Season 2 Highlights

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[00:00:04] Colby: Welcome to Stocking the Pantry: A CalFresh Healthy Living Podcast from Leah's Pantry. On this show, we discuss any and all things community nutrition, food equity, and nutrition security. We hope to foster collaboration and community as well as leverage strengths among listeners, guests, and hosts as we share ideas and dreams of building a more equitable future where everyone has access to healthful nourishing food. Hey Carlos and Tee.

[00:00:39] Carlos: Hey, Colby.

[00:00:40] Tee: Hey, everybody. Happy New Year.

[00:00:43] Colby: I am so excited to dive into our third season of Stocking the Pantry. I can hardly believe we've made it this far. For those of you who are new here, this podcast is a product of Leah's Pantry, a leader in trauma-informed nutrition in partnership with CalFresh Healthy Living. Leah's Pantry is a California-based nonprofit with a nationwide footprint in community nutrition. We generate curriculum, trainings, and thoughtful conversations about trauma, resilience, and nourishment.

[00:01:15] Carlos: That's right. On our show, we aim to highlight the experiences of supplemental nutrition assistance program educators, aka SNAP-Ed, and people doing great work in their communities, in the world of food security and social services. Through interviewing professionals and sharing stories with our listeners, we hope we can all learn from each other and continue providing care and education through a trauma-born lens.

[00:01:45] Tee: Here we are at our highlights episode, which is a tradition we've developed over the last couple of seasons. It's just really a great way for our new listeners to get a snippet of what our show is all about. It's also good for people like me who sometimes forget what we ate for lunch yesterday. A little refresher can go a long way.

[00:02:06] Colby: I feel that. I think a refresher would be great.

[00:02:09] Carlos: Before we jump into the highlights, we want to reintroduce ourselves for y'all. Take it away, Tee.

[00:02:15] Tee: I came to Leah's Pantry in 2022 with a background in nutrition, science, and art and I must say I have grown tremendously these past three years through my position as a senior program coordinator and podcast host. Specifically what that means for me is I coordinate and facilitate curriculum and capacity building trainings, provide slide design support, host our podcast of course, and serve on various internal committees that I feel really help to foster an inclusive community at our growing nonprofit. LP or Leah's Pantry does an amazing job I feel at identifying and leveraging individual strengths to uplift and build a cohesive team.

I must say Leah's Pantry has been my saving grace on so many levels, and it continues to fill my passion for bringing laughter, acquiring, and sharing knowledge, and just empowering the community in intentional and authentic ways. I am super grateful to be a part of such a diverse and phenomenal team, especially our podcast crew. Enough about me and how wonderful I think LP is. Colby, how about you?

[00:03:26] Colby: I love that Tee, and I'm actually going to talk about myself, but also how wonderful I think LP is also. Tee and I actually joined the Leah's Pantry team at the same time in the spring of 2022. I am also a senior program coordinator, and I come from a nutrition science and food banking background. I work on our food security team, which means I do a lot of the same things that Tee does, like create and facilitate trainings, but more specifically for our partners in the food bank, food pantry, and food distribution world. Being at Leah's Pantry has helped me see the world through a more compassionate lens and give a little more grace to those around me.

When I facilitate trainings on these topics, the things I talk about are ideas and lessons, and tools that I genuinely believe in, and that have helped me become a better, more understanding, and empathetic person in this wild world. All that to say, I'm really grateful to be here with these two amazing people co-hosting this show. Without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Carlos.

[00:04:33] Carlos: Thank you, Colby. I joined LP in the summer of 2023 and feel that I've also considerably grown professionally during my tenure. I oversee and implement in-person health and wellness services for several programs across California, mostly down here in San Diego. I provide community programming through food distributions, nutrition, and cooking workshops, and movement lessons just to name a few, which can all create healthier and more resilient communities. I'm honored to be part of this project that enables the voices of community members and leaders who also share this belief and have experience in our shared cause.

[00:05:13] Colby: Now that we've given you a sense of who we are and what we do here, let's get cooking with season three. We'll be taking you through some of our favorite moments from season two, and hopefully, it'll inspire you to go back and take a full listen to these episodes. Let's kick it off with episode two in which we had Dr. Annie Lindsay of the University of Nevada, Reno on the pod. She has decades of experience working with folks suffering from substance use disorder. From that, she knows a lot about the process of recovery and the role that nutrition plays in it. She talked about how so many folks come into their recovery journey with nutrient deficiencies. Let's take a lesson.

[00:05:57] Dr. Annie Lindsay: There's a lot of data to support that all people in recovery, not just women, all people in recovery come into recovery with nutrient deficient issues. There's been some studies that have shown 88% of people in recovery need nutritional guidance. You know what, SNAP educators? We're here. This is what we're here for. Some of them are clinically deficient and some of them are malnutritioned and may need a dietician. Many of those, if not a majority of them, we can make an impact on group nutrition education.

[00:06:31] Tee: I absolutely love this episode, and I really feel that Dr. Lindsay laid such a great foundation for us in this episode about the intersection of substance use, recovery, and nutrition. I think that really speaks to the community nutrition work we do here at Leah's Pantry.

[00:06:47] Colby: Absolutely. Later in the season, we spoke with Michelle Frye-Spray from the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies. Her perspective on recovery is very in line with the trauma-informed approach that Leah's Pantry brings to all of our programs. She pointed out that human connection is super important when it comes to recovery, meaning connection with community and those around us, but also connection with multiple services and disciplines.

I don't know anyone who has been talking about the importance of nutrition and recovery, but both of these episodes highlighted the complexities of recovery and how we can better support folks on that journey through a variety of connection.

[00:07:30] Tee: I love that. Connection is really where it's at y'all. All right.

[00:07:34] Colby: Absolutely.

[00:07:35] Tee: [chuckles] Now moving into episode four, we explored the impact of CalFresh Healthy Living programming on college campuses. At the time we spoke with Claudia Lopez, who was a dietetic intern at Fresno State, preparing to graduate with her master's of Science. Woo woo. I remember Claudia mentioning how nutritional information and cooking knowledge can really empower students and help build confidence in themselves and their choices. One of my favorite things she talked about in this interview was the Way Finders program.

In short, Way Finders is a program supporting young adults with intellectual and or developmental disabilities. Over at Fresno State, Way Finders students get a chance to take classes, live in student apartments, and get work experience. Claudia shared that Way Finders students participated in their cooking classes through CalFresh Healthy Living Workshops, and that was really something magical. Let's hear from Claudia in episode four.

[00:08:39] Claudia Lopez: You can see and feel students' confidence grow with each class as they learn new skills. These students were able to learn how to chop vegetables, how to try different cooking tools, and learn different techniques. One of the things that was my favorite thing to see was how they changed drastically from the first session to the third session. The first session, they were a little bit nervous being in a cooking environment, and by the third session, they didn't need any help.

They were just ready to go. They were ready to chop vegetables, they were ready to participate in all of the activities. To me, that was truly rewarding part of working with CalFresh Healthy Living and seeing these students feel confident in themselves and their abilities to create healthy changes.

[00:09:27] Carlos: I love that Claudia said that. When I'm teaching a class in the community, it's so rewarding to see folks become more empowered from learning the cooking basics. It can be as simple as just learning how to hold a knife. Knowing what type of knife should be used goes just a long way. I think we can all agree that we are far more comfortable cooking and chopping veggies. We're not afraid of cutting our own fingers.

[00:09:50] Colby: Oh, yes. Here's also the thing, once we get the basics down, we can always keep learning. I've been cooking nearly my whole life, really as long as I can remember. I didn't know the most effective way to dice an onion until I came to Leah's Pantry. Once I learned that, it blew my mind. Once we have a foundation in these cooking skills, it can give us the confidence to keep building on those skills and continue growing in the kitchen.

[00:10:18] Carlos: Absolutely, Colby. Moving on to episode six, where we chat with Jennie Altman. She's the community programs manager at AZ Health Zone, which is Arizona's SNAP-Ed program. Jennie told us all about AZ Health Zones, the Language of Health toolkit. It's designed to guide conversations about nutrition, diet culture, body size, using a strengths-based approach, and much more. I really love that she dove into how language can impact our own biases and how we can improve that. Just take a listen to Jennie here.

[00:10:52] Jennie Altman: Since anti-fat bias can show up anywhere, it can also show up when people are seeking health care. Sometimes people in larger bodies are mistreated, misdiagnosed, or not getting appropriate care when they go to see their medical providers. Sometimes these patients are just told to lose weight regardless of whatever symptoms they're having or whatever their concerns are. This can be extremely harmful, not just for the current situation someone's seeking care for, but also for the future.

Patients who have this experience can develop mistrust in medical professionals and avoid routine or follow-up visits. When I was working at a health center, I would encourage medical providers to talk with their patients about what behaviors they're engaging in and refer patients to me for health reasons beyond weight and BMI, because as we know, weight is not an accurate indicator of health status.

[00:11:53] Tee: Yes. Let me say that again. Weight is not an accurate indicator of health status. I think that really hits on this larger theme and trauma-informed work that everyone is incredibly unique.

[00:12:06] Carlos: Exactly, Tee. Our bodies, our experiences, the way we process the world around us is ours meaning that it's very unique and very individual. It's important for those of us working in the nutrition and public health to remember.

[00:12:22] Tee: Absolutely. Thanks for that, Carlos. Now, in episode seven, we dug into the idea of universal design and how it can be incorporated into SNAP-Ed programming. Universal design strategies include principles and approaches that enable all people, regardless of ability, learning, style, or culture, to access programs and services without the need for adaptation or additional assistance. In plain words, it means making a world that is accessible for folks of all kinds of abilities.

To learn more about what this means, we chatted with Lindsey Mullis, the inclusive health and wellness director at the University of Kentucky, Human Develop Institute. Y'all, I loved our conversation with Lindsey. It was a powerful one.

[00:13:14] Colby: Yes, she's a force to be reckoned with. She was so exciting to have on the show.

[00:13:19] Tee: Hello. She really emphasized how important it is to support public health initiatives that are already doing this universal design work. It made me actually think about the potential we have to be so much more inclusive in SNAP-Ed programming, and what we can actually learn from folks who have already been doing this work for years.

[00:13:40] Lindsey Mullis: There's a huge, huge benefit from enhancing existing programs and structures to be more inclusive and welcoming to people with disabilities, especially since disabled individuals are the largest minority population and unfortunately experience really startling health disparities. That's why it's so important to ensure that the programs and services we offer are accessible and meaningfully inclusive. It's hard to not be inspired to do this work when you learn that those one in four Americans with disabilities are also twice as likely to smoke or have diabetes, they're three times as likely to have heart disease and roughly one out of two disabled adults are obese.

The more I did this work, the more I saw that health professionals are already serving people with disabilities, and they're asking for more support and information on how to do so effectively, or they were missing out on a large part of their communities who really needed to access the health programs, but lacked the support to successfully do so.

[00:14:34] Colby: Lindsey's passion was palpable, and she gave us a great reminder that sometimes when it seems like there's a lack of support for a group of people, there are often people in that space who are already doing great work and might just not have enough resources to expand it. We don't need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to connect with like-minded individuals and organizations.

[00:14:56] Tee: This is what our show is all about, highlighting the folks, doing the important work, making connections, and celebrating them.

[00:15:03] Colby: Which brings us right into our final two episodes of the season. In episode nine, we discussed the incredible impact that community gardening can have on folks. Holly Lacell joined us, and she is the SNAP-Ed senior coordinator for Washington State University's Yakima County Extension. She runs gardens at two recovery center campuses in the county. Y'all, talking with Holly was one of my favorite moments from this season. I think everyone's going to hear why when we play this clip. As an avid gardener, all these perspective really hit home with me. Enough for me, I'm going to let Holly take it from here.

[00:15:45] Holly Lacell: Having the access to something that is less clinical and yet allows these people in substance use recovery to continue to develop social skills is huge. It is one of the things that time and time again, the employees of these treatment centers bring up to me. Just getting the vitamin D, the sunshine, the physical activity, those things are amazing and important and it's what SNAP-Ed is all about, but having a space to cry. I had a man come up to me just the other day when I was at the men's campus just pruning some of the garden, and he said-- He was new. He was like, "Did you do the garden space?" I'm like, "Yes, yes, we put it in." He says, "I just want to thank you.

I love this space and I cry here a lot. It's the only place I'll cry." I just said, "Oh my goodness. I'm so glad you have enjoyed it in the way that you needed to enjoy it." It's a place that they can relieve stress. They can socialize. It can be a happy place. It doesn't have to be a place of crying. They can socialize. They can have a great time. It's something outside of their therapy sessions and they're very down and dirty work on themselves where they can still practice like responsibility, they can get out their anxieties, they can meditate, just the practice of caring for something over and over, and then, like you said, seeing it bloom or seeing it not bloom and understanding that that's okay too.

[00:17:09] Carlos: Okay, ladies. Here's a little-known secret. Men also cry.

[00:17:14] Colby: What?

[00:17:14] Carlos: Unfortunately, though, it may be--

[00:17:17] Colby: You don't say. [laughs]

[00:17:19] Holly: Thank you for admitting that, Carlos. [laughs]

[00:17:22] Carlos: It requires a lot, but I am accepting it and admitting it to you just between us. For whatever reason, it could be a little bit socially unacceptable to do so. When we're able to have that space and for Holly to share the story about how a garden can be such a special, powerful, sacred space for folks to be able to connect to themselves, it's just as special. It's something that I can see when I'm leading trainings or teaching cooking classes as well. People feel empowered in themselves when they realize they have the ability to make healthier choices for their own bodies.

[00:17:59] Colby: This clip is a great reminder that we don't always know how the programming we are providing is going to impact someone. A garden can be so much more than just yes, a pretty green, visually appealing space or a place from which we get to harvest food. It can connect us with something deeper within ourselves and even each other. Maybe it even provides you with the confidence to share with someone that sometimes men cry too.

The garden is a great example of how the support that we provide to our communities as educators, whether it's cooking classes or working with people with disabilities or programming and substance use recovery, can and honestly should be multifaceted because we as individuals are all multifaceted.

[00:18:44] Carlos: Completely agree, Colby. I hosted our final episode of season two where we continued this gardening conversation. I spoke with folks from Wisconsin about how gardening can support Indigenous youth, and they gave some fantastic insight into how SNAP-Ed programs can work with local tribes to build food sovereignty. Be sure to check out episode 10 if you're interested in hearing more.

[00:19:11] Tee: One of the things that I loved about this episode, Carlos, was the conversation around seeing food and its origin as something sacred. I thought that was very powerful.

[00:19:24] Carlos: Completely agree.

[00:19:25] Tee: All right, listeners. We're going to switch gears a little bit. For those of you who know our show, you'll recognize this question. We love to ask all of our guests this. Friends, what are we looking to stock our pantry with this year?

[00:19:44] Colby: I'm going to jump right in here because I have been very excited about a recent addition to my pantry that I want to do more of this year. That is tuna salad, specifically Matthew McConaughey's tuna salad. I don't know if y'all saw that in our slack channels, but we have a recipe channel in our Leah's Pantry slack, and someone shared the recipe for Matthew McConaughey's viral tuna salad. Y'all like, hmm, hmm. There is something about that tuna salad.

Our producer just put in our chat that she loves that tuna salad too. It hits. It hits bro. Something like wasabi, never would've thought to put wasabi in tuna salad, but, oh my gosh. If you have not tried Matthew McConaughey's viral tuna salad recipe, it's all over the internet. It's so good. Great source of lean protein too. Super tasty. I'm bringing that into more of my pantry this year. Figuratively though, I'm so excited for our podcast to grow. I want to see more growth for us.

New experiences on the show, new guests, new areas of conversation. I feel like these last two years we've spent a lot of work putting down roots, and really developing a strong root network for our podcast. Now I think we are ready to extend our branches grow and maybe even blossom and bloom.

[00:21:16] Carlos: Colby, I just had a feeling you were going to mention that recipe, and as soon as you mentioned tuna salad. If anyone knows Matthew out there, give him a holler. Give him a huge thank you for sharing that.

[00:21:26] Colby: Pass along our card. We would love to have him on the show. [laughs]

[00:21:30] Carlos: For sure. Connection. That's what it's all about. I have to admit with y'all, it's quite different to ask and to have that question asked to you. However, with that said, a little bit of reflection, allow me to give you a run-through of what you'll find at our household. Starting with the basics, of course, we got the rice, bread, crackers. Can't forget about our protein with chicken, meat, and milk. You cannot have enough milk with an 18-month toddler at home.

Keeping that in mind, at the same time, I truly enjoy having more time for myself to decompress and just take things slow. More importantly to fill my bucket of love and pass that to my little boy, wife, friends, and family.

[00:22:19] Colby: I can only imagine that with an 18-month toddler at home, finding time for yourself to slow down and decompress is probably far and few between. [laughs]

[00:22:29] Carlos: I had to bring it up, Colby. Indeed.

[00:22:33] Colby: [laughs] Awesome. I totally agree with you, Carlos. Having this question turned on us was a little bit of a pause. Be like, "Wow, what do I want to stock my pantry with?" I'm really missing my kanji and my green smoothies. I'm going to be definitely doing a little bit more of that. I took this question a little bit more figuratively, and I'm really wanting to stock my pantry with lots of laughter and travel as well as staying rooted in compassion and just gratitude, and the wisdom to forge forward even in the most uncertain times. Of course, you can't forget that huge piece of humble pie baby.

[00:23:12] Tee: [unintelligible 00:23:12] having some of that.

[00:23:14] Colby: Yo, I love me some humble pie. I think we all need to have a special little humble pie section in all of our pantries because you don't know when you're going to need it.

[00:23:23] Carlos: What about even maybe having a humble pie party already on the calendar y'all?

[00:23:29] Tee: I'm there.

[00:23:29] Colby: [crosstalk] Hear me out. March 14th, 3.14 schedule in our humble pie party.

[00:23:37] Tee: All right. Invite accepted RSVP now. [laughs]

[00:23:41] Carlos: You got a date?

[00:23:44] Tee: Oh. That's all for us today. Thank you so much for tuning in listeners. Please join us next time for more fruitful conversations. Until then, chow.

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[00:24:03] Colby: Thank you so much for hanging with us. Do you know a thought leader or someone doing great work in your community? We would love to interview them, and we would love to hear from you. Find us online at leahspantry.org, on Instagram at leahspantryorg, or email us at [email protected]. This podcast is a product of Leah's Pantry made possible by funding from the United States Department of Agriculture, and their supplemental nutrition assistance Program, an equal opportunity provider and employer. Visit calfreshhealthyliving.org for healthy living tips.

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[00:24:44] Carlos: Stocking the Pantry invites guests with a wide variety of opinions and perspectives. Guest opinions are their own and do not represent the views of Leah's Pantry.

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