Dalina Soto 0:02
Hola hola chulas.
Melissa Landry 0:04
Hi there. We are experts in intuitive eating for on again off again chronic dieters, and we are here to help you take the guilt and stress out of eating so you can become the first in your family to break the diet cycle, just like we are in our families.
Dalina Soto 0:19
We want you to be who you are without food guilt.
Melissa Landry 0:22
Be sure to follow us on Instagram. No more guilt for Melissa and your Latina nutritionist for Dalina.
Dalina Soto 0:29
Are you ready? Let's break the diet cycle. Without to laugh. It's me the leader before we start I want to let you know that this episode is brought to you by your Latina nutrition but you're about to listen to is not a professional coaching or counseling session. Each episode is a one time conversation meant for educational purposes. We are dieticians. But we're not your dietitian. Remember that podcasts don't constitute treatment. If you have concerns about your dying behaviors, seek out guidance from a medical or mental health professional and if you're looking for a community tools to ditch the diet, help with finding authentic health and keeping your culture alive join my membership brought to you by today's sponsor me.
Have you heard about social determinants of health before addressing the impact of systemic problems to health included the impact of racism is becoming more common and for a good reason. Though individual behaviors matter when it comes to your health. They're not the be all end all solution that diet culture says they are. In this episode we interview public health expert and registered dietician Deanna Bellini Lewis to answer why social determinants matter and how to think about this stuff in your own mission to break the diet cycle. We know this topic can be heavy, keep an open mind and know we've included some important resources for you in show notes to dig in and do your own research. Lean in with us.
Melissa Landry 2:08
Before we start, and we told you lately how much we appreciate you. We appreciate that so many of you are out there breaking the bonds of generational Daya trauma, by opening your minds and learning with us. It really means something you know, and Dwayne and I created this podcast because our mission is to break the diet cycle for the next generation. And we know that can't happen without you. That's why if you found benefit from this podcast, we really want you to review and rate us you know, someone just like you is feeling really lost right now. And by rating and reviewing the podcast, you make it more likely that she's going to find the information she needs just like you did to break free from the diet cycle. Will you check them with us in rate or review the podcast today?
Dalina Soto 2:50
Hello Chulas. We are here and we're here with Deanna who is like one of my favorite people in this whole wide world well, so don't get jealous, I understand
Melissa Landry 3:05
their greatness. And I I bask in the glow.
Dalina Soto 3:10
So we're just so excited to have you Deanna so I'm gonna let you introduce yourself because you can do a way better job than that. I do. Speak because I have a hard apparently I just have a hard time speaking. So
Deanna 3:22
this is a live Angelina has been perpetuating my face. I just want to name that.
Melissa Landry 3:27
The scrunching on my face right now is it's intense. Let's talk about that offline. I don't know that I agree with that either.
Deanna 3:36
That's a lie. I am happy to introduce myself. And thank you all for having me on the podcast. So excited to be here. Big fans of both of you. So my name is Deanna Bellini Lewis. I'm a registered dietitian. I've hopped around a couple places in the last few years. But I'm currently living in Oakland, California in the Bay Area, but originally from Texas, and I like to just you know, I love Texas. So I like to remind people that I am a public health dietitian. I work as a consultant at this place called JSI. But my heart is also with diversify. dietetics, where I'm the co founder of the organization. We are a 501 C three nonprofit that is dedicated to increasing the racial and ethnic diversity in the field of nutrition by empowering nutrition leaders of color. And that has been such an amazing process and how I met Delina. She was like one of our first rd and spotlights one of our first like meetup hosts she jumped in and has been a day wide and a supporter. So yeah, I love all things related to health equity and public health and representation in the nutrition space. And happy to be talking with you all today.
Dalina Soto 4:38
First of all, you have that like elevator pitch down. Thank you. Like, it was like so seamless, but I'm just so excited to talk to you about this because like you and I have actually done one presentation on this. And we talk about this a lot. I talk about this a lot. And I think it's important for our listeners to understand what social determinants of health are, because our health is really not in our control as much as we think. So can you tell us a little bit about what social determinants of health are?
Deanna 5:15
Yeah, absolutely. It's a topic that I also love talking about. And yeah, we co presented at a food bank and talked a little bit about it with other kind of public health professionals. And I think it's becoming more of a mainstream conversation, which is really exciting. But essentially, social determines our health. And just like the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, play, worship, age, etc, all of that, that shape health. And so like simply put, it's just like the social conditions that impact your health. And so that could be things like, you know, economic stability, and your physical environment, education, access to health care, relationships and support that you have socially. And one of the, like, the favorite visuals that I use is from the Kaiser Family Foundation, happy to send send the link if it's helpful, but it really breaks it down. Like, okay, let's if we think about economics, that's your employment, employment, your income, your bills, it's, you know, if you're thinking about the environment, it's like, do you have access to housing or transportation or like safety in your neighborhoods? Is it a walkable neighborhood, one of my least favorite things about living in Houston, although I love the city so much, you would just like have a sidewalk that would just disappear. And then you're just in the middle of the street, like it would happen all the time and be like, who thought about this city planning where there's just no one?
Melissa Landry 6:31
No one and we're in like Narnia, all of a sudden, yeah. Yeah.
Deanna 6:35
And you think about like, you know, I am privileged to not you know, have a wheelchair or something that would require me to want to be like closer to on a sidewalk, or just safer to be able to get around. And so, education, it's your literacy, the languages that you speak, and if you're able to kind of communicate with folks within your neighborhood or services that you're trying to have access to access to healthy foods that are also affordable, and like attainable discrimination. And racism, though, is how I like to individual, I add a bar at the bottom that says systemic racism, because I think the role that racism and systems of oppression, play impacts all of those things. There's like redlining and the role that that's had on housing, there's, you know, where grocery stores decide to put their stores and where they decide not to, and how, you know, that impacts communities of color disproportionately. And then all of that impacts again, your like mortality or morbidity, your health function and health status. So there's just so many things like you said to Lena, that impacts your health, that are outside of your control. And we have to name that and try to support not just individual kind of pursuit of health, but those systems, contributors as well. Yeah.
Dalina Soto 7:46
And I think, first of all, I love that you're in the public health space, because this is something that I've said previously in, in the podcast, and I'm constantly talking about, it's like, this idea, like the public, like public health campaigns know these things, but they come at it from such a, like fear based place. And it kind of just makes it seem like it's our fault, that we don't have access to this. And it's our fault that there are no sidewalks and it's our fault that the minimum wage is still $7.25 here in the state of Pennsylvania. Wow. And that individuals fall and nobody's looking at that, like you said, the systemic issues that are really causing this. And so I'm gonna go, you know, and talk a little bit about, you know, like redlining, I think that that's something that we, we should really discuss and how that affects health care, groceries and even safe spaces for us. Work on our health. Yeah,
Deanna 8:43
yeah. It is really interesting how we love to individualize health and love to you know, I always flashed back to the beginning of the pandemic, when I think it was like the Surgeon General was like, can you just tell your, your your grandma's and, and your, you know, aunties and whatever, like to stop, you know, eating this or stop? Yeah, because their diabetes is what's causing them to have higher rates in the black community he was speaking to specifically is black surgeon general thing that was this title, y'all can fact check me later. But just like the undertone of right, like, it is your fault that you are getting COVID at a disproportionate rate. It's your fault that you have these chronic health conditions. And so, you know, do what you need to do to get that in line. I think it's a huge issue and something we need to reframe, and start looking at the system and what role we can all play in that,
Melissa Landry 9:31
you know, what would you say I'm just curious about this, like, what is the representation like, among public health leaders? Because when delene is like it's such a fear based message from my perspective, as a white woman, I feel like it's so hard for people to understand that we need to dismantle white supremacy as a as like a means to stop with this individualism. So like, why is the message so based on individual Is it because of lack of representation in leadership? from public health, why do you think it is that we like latched on to that individual message and public health?
Deanna 10:05
Yeah, I mean, I think it's healthcare, broadly speaking. And I mean, we know for our own field of dietary dietetics, and dietitians with that representation does slash does not look like we're, you know, less than 12-13% of dietitians identify as people of color. I think we see it also in medicine as it relates to physicians and nurses. And, you know, each of these fields are trying to combat the issue that they have with having representation in in different ways. And in similar ways. But yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head with saying like, white supremacy, culture is, of course, a huge contributor to that narrative. And for us to really move away from it, we have to dismantle that and I love to describe white supremacy culture as like, it's just like the water we're all swimming in, like, whether we know it or not like it's around us, just because of how our country started, like, so being more conscious of it, and being able to like, name it and describe how it's impacting people in negative ways, is the only way that we're going to be able to kind of like mitigate and do something about it. But I think, yeah, we have to look at the role that white supremacy plays in healthcare in like all of our systems in order to like rewrite that. But yeah,
Melissa Landry 11:21
it's in like normalizing that I think a lot of white providers think from their lens, like, I mean, I've talked about this, I have been in the chair working with, you know, different cultures, and just not have the lived experience to think about a problem outside my own body. So I think that is such an important thing. And why when you say like, it's getting more normal to talk about social determinants, that's a great thing for people to just be considering, like, not all experiences are your experiences. And it can be as simple as just asking somebody, what's your life like, like, tell me about your day, tell me about what's going on, so that we don't give individual messages or like reinforce it better move more, which Yeah, oversimplifies everything.
Deanna 12:06
There's a scholar by the name of Timo Kuhn. And I think there's another person that that wrote the white supremacy characteristics. I don't know if you've seen those before. But it's like a list of maybe like 10, white supremacy characteristics that, that we see in white supremacy culture, and one of them is individualism. And it's different. I looked at this list all the time. Because I see it sometimes in old workspaces that I've been in, where it's, you know, a couple other characteristics are like worship of the written word, quantity, valuing quantity over quality, power hoarding, fear of conflict, like, all of these things really resonate with like when I've worked in predominantly white spaces, what I've seen, and so it's so interesting to go in, like, look at that list and think about how it applies to dietetics. And healthcare. But Tessa, when chef, I think she's on Instagram at the Tessa, when that is one of diversity dietetics is the chef test that okay, yeah, that changed recently. She's one of the diverse dietetics board members, and she did a whole series like, looking at each of those characteristics, and then talking about how it applies to dietetics. So I would highly recommend checking it out. But all of what you said like, definitely rings true to like, Yep, those are things that have caused us to think that healthcare is just within our individual control, and things that we again, need to like name and try to come up with alternative ways of thinking about it and acting. Yeah.
Dalina Soto 13:28
I invite everyone to think of privilege as not how your life has been hard, but how your life has been easier to navigate because you don't have certain hardships. Right. Like, I think we all have certain privileges. And I think the word project has been polarized so much. Yeah, just like everything. And it's become such a like, politicized word of like, it's a no, no, for a lot of people, like I don't have privilege I grew up, it's like you're missing the point. Yeah, the point is, How has your life not been harder, or made hard because of the size of your body, the color of your skin, your language, there's so many things that could affect and if you haven't had those hardships, it doesn't mean that your life is perfect, it's just that you didn't have those hardships. So I just say that because, you know, we have listeners of all backgrounds, and it's important for you to like, think about that aside, how has your life not been made harder? That's what privileges right
Deanna 14:34
And we all have our privileges? Yeah, like, there's so much intersectionality with all of our different identities, like having English as a first language is a privilege that I hold like being middle class growing up like that isn't like there's so many different aspects and different ways that we can have privilege even if you know even though I'm a black woman, there are definitely you know, identities that I have that are not dominant and so like do come with oppression, but there are areas and identities that I hold that that don't end like being able to talk about all of those.
Melissa Landry 15:05
I think this is important for our listeners who are suffering with chronic dieting, they live with that sort of internalized messaging that we can link back to white supremacy, like, it's my fault, I should do better, more, more, more. All of those things are what caused suffering in their day to day life. And then they hear in the media and like in the research like, Well, no, look, we have all the data, we have all the evidence, look, look, look. But one of the criticisms that I think dieticians that have this lens say is well, like we're controlling for race, or maybe controlling for education. But is that enough to say, how systemic oppression impacted someone's health outcomes or their abilities? And so how can we start to like, I don't know, this is to bigger question like, how do we start to account for this? So we can learn more about health outcomes? Like is the part that the individual behaviors like impact things or don't like, what do we do to tease out that whole piece? So people individually can make choices if they want to? Yeah,
Deanna 16:07
that's a really good question. I mean, I think, are you thinking about it from like, as a practitioner, like as a dietitian, or as somebody that's like, talking with patients, clients, communities, etc?
Melissa Landry 16:17
Yeah, as maybe as providers and as consumers of media, because I think a lot of our, our people are like, Oh, my gosh, this diet came out, or this study came out. And they can use that to convince themselves that the diet cycle is one that they should stay on, when a lot of our research isn't really strong enough, or is not appropriately applied, because we're not taking into account all of these different things. So maybe a more straight way of saying is like, how do people take in that media and account for these systems that maybe the research isn't even thinking about half the time?
Deanna 16:55
Yeah, that's, gosh, that's such a hard question. I mean, I think that that's the value in I think part of it is maybe focusing more internally, like, I feel like both of you talked about this in the way that you counsel individuals, but it's just like, not listening to a ton of the like, external factors and focusing more on like, Okay, how does this make you feel when you do this movement or eat these things, it can get very overwhelming thinking about all these, like huge system problems that exist that are not directly within our locus of control, like I am happy to talk about, you know, ways that we can help address these system issues. And maybe we'll get to that, but But I think, you know, focusing on what brings you joy, it sounds so corny to say out loud, I say but like, but I think it's a real thing. Like, where do you draw energy? What brings you joy? Do you have those social supports, like thinking about health, in a bigger context, not just like food and physical activity, like there's your mental health, there's, you know, spiritual health, if that's something that you're interested in, there's just so many other ways to kind of go after, after that that like, is more focused internally than on than on like, external factors. And I think as providers like, this is why we keep hearing so much about cultural humility. Because if we practice with cultural humility, there is a centering of somebody who's lived experiences or centering of that patient, because they are an expert in themselves, obviously, even though you come in with this knowledge, like, they also come in with a lot of knowledge and being able to acknowledge that there's a power dynamic there. But and that, you know, sometimes you need to see that power to the person that you're interacting with. And then that there's always a critical self reflection on your identity in that situation on like, how you interact with that person, and how on things that may be like, there's a gap in knowledge, I feel like I learned so much from when I was doing, I don't necessarily do like individual counseling anymore. But there's so much that you learn from each and every interaction that you need to be open to like saying, I don't know, or listening more, or again, just like centering that person's experience. I don't know if that answered your question. But that's what came
Melissa Landry 19:04
Well, for me. It does, because I think we put so much like science is important, and science is real. And I think sometimes we put so much importance on what the science says without acknowledging there are other data points that are really important. And you've touched on two that are really important. One is your internal experience. One is how you feel in your body and what drives what make what works for you. And the other is thinking about the experience of others, right how how things occur outside your own experience. And so I think that's really helpful for consumers to remember, like, you don't have to navigate the research perfectly. You can look at it and see it as one data point that's incomplete. And then you could have these other data points that help you make decisions. That to me seems like a really solid response data to help people like who are like but the science says but I want to be culturally sensitive and I want to take care of I want to think about social determinants of health, like what do I do as a person is maybe just deprioritize, all of this health messaging in the status quo a little bit? I don't know. It's hard. It's hard to navigate at all.
Deanna 20:16
Yeah, I was listening to a webinar this morning. And it was interesting. It was talking about like, food trends that are you know, obviously, it's a New Year's people are like looking at food trends for 2022. And it was saying how, you know, people are becoming less trustful of health care, or even like dietitians are just like, give them not necessarily physicians, maybe because I think they do hold a lot of trust and health care, but but nutrition professionals and those that are like giving health advice, because it changes so often. So if you were like what you were telling me like five years ago that I can't have eggs, and now like eggs is okay, like, right? And nutrition isn't newer science, like, it makes sense that things will change and shift. But I think it's interesting to have access to so much information through our phones and the internet and social media, and like figuring out what to do with it. So I think you summarized it perfectly, Melissa.
Dalina Soto 21:05
Yeah, I'm just sitting here taking it all in.
Melissa Landry 21:08
I'm like, I go, okay, there, I get excited by these.
Dalina Soto 21:11
But I think the other point that I would also say is that a lot of the research is also not being done on people that look like Deanna and myself, right, a lot of the research is being done more on people that look like you, Melissa, because there's a there's an inherent trust that happens with white providers, and white clients, or research participants or whatever, there is very much a distrust between people of color, and research. And, you know, even healthcare practitioners to a certain point, because of all the shit that has happened in the past when it comes to research. So I think that, you know, it's something that I often talk about is that, just because the research isn't there on our foods, or the research isn't there particular on looking at the individual when it comes to people of color, kind of like adding all those data points. Just because that research hasn't been done doesn't mean that your lived experiences don't matter. And it doesn't mean that we can't look at things from a less fearful place, which I think that that's like, I feel one of the other takeaway points that I want the listeners to understand is that like, a lot of this messaging is coming from a very fear based place of, if you don't do this, you will die. But it's not so black and white. It is not all or nothing. But I think that that's what public health campaigns do, because they want to get your attention. But we're noticing what we all know now that that doesn't work. And it actually can backfire in a lot of a lot of places. So I think that it's taking all of this information, and again, doing what works for you like doing what you can with what you have. I mean that I feel like that's really what it's all about. So I don't know, man, it's a lot. But Deana I think to bring it back to social determinants, like how can we right as people, and anybody that's listening to this? How can we focus right on working on our health, if we do have, you know, low access to like fresh groceries or safe spaces to move? Or like, even just like access to health care itself? How can we view this from a different point and not let that just be like the final thing like, oh, well, can't can't Oh, there's no sidewalks? I guess I won't. Yeah,
Deanna 23:24
I would love to hear obviously, you know, I think my question back to you all, I would love to hear how it works with you and your clients. Because, you know, I'm still like, super on the macro level at dealing with systems. But I will say like, from the provider perspective, if there's like folks that provide care or are working, you know, within these health care systems that I would recommend, because I would hate to put the responsibility like back on the individual when we're talking about these like huge system level things. But I would say like, are you thinking about the system? So I'll give an example. So and this was a like an analogy that was told to me by a woman named Joy who works with Eatwell exchange, and she was saying, we think about like, say you're at a river with a friend. And you see like puppies floating down the river. So obviously, you're like, oh, my gosh, there's a property for another word. Let me grab them, you know, make sure it doesn't drown. Then another one comes down. So you're like, oh, my gosh, catacomb these puppies. And so you and your friend are just like grabbing puppies out of this little river, this river that's floating down, and your friend stops and starts taking off in the opposite direction. And you're like, Wait, what are you doing? Like, we need to get these puppies out the river. They're like, I need to go figure out what's happening, that these puppies keep getting into the river, like what is happening upstream? What's happening, you know, closer to the source that is causing these downstream impacts that we're like, panicking to just take people out of this river or take the puppies out of the river when we could try to figure out what's happening that's contributing to that. Does that make any sense? So I think that like we as providers and practitioners need to start thinking more upstream. We need to start thinking less about like, Okay, how do we solve this one problem that's right in front of us? And how do we get to the root of that problem? And, you know, typically, it's like policy and financial resources that we need to start thinking more about, and how, you know, how can we use those levers, so to speak, to just create like a better safety that create these systems. On the individual level, though, I'll say that, like, part of that is doing this like anti racist work, which I know is to like, throw out a jargony term that has been all around the internet. But it's so true that like, we need to be active about how we're combating these systems of oppression, like, we have to look at policies and practices, whether it's like within the places that we work, or, you know, our like, state legislator, or whatever it is, and how they're contributing to in a positive way, in a negative way, these systems, these social determinants of health, like what are ways that we're supporting housing, what are ways that we're supporting access to education and access to grocery stores, etc. And I think sometimes we can get so hyper focused on just like, the issue that's right in front of us that we don't look more upstream, we don't look at like the root causes. And I think we have a responsibility to do that, as providers, and as people that care about health.
Dalina Soto 26:11
Oh, love it, love it, especially because again, I feel like I will venture to say, and you all comment, and let us know if I'm wrong. But I feel like the person that listens to this podcast is listening because they have a some form of privilege or not, and is more of a professional, maybe a first generation has the ability to work on their health, but also help dismantle the systems of oppression is kind of at the same time. And I will answer you, because you said how do we like we as providers help with like the low access to health care, groceries and all that stuff. And I think that the way that I view it, working in Philadelphia, and working with low income communities, is that I help people do what they can with what they have, like exactly what you know, I said earlier, it's like, okay, if you don't have health care, like, how can we get you the health care? Like, how can we apply like, some people don't have access to computers, I work with a lot of people that don't even speak the language. So a lot of the times in my office, we're filling out these applications together. Like, not only am I educated on like, things that you can do to better right now, but also like, how can we look towards the future and help you with like getting that health care access, getting your SNAP, getting your WIC benefits, like, there's no shame in any of that. And I think that there's also a lot of shame and guilt in accepting help. Because nobody wants free, right, everybody wants to be able to afford. So I think that making them see that, like this is just a stepping stone to get you to where you have to be is important. And I think that that's one of the ways that I try to help anyone that has low access to any of these points. And then speaking against it, right, like we're doing right now on this podcast, or you know, when people call me crazy on Instagram, that's okay. But like, that's how I use my privilege, right? That's how I use my voice and the fact that I do have access to all of this, but then I work with people that don't so I think that we can all do our part. Even a little bit counts.
Melissa Landry 28:16
Yeah, whenever you said like the the anti racist work or like that internal reflection work. I agree with you, Dalina, our listeners, our clients, 100% are from coming from a place of privilege, they have the time the means the energy to explore their lifestyle, they're more in a Thrive mode that a survive mode. And I think a lot of the individual healing that happens in part comes from exploring bias. We talk a lot about anti fat bias or fat phobic beliefs, but those linked to racist beliefs and to some extent, and so anytime you're internally challenging these associations, you've learned about what it means to be a certain size or certain skin color, what are the characteristics of people who look like that, you're also challenging that within yourself. And that is a liberating process for you to have a stronger connection with your body so you can get that joy Deanna is talking about you can connect with that internal experience. And so for me, I think, again, using our pages to raise awareness to ask questions to chip it bias with our clients really pushing them to say, Hmm, where does that believe you're lazy come from in a way that's non judgmental and giving them space to talk about that does impact how you show up in the world and who knows how that impacts how you show up in your community and other places. So I'm so glad you mentioned that because I think that that is a part of the intuitive eating space that sometimes get lost in translation like I do think that it has to go with the intuitive eating work you're doing is also looking at why do I believe this about myself in the first place?
Deanna 29:57
Yeah, totally. And I feel like in the last last couple of years, there's been kind of a sense of like fatigue around talking about these issues. And we can't stop like we can't we can't stop talking about them because they are impacting, you know, all of us day to day. And so yeah, and I'm glad that you call that out.
Dalina Soto 30:18
It's a lot. heavy topic. It's yeah, it's a heavy topic, because nobody wants to feel like they're part of the problem. Right? Like you said, we're all swimming in that water, whether we want to be or not, it's the way that the world has gone around for God. That centuries. Yes, point. And dismantling could feel hard. And it could feel scary that you're speaking up against things like this. And, you know, you have to take it with whatever comfort level you have, obviously, but standing up for what you believe in is important.
Deanna 30:55
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned, I'm just thinking about in the work that I'm doing in my like nine to five, it's obviously like a very public health space. And we work with a lot of like government organizations, and nonprofits and like a lot of different stakeholders that really could be really powerful thinking specifically about like how weight stigma and weight bias impact public health, my first job was as a Head Start and Early Headstart, like child nutrition manager, and I remember, like, a lot of the money or some of the money that we got, in order to feed the kids was related to us weighing them, like we had to get to BMI on all of these, like five and under little kids, and like, give a letter to a parent. And it just did not feel right for me. And so now that I'm in this role, that's kind of like a step removed from direct care and working with people that like set the policy and like, okay, how can we like blow the system up so that we don't have to be? Yeah, like, we don't have to be so reliant on funding for as a way to kind of stigmatize children in this specific instance, based on their weight. And I'm just giving this as an example of like, what kind of that digging into what the policies and practices are, and your locus of control that you could think about, like replacing them because as you mentioned, a list of like, this weight bias, and weight stigma is also tied into racism. And so yeah, why are we so reliant on this measure of BMI when we are getting more and more evidence each day that it's not an effective tool for measuring health? And so yeah, it's been really tough because the systems have had this tool for so long, it's tied to money, it's like baked into it. It's been part of the water that has just been like around. And now somebody's trying to it's me and a few other people that are trying to get that ball rolling on like, Okay, what if we did something different, and it's been met with some resistance, and some people like very skeptical about it and questioning it, but I think having support and having community is so important. So like, in that specific instance, and also when I think about diversify, dietetics, and how we want to change what the the face of nutrition looks like, we're able to do that because of community like we're able to continue to push forward because we're not trying to do it on our own. I'm sure there's, there's that quote, that's like if you want to go far go alone if you want to. I don't know, I messed up the quote, but you know what I'm talking about, like, if you want to go far together,
Melissa Landry 33:13
this is a podcast where we hope our listeners always kind of get the gist we know there's a Genesee quad that we want you to just pick up over put it down.
Deanna 33:23
So right you want I think it's if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far go together. Okay, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna say that that's it, and we're gonna go with I'll look up, okay. But I think that that is a powerful tool if people are thinking about like, oh my gosh, I know I play a role. I know I have a role that I need to play in advancing equity and in like dismantling inequities. How do I do that? It's so overwhelming like you get together with people that also want to do it, and you keep the ball rolling.
Melissa Landry 33:54
Focusing on weight fixes the problem so badly like when there's only one outcome, which is like make them smaller, get yourself smaller, all the solutions are boring, and monotonous and repetitive. That's why to your point, Deanna, like you guys keep changing the rules because like we're out of moves on this, this construct, we are out of moves on the let's get everyone to lose weight construct guys that we've tried all the things repeatedly the science is showing, it's not working and we can't let it the F go for some reason. So this idea of you like ditching the BMI ditching the weight as a metric means that your programs your people, the inspiration, the brainstorming, what we actually do for solutions is going to start to evolve and become more dynamic and diverse and like that just gets me so excited to Fing tired of hitting my head against a wall personally in my life as a dietician. It is so exciting to just let go of the Fing weight as the be all and
Dalina Soto 34:54
that's a lot.
Melissa Landry 34:55
Yeah, I know it. There's a reason there's a reason why that why that BMI status
Dalina Soto 35:01
Yeah, tide. Right? Like, we know that like, it's we all three of us know that and a lot of it a lot of listeners already know that like it's just time because it's an easy, lazy metric to use of like it works. But it only works for three weeks.
Melissa Landry 35:18
Does it work? But as individuals, you can opt out. Yeah. And this is where Intuitive Eating where sometimes it lacks on some of its big picture thinking. The first principle is rejecting diets. And I think that that is actually a really powerful thing to do. Because the less power diet's have, the less the money is going into that system. And we can maybe make a new one I don't know.
Dalina Soto 35:43
And and to bring in the patriarchy, if you will, here we go. You've got the energy to fight these. Okay, you guys. Both true and yourself. That's true.
Melissa Landry 35:54
I don't do I don't do nothing on an empty stomach that's roll the tapes, me having an attitude problem when I am.
Dalina Soto 36:03
Angry, Dalina is not a fun Dalina.
Deanna 36:07
Never Oh, my gosh,
Dalina Soto 36:09
well, this is an amazing conversation. I feel like we could probably go on for now for hours and hours, but we're gonna have to cut it here.
Deanna 36:17
Okay. I understand that this has been amazing. I had such a good time talking with y'all.
Melissa Landry 36:24
I'm really glad you exist in the world. And it truly like people at your level, like at the system's level, who can just kind of take pause and say, Oh, actually, just one, one minute, hold on. Let's think about like, that is so so powerful. So just keep doing what you're doing and know that it matters. Not everyone can be up at that level. And I'm glad you are.
Dalina Soto 36:45
I'm ecstatic that you're there. And it's just you know, it's just amazing that you're actually sitting in these rooms sitting at these tables saying, hold the front door.
Deanna 36:58
They're listening. Yeah. They will. Yeah. But I mean, you can make ripples at every single level. So it's, it's we're all we're all in this together for lack of a better corny line.
Dalina Soto 37:16
All right. Well, thank you so much for being here. And just as a takeaway, I guess to summarize this for our listeners, I will say that, you know, health has not, we're not in control of it as much as we think one and two, you can work on it individually for yourself, but you could also work on it, and dismantling a lot of the systems around you your life and in places where in your community. And I think the last thing I will say that I don't think we said directly is that like you learn every day. So what you knew yesterday is going to be different than what you know now after listening to this. So even though it's scary, and it seems like crap, why was why am I still swimming in this water, one we all are and to every day, you can do something different to be able to change that. And every day you're going to learn something else and what you didn't know you didn't know. And I just want to say that to everybody that like you don't have to be woke right now.
Melissa Landry 38:14
I'll just close that is new to me. I'm learning. So if you need company on becoming a better person. Hello, my name is Bob.
Dalina Soto 38:25
That's it. That's all we got to end with. You can be a better person every day. Anyway,
Melissa Landry 38:32
where can people support you diversify. dietetics let our listeners know how we can support you and your work.
Deanna 38:37
So you can support diversify. dietetics on we're mostly on Instagram or our website, which is diversified dietetics. org on Instagram at diversified dietetics I'm on Instagram at Deanna dot rdn. And that is I think the main way you know, I feel like Instagram is mainly how you can get in touch with either myself or us as diversified dietetics but we are really excited within the organization. We have a summit coming up in May with Chetan dolina spoke at our first one last year. So this one's a little bit more broad. So we will have that coming up in May and then hoping to do in person meetups in the spring, depending on what Omarion and any other variants are doing. And then of course, we are starting our very own dietetic internship. We are so excited that's supposed to we're supposed to take our first class in January of 2023. So exactly a year from now. So if you want to support that effort, you can donate on our website. But I really appreciate the time to talk about social determinants of health all share that white supremacy carrying that list with y'all and the visual for SDOH in case anybody kind of wants to see it and needs an image because I think it's it's super helpful, but thank you all for having me here.
Melissa Landry 39:49
Thank you. We'll put all that in show notes for you guys. Alright, everybody. See ya.
Dalina Soto 39:54
Bye. Bye. I know that it's really hard, right? And it's something that if not often talked about and can seem very scary to look at life through this different lens, really sit and think about how much of our health one isn't really much in our control. And two, how follow these oppressive systems have really shaped how we view health and ourselves. And as difficult as this topic is, it's important for us to do the work all of us. It's the water that we swim in, as Deanna said, so if you're here, and you're struggling, just to figure out how all of this intersects with your relationship to food, your relationship to your health, even breaking a diet cycle, I invite you to check out my bundle because I work specifically from this view point. And I want you to really think about how all of this has shaped your life's on how you view your cultural foods and how you even view yourself. So go on over to your Latina nutrition comm check out the bundle and many courses and see if this work is for you. If you're ready to do it, and I'm excited for you. Right, Melissa?
Melissa Landry 41:17
Your excitement is bubbling over all the time. You teach me so much about this and have gotten me thinking differently. I mean, you know, you've impacted my practice how I work with people. So I totally recommend people check out the bundle because just the way you present information, especially if you're someone who feels like they've gone through discrimination based on the color of your skin and your cultural foods, there's no one better to teach it. So I'm glad that you have made this bundle for people to check it out and understand. Alright you guys, we'll see you next time. Thanks for being here and being who you are.
Dalina 41:51
Please love and break the diet cycle.
