The National School Lunch Program, administered by the USDA, sets nutritional rules and regulations that participating schools across the nation have to follow. You could say the overall goal is to make meals healthier for students, but is this really what is happening at school? Join us to learn about hidden sugars in meals and ways the Farm Bill impacts the health of our nation.

Guest:
Nora LaTorre, Eat Real

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The Prospect KC is a ground-breaking nonprofit founded by Chef Shanita McAfee-Bryant to fight food apartheid - a racist and oppressive system that creates inequitable food systems - by providing nutrition education and culinary job training.

Join us as we talk to the founder and glean some cooking tips and ways to make healthier meals stretch using SNAP benefits.

Guest:
Shanita McAfee-Bryant, chef & founder of The Prospect KC

Event Link:
The Prospect KC's Cookbook Fundraising Series

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As adults, it can be hard for us to find the time, energy, or motivation to start a new habit, even one that ultimately will make us feel better and perhaps even regain that energy we lack. When starting your own research into healthy eating and realizing how much is out there, it can feel like an impossible mountain to climb. Wouldn’t this have all been easier if we could have learned this in school? 

Let’s talk about some research being done in schools doing just that. We review some methods used by researchers to encourage healthier eating habits in schools. Let’s see what works and what doesn’t.

Guest:
Lindsey Taylor, medical student & FEI intern

Sources Referenced:
School-based interventions promoting both physical activity and healthy eating in Europe: a systematic review within the HOPE project

Evaluation of a 2-year physical activity and healthy eating intervention in middle school children

Teaching approaches and strategies that promote healthy eating in primary school children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Promoting Healthy Eating among Young People—A Review of the Evidence of the Impact of School-Based Interventions

Harnessing adolescent values to motivate healthier eating

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How about those vertical (plant) children?

We know we should eat more veggies, but sometimes it is hard to actually put them on our plates. One approach to making vegetables more accessible is to grow them ourselves, which is easier said than done. In this episode, we talk with some plant -experts to get tips and tricks for starting our own gardens, including vertically in our own homes.

Guests:

Susan Ughy, Horticulturist

Zale Tabakman, Local Grown Salads

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Habits that drive us...

Americans are addicted to our cars. However, for a variety of reasons, not everyone is able to access this resource, and for a society built by the car for the car, it makes it difficult to access important resources such as grocery stores, libraries, and hair salons. Let’s view our method of getting around via car as a habit and learn about what things can be done to diversify our movements to be healthier for our bodies, healthier for our planet, and overall healthier for our society.

Guest:
AJ Farris, KCATA

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We all have little aliens living in our gut...

We were all taught to believe that bacteria can only be bad for you - that if you don’t wash it off or disinfect, you’ll get sick. While there is some truth to that, it is not the whole truth. Join us to learn about the probiotics that live in our gut and how keeping them happy keeps us healthy.

Guest:
Tom Ruggieri, Fair Share Farm

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What's better than a gym membership?

America's most popular New Year's Resolution is "living healthier." Making that decision is only one step - the real battle lies in the actual doing and maintaining. Let’s talk about creating habits. What needs to happen in order to make our resolutions stick? How are the best habits formed?  And what does "living healthier" actually mean?

Guest:
Cham Edussuriya, Homegrown Urban

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Getting dirty (for health)!

To wrap up season two - Food & the Planet - we are taking it back to the basics: soil. That’s right, Mother Earth herself. We have explored how good health comes from good food, so now let’s talk about how good food comes from good soil. (And how good soil comes from good poop.)

Guest:
Cham Edussuriya, Homegrown Urban

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In the price of an apple...

What is healthy? Who gets to decide what is healthy? And, why is there often a "health food tax" on these items? In this episode, we talk about price setting from the manufacturing side and also discuss some changes that are happening and still need to happen in order to make fresh, nutritious, and yes, healthy food more accessible for all.

Guests:
Lisa Ragan, Safely Delicious
Meryl Davis, Link Up Illinois - Experimental Station

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Worm tea time!

Food waste is one of the biggest, preventable diseases plaguing our planet. We explore some tips for beginners to get started reducing personal food waste and ways to make the most out of food scraps. So grab a cup of worm tea and listen up!

Guests:
Meryl Davis, Link Up Illinois - Experimental Station
David Hakan, Project Drawdown 

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Tiny fridge nation!

Studies have shown that creating small, healthy habits can lead to lasting sustainable change. So how can having smaller fridges cause Americans to eat healthier? We will discuss important societal and cultural changes that need to happen on this episode of Free-From Podcast.
 
Guest:
Sonia Hunt, author of Nut Job: How I crushed my food allergies to thrive

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What a jar of peanut butter won't do...

Food security vs nutrition security - is there a difference? The short answer is yes, the long answer is in this podcast. Join us to hear about how adding dignity and choice goes a lot further in fighting hunger than assuming everyone has the same needs.

Guest:
Rachel Russell, Cross-Lines

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Frying chicken in PPE before it was cool...

What if you dedicated your life to food by becoming a chef to later find out you cannot eat some of the most common ingredients because they are a hazard to your health? But what if instead of feeling defeated by that traitorous food, you decide to appreciate its power as medicine that makes you feel healthy and complete? Listen to our interview with Chef Martha to learn how she took the Food is Medicine movement personally.

Guest:
Chef Martha Morgan, Allergy Dragon

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Can food really be medicine? Let's learn how paying attention to what you put into your body can have lasting impacts on your overall health and well-being.  And we will also find out how Food Equality Initiative is working to make sure everyone has access to nutritious food and knows why it is important.

Guest:
Erin Martinez, Interim CEO of Food Equality Initiative

Sources Referenced:
NPR - The U.S. Diet is Deadly.
White House Conference - Hunger, Nutrition, & Health

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A work in progress...

Over the past couple of decades, we have made significant strides to help improve the quality of life of food allergic individuals in schools, the workplace, and abroad. Let’s hear some personal stories from over that time period and how drastically those spaces have changed, for the better.

Guests:
Kortney Kwong Hing, Zestfull
Imani Magare

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Back to school is an exciting time - meeting new people, shopping for new school supplies… But for a child who has dietary restrictions or other disabilities, the excitement can get lost in worry. What can parents, students, and school administrators do to make sure everyone stays safe?

Guests:
Sheryl Simmons, KIPP St. Louis
Meg Nohe, Allergy Amulet

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Oral Immunotherapy (OIT) is a treatment for food allergies and has been around for a while in different forms — but only in January 2020 did the FDA approve the first standardized OIT. So, what is it? How does it work? Who is eligible? We invited a nurse practitioner and a food allergy mom on the podcast to find out.

Guests:
Meg Nohe, Allergy Amulet
Jodi Shroba, APRN, CPNP, Children's Mercy Hospital

Resources:
Jodi Shroba's article about Peanut OIT

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Emily Brown founded Food Equality Initiative in 2014 after her family enrolled in SNAP and WIC when her children were diagnosed with multiple food allergies. She joins the Free-From Podcast to tell her story and talk about change that still needs to happen in the food industry.

Guest: Emily Brown

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No, Reneé, You are Allergic! is Dr. Reneé’s newest book for children about growing up with food allergies. We discuss her inspirations, aspirations, and dreams for this book’s impact on the next generation of food-allergic individuals.

Guest: Dr. Reneé Matthews

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More often than not, a first date happens at a restaurant. So, how, when, and where should dietary restrictions come up in a new relationship?

Guests:
John & Lauren

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Food allergies impact more than just your physical body. Let's talk about the underlying pervasiveness of allergies for young adults.

Guest: Kortney Kwong Hing, co-founder of Zestfull

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Welcome to the first episode of Free-From Podcast, a podcast dedicated to helping individuals with restricted diets realize the fullest potential in their food. Join us to learn about Food Equality Initiative’s history and mission, and how we work to implement food as medicine in our lives.

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• Email us at free-from@foodequalityinitiative.org