a Breakfast Moment Campaign', to celebrate nutritious breakfasts and to inspire families to share a breakfast moment together.
How and why did you start your career as a Dietitian?
It was always an area that interested me growing up. A family member had a dietary related illness and I saw how diet made such an impact on their lifestyle and recovery. I soon realised that diet wasn't just about helping someone to lose or gain weight!
What are the top three pieces of advice you would give to the Irish public on their eating habits?
- Eat breakfast.
- Be aware of portion size.
- Never use food as a reward.
- Can I add one more?! Include colour at every meal.
What are the biggest health problems that children face in terms of their diets? How can we fix them?
The biggest problem is the level of exercise relative to calorie intake and quality of calorie intake. We’ll have two realms of patient type going forward, firstly children who are overweight and obese and therefore have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and depression.
Then the flip side is a generation who are becoming overly aware of what they eat and their body image and restricting their calorie and nutrient intakes in the quest to lose weight and aspire to have the ‘perfect physique’.
What we need is overall education on the functionality of nutrients from an early age coupled with encouraging children to have daily physical activity.
We need to reassure people what a portion size actually looks like and get away from the concept of ‘good versus bad food’. My mantra is always ‘there’s no such thing as a good or bad food, only a good or bad diet’
What is the most challenging thing about your job?
The challenge of treating and seeing the impact of eating disorders on individuals and their families. That truly is heart-breaking. Eating disorders generally are misunderstood. Nobody wants to be seriously under or overweight and it has such an impact on their day to day lives.
What is the most exciting thing about your job?
The buzz off seeing positive client progress is the best part of the job. Also, I have to say I love learning. Nutrition is a very evolving science where we are learning new things all the time and I love that about my job.
What are the future plans?
- Keep learning and focus on health promotion education.
- Work towards helping people understand nutrition while knowing that they can enjoy food too!
Who is your audience?
In clinic it is mainly weight management for either under or overweight individuals and I also work a lot with patients who have digestive issues.
Then for in terms of health promotion work I work alongside some cancer support groups and would do presentations for companies partaking in health & wellbeing weeks.
Then I am very fortunate to work with some great Irish & International food companies like Flahavan’s and Keelings and work with them on how to promote good health messages, recipe development and health promotion.
What inspires you?
Helping people. I genuinely get a buzz from the thought of helping people with their eating habits or relationship with food and help them work towards a better quality of life where food is enjoyed guilt free!
What does your working day look like?
So on a typical clinic day, I drop the kids to school grab myself a coffee and see patients from 9am-5pm. On a non-clinic day, I spend my day working from home sampling new recipes, catching up on administration, researching and writing articles for media or food companies.
I love the variety of my working week; the clinic is structured and can be quite intense at times whereas the days I am not in the clinic are more flexible. Some weeks can be crazy busy and others a lot calmer so I’ve learnt to enjoy the quieter weeks when they come along and then I’m ready for the busy ones!
Who are three people you admire?
- Peter McVerry - He is such an inspiration and extraordinarily selfless.
- Aide Roche - She is amazing peace campaigner who's determination and drive has helped so many.
- My Grandmother (Granny Bannon) was a caring, fun and incredibly smart lady. I always think if she had been born in a different era she would have adored education and learning. She never judged and always listened.
Where can we find you online?
You can find my website here or you can find my latest 'Share a Breakfast Moment' recipes here.
Your proudest work achievement?
Being part of a multidisciplinary team that brings seriously ill patients back from the brink to lead a normal and healthy life (or as close to this as is possible for them).
We sat down with Aveen as part of our fabulous new podcast series! Listen below to hear our interview with the dietician.
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