89: A New Vision for Healthy Eating in 2021 with Maya Feller, MS, RD

Today’s show covers many different aspects of food nutrition. We are honing in on a new vision for healthy eating in 2021. Join us!

Maya Feller is a registered dietitian and nutritionist from www.mayafellernutrition.com. She is a nationally recognized nutrition expert and author of The Southern Comfort Food Diabetes Cookbook, which features over 100 healthy and delicious recipes. As if her life isn’t busy enough, Maya also works as an adjunct professor at NYU. She joins me today with approachable nutrition solutions and a new perspective on how all of us can eat a healthy diet during the pandemic and beyond.

What you won’t hear today are diet prescriptions, strict rules, and weight loss advice. Instead, we’re looking at nutrition through a slightly different lens. We will discuss how systemic racism drives inequities in healthcare, access to healthy foods, and healthy outcomes, along with what we can do to right those wrongs and improve the health of all communities. Get ready to be empowered! Maya also explains why there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to healthy eating, and why a new emphasis on embracing and celebrating your cultural food ways can lead to better eating and better health. If your family is like a lot of families out there, where everyone has a different food preference and different food priority, Maya explains how you can still get one meal on the table that everyone will happily eat. 

 

Show Highlights:

 

• Maya’s life in Brooklyn with her husband, two children, and pets; she’s busy working from home and managing the kids’ remote schoolwork
• Why Maya’s work and website focus on helping people reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases and helping those who have them (diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc.)
• Why the representatives we elect into office and existing laws impact our access to healthy food; people cannot eat a healthy diet without access to safe, healthy, and affordable foods in their neighborhoods
• How systemic racism drives inequities in healthcare and health outcomes
• Why we should advocate for the collective and not just for individual needs
• Why there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution when it comes to nutrition and how cultural food ways are taken into consideration when defining a “healthy” diet
• Why your weight on the scale doesn’t necessarily predict metabolic health
• How the foods that show up regularly in your house can fit into a healthy eating style
• How a family of four with different eating styles can eat the same foods (hint: start with plant-based meals with added flavor from herbs and spices)
• How Maya uses plenty of herbs and spices to add flavor to family meals
• What Maya would do to create something delicious from a can of collard greens: add sweet onion, garlic, pepper, paprika, cumin, and hot pepper or red pepper flakes
• Why eating mindfully and intuitively is a trend for 2021
• Small changes we can make for healthier families and communities in 2021 include the following: go outside and get fresh air daily; find your food style and modify it to be nourishing and health-promoting 
• Maya’s hopeful messages: “I hope to see systemic shifts in which marginalized and disenfranchised communities will receive the help they need. I also hope to see expansion in the dietitian field to be more inclusive of all people.”
• Maya’s newest cookbook that’s in the works right now

 

 

Resources:

 

 Maya Feller Nutrition - Website

Instagram: MayaFellerRD

Twitter: MayaFellerRD

Facebook: Maya Feller Nutrition

 

Maya's cookbook: The Southern Comfort Food Diabetes Cookbook

 

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