Feed Me the Facts

In this episode of Feed Me the Facts, we sit down with Luis Gonzalez, an RDN and account manager at Eat Well Global.  Luis shares his journey through food service management, his discovery of media-based opportunities, and how he combines creativity with science to make a broader impact. We also explore the importance of increasing diversity in this space and how dietitians of color can amplify their voices.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

- Luis’s career journey from food service director to nutrition communications

- How dietitians can explore non-traditional career paths

- The role of diversity in shaping impactful nutrition messaging

- Insights into collaborating with brands and navigating media opportunities

- Practical advice on breaking into the communications field as a dietitian

Links and Resources Mentioned:

Eat Well Global

Diversify Dietetics Resources for RDNs

Support the Fund the Future Campaign

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Feed Me the Facts, we sit down with Luis Gonzalez, an RDN and account manager at Eat Well Global. Luis shares his journey through food service management, his discovery of media-based opportunities, and how he combines creativity with science to make a broader impact. We also explore the importance of increasing diversity in this space and how dietitians of color can amplify their voices.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

- Luis’s career journey from food service director to nutrition communications

- How dietitians can explore non-traditional career paths

- The role of diversity in shaping impactful nutrition messaging

- Insights into collaborating with brands and navigating media opportunities

- Practical advice on breaking into the communications field as a dietitian

Links and Resources Mentioned:

Eat Well Global

Diversify Dietetics Resources for RDNs

Support the Fund the Future Campaign

In this episode, DD Co-founders Deanna Lewis and Tamara Melton sit down with trailblazing dietitians Wendy Lopez and Jessica Jones, founders of Diabetes Digital. They discuss their inspiring pivot from Food Heaven, a beloved 12 year brand, to their new company focusing on insurance covered, culturally inclusive diabetes care.

Learn how they’ve navigated change, tackled burnout, and continued to trailblaze in the world of dietetics.

Tune in for insights on scaling a business, advocating for diversity, and staying true to your vision.

If you want to hear more about why and how Wendy and Jess sunsetted Food Heaven they did a whole series on their podcast. You can check it out the Goodbye Episode Here - https://foodheavenmadeeasy.com/goodbye-for-now/

Connect with Diabetes Digital:

Their website (where they are hiring!) diabetesdigital.co

Follow them on social media @diabetesdigitalco

Check out the diabetes digital podcast- https://diabetesdigital.co/category/podcast/

Join co-host and dietitians Deanna Belleny Lewis and Danielle Sanders as they talk about what's new for the Diversify Dietetics podcast. This podcast is dedicated to representation and inspiration for students and professionals of color pursuing careers in nutrition and dietetics.

Every episode, we’ll bring you expert insights, the latest trends and personal stories that inspire. Whether you’re new to the field or a seasoned pro, this is your space to learn, grow, and connect.

Kate Burt, PhD, RD

Shelly Debiasse, PhD, RD

On this first episode of Season 3, we talk with two members of our DD Community: Drs. Kate Burt and Shelly Debiasse. They, along with their colleague Dr. Zubaida Qamar have launched a new project called  #InclusiveDietetics, a group on Facebook aimed to increase the awareness about the lack of diversity in the dietetics profession. In this group, they will share important information about diversity and inclusion in general and on topics relevant to facilitating a more diverse and inclusive profession. Join #Inclusive Dietetics to continue the conversation!

Drs. Burt and Debiasse discuss why they are launching this project, why they took the extra steps to make the project a part of a research study and what conversations, movements and changes they hope this campaign will spark in the dietetics community. If you have ever wondered how our profession got to where it is today (i.e.- with so little diversity), and what are ways that you can help to change it, you will want to be a part of this project!

You can join #Inclusive Dietetics to continue the conversation!

Kate Gardner Burt, PhD, RD is an Assistant Professor at Lehman College, City of New York in the Bronx, NY and a Registered Dietitian and Culinary Nutritionist. She teaches courses in public health and community nutrition and cultural foods and sustainability. Dr. Burt’s research broadly aims to reduce racial and ethnic inequities in community food systems. She does this by exploring strategies to strengthen efforts to grow food locally and improve community cohesion and social connectedness to build a more just food system. She also aims to reduce inequities in food systems by increasing opportunities for low-income people of color to excel in dietetics and food-focused careers. She takes a mixed methods, community-based approach to research and currently works with several New York City based non-profit organizations. Dr. Burt received her BS in film and television from Boston University and her MS in exercise physiology and nutrition, RD and PhD in food and nutrition policy from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her first cookbook was published in 2015 by Sterling Publishers, a subsidiary of Barnes and Noble.

Dr. Burt was also a guest on a DD Webinar on the topic “Past Performance and Future Results: Changing the Outlook for Diversity Among Food and Nutrition Professionals”. You can access the webinar here.

Michele “Shelly” DeBiasse, PhD, RDN (she/her/hers) is Clinical Assistant Professor and Director, Programs in Nutrition at Boston University/College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College, and Affiliated Faculty in the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.  She received a PhD in Nutrition and Metabolism from the department of Graduate Medical Sciences, Boston University School of Medicine.  She received her MS in Clinical Nutrition from Rush University, and completed her dietetic internship at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, both in Chicago, IL, USA.  Her PhD dissertation, The Theory of Planned Behavior and Implementation Intentions to Improve Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Women with Low Socioeconomic Status, afforded her three first-author publications, and helped spark her scholarship-activism to better the lives of women and other marginalized groups.  Her current research explores issues related to equity, diversity and inclusion in healthcare professions (particularly Dietetics), as well as the role gender may play in creating the challenges often associated with female-dominate healthcare professions.

Can you tell we’re excited about the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo aka FNCE? As the final hours tick away the Diversify Dietetics co-founders talk about where DD will be during the 4 day conference, what their most looking forward to and notable events that you don’t want to miss.

FNCE Schedule at a Glance

Diversity and Cultural Competence Track Sessions

DPG & MIG Events (Including COGA, NOBIDAN, Religion MIG, LAHIDAN, AAPI & more)

Are you a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics? The Academy is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. Similar to the current demographics of the dietetics profession, the leadership within the Academy is not particularly diverse but many are paving the way for that to change. In 2015 the Academy released its first Diversity Strategic Plan along with a handful of other Diversity Initiatives. One key objective of this strategic plan is “to establish strong diversity efforts at all levels of Academy leadership”. So how do we make sure this happens? How do we ensure that diverse leaders are in the room where decisions are being made? Today we talk with Camille Range about just that. She started working with the Academy as a Diversity Leader and is now a member of the Board of Directors and the House of Delegates, representing dietitians under the age of 30. Camille is passionate about leadership and talks to us about why its so important to have a seat at the table even when you may be the only one. She shares insights into the decision making structure within the Academy and what the Academy is working on as it relates to diversity.

About Camille

Camille Range is a registered dietitian nutritionist who empowers families, communities and the next generation of healthcare providers to lead healthy lives through nutrition, health and wellness. She received a B.S. in Food Science and Human Nutrition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Master’s in Public Health from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston, TX. Previously, Ms. Range served as a program manager for several obesity and public health research initiatives promoting positive health behavior changes in Hispanic and African American mothers and preteen daughters. She expanded work tackling the nation’s challenges surrounding childhood obesity working alongside the former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative during its five-year anniversary. Ms. Range continues to inspire the next generation of change-makers to improve the health and systematic challenges faced by underserved families across the country. Ms. Range works to increase diversity in the dietetics profession to achieve this goal. Currently, she serves as a board member for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and House of Delegates representing dietitians under the age of 30. In Fall 2019, Ms. Range began her doctorate in Urban Leadership & Entrepreneurship at the University of the District of Columbia. Ms. Range is looking forward to bringing her experience and energy as the new Senior Manager of Nutrition Systems for Sodexo Schools - Mid-Atlantic region.  

Camille’s Instagram and LinkedIn

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Diversity Strategic Plan

The Organization Units with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Did you first fall in love with nutrition because you were an athlete in high school or college? Or maybe while you were training for a marathon? Lots of folks make their way to dietetics because of their own experience with learning more about nutrition to support their fitness goals. Some RDstoBE and even RDs in other areas of practice are curious about specializing in this area of practice.

At the same time, many college and professional sports teams now have an RDN on staff to provide sports nutrition counseling to help their athletes perform their best. But the skill set and demands on sports nutritionists have evolved greatly over the past decade or so. In this episode, Pratik Patel shares how he made his way to his current role as a professional sports team’s Director of Performance Nutrition.

Pratik’s journey to becoming a Sports RD was not without its obstacles. He’s a first-generation American, he hadn’t even heard of the nutrition major when he started college, and he didn’t match to a dietetic internship on his first try. But he overcame these challenges (and SO MANY MORE!) to get to where he is today.

During this episode Pratik talks about:

• How he handled all the aforementioned challenges to achieve his RD

• The schedule of an RD who works with a professional sports team

• The resilience needed to manage the uncertainties of working for college and professional sports teams

• Why he still uses MNT and Food Service skills in his current role

• What are the critical qualities needed to work with pro athletes

If you’re considering working in Sports Nutrition, have your notebook ready for this episode!

Pratik Patel, MS, RD, CSCS, CSSD is the Director of Performance Nutrition and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the New York Giants (part of the National Football League). You can learn more about him in his RDN Spotlight on our blog.

You can follow Pratik on Instagram, Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.

Feed Me the Facts was created not only to help navigate the dietetic educational pathway through the lens of diverse students, practitioners and educators but also to lift up stories for us by us. Yes, we are part of a larger group of people of color but each of our experiences are unique and should be shared if we want them to be. This weeks podcast guest, Starla Garcia aka @starla_shines graciously shared a bit of her story in our online RDN survey. She told us about how being a eating disorder(ED) survivor has helped her become a better ED Dietitian to Latina patients and why more Latinx dietitians are needed in pediatrics, women’s health, and diabetes education. Today she talks more about her pathway, her career, her story and how she continues to shine.

About Starla

Houston city-dweller, a Rio Grande Valley native, former University of Houston Track and Field/ XC distance runner, and Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. After fully recovering from an eating disorder and experiencing a few injuries during her collegiate and post-collegiate running career,  she reflected on how her nutritional choices and self care could help improve not only her running but also how it made her over well being so much butter.

These days you can find Starla running on her favorite trails in Houston, doing strength training at the gym, and scouring the city for new green juice spots and healthy eats. 

Starla’s Instagram

Starla’s Beautiful Website

Exito -Latin Cancer Research Leadership Training

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