Speaker 1: Hi, This is Malan Vervier and this is Kim Azarelli.
Speaker 1: We are co authors of the book Fast Forward, How
Speaker 1: Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose. And you're listening to
Speaker 1: Seneca Women Conversations on Power and Purpose, brought to you
Speaker 1: by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Welcome to this special edition. During these difficult times, we're
Speaker 1: talking to experts who can help us gain perspective on
Speaker 1: the impact of coronavirus, as well as share tips, resources,
Speaker 1: and some much needed inspiration. Today I'm joined by Molina
Speaker 1: mal Connie. Molina is a New York based registered dietitian
Speaker 1: and the founder of Holitarian Lifestyle. Molina, thanks so much
Speaker 1: for joining me, Thank you for having me so um.
Speaker 1: People today, of course, are very focused as we all
Speaker 1: shouldn't be, on our health and and hopefully um thinking
Speaker 1: about nutrition. Most of us are willing to do pretty
Speaker 1: much anything that we can to reduce the risk of
Speaker 1: being infected by COVID nineteen. Can good nutrition be a
Speaker 1: tool to fight out this disease? And if so, what
Speaker 1: foods do you recommend? Yes? Um, it's a great question,
Speaker 1: and good nutrition is absolutely an essential part of keeping
Speaker 1: our our overall immune systems and sells healthy and functioning
Speaker 1: and able to mount a strong defense against diseases and
Speaker 1: infections like COVID nineteen. And what I mean by that
Speaker 1: is that people people really want to know what specific
Speaker 1: to these fighting foods as for supplements, can I eat
Speaker 1: now to check myself against the horrible virus UM. And
Speaker 1: it's understandable because of how scary and anxiety producing this is.
Speaker 1: But it's important to understand that no individual food or
Speaker 1: supplement can provide protection against disease or sort of magically
Speaker 1: quote unquote boost the immune system UM. It's more important
Speaker 1: to understand that even a mild deficiency in an essential
Speaker 1: nutrient can lower the body's ability to fight infections. So
Speaker 1: instead of focusing on a specific food or supplement, I
Speaker 1: recommend really paying attention to eating a balanced, wide variety
Speaker 1: of nutrients and palthy foods, including all the food groups,
Speaker 1: eating lots of fut and vegetables and protein foods like
Speaker 1: beans and like gooms and healthy fast and nuts and
Speaker 1: seeds and whole grains and babby fish uh and and
Speaker 1: a dairy or a non dairy alternative rather than you know,
Speaker 1: having a having it be a time when you're cutting
Speaker 1: out food groups and restricted or conversely loading up on
Speaker 1: foods that may sort of paste food in a moment,
Speaker 1: but our neutral is poor. UM. And I think it's
Speaker 1: also really important to UH to think about taking a
Speaker 1: holistic approach to overall health and wellness, So not only
Speaker 1: eating that kind of nutrients in wide variety of foods
Speaker 1: that's balanced and complete, but practicing good sleepiety and getting
Speaker 1: some exercise every day and managing our stress levels through
Speaker 1: whatever it is that helps you relax, like medication or
Speaker 1: yoga or deep breathing, being will hydrated, drinking a lot
Speaker 1: of water, UM, and getting outside if you can, and
Speaker 1: exposing your skin to some sunshine every day. So you know,
Speaker 1: you gave us great recommendations on stocking up and eating
Speaker 1: a lot of healthy foods, including fruits and veggies. Is
Speaker 1: there any special precaution that we need to be taking
Speaker 1: right now with our fruits and veggies? Any special UM
Speaker 1: handling a prep? Do we need to be using soap
Speaker 1: when washing these? What do you suggest? So? According to
Speaker 1: the European Food Safety Authority, there's no evidence that the
Speaker 1: flood supply is a likely source for a route of
Speaker 1: transmission of the virus, but as always it's really important
Speaker 1: to practice good food safety, for example, keeping your fresh
Speaker 1: fog and fruits and vegetables on one cutting board and
Speaker 1: using another cutting board for rab meets UM. There's no
Speaker 1: need to wash vegetables with soap, but it is really
Speaker 1: important to wash them with water inscription. UM. And when
Speaker 1: it comes to lead degreens, if you buy them triple
Speaker 1: washed UM, don't rewash them, but certainly do wash with
Speaker 1: water inscription Great. Great, Well, that's good advice, and that
Speaker 1: saves me one step. With people stuck indoors so much.
Speaker 1: You know, we're all thinking, of course about lack of
Speaker 1: vitamin d UM. Is there anything we should be doing
Speaker 1: there or are there other deficiencies we should be worried
Speaker 1: about right now? Yeah, Vitamin d is UM. We're hearing
Speaker 1: a lot about it right now because it is a
Speaker 1: nutrient that facilitates normal immune systems function. But so much
Speaker 1: of the population is deficient, and it really can be
Speaker 1: hard to keep levels up, especially if you know we're
Speaker 1: spending so much time indoors and complying with UM the
Speaker 1: directive to quarantine and to shelter the place UM. And
Speaker 1: so yes, it's important to if you can get outside
Speaker 1: and try to expose your skins through about fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: of some light to day. That's very helpful. There are
Speaker 1: good food sources of vitamin D that can help. UM.
Speaker 1: Some of those include patty fish like tuna, damons which
Speaker 1: are easy to buy, canned versions of UM which are
Speaker 1: more shelf table. Egg yolks are a great food source
Speaker 1: of vitamin D. UM. Some dairy products and soy belk
Speaker 1: that are fortified and vitamin D breakfast cereals, mushrooms uh um.
Speaker 1: And you know, if you can't meet the the r
Speaker 1: D A which is about eight hundred I used per
Speaker 1: day for food, UM, it can be helpful to the
Speaker 1: supplement as well. Yeah, you're making me kind of hungry. Actually, Um,
Speaker 1: are there other other other deficiencies we should be looking
Speaker 1: out for other than vitamin D right now? Yeah. Some
Speaker 1: of the nutrients that are really important in terms of
Speaker 1: playing important roles is supporting immune function include protein, UM,
Speaker 1: antioxidant vitamins and E, vitamin A, zinc um. And there
Speaker 1: are other nutrients as well that do influence the usune
Speaker 1: response UM, bullennium in vitamin B sticks, iron copper. But
Speaker 1: like I mentioned before, UM, when you're eating a really healthy, balanced,
Speaker 1: wide variety of nutrients in foods. UM, usually you can
Speaker 1: meet all of the needs of these different nutrients and
Speaker 1: UM avoid efficiencies. UM. So I really recommend just following
Speaker 1: that kind of a wide variety of nutrient dense foods.
Speaker 1: That's making that of goal, and there are definitely ways
Speaker 1: to do that using shelf stable products. It's a myth that, um,
Speaker 1: only with fresh fruits and vegetables can you meet your
Speaker 1: daily meats. You know, there's frozen vegetables and fruits which
Speaker 1: are pet that peak ripeness um, which helps preserve a
Speaker 1: lot of those nutrients. UM. Canned versions are also a
Speaker 1: great way to help people meet their needs. So it's
Speaker 1: it's a good time to get creative in the kitchen. Well,
Speaker 1: it's great to know that it's a myth that they
Speaker 1: can only be fresh, that you think they're frozen and
Speaker 1: candor equally nutritious. They're they're definitely wonderful options. Yeah. So, um,
Speaker 1: let's talk about comfort food. Yeah, you're all seeking some
Speaker 1: comfort right now in the middle of all this. What's
Speaker 1: a good snack or comfort food that you feel is
Speaker 1: nutritious that you're recommending these days? Well, um, one of
Speaker 1: the things that I've been recommending to a lot of
Speaker 1: my clients is UM taking the time right now to
Speaker 1: batch cook ahead because you know, a lot of the
Speaker 1: times hits at home and homeschooling is incredibly dressful and
Speaker 1: time consuming. We're working jobs on top of it, and
Speaker 1: possibly getting care to other people who might be sick
Speaker 1: in our households, and so if you're dressed in its
Speaker 1: way and looking for comfort food, UM a great way
Speaker 1: to save its time and money, it's to batch cook
Speaker 1: some of those nourishing and easily reheatable soups and stews
Speaker 1: and cathroles, and then freezing or or refrigerating the extra
Speaker 1: UM and those going to be easily reheated in a
Speaker 1: moment um when you need something comforting and warming and
Speaker 1: UH and available in quickly. I have a couple of
Speaker 1: recipes on my blog that I recommend a lot. One
Speaker 1: is a lemon lentil soup, and lentils are such a
Speaker 1: great way to get some of that UH plant based
Speaker 1: protein UM. And there's lots of greens in this soup
Speaker 1: as well, which has a lot of vitamin See, there's iron.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of these important nutrients that help support
Speaker 1: our health. I'm just gonna ask some recipes, so now
Speaker 1: that we know that they're on your blog, we can
Speaker 1: tell our listeners about that. And I myself will go
Speaker 1: because lemon lentil that sounds delicious. Oh good, I hope,
Speaker 1: so I like it because it also it's a complete meal.
Speaker 1: And when we're so dressed and uh, you know, trying
Speaker 1: to juggle so many things all at once, it's helpful
Speaker 1: to have something that's just a complete meal in a bowl.
Speaker 1: And the lemonential soup also has to sakin me in it,
Speaker 1: so healthy facts and carrots and just all those good
Speaker 1: nourishing nutrients that helps support overall how we'll be back
Speaker 1: after this break? Now, is there anything different we need
Speaker 1: to be thinking in terms of children's nutrition at this time? Um,
Speaker 1: something that might be different from advice you're giving to adults. Well,
Speaker 1: kids are not being as affected by this virus um,
Speaker 1: which is such a blessing and it's hopefully calming to
Speaker 1: a lot of people to to hear that. Um, But um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's tough for them to be indoors a
Speaker 1: lot and to not be able to you know, run
Speaker 1: around outside as much and get the same sort of
Speaker 1: level of activity activity as they're used to. UM, and
Speaker 1: so when it comes to kids and and to everyone
Speaker 1: for that matter, but UM, it's important to take holistic
Speaker 1: sort of approach to their overall health while we're home
Speaker 1: and homeschooling, so that it includes a little bit of
Speaker 1: activity every day as maybe even some stress relief, so
Speaker 1: maybe some either meditation or moments of calm UM, and
Speaker 1: providing some structure for them that allows for all these
Speaker 1: different aspects of the healthy lifestyle. Really uh, prioritizing sleep
Speaker 1: as well, so that all of these lifestyle behaviors that
Speaker 1: contribute to overall health and wellness, of which help you
Speaker 1: insisted as a part, are accounted for. What's the number
Speaker 1: one food to stock up on when you're making those
Speaker 1: limited trips to the grocery store. Is there one food
Speaker 1: that you're like, you've got to have that in your pantry?
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, that's a tough question because it really is
Speaker 1: about variety and balance. UM. But if I had to
Speaker 1: pick one, I think kind of the overall umbrella of
Speaker 1: fruits and vegetables is UM is really important because fruits
Speaker 1: and vegetables when you talk about nutrient density, and by
Speaker 1: tree in density, I mean foods that offer a large
Speaker 1: number of healthy nutrients per calorie. Fruits and vegetables. UH
Speaker 1: really fits the bill. I was hoping to say broccoli
Speaker 1: because I bought a lot of broccoli and my I
Speaker 1: do have so much broccoli. Broccoli. Saying broccoli is the
Speaker 1: number one food recommended, you don't really can't go wrong
Speaker 1: with broccoli. Broccoli is just one of those blood durful
Speaker 1: foods that has a lot to offer. My last question
Speaker 1: is maybe not a nutrition question, but what makes you
Speaker 1: optimistic in this moment? Oh gosh um. You know, as
Speaker 1: a as a dietician who specializes in nutritions for mom's
Speaker 1: babies and kids, I deal a lot with picky eating um.
Speaker 1: And one of the silver linings of this whole situation
Speaker 1: is that as parents and caregivers, we are home with
Speaker 1: our kids, and we are we have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: really enlist our kids in meal planning, shopping, UH, cooking,
Speaker 1: food prep and all of the different behaviors and actions
Speaker 1: that over time help navigate and sort of combat some
Speaker 1: of those picky eating behaviors and enlist kids in UH
Speaker 1: understanding where our food comes from and how to prepare it.
Speaker 1: It's such a way that it expands their palates and
Speaker 1: gets them more interested in trying new foods, um and
Speaker 1: over time, that can really help set this up for
Speaker 1: a positive relationship with food down the road. So for
Speaker 1: a lot of families, I'm really hoping this becomes an
Speaker 1: opportunity to eat together, learn more about food and um
Speaker 1: kind of right the ships in terms of of of
Speaker 1: picky eating. So true, we can develop good habits in
Speaker 1: this moment as well. So we're we're very grateful for
Speaker 1: you for taking the time to uh set us on
Speaker 1: the right course in terms of nutrition and what we're
Speaker 1: doing here in this that we don't accidentally move into
Speaker 1: a comfort food zone that is not productive for us.
Speaker 1: So we appreciate your time. Thanks so much for being
Speaker 1: with us. So it's like pleasure. I wish everybody to that.
Speaker 1: Thank you. You're listening to Seneca Women Conversations on Power
Speaker 1: and Purpose, brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast
Speaker 1: Network and I Heart Radio with support from founding partner PNGNG.
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