A Nutritionists Outlook on Health.
Rujuta Diwekar is a celebrated nutritionist from India. The image above shows a systems map of an interview with her which is an attempt to depict some of the main elements of her beliefs on nutrition and how it impacts health. From the lengthy conversation, I have picked five elements that I found to be interesting, and tried to draw relations between them.
1. Marketing :
At the very beginning, she briefly talks about her journey and how she garnered a following in the field of nutrition. The major elements of marketing that she speaks of are modes of publicity such as word of mouth and contacts and catchphrases such as Diabesity and Size zero. She also emphasizes on comparisons between Developed and Developing countries, which could be a way to relate with her audience.
2. Policy :
One of the major chunks of her conversation revolves around how policies impact the health of citizens. Here she draws connections between various elements, such as the impact of architecture of a city and how the lack of walking spaces, the distance between workspaces and residential areas, all impact our health. Then she goes ahead to do a comparison of such spaces in developed and developing countries. Other Important aspects of policies that she mentions are how the health of citizens impact the GDP of a nation and links it with Diabesity. And then goes on to draw connections between policies and Local Food via agriculture. She also relates it to Ecology and environment, by talking of farmers and the importance of interrelations between the agricultural and health ministries.
3. Local Food :
The other major chunk of her conversation is the propagation of local food. Where she uses more catchphrases such as a ‘grandmother test’ and talks of the various health benefits of consuming local food. She then goes on to draw comparisons between developed and developing countries again and then talks about the environmental impacts of consuming local food.
4. Developed vs Developing :
The comparison between nutritional habits in developed and developing countries and between their policy structures is another underlying web in the mapping of the interview. She extensively uses this comparison in order to add more depth and conviction to her theories.
5. Ecology and Environment :
The last chunk of the map is the connections between nutrition and ecology and the environment. Although she only briefly talks of this, but it has important connections that speak of farmers and the impact of nutrition on their lives, and then the choices of farmers and how it impacts the environment and how these choices are based on the demands which in the first place aren’t healthy and exist because of a need that we have to follow the west.
Conclusion :
Although the idea behind the interview wasn’t one of forming a systems understanding of nutrition and health, but it’s interesting to see how there are so many layers and such far-reaching impacts of something that seems so simple on the surface. And it’s also evident that various factors that have an impact on the system more often than not, also have interconnections with each other.
