Nutrition for Chronic Conditions with 3 CulinaryMed Docs

In this episode we talked with Allison Childress, Shannon Galyean, and Michelle Alcorn of 3 CulinaryMed Docs about their app My Partner Sam.

My Partner Sam is a culinary medicine app that creates customized medically tailored meal plans for people with chronic conditions, specifically for those who have multiple chronic conditions. 

To learn more about their mission, visit their website to learn about how their app could benefit your disabled child and family's health.

Please subscribe, leave a review, and follow us on social media to know about upcoming episodes and to participate in this podcast.

Instagram - @raisingdisabledpodcast
Facebook - Raising Disabled Podcast

Transcript

Rhandyl: Hey guys, welcome to Raising Disabled. Today we have on some really fun guests. And we are very excited to talk with Allison Childress, Michelle Acorn, and Shannon Gellion. And they started a company, 3 Culinary Med Docs. And we just really would like to get into what you guys are up to, and if you want to introduce yourselves, how you guys met, and then also what made you decide to pursue this company.

Allison: This is Allison. I'm the CEO of the company Three Culinary Med Docs and really the company arose from our research and culinary medicine. So we have been researching culinary medicine for pretty close to five years now. And during COVID we had to take our research virtually because we couldn't meet with our human subjects in person. So we. Basically took our culinary medicine intervention, which was for people who have chronic disease of all kinds and took it virtually. And then we were approached by Texas Tech University and they asked us if we'd ever thought about commercializing it before. So making a product for a consumer and not just using it in research. And we had not, but they were very supportive. 

And so they have given us a lot of resources, sent us to the Texas Tech University Innovation Hub, where we participated in a lot of their programs. And we now have a culinary medicine platform that creates medically tailored meal plans for people with chronic conditions and or food allergies. But specifically for people who have multiple chronic conditions and or food allergies. However, the platform will create a healthy meal plan if you don't have any chronic disease as well. It just creates a nutritionally balanced meal plan for you based on dietary preferences and cooking preferences. And any other weight gain, weight loss preferences as well.

Shannon: , I'm Shannon, and I am the chief research officer, so I led most of the research projects that we use with culinary medicine. I'm a registered dietitian and then faculty here at Texas Tech University.

Michelle: I'm Michelle Alcorn, and I am a little opposite of Allison and Shannon. I am actually not in the nutritional field, so my background is hospitality. So all of my industry experience was in food service and restaurants. And so it was interesting because Shannon and I office on the same floor at Texas tech, and I was running the introduction to food production here. So our basic culinary food lab, and we really met because we're in the same hall. We started looking at the same type of research. And then the three of us started with the culinary medicine research and. I bring in the aspect of food service, the operational management parts of things. But I'm also really the resident taste tester because I am very picky. I am a super picky eater. I eat like a five year old typically. So I bring in that aspect of things as well. 

Deonna: Well, It sounds like you guys are a little dream team of all the different levels of expertise. And I love that you're the taste tester. I could do that. I think I could do that. 

So what inspired you guys to create your app? It's called my partner, Sam app. So tell us all about that and how that came to be. 

Allison: So Shannon and I see patients. We've seen patients. We have over 35 years of combined clinical experience. We still see patients to this day. And what our patients were asking for was for recipes and meal plans that would address their multiple chronic conditions. And there's two problems with that. Number one, it's a common misconception that's what a dietician does, is create meal plans and recipes. And really, there's very few of us who do that. Problem number two, it's almost virtually impossible to find references that will address more than one chronic condition. 

If you have diabetes, you can go to the American Diabetes Association website. They have recipes, they have meal plans. If you have heart disease, you can do the same with American Heart Association. If you have celiac, the same with some celiac organizations. But what if you have all three? And so what our patients were asking us was, which one is most important? Which one do I need to address? And , we don't have an answer for that because they're all important for different reasons. And so we really did this for our patients so that they have a good. reputable reference for their eating habits when they have multiple food allergies or chronic conditions. 

Rhandyl: I love it. we'll get more into the app later, it's really awesome 

so we know with our extensive medical history with our daughters, that there is such a gap between medicine and nutrition. So what advice would you give caregivers when they're pursuing nutritional health for their, Children, especially their disabled children. 

Allison: I would say find a registered dietitian who specializes in pediatrics especially. If you can, find somebody who specializes in pediatrics with disabilities. That's going to be hard to find. But finding a pediatric dietitian is a little bit easier. And because I think so many times we try to rely on traditional practitioners like physicians, P. A. S. Nurse practitioners, and they just do not have the training in nutrition that a dietitian does. And so if you want really good, comprehensive care nutritionally, it's really important to find a registered dietitian. And now it's so easy because you can even find them virtually. It used to be, hard to find dietitians in certain areas, but now you can find them easily. 

Rhandyl: I was going to say, COVID this is how you guys started everything. And , it was a blessing in disguise for medical field with just the virtual telemedicine and things like that. So that is definitely a great. resources to even look virtually if you can't find someone in your area. 

Deonna: And even our pediatrician referred us to a nutritionist and it is at H E B. So you go into H E B and you shop with this person. And so we're about to do that. And I just thought that was such a funny thing. thing. Like she told me that and I was like, like the grocery store or what? And she's like, yeah, you go in there and they teach your kid how to shop for themselves. And I thought that was fun, but yeah, there's, more opportunity probably than there was even 10 years ago.

So do you, collaborate with physicians to incorporate your app with patient clinical plans? And if you already have, what have been the feedback and the outcomes from that? 

Allison: So right now , we are partnering with some physicians to use the app and research. We've also partnered with a few facilities here in town to have them recommend the app. So while, so for example, while anybody could. Go to our website and sign up for it. Our model really is for it to be recommended to people from clinicians. So yes, we have worked with some physicians before especially with weight management, diabetes, PCOS even, and. The response has been really good, especially in that people are excited to be able to have something that their patients can reference any time of the day. As a dietitian, if I see a patient once a month, which is, that's pretty frequent, that means what are they doing the rest of the time when they're not with me? And this allows them to be able to access, nutrition information that is specifically designed for them anytime on demand. 

Hey y'all, it's Deonna from Raising Disabled, and at our house, my daughter is in her Zing Stander all the time. She loves it. She loves to get in there and play video games or read or play on her computer. Zing Standers are designed to offer more than just support. They pave the way for crucial early intervention therapy.

From helping develop strength and balance, joint development, to improving circulation and digestion, standing frames can be an essential part of therapy plans promoting holistic growth and development. With customizable support and positioning options, a Zing Stander can cater to any child's positioning needs.

You can learn more at zingstanders. com.  

Rhandyl: I love that. Yeah, Back to the physician thing. My husband he's a family nurse practitioner and he talks about there's so many comorbidities and things that they deal with all the time and He gets super frustrated because of the lack of knowledge from himself and even the attending physicians because in medical school I think you only take like maybe one nutrition class and so many, we could get on a soapbox about the whole medical side of it and the lack of education on how you can, use nutrition to either prevent or fix things versus medicine.

But yeah, like you said earlier, finding a registered dietitian is. Amazing. And, in the introduction, I missed this, but Allison and I used to work together at a wellness center and she introduced me to so many things about nutrition that I didn't know. And I've talked about this in quite a few episodes. . We've talked to caregivers that have children with with Prader Willi syndrome and I had never heard about that until I worked with you. And so I had a little bit of knowledge on certain diagnoses just, because of you. 

And there's, so many things that I feel like in the adult world, people, once they start getting these diagnoses and chronic conditions, whether it's age related or whatnot, that, that's when people start really seeking nutritional advice, but I really think It should begin early on 

 On the app, the MyPartnerSam app, when I registered and started creating my profile, it was, number one, so user friendly. It goes through everything, , of course your typical what's your age gender, weight, height, what are your, goals, but it also has so many lists of not only like your diagnoses, but food preferences food allergies, all the way to how do you like to prepare your even as short as 15 minutes to air fryer to, you name it, like all this stuff was on this app and I thought it was so cool.

Rhandyl: And then once I generalized it. Down it came up with an entire week's worth of meal plans I wouldn't even have to think about a grocery list basically right there and then Great ideas all the way from breakfast lunch dinner snacks desserts all the things I was very impressed and Plan to use it for our own meal planning.

, personally we have recently started meal prepping for the whole week. My husband has taken on that job in our household. And Remi, my daughter she does eat by mouth, even though she has a G tube. She takes all of her nutrition by mouth but she has sensitivity to textures, so we blend all of her food, so everything we eat she eats, but , we're able to blend it, and so I'm going to take some fun recipes from this app because I was, first of all, just, it was super user friendly and very educational.

And I really see how this can help people that do have specific nutritional needs that this would be. Amazing. And so I'm super excited that you guys have done this. And yeah, but Deonna, what did you think about it? 

Deonna: Yeah, I had a lot of the same feelings. I did like how you could choose. I don't mind cooking, but I'm not like my mom, who's like, I love cooking. I want it to be 30 minutes or less, or I just, I'm just not into it. And so being able to choose the time limit that you wanted to go by, it was really cool. 

And then because with my daughter, she lives a sedentary lifestyle, which we'll get into in a second because of her paralysis. There's no way she can really burn calories in the typical way that these other kids are just running on the playground having fun. She can't do that. And so we have to, and we've gotten had to get really serious about the amount of calories she's taking in every day, which as a mom of a nine year old girl is the ickiest feeling in the world, having to really think about that more than you should, or, you know what I'm saying, 

but We have tried to explain to her what calories are, and we look at calories, like if we're at the restaurant or whatever, and I'll say, okay, if it's a lot, a really high number, that's not good. And if it's a lower number, then it's something we're going to be getting for you. And she's learning how to make good choices and doing really well. Like the other day we were at Chick fil A and she was choosing between the two different parfaits and she chose the one with the smaller number.

And I thought there you go. But I was looking because her pediatrician had said to lay off the sugar quite a bit, because that was our thing. When your kid almost dies and then they survive, you're just like, you need whatever you want for the rest of your life. You can eat, live your life, eat chocolate, whatever. But then now we're getting into the actual management of her life and everything, . 

But I was looking in your app because we have a hard time with snacks and desserts because she does pretty well for breakfast, I don't have issues, or lunch, dinner, she'll be able to portion control and be okay, but it's the snacks, like she misses just the sweets and the desserts and things like that, and I was looking through all your dessert ideas, and there are things that seem very decadent. But they don't have that many calories or they don't have sugar or things like that. And so I told her about it yesterday. I said, Hey, do you want to look through this app? It's all these good desserts that you can eat. You can eat them all. And she's like, Oh my gosh, yes, let's go. And so she was looking through and she's real into parfaits right now. So she was seeing all these little things like that. And it was good for me because I just felt so bad as a mom having to. Tell this little nine year old kid, Hey, you can't have sugar anymore. Sorry. And brothers over there drinking a chocolate milkshake. I'm like, get out of here. Stop doing this in front of her. Oh my gosh. 

But so yeah, that was my experience with it is just seeing that you can still eat good stuff. It doesn't have to be this boring granola life. Like you can eat this good stuff and, still be doing what you're supposed to do 

Allison: thank you for all that positive feedback. That's, when we designed it, we did over 140 customer discovery interviews, and so our goals were to make it user friendly and Rhandyl said, easy to get through the process of onboarding and using it. And then we tried to make it appeal to a wide variety of people as far as taste and textures, but also time to prepare, like you mentioned, Deonna, and then also ease of ingredients.

So all of the ingredients are easily found pretty much anywhere. I think a lot of times when you think about eating healthy, people get hung up on they're going to have to eat weird foods or special foods. Or foods that they have to only order. They couldn't go to the grocery store, three blocks away and get it. And that was our goal was to make all these ingredients, easy to procure, easy to find affordable. And that's simple to prepare portable side of it. 

Michelle: And I really enjoyed hearing, your daughter was in the Chick fil A line and she was using her knowledge and that's really a big aspect of the app is that we want to empower. Our users to make the decisions and manage their conditions by themselves. So we give out the education and what we really would like to see is that, yeah, the next time you go to the grocery store, , you already know what you need to get. And the next time you're out in the drive through line, you're thinking about the knowledge and the education that we've given you, and you're empowered to make all of those. Healthy decisions on your own. 

Allison: I think another aspect that Allison and I hear all the time when you eat healthy is going to taste like cardboard. And so we're happy to show people you can enjoy what you eat and feel confident that it's healthy or that it's right for your condition to help manage that. 

 We've had so many people come and sit down in our office for a, a dietician consultation. And the first thing they say is, I know what you're going to tell me. And I'm always excited. Okay, inevitably say if it tastes good, spit it out. That's what you're going to tell me. And I'm like, Oh no. We know there. We can find you some wonderful things to eat that you will actually enjoy eating, that you won't hate eating. Yeah. 

Deonna: As a person who has MS, I remember it's like the doctor's job to tell you that all the fun's over and you don't get to eat anything good anymore, and then you can talk to someone like you who actually knows that's not true, because I do remember that when I had my first MS diagnosis appointment, she was like. The Dr. Pepper is gone, so this is gone, and it was just like all the things I loved, she was saying were gone, but , it hasn't been that bad I've learned how to figure it out,

but I was gonna say, I do like how the app has photos of all of the recipes for the most part, because that does help a kid to look at it and be like, that looks good, I want to try that, and I like how you also have the videos because I didn't grow up in the medical world. And sometimes you just need someone explaining something to you. In a simple way and I watched several of your videos and I'm like, okay, that is why we need to be eating protein or, you know, you don't really know these things. You just know you're supposed to do it, but not always the why behind it. So you just are doing it like, cause you feel like you should, but so the videos were cool too. I actually liked those a lot. 

Allison: Thank you. And we like them because I know when I go to cook a recipe, I don't know, I want to know while I'm cooking it, if it looks right, so for example, I get to step five or six and you're like, mine looks way different than the video. This is a problem. I messed something up here. So it also, while it gives you the culinary medicine aspect of it, it also lets you know, okay, I'm on the right track. This is how it's supposed to look. I'm doing it correctly here. 

Deonna: And having the nutritional facts is so cool because you don't know how many calories is in so many things and you're trying to Google it and figure out the portion. Knowing you're telling exactly for this cup, it's going to be this amount and there's no guessing. So that's helpful for us for sure. 

Michelle: If you continue to watch some of the recipe videos too, you'll notice that we really are human. So when we made mistakes, we didn't really edit those out. We showed people like, it's fine. , we're cooking here, you know what I mean? Like, there's an art to cooking in, and it's okay if you make mistakes, and it's okay if it doesn't quite look exactly like our picture, this is real life, and we understand that. 

Allison: Yeah, we had quite a few little Easter eggs in there, both in our recipes and in our videos. And so we're always interested to see whenever somebody's gonna find that and call us out on it. Oh my gosh. Like Michelle did, we do it on purpose. Nothing should be perfect. And yeah, it helps be relatable. Here we are nutrition experts and we still, when we go to, make a recipe in the kitchen, we still can make the biggest mess you've ever seen and we show it.

Deonna: Yeah, hey, keepin it real.

Allison: , okay, so a lot of our followers have children with G tubes, and they're unable to eat by mouth for many reasons and we know that the formulas that are available and prescribed most of the time are not great. And the quote unquote good ones are not always covered by insurance plans, so I know this is possibly out of your wheelhouse, but what would you guys tell caregivers that may be listening that are in this predicament? to ask for when researching formulas 

If it is very important to that parent or caregiver, ask for referrals or recommendations on real food blends. Because there are, and you guys probably know this, there are some tube feedings out there that are real food blends. But I've also helped patients to give you an example. One was cystic fibrosis where we made her own. We basically just, we calculated her macros and we figured out how to make those macros work. We blended it up and we put it in a, an open type container. And. Obviously I had to make sure food safety, making sure her handling practices were good because whenever you are making your own tube feeding formula, there's that to think about because, the ones you get in the store are sterile.

Allison: But I've seen some really good results with those. And they can be very inexpensive because, a lot of times. Fats that we use in enteral feeds, they're expensive. Sometimes they're MCT oil and we can sometimes find things over the counter that can be pretty close to that, that can be more inexpensive. And again it's all about finding a registered dietician who can work with you and they can help you come up with that formulation so that you are able to feed like what Rhandyl's doing with Remi, you are able to feed your children what you're eating, but you just make it a tube feeding.

Rhandyl: Yeah. Yeah. Thankfully. We are able to do that, and I've thought about, because the only time we ever use formula is usually when she's, really sick, and doesn't have the energy to eat by mouth, which is rare, or when we're on road trips, because she really has to be In a good position and we have to feed her. She doesn't feed herself, so we spoon feed her. And so in the car, it's just almost impossible. So if we're on a long road trip, she gets a G tube feed. And the formula that we get from our insurance is supposed to be a healthier type blend, but it just messes her stomach up every single time she has to get it.

We just know we have to time it out and be prepared because she's going to have a really big, a mess, within so many hours after she gets a G tube feed with the formulas. And so I have always thought , if Remi was going to have to be on G tube feeds consistently, I would have to either find a better formula that is covered, or I would just, like you said, I would get with a registered dietitian, come up with a good process and make sure that, everything is made properly and try to do it that way. So I think that's great advice. 

And I like that you say it's affordable because that's usually the biggest complaint is, we can get these formulas through insurance covered, but you have to weigh out what's best for your child and then, the fact that you can come up with something that is affordable and make in bulk, I would assume, and be able to freeze some, and , I mean, it sounds doable, but it's going to take just some education and learning.

Allison: Yeah, basically, all it is the dietician just comes up with a recipe for you, and you just make sure that with so many servings of that recipe, you hit all the micros and macros That child needs throughout the day, so it can be done, but yeah, definitely gonna need some guidance there.

Deonna: Yeah okay, so many disabled kids have food or texture aversions, so obviously this is child specific, but in general, what advice do you have for caregivers when it comes to this? 

Allison: If they have the ability, to chew, swallow it. And it's just that they just don't like that texture in your mouth, which we see with a lot of kids and adults even who have autism or, are on any part of the autism spectrum. As long as they can chew and they can swallow and there's no medical difficulty there, then continuing to offer those textures that they might find an aversion to is important along with foods that they're very familiar with. That they enjoy that they like and being careful not to put too much pressure on the child to try the texture that they don't particularly like or enjoy.

And we've really seen, at least in research we've seen some really good outcomes with that because, we used to tell parents, way back in the day, probably our parents that, the kids eat what they eat and you make them something and if they don't eat it, then they, they just, they don't need that for that day.

And we know that, especially in this population, that's not an option. No, I think just continuing to offer that and then also trying new ways to change the texture. So a lot of times people have a hard time with meats because they're tough and they're dry and they're stringy. But if you can chop it and put a little bit of gravy or broth on it, now all of a sudden it makes it a lot easier for that person to eat. 

And also maybe serving it at different temperatures because maybe they like the texture of meat when it's warm, but not when it's cold or maybe vice versa. Even things that you think should be cooked and served warm all the time, like meats. Maybe trying serving them cold and seeing if that makes a difference, with how they are perceiving and enjoying that texture. And I'll let Michelle and Shannon chime in as well. 

Michelle: Yeah. So this is a thing for me, honestly, and I'm definitely not a child anymore. And my mom struggled with me as a child. I grew up on fast food. So my mom didn't want to cook. We didn't like her cooking. And so she didn't cook. And when she did, it was it was definitely a fight.

And so I grew up with no vegetables really in my life. And so I'm older now trying to incorporate vegetables into my diet. And I have found that sometimes I need to make them a little more unhealthy, right? Like I need to maybe a cheese. Yeah, I need to add cheese to the broccoli or I need to maybe fry a little more or make it crispy on something, so sometimes I have to start off a little more unhealthy and then, the perception of, okay, I made it through that meal, I made it through a couple of meals and then. I can gradually get better I used to only eat peppers if they were sautéed, but now I can eat peppers, raw. It took me a little while, but I think it's realistically how you present it. And sometimes and Shannon and Allison are probably like, don't tell people that they can eat it unhealthily. But that's how I had to start, 

Deonna: That's a process. Yeah, it doesn't happen overnight. 

Shannon: I also think learning ways like the air fryer is a game changer for a lot of people like learning roasting vegetables makes them taste tons better than soggy boiled vegetables. So I think that makes a difference. 

Deonna: That's so true. So we have one more question before we go and we're hoping we can talk to you guys again in the future about more specific things, but I just was curious what y'all's favorite recipe is on the app, one that you guys love or your kids love. 

Allison: I gotta say my favorite one is the mini pumpkin cheesecakes. That was mine. It's okay, we can have the same one. 

Deonna: It must be good if y'all both like them. That sounds amazing. I'm gonna have to go look that one up right now. That's a 

Allison: good one. But I would say our fan favorite, probably the one that we get the best reviews on, is our fiery pineapple salsa. 

Deonna: Oh, man. That's good. I love salsa. It's good too. 

Michelle: Probably, and again, I'm the taste tester, resident five year old, so mine might resonate a little more with the kids is a peanut butter and berry waffle sandwich. . It's very sweet, and , it can be snack, it can be breakfast. I know not everybody has a sweets in the morning, but I eat sweets. All day. , I'm good with it. Wherever it's gonna land. Lunch, snack, breakfast. 

Deonna: Those sound good. I'm gonna have to go get all of those today. . Yeah. 

Rhandyl: Thank you guys. Yeah, now I'm hungry.

Allison: , we look forward to coming on again and like you said, maybe diving into some of these topics more in depth, for your listeners.

Rhandyl: Yes, hopefully we get some good feedback from our listeners and followers regarding some things that they may want to know more about so for you listening, we would love some feedback and anything that you might want to hear from these ladies in the future would be really helpful.

So yes, we appreciate you guys. So much for coming on and we will put your app and all of your information in our show notes so that people can learn more.

Allison: Great. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.

**Disclaimer

Before we go, I wanna remind our listeners that this podcast is for the purpose of education and entertainment only, and is not a replacement for seeing a doctor. We suggest you seek out the help of a trained professional for help with your child's specific situation.