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Transcript

Food As Health Alliance · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello and welcome to Talking FACS. This is your host, Dr.
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  Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family Consumer Sciences Extension at
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  the University of Kentucky.
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  Today, I'm pleased to be joined by Dr. Heather Norman-Burgdolf,
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  Extension Specialist for Food and Nutrition,
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  and Lauren Beatty, a Registered Dietitian and Program Coordinator with the Food
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  is Health Alliance here at the University of Kentucky.
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  Welcome, Heather and Lauren. Thank you for having us.
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  Thank you. So today's topic is food as health, meeting health needs through food security.
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  And we always hear about nutrition and the idea of health.
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  And some of the common buzzword phrases that have recently been used are food
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  as health and food as medicine.
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  Could we unpack those before we get into the work of the Food as Health Alliance here at UK?
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  Absolutely. This is a great place to start. What we know is that dietary choices
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  are the number one risk factor for chronic disease.
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  And in the US, seven out of the 10 leading causes of death are directly related to diet.
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  And this is largely because risk factors like high blood pressure,
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  high blood sugar, and high cholesterol are all connected to the foods we eat.
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  And we have some really good science to show that specific food choices can
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  prevent or help manage these risk factors that are linked to certain health conditions.
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  So food as health is essentially respecting and recognizing the important role
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  nutrition and diet is playing with our overall health and well-being.
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  Now, the concept of food as health or food as medicine also respects the fact
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  that sometimes the food choices people have are limited and that where we live, work, play,
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  even pray impacts our health through food access and our ability to afford food to begin with.
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  So in Kentucky, food insecurity, which essentially means not having access to
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  or or the ability to afford nutritious
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  foods, largely contributes to diet-sensitive chronic conditions.
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  And because of the known health outcomes that are observed among both children
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  and adults, food insecurity is now recognized as a leading nutrition-related
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  health care issue that we need to pay attention to, especially here in Kentucky.
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  So how does that line up with the Food is Health Alliance?
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  And could you tell us more about the Alliance and the work they do?
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  Sure, I'd be happy to. The Food as Health Alliance here at UK is new.
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  We were just established in January of this year, so January 2023.
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  We recognized how much great work at UK was being done across the board when
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  it came to nutrition, food, health, and agriculture.
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  We wanted to synergize all of this great work and create new opportunities for collaboration.
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  The Alliance brings all of that work together in innovative ways to help people
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  across the Commonwealth with nutrition and food security.
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  So we seek to bring together clinical and community research spanning across
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  agriculture, food, and health to address food insecurity and diet-related chronic diseases.
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  Specifically, we are creating synergy within this space by bringing together
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  researchers, clinicians, community partners, food commodity producers,
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  healthcare partners, and students to explore innovative strategies to improve
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  patient clinical outcomes and the health of Kentuckians.
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  Great. So what are the overall goals of the Food is Health Alliance and what
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  are you working to achieve?
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  The Alliance has four pillars, research, policy, training, and community outreach.
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  We believe all of these components are critical to addressing the issue of how
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  food insecurity security is impacting chronic diseases like diabetes,
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  heart disease, and high blood pressure.
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  Our research is looking for the most effective strategies for providing nutritious
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  food to people who need assistance managing these conditions.
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  We're also working to train healthcare providers on screening for food insecurity
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  and the steps that they can take to help someone who is food insecure.
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  We also want people to feel empowered to make nutritious food choices that they
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  can afford within their communities.
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  Our community outreach pillar hopes to provide them with the tools and information
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  they need to make the best decisions for their health within the limits of their budget and access.
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  Finally, our long-term goal is to enact large policy changes that make it easier
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  for people to access nutritious foods when preventing or managing diet-sensitive conditions.
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  We're working on everything from the big picture to very small steps and everything in between.
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  And Jennifer, I can say as an Extension Specialist that Extension is directly
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  benefiting from the work of the Food is Health Alliance.
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  Specifically, the Food is Health Alliance is partnering with FCS Extension to
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  provide tools and resources to better meet the needs of Kentucky communities,
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  especially for people who are prevent trying to prevent or manage chronic diet
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  sensitive health conditions like diabetes and heart disease and high blood pressure
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  while also respecting limited resources and food access issues that a lot of
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  our kentucky communities are experiencing.
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  So what are some resources the Food is Health Alliance has to support people
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  making food choices out in Kentucky communities?
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  While we're always working to add more resources, already we have a lot of great
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  things available to the community.
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  On our website, we have dozens of recipes for managing diet-related chronic
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  diseases, as well as weekly meal plans, shopping lists, and tips for managing your food budget. it.
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  We also have social media where
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  we post weekly recipe videos and other fun nutrition-related content.
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  You can find us on Facebook and Instagram, and we can also provide links in
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  the show notes that will take people directly to our community resources and our recipes.
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  Yes, thank you, Lauren. I do want to mention for our listeners that if they
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  are seeking more information, that in the the show notes, we have linked the
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  homepage to Food is Health, as well as the community resources page.
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  And as you mentioned, the recipes and cooking videos.
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  Lauren and Heather, thank you so much for joining me today and sharing about
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  the Food is Health Alliance.
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  Thanks for having us. Thank you.
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  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
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  health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
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  If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea,
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  leave a like and a comment on Facebook at UKFCSEXT or send us an email at UKFCSEXT at uky.edu.
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  Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu To learn more about the University of Kentucky
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  Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program or contact your local Extension
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  agent for Family and Consumer Sciences, we build strong families.
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  We build Kentucky. It starts with us.
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  Music.