Minnesota Sunset Act

Catching up on email, I finally read the Minnesota Dietetic Association's educational document on licensure and learned about an intriguing act passed at the end of the the 2011 Legislative Session. But first...

What does licensure mean for dietitians?
Public safety. While the Commission on Dietetic Registration gives RDs that "R," it is not a legal authority and cannot restrict RDs who may harm the public. The Licensure Board does have legal authority and so can tell unlicensed practitioners to cease and desist, etc. In addition, being licensed conveys greater credibility to those insurers from whom we'd like reimbursement.


What is the Minnesota Sunset Act?

A MN sunset, courtesy of D. Bjorn

This act established an Advisory Commission to review the merits of departments, agencies, and other government entities to make sure they are

• efficient and effective,
• meeting their goals and objectives,
• complying with federal and state laws,
• addressing complaints in a timely manner, and
• not duplicating or overlapping with other agencies,

among other criteria. The law places agencies into six groups, each with a scheduled review date and possible expiration date.

Who's up first?
The first batch is set to expire June 30th, 2013:

• the Amateur Sports and Combative Sports Commissions
• Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board
• the Councils on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans, Black Minnesotans, Affairs of Chicano/Latino People, Indian Affairs, and Disabilities
• all health-related licensing boards
• all advisory groups associated with these agencies

You can see that the Minnesota Board of Dietetics and Nutrition Practice falls neatly under that fourth bullet point.

What does this all mean?
As far as I can tell, the Minnesota Sunset Act is a means to shrink government and save money.  Whether it will do so and how it will affect RDs remains to be seen.

Internship Update and Homegrown Minneapolis

Last Wednesday marked the midpoint of this UMN-TEP dietetic internship. I have passed the eight-week eating disorders rotation, visited half of the community sites, dabbled in school foodservice, and made it through four weeks of foodservice in a long-term care facility.

And now, right before a two-week vacation, I'm enjoying my Independent Study week. Besides sitting in on an intensive outpatient program at The Emily Program, I am taking advantage some local food events.

Homegrown Minneapolis is an initiative started in December 2008 geared toward strengthening the city's local food system. They've knocked off some impressive items off their to-do list, the most exciting of which to me are:

• Completed a community kitchen inventory of more than 50 commercial and noncommercial kitchens
• Established a food council beginning this January
• Made it possible to use Electronic Benefits Transfer at farmers markets, aka "circulating federal food support into the local economy"

Cleaning out my in-box, I found an email about the initiative's community meeting from Healthy Food, Healthy Lives listserv. Hey, that's tonight! I thought. It was a sign - that and the fact that I heard it mentioned on MPR on my way over.

After a program introduced by Mayor R.T. Rybak that outlined the efforts and successes of Homegrown, we settled in for hosted table conversations. Our hosts for the evening wanted to know what we thought was the most significant progress made thus far and what should be the focus of the food council as it moved forward.   

Homegrown Minneapolis

Our table agreed that connecting the dots between growers, processors, distributors, eaters, and composters signified the greatest progress. And in my opinion, the future focus should be on increasing food availability and access, which is to say, eliminating food deserts.

Also, they should get a facebook page, or something with their logo on it.

Die Artischocke

Not too long ago, I sat down to a lovely steamed artichoke with my family. As the resident dietitian-in-training, I faced questions about this edible bud and its distant relation, the Jerusalem artichoke. I gave superficial answers and resolved to dig  deeper later.

"Sunchoke bloom" by renoir_girl

First, the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), aka sunchoke, aka sunroot, aka earth apple.*

The sunchoke is in the same genus as the sunflower, which you could guess by the picture at right. Unlike sunflowers, however, sunchokes have an edible tuber packed with the carbohydrate inulin. Inulin is a fructan (polymer of fructose molecules) that resists digestion. The fructose means it can be a low calorie sweetener and its polymeric nature places it into the fiber family. Another source of inulin is chicory root, which you will find at the top of the ingredients list of Fiber One bars.

Second, the globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus). Did you know it's a thistle?

"Artichoke plant" by Miran Rijavec

Both the sunchoke and artichoke are in the daisy family, (Asteraceae), but that's where the resemblance ends. We eat the scales of the artichoke bud, as well as the "heart," after removing the immature florets in the center (the "choke" or "beard"). Artichokes can be harvested from the spring all the way through mid-autumn. Most of the US's artichokes are grown in California, as they require fairly warm weather (hardiness zone 7 and above, in case you're wondering).

The artichoke's nutritional selling points include vitamin C, magnesium, and folate, as well as a healthy dose of fiber. Ocean Mist would love for you to believe artichokes are an antioxidant powerhouse. I had difficulty deciphering the USDA article they cited, but certainly believe eating an artichoke now and then is a delightful and healthful experience.

* 50 points for anyone who can tell me what a French "earth apple" is.