Episode 106: Food as Medicine, a Today’s Dietitian Spring Symposium Feature
About the Podcast
The idea of “food as medicine” is seen as controversial. Nationally renowned media and nutrition expert, Kathleen Zelman and Clancy dig into what this term truly means, its impact on food access and health programming, and more.
About Kathleen Zelman
Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RDN, LD is a food, nutrition and media communication consultant, co-host of the True Health Initiative, ‘True Health Revealed’ podcast and owner of No Nonsense Nutrition, LLC. Retired as the director of nutrition for WebMD after seventeen years, she helped build the state-of-the-art food, diet and nutrition portal.
Zelman received one of the highest honors from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the 2016 ‘Lenna Frances Cooper Memorial Award’ in recognition of a distinguished career and remarkable contributions to the dietetics profession. In 2007, Zelman was awarded the prestigious AND “Media Excellence Award” for her contribution and commitment to educating consumers about food and nutrition. The American Society for Nutrition (ASN) named Kathleen the 2011 recipient of their “Nutrition Science Media Award” for outstanding science and nutrition journalism. The Institute of Food Technologists awarded her with the 2012 “Media Award for Excellence in Consumer Journalism”. In 2014 Zelman was awarded the “Distinguished Alumni” award from Montclair State University.
Her media experience is extensive, including co-hosting a weekly radio program for four years, serving twelve years as a national spokesperson for the Academy, over 1000 print and television appearances and a co-author on several books. She served as a contributing editor to the Academy’s Food & Nutrition Magazine and is currently a member of the board of directors of the True Health Initiative; Nutrition4Kids, Sabra and Sifter medical advisory boards and a member of Bayer’s L.E.A.D. network.
Zelman has served as a dietetic internship director at Ochsner Medical Institutions and assistant professor at St. Mary’s Dominican College. Active in local, state and national dietetic associations including serving on the Academy’s board of directors, as a trustee on the Georgia Dietetic Foundation and two terms as a delegate to the Academy House of Delegates. She received her master’s degree in public health from Tulane University and her bachelor of science from Montclair State University.
Discussion Takeaways
- Kathleen Zelman is presenting at the Today’s Dietitian Spring Symposium on Tuesday, May 24 at 3:00-4:00 PM (ET). Her topic is titled, “Where Health Meets Food: The Intersection of Food as Medicine in 2022”. Don’t miss it!
- More than half of adults have at least one diet-related, chronic disease like heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. In her talk at Today’s Dietitian, Kathleen will focus on where we currently are in the food as medicine realm and how choosing a healthful diet can actually make the biggest impact.
- At a national level, there is a bipartisan working group creating food as medicine programs. They’re piloting a home delivered meal system for those who are ill.
- There are over 250,000 papers on the concept of food as medicine.
- If you’re in your twenties and eating well, you can add 10+ years to your life. If you start eating healthily when you’re eighty, you can add three years. It’s never too late to start.
- Food cannot act as medicine, like insulin, but it can support one’s health. The fight over whether “food as medicine” is a correct description of what good nutrition can do, is semantics. We should instead pay attention to the awesome programming that is happening across the nation because this issue has been prioritized at all levels.
- When creating nutrition education and various forms of communication:
- Keep it simple at a 6th grade reading level.
- Be sensitive to the issues people are dealing with in today’s society.
- Build trust. Find your voice, and stick to it.
- Create actionable advice.
- Less is more. Our goal as nutrition communicators is to trigger lightbulb moments.
- Have a consistent message.
The beautiful image above was created by Rebecca Garofano, our Food Dignity Institute Lead and Illustration Specialist. You can find more of her work at @VeggieDoodleSoup on Instagram and at her website veggiedoodlesoup.com.
#1 tip to improve access to healthy food
The "food as medicine" concept is proving what dietitians have always done.
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