Compared to surgery and medication which have expensive medical costs, preventive medicine uses long-term adjustments in diet and lifestyles to achieve optimal health goals.

Our daily life is bombarded with exaggerated health effects in advertisements and nutritional information without scientific basis or evidence. Can we distinguish whether our food is nutritious or a burden?

• Since sugar substitutes are not sugar, will you not gain weight when consuming sugar substitutes?
• Can whey protein powder supplementation after exercise be a better alternative than eating meat?
• Soybeans are rich in phytoestrogens. Is increased intake of soybeans associated with a higher risk of breast cancer?
• Margarine is made of vegetable oil. Does this make it healthier than animal fat?
• Does eating sweets make people happy?
• If fat and cholesterol are considered “unhealthy”, should we completely avoid consumption of these two nutrients?
• Are gluten-free foods good for health?
• Should Cancer patients eat less so that the tumor will not grow faster.
• Are medications the only way to manage the three hypers including hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia?

Speaker: Hsiao-Liang Pai

After receiving a B.S. degree from food and nutrition science department in Shih-Chen Home Economic College and Chinese Cultural University, she worked as a clinical dietitian in Mackey Memorial Hospital for about 8 years.

Pai set up the first nutrition support team at MMH in Taiwan. She proceeded to obtain a M.S. in Human Nutrition Institute at Columbia University Medical School, MPH in School of Public Health at Columbia Medical School, and a M.S. in Teachers College at Columbia University in 1987, 1989 and 1991, respectively.

In 2013, she received her Ed.D. degree in Nutritional Education from Teacher College at Columbia University in 2013. Pai started her teaching career as an adjunct instructor at Montclair State University (2014-2016).

From 2016 up to present, she continues to teach as an adjunct assistant professor since 2016. She devotes herself to providing accurate evidence-based nutrition information via her teaching and publishing books.

This program is made courtesy by the Asian-American Cultural Circle of Unity (AACCU).  The Asian-American Cultural Circle of Unity is a 501c3 nonprofit that fosters recognition and appreciation of the various cultures that live in the Long Island/Metro NY area by hosting live performances, workshops, festivals, exhibitions, seminars and expos – and to promote participation in the creative and cultural arts among school children, teenagers and adults, helping to raise awareness of the fact that the arts speak a universal language that binds all of us together and establishes a sense of cultural unity.

The lecture is on Saturday, Dec. 9 at the Main Library at 159 Bayview Ave., Great Neck, at 2:00 p.m. Registration is required and open to all Adults. For more information, please contact Great Neck Library at (516) 466-8055 or email adultprogramming@greatnecklibrary.org.