YOUTH NUTRIENTS: ANTIOXIDANT DOSAGES: A COMPARISONANTIOXIDANT DOSAGES: A COMPARISON                                   RDA                                      Longevity DosesVitamin C                      60 mg                                     800 to 1,000 mgBeta-carotene            50IU                                       10,000 IUVitamin E                   10 mg                                     400 to 800 IUCalcium                     800 mg                                   1,000 to 1,500 mgIf you get the longevity amount of antioxidants from food you can’t really go wrong. However, it is very difficult to get enough vitamin E from food alone without adding massive amounts of calories to your diet. So this is one antioxidant that you may have to take in supplement form. In fact, recent Harvard studies have found that vitamin E supplements can decrease heart disease by as much as 37 per cent.THE REST OF THE STORYAntioxidants are true biological miracles. All we have to do is reach and have that apple, drink that glass of fresh orange juice, have that salad, and in so doing, turn back the clock and reset the scale for a life that takes us to the max. Simple, isn’t it? Wait, it gets better. Read on.American scientists estimate that just three antioxidants—vitamins C, E and beta-carotene—if used optimally could reduce breast cancer by 16 per cent, lung cancer by 21 per cent, stomach cancer by 30 per cent, heart disease by 25 per cent and cataracts by 50 per cent. Monetary savings of the cost of hospital care would be $1 billion for breast cancer, $3 billion for lung cancer, $30 billion for heart disease, 1\2 billion for stomach cancer and $100 million for cataracts.*65\323\8*

It is important to have thought through a general framework for ethical decision-making in advance, that will assist with making on-the-spot judgements and decisions.

There are four domains which are important to consider:

• yourself

• the client

• the treatment resources available

• the social context.

You must also consider the interplay of these four domains.

Yourself. Our past experiences and what we have made of them affect our reactions to people and situations. We see each new thing we encounter through a ‘filter’ of beliefs and expectations that helps us make sense of them. This in turn influences how we respond.

You need to know yourself well, especially your motives, attitudes and feelings regarding obesity, overeating, exercise and health. Failure to understand these things increases the risk that you will act unethically by unintentionally imposing your personal values on your clients.

What do you think is the most important outcome goal for this person? Why? In your work, you are pursuing your own goals as well as your clients’. This means that they hold some power over your job satisfaction—you cannot succeed without their active cooperation. This motivates you to shape their goals in line with your own objectives rather than being there simply for your client. If you are clearly aware of your own choice of goals in a particular case, you can more easily see any conflict between your own goals and those of your client.

What do you believe has made this client obese? How do you feel about that? Your theory about why a particular client is obese will play a big part in the actions you take. In reality, different

people come to be obese along different paths, but the feelings that arise in you because of your theory are very important. For example, you might decide that a particular client is obese because during childhood she learned to select sweet and fatty foods in her diet, following her mother’s choices. This theory may give you reelings that the client is ‘not to blame’ and that her mother was at fault. Indeed, you may have strong feelings about poor childhood nutrition and regard the mother as having been a poor parent or even somewhat abusive of the child for making her obese. This might lead to you feeling sorry for the client and trying to be the ‘good parent’ that her mother was not.

On the other hand, you might think that another client who has had good nutritional advice for years has remained obese because he has not put the advice into practice. This could give you feelings of hopelessness about working with him or even anger that he has wasted other busy helpers’ time and is going to waste yours too.

Do you believe it would be possible to have the things that are important to you personally if you were as obese as this client? Usually, we think that the things that we personally value are desirable to others as well. If you believe that your client needs to lose fat in order to have a chance of getting something that you value in your life, you are less likely to consider or support alternative goals and means of achieving these. For example, the client might be concerned that she needs to lose fat in order to get a partner. If you believe that you would feel this way if you were equally obese, it may be difficult for you to work constructively with her feelings about personal attractiveness and relationships.

What skills do you have with which to respond to this client’s needs? It is generally regarded as unethical to promise what one does not have the ability to provide. It is also your ethical responsibility to respond appropriately to a particular client’s needs. It is possible, perhaps even quite common, for the client to have come to the wrong person for help—they are not always well-informed about their needs and the services that cater to these needs.

This question helps you to think about whether the client has realistic expectations of what you can do. The most ethical response to a particular client may be to decline her request for help and discuss more appropriate alternatives.

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