It got them thinking about nutrition, the relevance of it. It was more important than whether they came away knowing how many milligrams of this or that nutrient a slice of pizza has. But also, you have to prove to students that nutrition works. Go over studies that show dietary changes can lower blood cholesterol by 20 percent, that a change in eating habits for someone with diabetes might be able to slow tissue damage, not just get a patient off drugs. For someone who's so committed to nutrition as an important aspect of health care, you certainly got as far away from it as possible by going into emergency medicine.
Nutrition comes into emergency medicine all the time.
Alcoholics who come in have chronic nutrition deficiencies. I can tell them how to eat, tell them how to follow a low-fat diet. They might come to the emergency room thinking they're having a heart attack, when they might just need to learn what foods aggravate the condition. Some people even come in because they're sick with the flu and don't know how to rehydrate themselves. I talk to them about getting enough fluid.