About
Christine Dobrowolski
Welcome to Nutritional Doublethink, an informational website about the many factors affecting the food we eat. Nutritional doublethink is the simultaneous acceptance of two contradictory beliefs about a food. Unnatural is natural. Processed is whole. Refined is pure. Unhealthy is healthy. This website explores these contradictions and their impact on our health.
While on a mountain bike trip to Salt Lake City, I was listening to George Orwell's 1984 and was struck by the Party slogan, "War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery". I immediately made the connection to nutrition. If fat was Eastasia in the 1980s, then carbohydrates are Eurasia in the 2010s. As long as we are at war with one nutrient, we are at peace in our quest for health. War is peace.
We believe in our freedom to choose foods and feel liberated by those choices. Yet the sugar, fat, salt and flavor in these foods make us slaves to these choices - repeatedly choosing them and eating them. Those with eating disorders, obesity or chronic diseases as a result of these free choices are slaves to their bodies and to their diseases. Freedom is slavery.
By creating an illusion of healthy eating consumers feel empowered, yet at the same time remain ignorant of the true content and quality of the food they are eating. Ignorance is strength.
In 1984, The Party encouraged doublethink, the ability to simultaneously hold two contradictory thoughts in one's head without recognizing the contradiction. It occurred to me that we are living in a world of nutritional doublethink. Manufacturers use government labeling laws to make unhealthy products look healthy. Although we may be aware that waffles are not healthy, if the box says whole grain, we think they are healthy. We know they are unhealthy, yet we accept them as being healthy. Unhealthy is healthy. We accept these two contradictory concepts about the food.
This website is dedicated to the recognition of nutritional doublethink and the exploration of how whole food is changed and how that process changes us.
While on a mountain bike trip to Salt Lake City, I was listening to George Orwell's 1984 and was struck by the Party slogan, "War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery". I immediately made the connection to nutrition. If fat was Eastasia in the 1980s, then carbohydrates are Eurasia in the 2010s. As long as we are at war with one nutrient, we are at peace in our quest for health. War is peace.
We believe in our freedom to choose foods and feel liberated by those choices. Yet the sugar, fat, salt and flavor in these foods make us slaves to these choices - repeatedly choosing them and eating them. Those with eating disorders, obesity or chronic diseases as a result of these free choices are slaves to their bodies and to their diseases. Freedom is slavery.
By creating an illusion of healthy eating consumers feel empowered, yet at the same time remain ignorant of the true content and quality of the food they are eating. Ignorance is strength.
In 1984, The Party encouraged doublethink, the ability to simultaneously hold two contradictory thoughts in one's head without recognizing the contradiction. It occurred to me that we are living in a world of nutritional doublethink. Manufacturers use government labeling laws to make unhealthy products look healthy. Although we may be aware that waffles are not healthy, if the box says whole grain, we think they are healthy. We know they are unhealthy, yet we accept them as being healthy. Unhealthy is healthy. We accept these two contradictory concepts about the food.
This website is dedicated to the recognition of nutritional doublethink and the exploration of how whole food is changed and how that process changes us.
About Christine Dobrowolski
Christine Dobrowolski is an instructor of nutrition at the College of the Redwoods and teaches in the Exercise Nutrition Certificate Program at Humboldt State University. Dr. Dobrowolski has been teaching nutrition for over 10 years and practicing podiatric medicine for 20 years. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of California at Davis, a Masters of Science in Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport and a Doctorate in Podiatric Medicine from Samuel Merritt University. She completed her surgical foot and ankle residency at Western Medical Center in Anaheim and Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Walnut Creek. She is the author of Those Aching Feet: Your Guide to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Foot Problems and co-author of a chapter in McGlamry's Textbook of Foot and Ankle Surgery.
Dr. Dobrowolski continues to practice podiatry part-time and teach part-time. Her Optimal Bone and Muscle Development course and Pharmacology and Ergogenic Aids course at Humboldt State University received state-wide recognition for Quality Online Learning and Teaching. Her Nutrition course at the College of the Redwoods is the model online course for the district.
Christine lives in Lake Tahoe with her husband and dog. They are avid skiers and mountain bikers and enjoy hiking, paddle boarding and essentially anything that involves enjoying the beautiful outdoors.
The intent of this website is to educate the public on basic nutrition concepts by recognizing nutritional doublethink, differentiating between whole and processed foods, exploring the factors affecting what we eat and understanding how these factors impact our health. The common theme throughout this website is to shift from the consumption of processed foods, to the consumption of whole foods.
This website is owned and operated by Christine Dobrowolski. There is no outside funding and no corporate sponsors. This website does not accept or host any advertisements.
Last updated 9/18/17