Key ideas:

• Healthy Diet and Regular Physical Activity are keys to physical and mental health
• A nutrition counselor must listen and learn from her clients in order to be effective
• Eating and drinking are a part of the social and cultural fabric of communities–more than just nourishment
• Healthy eating can be a part of any social or cultural tradition
• Risk of chronic disease can be decreased through change in diet and physical activity
• Diets do not work, but there are ways to change eating and activity habits to lower body weight and improve health and well being
• There are many programs that can help a person to lose weight, BUT any program worth its salt focuses on sustainable, lifelong change!