AIR DATE AUGUST 11, 2022

Title: Supporting Wellness through Nutrition

Learn about the importance of nutrition in living a healthful lifestyle and a local organization supporting access to nutritious meals.

Guests and Locations

Nutrition Gab, Registered Dietitian – Gabrielle Tafur

Hebni Nutrition Consultants, Inc., Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist and Program Director- Celines Martinez

Improve Your Quality of Life, One Bite at a Time

Nutrition is essential today because we literally are what we eat. The foods we put into our bodies impact our overall health right away.

I recently spoke with Gabrielle Tafur, a registered dietician and doctoral student. She’s passionate about transforming nutritional information into small behavioral changes that help people become healthier.

“Every single chronic condition is preventable through nutrition,” Tafur said. “In the United States, the leading causes of death are chronic illness, and the majority of those are diet-induced. As scary as that sounds, it’s also very positive. If they’re diet-induced, they can be diet-cured and prevented.”

Tafur recommends that people log their food and exercise to provide data for evaluation. That information gets added to the results of various tests to offer recommendations for nutritional improvement.

Shop Outside the Middle Shelves and Aisles for Groceries

I also talked with Celines Martinez, who serves as the Program Director of Hebni Nutrition Consultants. She’s also a registered dietician. Her passion is serving the African American and Hispanic communities in central Florida, a demographic that typically consumes low-cost, ultra-processed foods.

“A lot of us grew up eating homemade food that’s good and healthy, and things that are even plant-based, but how we’re preparing them requires attention. Are we buying them already processed? Do we need to learn how to cook them at home?

It’s difficult for dieticians to cross the cultural divides when trying to improve individual health. “When that person doesn’t look like you and doesn’t understand where you come from or home you eat, and all of a sudden, they’re telling you that all the things you know to eat and cook and prepare, you can’t have them – it can be very overwhelming.”

Tafur recommends making simple swaps, like using whole-grain pasta instead of something with more processing. By shifting one habit successfully, it becomes easier to make more extensive changes.

“Can they just eat breakfast,” said Tafur, “or keep a water bottle on their desk? Usually, it’s mostly behavioral-based when it comes to preventative care.”

The best place to shop for groceries to facilitate these changes is along the upper and lower grocery shelves and outside the middle aisles. Look for fresh foods, zero preservatives, and minimal processing to achieve the best results.

Start By Changing Your Morning Routine

“It’s good to prep the night before,” Martinez told me. “Things like overnight oatmeal, you can cook a big batch of it on a Sunday, and then have enough breakfast for the next few days. All you need to do is heat it up.”

Martinez also recommends cooking a little bit more for dinner to avoid urges to snack on ultra-processed items. “If you’re already putting chicken in the oven, throw in a second casserole dish. Now you have extra food for the other days that you can use for different things.”

Tafur and Martinez agree that making proactive decisions can lead to positive results. If you’re having trouble making these changes in your eating habits, be sure to check in with a local dietician who can help you find the small swaps that can lead to big results.