Mindful Eating, Supplements & Weight-Loss Meds: Sustainable Nutrition

Food, health, and healing go far beyond calories and numbers. In this second half of the ANEW Insight Podcast interview, Dr. Supatra Tovar continues her deep dive with Vandana Sheth—registered dietitian, nutritionist, certified diabetes care and education specialist, media contributor, and author of My Indian Table—to explore practical strategies for sustainable nutrition, mindful eating, and navigating today’s weight loss medication era.

Vandana shares how home cooking, meal prepping, and cultural foods can make blood sugar management easier and more joyful. She explains why white rice doesn’t have to be eliminated, how resistant starch benefits digestion, and why simple swaps—like rinsing canned beans or batch-prepping tofu—can transform everyday meals.

The conversation tackles key questions:

• Why carbs are essential for energy, brain health, and sustainable weight loss.
• The real role of electrolytes—why they don’t replace food or energy.
• Whole foods versus supplements: which nutrients are worth supplementing, and when?
• Vitamin D, magnesium, and B12: why deficiencies matter, and how to supplement safely.
• How to evaluate supplement quality through third-party testing.
• Intuitive and mindful eating: how to rebuild body trust and break free from diet rules.
• What to do if weight loss medications cause severe side effects, and how to create a collaborative care team with doctors, dietitians, and therapists.
  
  

Vandana emphasizes that progress is not always measured by the scale. Energy, mood, digestion, and confidence are equally important indicators of health. By focusing on mindfulness, abundance, and tuning into hunger and fullness cues, clients discover freedom from diet culture and sustainable health outcomes.

🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Practical hacks for meal prepping vegetables, tofu, beans, and grains.
• Why resistant starch makes reheated rice more blood sugar-friendly.
• Carbs vs. electrolytes: understanding real energy needs.
• Supplements decoded: when B12, vitamin D, and magnesium make sense.
• The truth about supplement regulation and choosing reputable brands.
• How mindful eating and food-mood journaling can heal your relationship with food.
• Why a multidisciplinary approach (doctor + dietitian + therapist) is essential for weight loss medication users.
• How tuning into your body’s cues fosters lasting health and natural weight balance.
  
  

🕒 Timestamps
 00:00 – Welcome back & recap of Part One
 01:00 – Cooking and meal prep for blood sugar balance
 04:00 – Resistant starch, white rice, and portion strategies
 06:00 – Carbs vs. electrolytes: why food wins for energy
 08:00 – Supplements: B12, vitamin D, magnesium, and gaps in the diet
 12:00 – Supplement safety & third-party testing
 13:00 – Whole foods vs. supplements: which should come first?
 15:00 – Supporting clients stuck in weight loss f

Thank you for joining us on this journey to wellness. Remember, the insights and advice shared on the ANEW Body Insight Podcast are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine. To learn more about the podcast and stay updated on new episodes, visit ANEW Body Insight Podcast at anew-insight.com. To watch this episode on YouTube, visit @my.anew.insight. Follow us on social media at @my.anew.insight on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads for more updates and insights. Thank you for tuning in! Stay connected with us for more empowering stories and expert guidance. Until next time, stay well and keep evolving with ANEW Body Insight!

Transcript

dr--supatra-tovar_3_06-30-2025_135334: 0:00

Welcome back to the ANEW Insight podcast. We are back for the second half of our interview with registered dietician, nutritionist, certified diabetes care and education specialist, seasoned media contributor and author Vandana Sheth. Vandana gave us some invaluable insight into her extensive background and how nutrition can help pre-diabetes and diabetes diagnosis.

vandana-sheth_2_06-30-2025_135334: 0:01

Great question. When we think about wanting to cook, first of all, I get excited when a client tells me they want to cook. They love to cook. So that's great because that right there is half the battle. Um, the second is blocking that time off, making sure we actually have a plan before we start cooking. So think about what are the components of your healthy meals? You have 'em in your freezer, you pull 'em up. Five minutes later, you can have a stir fry or steam them up. So vegetables are the first thing I usually talk about. The second I talk about different types of proteins, and especially many of my clients, I love getting them to enjoy more plant-based proteins. So we talk about prepping your tofu in advance. So maybe squeezing that water out and either sauteing it or cutting it up into cubes, baking it, using your air fryer with different spices. That's a great way to get that tofu ready in a big batch. We talk about maybe making a big batch of beans, or I'm a big fan of canned beans. There's nothing wrong with canned beans 'cause they simplify that cooking process. But I would encourage you to rinse it out two to three times. Because then you can reduce the sodium in that can by 40%. So little hacks like that. Um, I always suggest having spices and herbs on hand because that can add so much flavor and you can cut back on the added salt and sugar in your recipes and you don't need a lot of oil or fat when you're cooking. Just a teaspoon can just give you enough to add that cooking essence that you need. And, you know, fun fact, I used to date a chef a long time ago. Oh, they put so much butter in every thing. So you gotta be careful when you're going out because you just have no idea how much, um, salt and fat are in, you know, the, the food that you're getting out. And I can tell you it's a lot.

dr--supatra-tovar_3_06-30-2025_135334: 0:05

Yes. And so we really wanna just like really hammer this point. You do not have to have an entire plate of protein, an entire plate of fat. If you have diabetes, you, it's very important that you do still get whole sources of carbohydrates, and it's really important to know that that is the only way you're going to get energy.

vandana-sheth_2_06-30-2025_135334: 0:06

There's nothing that can mimic eating the food. There's nothing, right? These are all supplements. These are all things we can add to fill the gaps in our diet, but we don't wanna make them the main source. So when possible. Enjoying a real fruit that's just delicious with got fiber, vitamins, minerals is just so good.

dr--supatra-tovar_3_06-30-2025_135334: 0:07

Exactly. Let's stop vilifying carbs. They are our main source of energy and they're what our brains run on. Our brains are not meant to run on ketones. Our body is not meant to be in ketosis. It's a highly metabolically acidic, and so we have to just try to, you know, bring back the carb, let's. Let's make the carb, you know, the, the, the, the, the hero. Exactly. Now you just said the magic word that I was thinking of, supplements. That's another thing I'm seeing a lot of people rely on. Um, gimme your view of supplements. So I'm seeing people say, oh, you know, you're gonna need your magnesium, you're gonna need your B12 shots if you're, you know, especially if you're on these weight loss medications. Maybe they have suppressed your appetite significantly. You're not getting three meals a day. Maybe you're getting one meal a day. Then yes, there are big gaps. How are we gonna fit those gaps? And we can talk about individual nutrients that you might be missing. As far as just general blanket recommendations,

vandana-sheth_2_06-30-2025_135334: 0:10

Not really because what we are noticing, like of course we all put sunblock when we are out in the sun to protect our skin. At the same time, that can be blocking the conversion of the inactive to the active form. A lot of us are not great converters to the inactive, to the active form. And so I have clients who are super athletic. I have high school students who are athletes during the summer. They're doing camp. They're six hours in the sun and they can be deficient in vitamin D. So really it's important to test your vitamin D level with your. Blood panel and then get the right amount supplemented. Cause vitamin as you know, Supatra plays a huge role in terms of how we feel, our mood, our energy. Well, it can build in your body. It's not good. So any fat soluble vitamin A, D, E, and K build up. So that's why it's important to test and get just the right amount that you need. the other one, magnesium that you mentioned, I often will have my clients, especially my female clients who are in their 40 plus stage of life, of age, um, because, uh, many of them have issues going to sleep. There's a lot of anxiety and stress. So maybe taking like a magnesium glycinate at bedtime can help with that. And that's just, again, something that's individual. I wouldn't just do a blanket recommendation, but there is data that says that, um often people who have type two diabetes or blood sugar concerns might be deficient in magnesium. So if that's the case and you have pre-diabetes, we might look at your diet, about some magnesium rich foods, but also think about maybe a supplement a day might help.

dr--supatra-tovar_3_06-30-2025_135334: 0:12

Let's actually talk too about how like supplements, they're not regulated, right? So how do, how are we supposed to know if we're even getting what the supplement says? There's been a lot of studies out there where they, they're showing the supplement says it's containing this, and it contains zero. Yes. You might need a large volume that may not be practical, so. Again, it's nuanced. Each person's needs are different, but when possible, food first is my approach. And it doesn't necessarily have to be, because really the science shows that the closer the food is to the ground, uh, and the more we eat of that, the better our health. So on that note, um, you know, when somebody comes to you and they're like stuck or frustrated with their weight loss program, how can you move them forward in a sustainable and realistic way, especially when we're kind of in this, you know, weight loss medication, magic pill era.

vandana-sheth_2_06-30-2025_135334: 0:16

First of all, it's really important that we normalize and acknowledge their feelings, right? It's their reality. They're living this journey. It's their journey, and we are here to support them. That's the first thing we look at. The second is we zoom out. We don't just focus on the food. We look at are you sleeping? Um, where's your stress level? Um, are you eating enough during the day? We track your energy. We look at your mood. We look at your digestion. Um, we don't just look at weight. When we look at progress, we are looking at so many other aspects of your life. Often clients will start noticing positive trends in other ways. Oh, yeah, I'm waking up feeling more energized. Oh, look at that. Yeah. Yeah. The, the number didn't shift on the scale, but you're feeling better. Your mood is more elevated. So those are signs. So we start looking at those different aspects to get them excited and motivated. So progress again is not always linear when it comes to health. So we wanna make it meaningful. We wanna identify those key things that are shifting that they may not have paid attention to, so that they can also start celebrating those wins and continue on their journey.

dr--supatra-tovar_3_06-30-2025_135334: 0:17

I love that you just said that because you also are a big proponent of intuitive eating. I am as well, although I prefer the term mindful eating just 'cause it's older. It was there first. Um, but, and, and I do think that you are really onto something in that you are helping people tune into their bodies cues. I think that that's where we kind of veer off into, you know, trouble. Especially when we are not paying attention to these cues and we know, for example, you know, just our hunger hormone ghrelin, when we actually honor that as opposed to, oh, I'm just gonna drink water and I'm gonna ignore my hunger.

vandana-sheth_2_06-30-2025_135334: 0:18

Yeah, I love that because yes, I do believe in the intuitive eating and mindful eating approach, and that's why when someone comes to me for weight loss, I always let them know that that's going to be, yes, I understand that's your goal, but first we need to look at holistically what's going on in your life. Let's put that on the back burner. That's going to be a side effect. You will notice that weight loss will happen down the road, but right now let's fix things that are not working. So, for example, you know, often it's someone will come to me and say, it's uh oh, I can't believe I was so bad, or I had no willpower. I this, I was at this party and I just gave in. It's not about willpower, it's about really you've cut out so many foods that your body savors and enjoys that it went crazy when you finally gave yourself permission, right? So it's building that acknowledgement of where your body is at. So listening to your hunger and fullness cues, sometimes clients have no clue their bodies stop giving them clues because they've ignored hunger for so long, so they don't even know what that feels like. So when they start feeling hungry more often. Well, that's your metabolism working. You're getting these signals. You're paying attention. So let's look at that. You mentioned maybe someone having visions of pasta. Maybe that whole day you didn't give yourself any carbs all day long. You were on the go, so your body actually needs those carbs.

dr--supatra-tovar_3_06-30-2025_135334: 0:20

that's how I think we, you know, my book is Deprogrammed Diet Culture. Boop right there. And I think that we, we tend to pick up a lot of really strange rules from diet culture. You know, you gotta skip breakfast. You, you have to put yourself in a calorie deficit and make sure that, you know, you're, you're cutting out 500 calories and what, whatever these rules are. So that may, you know, require people to really curate their social media feed to, I treat. Um. When you learn how to trust your own body, again, that's a really miraculous thing. When people start to actually tune into their hunger and and know when they're physiologically hungry and really stay present while they're eating, then their body's also gonna give them that signal, especially when we're eating slowly. So yes, we definitely have an overlap there. As far as the rules go. That's why I like to keep it simple. I like to keep it science-based, but really going back to what are your goals? How can we get you there while also thinking in terms of abundance rather than restriction. So we look at what are your favorite foods? What are you craving? What have you not given yourself permission to eat? Let's figure out a way to bring those foods back into your life. And where are these rules coming from? Maybe there was, you know, some peer pressure, maybe it was parenting. Who knows, right? We pick up these rules along the way in our lives. Um, so, and then there are some scary moments for clients, especially if they've not given themselves permission to have something. So one of the things we do is I actually have them bring a trigger food or one that they're nervous about eating into the office or virtually through our telehealth platform, and we do a guided. eating exercise where I have them actually smell, taste, savor that food. And it's really interesting some of the results after we are done. I had a client, for example, who absolutely loved this candy bar, which had peanut butter in it. She was at the stage where she could never eat just one. It was always two. Oh, I love those moments. I think that they're beautiful and that's why throwing out the rules and really tuning into your body can be the key to everything. And on that note too, say somebody is on a weight loss medication and they're having horrible side effects, like we're talking like very, very bad side effects, uh, intractable vomiting, uh, diarrhea, constipation that lasts for days.

vandana-sheth_2_06-30-2025_135334: 0:26

there are options, right? First of all, have that conversation with your physician discussing why are we on this medication? Where are we on this dosage? Could we maybe cut back on the dosage? Maybe you don't need the amount you're taking. Maybe you could just get a smaller dosage and that might taper off some of the symptoms because as you progressively go up in dosage, that's when some of those side effects really take on. Um, and also pay attention to how you're feeling as far as those side effects goes with the lower dosage. If you're feeling okay. Then let's leave it there. But if really you're that miserable, it's not sustainable for your quality of life, it might be a conversation about what other options do we have? I think that that's why it's so important, not only to talk to the your doctor, but to talk to a dietician. Doctors have had, at this point, now, they're not even, most medical schools are not even requiring them to have an ounce of nutritional science education, zero so that you know, oftentimes what you might be getting from your doctor might be that recycled diet culture advice. it's that trifecta that brings that whole body perspective to the client because we need to stay in our lanes as to what we focus on. But I, especially with someone who's on a medication like this, having serious side effects, you know, there's a lot of, um, emotion that goes into taking this medication, wanting to stick it out. Having a therapist can be amazing. So I usually encourage my clients to have therapy as well as work with the physicians. So. Ideally in the ideal world when a client or a patient is given a prescription for a GLP one or any of these medications, that it comes automatically with a referral to a dietician because really it needs to come together.

dr--supatra-tovar_3_06-30-2025_135334: 0:29

Yes. And a therapist. I will. This is big reason why I actually went on to get my doctorate. 'cause I was like, I wanna. I wanna cover both bases. I wanna know everything about physical health and also how to augment somebody's mental health, uh, because they're intricately tied. If you see that, usually anybody who might have difficulty physically, whether it's, you know, their weight, whether it's an eating disorder, whatever it is, diabetes, there's usually aspects from childhood things that they've picked up, attachment breaches, you name it, that will.

vandana-sheth_2_06-30-2025_135334: 0:30

Yes. Um, I, if any of the conversation resonated with your audience, I would love for them to connect with me on Instagram. On LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook. I do have some free resources on my website. I have a seven day, uh, plant-based, uh, meal plan with the grocery list and recipes if anyone wants to download that. We do weekly newsletters. My website is a great resource. It's just VandanaSheth.com Um, and again, find me on Instagram or LinkedIn. I'd love to continue this conversation. Thank you so much, Supatra. It was such a joy. I really, really enjoyed it.