Posted Mar 27, 2010
You wouldn’t put gas in your car without first reading the octane rating, but many people make decisions on what to eat without having a clue what’s in their food, said San Diego entertainer and health educator Deanna Latson.
“People take better care of their cars than their own bodies,” Latson said. “People are willing to put anything in their mouth with no thought about it.”
Latson will talk about how she turned her life around by changing her diet during her lecture, “Eat Right, Feel Good, Look Great,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Latson is puzzled when people think Goldfish crackers and Twinkies are food.
“So much food now is processed and full of chemicals,” she said. “People wonder why they get headaches all the time — maybe they are allergic to yellow dye No. 4.”
Latson wasn’t always so health conscious. In her teens, she ate at McDonald’s at least five times every week, and she’d choose a snack cake over an avocado any day. These poor eating habits, she said, led to migraines and plenty of extra pounds.
“Most people never think of how their diet may be contributing to the way they feel,” she said. “Most people walk about thinking disease just happens to them.”
Latson didn’t think about what she was eating until her father, who ate an unhealthy diet and was on 17 prescription medications, was dying of cancer.
“Realizing my dad was killing himself got me to change,” she said.
While attending college, she changed her focus to nutrition and became more aware of her own health. She changed her diet, substituting fast food for fresh fruits and choosing water instead of soda.
She noticed changes almost immediately.
Her presentation will show how foods affect people’s bodies, dispel most fad diets with scientific research, and provide facts to help people eat right, lose weight and boost their energy.
Latson said she loves watching expression of disgust when people watch a video of doctors pulling a rubbery string of plaque from an artery during open-heart surgery.
UW-L student Dan Anderson, a member of UW-L’s campus activities board, heard Latson speak at a national conference. Since the lecture, he said, he pays more attention to what he eats and quit drinking soda.
“I actually feel more energetic — as weird as that sounds,” he said.
Latson made the audience feel emotionally attached to the issue, he said.
“She made me realize if you make small choices, you may be making a life-changing decision,” he said.
Date: Mar 26, 2010
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