If you’re one of those folks who shies away from vegan food because you love all the eggy, cheesy, meaty goodness of omnivore life…well, I get it. I was a vegetarian for a looooong time because I couldn’t imagine not eating cheese.

I think that’s probably one of the biggest misconceptions about vegans and plant-based eaters: no one goes vegan because they just don’t like the taste of cheese and steak. They do it for their health. Or the animals. Or the environment. And when they crave all of those flavours and textures they grew up with, they turn to Sam Turnbull for her highly craveable recipes. 

Sam is the creator, recipe developer and cookbook author behind It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken, a mini online empire of teaching people how to eat the foods they love, plant style.

Sam grew up in a house of hunters, butchers and chefs and she thought she was the last person on the planet who would ever go vegan. And as she started exploring the world of plant-based eating years ago, she realized that there was a lack of hearty, protein-forward recipes that would satisfy her tastebuds. So she did it herself. Vegan steak? You bet. Vegan Eggs? No problem!

Sam creates an incredible world of flavours and textures using whole foods like nuts, legumes, tofu and seitan…and if you don’t know what seitan is, we’ll cover that too.

Sam has a new cookbook out, called (you guessed it!) Craving Vegan so I had to take this opportunity to grill her for all of her best advice on building flavour so delicious that even a meat eater will sit up and take notice. There are TONS of good cooking tips in this episode, along with a behind the scenes look at what it really takes to be a successful creator.

About Sam Turnbull:

Sam Turnbull is an award-winning, and 2x bestselling cookbook author, and recipe blogger. Known affectionately for her sunny personality, she will brighten your kitchen with delicious plant-based meals that everyone loves (vegan or not)! She is the author of Fuss-Free Vegan and Fast Easy Cheap Vegan and now her latest cookbook Caving Vegan! Sam also runs an online cooking school called The Ultimate Vegan Kitchen, a subscription meal planner called The Easy Vegan Meal Plan, and you can always find her on her popular blog It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken where she posts weekly vegan recipes to her millions of readers.

On this episode we chat about:

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Full show notes including episode links and recommendations at desireerd.com/podcast

If you’re at all into food - calling all Bon Appetit groupies and Snaxbois - you probably already have a jar of Fly by Jing’s Sichuan Chili Crisp in your pantry…so you can understand how absolutely stoked I am to be talking with Fly by Jing founder Jing Gao today on the pod.

We’ll learn how Jing built a business, reclaimed her name and made everything taste better with her namesake jars of deliciousness.

While you already know I’m a big nutrition nerd, I’m also a bit of a nerd for food brands. My first job as a dietitian was for a chain of health food stores so I cemented my interest in discovering new brands pretty early in my career.

So much so that when I travel, I always go to a grocery store or two to bring back things I can’t find at home! 

And on one of those trips, I brought back Fly by Jing’s Sichuan Chili Crisp. Jing has cracked open the food world here in North America with her namesake line of condiments - more than just chili crisp by the way - bringing exceptional quality and flavour with a side of serious style. 

Her journey from business school graduate to CEO of all things flavour is a story of reclaiming identity, and living your passion that is so incredibly inspiring. 

And today’s conversation is going to take us all sorts of places, from Jing’s nomadic childhood to working for Blackberry in Beijing (remember people had blackberries?!?) to the flavours of Chengdu’s kitchens to the tradeshow floor in Los Angeles.

We’ll learn about what makes Sichuan cuisine so unique, what it’s actually like to start a food brand via kickstarter and more. Jing shares how food became a vehicle for reconnecting to her cultural identity and how she’s on a mission to elevate consciousness through flavour. 

Jing also has a brand new book filled with gorgeous recipes, The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp, that you’ll want to read cover to cover. I know you are going to love every moment of this conversation, whether you’re interested in food, entrepreneurship, or self-discovery.

About Jing Gao:

JING GAO is a chef, entrepreneur, and renowned expert on Chinese cuisine, and she’s on a mission to bring uncensored Chinese flavours to the global table. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan. Gao founded Baoism, an award-winning modern-Chinese fast casual restaurant in Shanghai, before founding her successful premium Chinese food company Fly By Jing. Her culinary innovations have been featured in leading magazines and food sections, her personal story as a cultural ambassador and entrepreneur has been seen on the BBC and CNN, and she has been featured in the pages of Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, and more. Fly By Jing began as a direct-to-consumer ecommerce brand and can now be found in stores across North America.

On this episode we chat about:

Support the Pod!

We couldn’t make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners…

I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd @jingtheory as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community.

If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN!

Full show notes, including episode links and recommendations at www.desireerd.com/podcast

There are few things that unite us as much as a good loaf of bread. Humans have been consuming the stuff for thousands of years, starting with the the preparation of simple flatbreads from wild grains to the large scale production of breads from domesticated wheats in ancient Egypt…quite literally, bread in all its forms, from tortilla to naan to baguettes, is one of the foundations upon which our civilization has sustained itself.

And there is something magical about making bread at home, especially sourdough. With just flour, water and salt - and a little help from the helpful lactic acid bacteria that are all around us - you can create something so delicious that you might just forget that it is inherently vegan…which brings us to today’s guests, Ed and Natasha Tatton.

Ed and Natasha are owners of the legendary BReD in Whistler and authors of the new book BReD: sourdough loaves, small breads and other plant-based baking.

Ed’s Bred is legendary in these parts so I am excited to introduce you to Ed and Natasha and in this episode we talk about everything from how these two ended up opening a vegan sourdough bakery halfway across the world from their birthplace to what its really like working with your significant other and a few of the surprises they encountered with the North American palate…this episode is filled with so many funny moments. Even if you’re not a bread nerd (YET) you’re going to love it!

About Ed and Natasha:

Ed Tatton is a professional chef who has been to culinary college and worked in high-end kitchens in the UK, Australia, New Zealand as well as Canada, but now specializes in making organic naturally leavened sourdough. As co-owner of BReD–Organic Sourdough with his wife Natasha, Ed leads a small bakery team, making and baking bread, pizza dough, and other small baked goods. These days, Ed’s food is compassionately 100% plant-based, a movement he is passionately excited to be part of and help grow for the benefit of people, the planet, and animals. He lives in Whistler, BC.

Natasha Tatton is an English teacher turned bakery manager, animal rights advocate and co-founder of BReD–Organic Sourdough, a 100% plant-based café/bakery in Whistler, BC. Natasha has taught English all over the world but now leads a small front-of-house team of cashiers and baristas. She taught English and ventured into various food and beverage roles, nurturing her desire to establish a vegan eatery to provide more compassionate food choices for people.

On this episode we chat about:

Support the Pod!

We couldn’t make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners…

I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd @eds_bred as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community.

If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN!

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Feeling anxious lately? I don’t know about you…but my mental health went down the toilet in 2020. I’ve always been anxious by nature but since turning 40 - which was followed closely by the pandemic - I’ve had to make my mental health more of a priority and I know I’m not alone: according to the world health organization, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a whopping 25% in the first year of the pandemic. So, um, maybe we should talk about it?  

It’s so hard to tease out which feelings are totally normal and expected given the current state of our world and which are a signal that something more serious is going on. And, what to do about it.

First things first: I’ve gotta say it, TALK TO YOUR DOC…but I also know that when something goes wrong, so many of us turn to the internet for answers. And it’s the wild west out there, with all manner of opinions on what is causing our anxiety…and what to do about it. If you’ve ever seen a post on regulating your nervous system, activating your vagus nerve and eating to beat anxiety…you might want to listen to this episode.

I’m speaking with Dr Nicole Lippman-Barile PhD, clinical psychologist, to talk about anxiety through the lens of wellness. I started following her a while back because she’s very good at calling BS on all the things wellness gets wrong about mental health.

And there is some pretty shady advice being doled out on the internet about the role of diet and anxiety, the gut brain connection and the microbiome…you name it, so I wanted to ask Dr Nicole to set the record straight about some common myths as well as evidence-based strategies for improving your mental health.

About Nicole Lippman-Barile PhD:

Dr. Nicole Barile is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in the intensive outpatient treatment of anxiety and mood disorders. She is extensively trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as well as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and utilizes elements of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Eastern philosophy.

On this episode we chat about:

Support the Pod!

We couldn’t make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners…

I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd @feedyourmental as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community.

If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN!

Full show notes, including episode links and recommendations at www.desireerd.com/podcast

Hold on to your knickers: the number of people with irritable bowel syndrome is now roughly 11% of the world’s population. Yep, you read that right.

This is something that a LOT of people are dealing with, and as a gut health dietitian with IBS herself, I see everyday how much confusion and misinformation there is out there about what IBS actually is, and what to do about it. 

Like, is the low FODMAP diet something everyone should try? How long should you do it? How do you know if your poop is healthy? It’s the reason why I focus so much on gut health nutrition in my practice. But also, it’s why I wrote Good For Your Gut…because I know that as much as working one-on-one with a registered dietitian is the best, most effective course of action, it’s not always available or affordable. 

So I thought I would invite a fellow IBS dietitian, Jessie Wong RD, to the podcast to talk all about IBS, what it is - what it isn’t, how best to care for the condition and of course, nutrition for IBS! 

Jessie is a Seattle-based dietitian with over 5 years of experience in caring for people with IBS. She takes an evidence-based, whole person approach to IBS management, with training in low FODMAP nutrition from Monash University. I really enjoy all of the supportive, informative content she is putting out there on her platforms and I just know you’ll learn so much from hearing her teach!

This episode is all about the IBS basics, and we talk about what causes IBS and how it should be diagnosed, including the different conditions that can look like IBS as well as the big differences between diarrhea-predominant and constipation-predominant IBS. And of course, we talk about all the ways that nutrition might be involved…and how sometimes, it might not be your main strategy!

If you’ve got IBS or have been having difficulty with your gut and are trying to get more information to inform your discussions with your doctor, this is a great episode to check out!

On this episode we chat about:

Support the Pod!

We couldn’t make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners…

I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd @ibs.dietitian as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community.

If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN!

Full show notes including links and recommendations at https://desireerd.com/podcast/

If there is one thing that makes people happy, it’s cake. And if anyone knows how to make a cake that is guaranteed to bring people joy, it’s Lyndsay Sung.

Lyndsay is the baker and creative mind behind Coco Cake Land, the blog and instagram account filled with cute confections that are sure to bring a smile to your face.

Since the early days of blogging, Lyndsay’s kawaii (that’s Japanese for cute) cakes have gone viral more than a few times but one of the things I love most about Lyndsay is that she actively chooses to build a life that chases fun, beauty and connection.

For example, she’s a bass player in not one but TWO bands.  She’s got degrees in both gender studies and fine art, leading some to call her a “feminist craftivist”. She even picked up soccer a few years back, just for the heck of it.

In this episode, we’re going to talk a LOT about cakes, of course (Lyndsay has just released her second book, Plantcakes: fancy and everyday vegan cakes for everyone!) but a clear throughline of this conversation is staying open and curious about life and going after what makes you happy or brings a smile to your day.

…so I hope this episode will do just that!

About Lyndsay Sung:

Lyndsay is a self-taught baker, cake designer and cookbook author! She is also a mom, a cat mom, and a lover of snacks! When she’s not whipping up a flour storm in the kitchen, Lyndsay can be found playing bass guitar in her mom punk band or plugging away like a teenager posting to her YouTube channel! (Yes, she is in her 40s and not a tween.)

On this episode we chat about:

Support the Pod!

We couldn’t make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners…

I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd @cococakeland as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community.

If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN!

recommendations at desireerd.com/podcast

Are those gut healthy snacks you’re buying legit?

What’s actually in them? And what should you be eating if you really want to take care of your gut? I’m talking all about the basics of good gut health, gut healthy snacks and sourdough with Chicago-based registered dietitian Morgan Murdock on The Allsorts Podcast!

Way back in 2019 I was at Expo West, North America’s largest natural foods expo and as I wandered the aisles upon aisle (there literally thousands of products on display!) I couldn’t help but notice that everything was trying to be a “gut healthy” snack.

Of course, as a dietitian I immediately was checking ingredients to see what actually made these products “gut healthy” and knew that this was going to hit shelves in a MAJOR way.

Fast forward a few years, and we’re definitely in it. So I thought it would be fun to have a little bit of a “dietitian confessional” with fellow gut health dietitian Morgan Murdock, founder of a new, yes, gut healthy, snack brand, Unbothered Foods.

We’re unravelling what makes a food gut healthy or gut friendly like low FODMAP foods vs what we actually look for in foods that promote gut health, such as foods that are high in fibre. 

About Morgan Murdock RD:

Morgan Murdock is a digestive health dietitian turned food founder based in Chicago, Illinois. Morgan is the founder of Unbothered Foods, a gut-friendly food brand that creates deliciously-fermented sourdough crackers. 

Before creating Unbothered Foods, she worked with hundreds of digestive health patients, helping them get to the root cause of their symptoms and create confidence around food again. Her patients are the inspiration for her food brand and she is on a mission to bring fun back to eating through delicious, gut-friendly food. 

On this episode we chat about:

Support the Pod!

We couldn’t make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners…

I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community.

If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN!

What is it to live a good life? Because it’s definitely not the glossy perfection that is sold to us in movies and Instagram.

How do we navigate the cards we’ve been dealt - and find that balance between consciously creating our world and allowing ourselves the grace to just be?

I don’t know that I am very good at this myself. My anxious mind tends to flicker between worrying about things to worrying that I am worrying about things and not just enjoying the moment…but I am slowly getting better. I think that time and hindsight are gifts that allow us to heal the parts of ourselves that need embracing and then of course sometimes, you need need to pack it all up and go to Paris.

It is this and many, many other ideas that I explore on this episode of The Allsorts Podcast with Jackie Kai Ellis, pastry chef, designer, author and host of the new advice podcast, You & I.

I’ve followed Jackie’s work for a long time now and from afar, always appreciated her ability to create beauty and romance in the everyday, whether it was taking a moment to eat a perfectly flaky croissant or arrange your space just so.

And yet Jackie is not one of those highlight-reel only people.

In her memoir, The Measure of My Powers, she dives deep into some of her most vulnerable and harrowing moments, from her battles with depression to the stark realities of a perfectionist trying to open a business.

If you are new to the loveliness that is Jackie Kai Ellis, I am sure that after this episode you will be as smitten as I am.

About Jackie Kai Ellis:

Jackie Kai Ellis is a designer, author, entrepreneur, pastry chef, advice columnist, lifestyle & travel writer, award-winning host of the TV series, House Special, and the advice podcast, You & I. 

She is best known as the founder of Vancouver’s Beaucoup Bakery, for her design of APT La Fayette in Paris, and her bestselling memoir, “The Measure Of My Powers.” She lives in Vancouver and Paris.

On this episode we chat about:

Support the Pod!

We couldn’t make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners…and a huge thank you to our incredible new sponsor, FODZYME! FODZYME is a unique blend of 3 enzymes that help folks with FODMAP intolerance enjoy food with fewer symptoms.

This product is helping me so much that I asked them to partner with us…and they said yes!! FODZYME is giving our podcast community 20% off of their first order with the code DESIREERD.

Just visit fodzyme.com to learn more about this incredible breakthrough for those of us with IBS who react to lactose, fructans and GOS in their food.

Please show FODZYME a little Allsorts love!

I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd @jackiekaiellis as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community.

If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN!

Full show notes, including episode recommendations and links available at www.desireerd.com/podcast

I don’t know about you…but I thought a LOT less about my food choices before I had kids. And I am a dietitian, so that’s saying a lot!

Navigating baby’s first foods can feel a bit overwhelming because there are so many differing opinions out there: finger foods vs purees, baby led weaning, sippy cups or no…with our first born, we invest so much energy in learning the ropes! We read the books. We go to the group sessions. We swap advice with other parents. And there is SO much advice.

There is something about bringing another little human into this world that galvanizes our desire to take the best possible care and makes us second guess what should be a totally intuitive activity.

Starting solids with your baby can amplify those feelings tenfold, but it doesn’t have to! This week, we are talking with Nita Sharda RD, co-founder of Happy Healthy Eaters and mom of 2 to help us navigate the world of feeding our wee ones so we can be more confident and relaxed and enjoy the process.

About Nita Sharda:

Nita is a Registered Dietitian, mom and an absolute foodie. Her interest in food was sparked when she was a little girl. She would often spend time in the kitchen admiring her mother’s touch with Indian cuisine. 

She supports patients through her private practice counseling and also has a passion for infant and childhood nutrition. She is the co-founder of Happy Healthy Eaters alongside Jessica Penner. Happy Healthy Eaters is a platform dedicated to helping parents feel confident about feeding their kids.

On this episode we chat about:

Support the Pod!

We couldn’t make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners…and a huge thank you to our incredible new sponsor, FODZYME! FODZYME is a unique blend of 3 enzymes that help folks with FODMAP intolerance enjoy food with fewer symptoms. This product is helping me so much that I asked them to partner with us…and they said yes!! FODZYME is giving our podcast community 20% off of their first order with the code DESIREERD. Just visit fodzyme.com to learn more about this incredible breakthrough for those of us with IBS who react to lactose, fructans and GOS in their food.

Please show FODZYME a little Allsorts love!

I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd @nita_sharda as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community.

If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN!

Oh hi! It’s me, Desiree, and today on a solo episode of the pod, we’re going to answer that burning question, “why am I bloated?”

Before we get going, you need to know that it is TOTALLY NORMAL to get bloated from time to time. Eat a 3 bean chili? We all get bloated. Holiday feast? Yep, all that food takes up space. Part of a healthy digestive system is occasional variations - like how most of us get constipated for a day or two while we travel or how collard greens will loose up the BMs.

But what if it’s not occasional? What if it’s everyday, or multiple times a week?

Then, we want to get really curious about what is going on in our bodies. And as a gut health dietitian with IBS, bloating is a part of my life. I can go from unbloated to 5 months pregnant in about 30 minutes. Most of the time, and I’ve spent most of my 10+ years of IBS with minimal symptoms. But something this year has shifted - I am enjoying blaming hormones and stress - and so I’ve had to get real about taking care of my gut to help minimize what for me is very painful bloating. And so when you guys shared your ideas for upcoming podcasts, bloating really stood out to me and here we are!

Consider this Bloating 101: we going to cover the basics of bloating, along with some common underlying causes and some useful solutions. Bloating is complex and in no way can this episode cover everything about everything…but it’s a start. I’ve got tons of gut health nutrition resources here on the blog. And of course, if you need to dive deeper you can grab a copy of Good For Your Gut! 

On this episode we chat about:

Support the Pod!

We couldn’t make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners…and a huge thank you to our incredible new sponsor, FODZYME!

FODZYME is a unique blend of 3 enzymes that help folks with FODMAP intolerance enjoy food with fewer symptoms. This product is helping me so much that I asked them to partner with us…and they said yes!! FODZYME is giving our podcast community 20% off of their first order with the code DESIREERD. Just visit fodzyme.com/desireerd to learn more about this incredible breakthrough for those of us with IBS who react to lactose, fructans and GOS in their food.

Please show FODZYME a little Allsorts love!

I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community.

If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN!

including