Policy in Plainer English

Find all supporting materials at the Hunger Vital Sign explainer series website.

This episode features an interview with Richard Sheward, Director of Innovative Partnerships at Children's HealthWatch. 

Citation for the Hunger Vital Sign tool and link to the original research:

Hager, E. R., Quigg, A. M., Black, M. M., Coleman, S. M., Heeren, T., Rose-Jacobs, R., Cook, J. T., Ettinger de Cuba, S. E., Casey, P. H., Chilton, M., Cutts, D. B., Meyers A. F., Frank, D. A. (2010). Development and Validity of a 2-Item Screen to Identify Families at Risk for Food Insecurity. Pediatrics, 126(1), 26-32. doi:10.1542/peds.2009-3146.

Audio Editing and Post-Production Provided By Evergreen Audio

Find all supporting materials at the Hunger Vital Sign explainer series website.

This episode features an interview with Richard Sheward, Director of Innovative Partnerships at Children's HealthWatch. 

Citation for the Hunger Vital Sign tool and link to the original research:

Hager, E. R., Quigg, A. M., Black, M. M., Coleman, S. M., Heeren, T., Rose-Jacobs, R., Cook, J. T., Ettinger de Cuba, S. E., Casey, P. H., Chilton, M., Cutts, D. B., Meyers A. F., Frank, D. A. (2010). Development and Validity of a 2-Item Screen to Identify Families at Risk for Food Insecurity. Pediatrics, 126(1), 26-32. doi:10.1542/peds.2009-3146.

Audio Editing and Post-Production Provided By Evergreen Audio

Find all supporting materials at the Hunger Vital Sign explainer series website.

This episode features an interview with Richard Sheward, Director of Innovative Partnerships at Children's HealthWatch. 

Citation for the Hunger Vital Sign tool and link to the original research:

Hager, E. R., Quigg, A. M., Black, M. M., Coleman, S. M., Heeren, T., Rose-Jacobs, R., Cook, J. T., Ettinger de Cuba, S. E., Casey, P. H., Chilton, M., Cutts, D. B., Meyers A. F., Frank, D. A. (2010). Development and Validity of a 2-Item Screen to Identify Families at Risk for Food Insecurity. Pediatrics, 126(1), 26-32. doi:10.1542/peds.2009-3146.

Audio Editing and Post-Production Provided By Evergreen Audio

Find all supporting materials at the Hunger Vital Sign explainer series website. 

This episode features an interview with Richard Sheward, Director of Innovative Partnerships at Children's HealthWatch.  

Citation for the Hunger Vital Sign tool and link to the original research:

Hager, E. R., Quigg, A. M., Black, M. M., Coleman, S. M., Heeren, T., Rose-Jacobs, R., Cook, J. T., Ettinger de Cuba, S. E., Casey, P. H., Chilton, M., Cutts, D. B., Meyers A. F., Frank, D. A. (2010). Development and Validity of a 2-Item Screen to Identify Families at Risk for Food Insecurity. Pediatrics, 126(1), 26-32. doi:10.1542/peds.2009-3146.

Audio Editing and Post-Production Provided By Evergreen Audio

We're doing something a little different - this series of podcast episodes are a set of conversations explaining the Hunger Vital Sign risk screening tool. They're designed as part of a larger resource with reference materials, key point summaries, and implementation toolkits:

https://www.vtfoodinhealth.net/hunger-vital-sign-toolkit

If you aren't interested in Hunger Vital Sign, we promised playlists for other entertainment. Here are two:

• Season Four Extended Playlist - Food & Health
• Statistics, Data, Health

A season finale. . . with special guests! Edward Phillips, MD, and Juna Gjata, creators of the podcast Food, We Need to Talk, join us to comment on common themes between the two series, and suggest what should be next in your food & health podcast listening line up.

The  first season of Food, We Need to Talk is available online. Two episodes cited specifically in this conversation were: This Is Your Brain on Cheesecake and Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders. We also talked about what makes a "fad" diet and common characteristics of popular diets that don't support sustainable healthy eating strategies, covered in Doomed If You Diet, Doomed If You Don't. The problems with the good food / bad food mindset are explored in Good Food, Bad Food and also What the Heck Should We Eat?

In this first season they do not go deep into diets tailored for treating or managing specific health conditions. But what will happen in the next season? We'll have to tune in March 21st to find out. . . 

The podcast mentioned when I steal Steven Levitt's interview structure is People I Mostly Admire from Freakonomics Radio, which also has a health care podcast in its portfolio, Freakonomics, MD (Steve interviews the host on this 2021 episode).   

You were promised links to microbiome-focused podcast episodes. There are a lot. It is literally a category of podcast unto itself.  A few options that are clear about both the interesting questions before us & the limits of the current science:

• BBC Good Food Health Podcast - Dr. Megan Rossi
• Stuff You Should Know - Your Gut Is Also a Brain
• What Went Wrong at uBiome Part 1 and Part 2 - The Journal (also a cautionary tale in what fraudulent medical billing looks like) 

Find easy links to this season's episodes in order here. And an extended playlist here.

This season of Policy in Plainer English is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $189,892.00 with 0 percentage financed with non governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

This podcast is part of the Food Access in Health Care program at Bi-State Primary Care Association.

This episode brings back previous guests and features a new interview with Christine Hamann, Director of the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, to talk about cross training and collaboration. It continues our series of episodes that consider how to effectively introduce the food knowledge outlined in the first half of the season into a health care context. 

Christine references two conferences in this episode:

• Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives (next event is in February 2023)
• Teaching Kitchen Research Conference (next event is in October 2022)

We feature clips from these previous episodes:

• Telehealth and Provider Consultations (Season Two)
• Food Access and Health Care Season Finale (Season Three)
• How to Cook (Season Four)
• Bonus Intro: Designing Better Health Systems (Season Four)
• Putting Appreciation Into Practice (Season Four)

The podcast narrative also draws on background conversations I had with:

• The Maven Project (see also the VPQHC telehealth office hours they participated in last year for discussion of their work)
• Cara Feldman-Hunt - Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching Certificate
• Stephanie Gall -  Vermont Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and UVM HN clinical nutrition

Finally, if you want to learn more about the questions around nutrition education as part of medical training, the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation published a report in 2019, Doctoring Our Diet, and the proposed resolution referenced from Rep. McGovern is found here.

Full season archive here. This podcast is part of the Food Access in Health Care program at Bi-State Primary Care Association.  

This season of Policy in Plainer English is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $189,892.00 with 0 percentage financed with non governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

We talk with Chris Moldovan, RD, CD, FAND, and Director of Nutrition and Wellness at Age Well, an Area Agency on Aging in northwestern Vermont. Chris is also part of the Older Vermonters Nutrition Coalition. She provides examples of how our relationship with food and diet shifts with age, and explains how organizations like hers help people navigate changing requirements for nutrition.

Some of the resources referenced in this episode:

• Medically Tailored Meals (episode from Season 3)
• National Meals on Wheels Organization - Health Care Connections
• Food Is Medicine for Older Adults - December, 2021, Symposium Session
• Profile of Hospital / Meals on Wheels Partnership for MTMs
• Nutrition Requirements of Older Americans Act
• More Details on Requirements of Older Americans Act
• 2020 Report on Funding Adequacy for Older Americans Act Meals in Vermont 

Plus two book references:

• Ministry for the Future - and a New Yorker podcast interview with the author
• The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones

Full season archive here. This podcast is part of the Food Access in Health Care program at Bi-State Primary Care Association.  

This season of Policy in Plainer English is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $189,892.00 with 0 percentage financed with non governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. 

Professor Amy Trubek, and instructors John Corliss and Emily Barbour, join us to talk about core principles of the courses they are developing in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Vermont. Their curriculum combines sensory analysis with basic cooking skills to increase food agency. 

Some resources referenced in this episode:

• Food Agency Website - including a course in Culinary Nutrition that is offered to interested health professionals through UVM Continuing Education. 
• The Google project on learning to make vegetables delicious. See also the Plant Forward Kitchen from the Culinary Institute of America. 
• Careful listeners may have noticed that the oven frying Amy references sounds a lot like what an air fryer does. Episode Three of the last season of Nice Try, which explores the history of the crock-pot, is an interesting take on kitchen appliances that fits in well with our food agency conversation.  
• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat 
• Children and Health Eating from Season Three. See also Vermont Food Education Every Day (VT FEED). 

Full season archive here. This podcast is part of the Food Access in Health Care program at Bi-State Primary Care Association.  

This season of Policy in Plainer English is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $189,892.00 with 0 percentage financed with non governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

Writer Alexandra Johnson helps us get the new year off to a strong start. Among the things she writes about is the practice of journaling to support creativity. You know what we'll all need to put into practice food appreciation as a tool to become adaptable in our diets? Creativity. It's time to redefine how we think about food journals - these aren't the standard food logs of calories and serving sizes,  Alex is helping us define a different tool entirely.  

No surprise, we referenced a lot of writing over the course of this conversation. Here are some links for additional reading:

• The Hidden Writer, Alexandra Johnson
• Leaving a Trace, Alexandra Johnson
• On Keeping a Notebook by Joan Didion appears in Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Here is an article about the essay, with excerpts, from The Marginalian. 
• 2022 Food Trends - with the coffee & climate change reference (see also a longer piece from October, here)
• Why I Switched to Eating Grandma's Food, Geeta Pandey in BBC News
• Melissa Clark on Wine-Braised Chicken in the New York Times

For examples of prompting questions for finding flavor details, peruse this handout from my "Describing Flavor" craft seminar. It's from the Lesley University MFA program that I mentioned at the top of the episode. Sadly, the food samples that went with it were only available in-person.

Do look for Alex's other work - we focused on only one aspect of it in this episode. Her essays, reviews, and travel pieces appear in national publications and anthologies, and her book in progress set in southern Italy is The Saint's Laundry.   

Full season archive here. This podcast is part of the Food Access in Health Care program at Bi-State Primary Care Association. 

This season of Policy in Plainer English is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $189,892.00 with 0 percentage financed with non governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.