The dinner meeting was held at Rosewood Restaurant in Rosemont, IL., which was a nice venue.  Dr. Slavin gave interesting presentation which was followed by yet another excellent question and answer session.  These question and answer sessions at our dinner meetings have become very interesting as we have had outstanding questions to challenge our expert speakers!

From the start, Dr. Slavin displayed as much humor as knowledge of the subjects.  She began with an overview on the history of nutritional guidelines, to first establish that humans are omnivores, like pigs, are adaptable to a wide range of foods.  The implication being, there is an element of truth if a person declared another person to be eating like a pig...

Dr. Slavin pointed out that over time, humans have survived and prospered on all kinds of diets, mostly reflecting access to food supply.  For example, the traditional Arctic diet would consist of 80% of kcals from fat whereas the traditional African diet would consist of 80% of kcals from carbohydrates.

Interesting to note, is that carbohydrates are the fill after protein needs are met - high-calorie diets should be high in carbohydrates, for example in sports nutrition.  Studies show that added sugar - 25% or less of calories - based on nutrient dilution, is not linked to a negative health status.  Dr. Slavin stated that in her opinion what was published in 1894 by Dr. Atwater remains true today: the specified amount of protein and total calories is key to a good diet, and is unspecified of the division of calories between fats and carbohydrates.