Liz's Healthy Table Podcast Episode #89: A New Vision for Healthy Eating in 2021 with Maya Feller, MS, RD

Today’s show offers a vision for healthy eating in 2021. My guest is registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller of Maya Feller Nutrition. She’s a nationally recognized nutrition expert, author of The Southern Comfort Food Diabetes Cookbook (with over 100 recipes for a healthy life), mom of two, and adjunct professor at NYU.

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Maya joins me today with approachable nutrition solutions and new perspectives on how all of us can eat a healthier diet during the pandemic and beyond. What you won’t hear are diet prescriptions or strict rules or weight loss advice. Instead, we take a look at nutrition through a slightly different lens with a discussion on systemic racism and how it drives inequities in healthcare, access to healthy foods, and health outcomes… and talk about what we can all do to right that wrong and help to improve the health of all communities. On the show we also explain why there’s 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 (with a few modifications if needed) can lead to better eating and better health.

And 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.

“We have to advocate from the ground up to improve access to healthy food in our neighborhoods and communities.”

– Maya Feller, MS, RD

On this week’s Liz’s Healthy Table #podcast, I’m joined by @MayaFellerRD for a new vision for what healthy eating can and should look like in 2021. – “We have to advocate from the ground up to improve access to healthy food in our…

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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
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 message: “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

Liz’s links:

Liz Weiss, MS, RDN

Food & Nutrition Blogger, Podcast Host, Author, Speaker, Spokesperson

Author, Color, Cook, Eat! coloring book series

Website: Liz’s Healthy Table

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