Food Sleuth Radio

Did you know that tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood and that Maine was the first state to eliminate soft drinks from schools? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Jonathan Shenkin, DDS, pediatric dentist based in Augusta, Maine, former Vice President of the American Dental Association, and Clinical Associate Professor of Health Policy, Health Services Research and Pediatric Dentistry at Boston University. Shenkin discusses the impact of Covid-related lifestyle changes on oral health, how sugar causes tooth decay, and the historical role the sugar industry has played in manipulating messaging and policies related to sugar consumption. To learn more about sugar industry impact on National Institute of Dental Research, see: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001798 Related website:   https://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/nutrition/food-tips 

Did you know that art has always been a driving force for activism?   Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Chris Jordan, award winning photographer and artist whose work helps us see the impact of consumer culture and our unconscious behaviors. Jordan’s work is a call to action to repair our broken relationship with planet Earth. He is best known for his images of the decaying carcasses of albatross chicks on Midway Island, showing the plastic fragments that filled the birds’ stomachs before they died. His iconic images helped catalyze the growing public awareness of the problem of plastic pollution. Jordan’s film describing the birds’ story is available for free: albatrossthefilm.com.  Read about his images showing consumer culture here: https://orionmagazine.org/article/intolerable-beauty/ 

Did you know that cannabis is comprised of over one hundred different cannabinoids which have a myriad of health benefits? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Janice Newell Bissex MS, RD, Registered Dietitian, Holistic Cannabis Practitioner, and author of the Simple Guide to CBD: Fact, Fiction, and a Path Forward. Bissex discusses the history, biochemical components and medical benefits of cannabis, plus how to choose products in a dizzying unregulated marketplace. For policy updates, see: https://norml.org/ Related website:   www.jannabiswellness.com/ 

Did you know that farming in community creates a social contract between people, and can help lift depression and loneliness? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Molly Rockamann, founding director of Earth Dance Certified Organic Farm School based in Ferguson Missouri. Rockamann discusses her global farming experiences, food sovereignty, agriculture as community catalyst, and the healing nature of agriculture. Rockamann was a featured panelist at the University of MO’s 12th Annual Agroforestry Symposium. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUOh8LRAf21gW2dt3uPf_UA Related website:   https://earthdancefarms.org/ 

Did you know that a growing number of students across the country are working to eliminate synthetic herbicide use on their campuses?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Mackenzie Feldman, Founder and Executive Director of Herbicide-Free Campus, and Food Research Fellow for Data for Progress where she writes food and agriculture policy for the Green New Deal.  At just 24 years old, Feldman is a strong young leader, and both an inspiration and catalyst for a safer, more sustainable world.  Feldman describes how she began her work to ban harmful herbicides, and her related efforts to promote regenerative agriculture and jobs through the Green New Deal.  Learn more here:  https://inthesetimes.com/.../soil-loss-climate-green-new... and here: https://www.filesforprogress.org/memos/regenerative-farming-and-the-green-new-deal.pdf Related website:   https://www.herbicidefreecampus.org/our-mission 

Did you know that grasslands are essential for sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, and ranchers are critical in preserving America’s grassland ecosystem? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Marshall Johnson, Vice-President of the Conservation Ranching Initiative at National Audubon Society. Johnson discusses details of the Conservation Ranching Program, and the connection between grasslands, herds and birds. He discusses how replacing grasslands with row crops has significantly reduced biodiversity, bird populations, and ecosystem services.  Re-establishing grassland grazing and honoring indigenous agricultural practices can help us mitigate climate change and restore our ecosystem. You can hear Johnson present at the Rodale-hosted panel here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfrOSyYm26s&t=2497s. Related website:   www.audubon.org/birdfriendly 

Did you know that what and when we eat can affect our mood? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Holly DeLong, MS, RDN. DeLong discusses how food affects mood, sleep, immunity and stress with specific dietary recommendations. Related website:   www.yourfoodandmood.com 

Did you know that with few exceptions, the food served in prison does not support mental and physical health?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Mark McBrine, organic farmer and Food Service Manager at Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston, Maine. McBrine describes his unique transformational food and farming operation at a state prison that provides healing food for the incarcerated, reduces behavioral problems, and saves taxpayer dollars. In addition, his extensive farm and scratch-cooking program gives job training skills to inmates, better preparing them for work in their communities. Related website:   https://www.farmtoinstitution.org/blog/feeding-incarcerated-people-pandemic-how-one-maine-prison-adapting 

Did you know that food is more than sustenance? It defines who we are, Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Alison Alkon, Ph.D., professor of sociology at the University of the Pacific (https://liberalarts.pacific.edu/campus-directory/alkon-alison), who discusses her TED talk titled: “Food as Radical Empathy.” Alkon defines food justice, and introduces her newly published book, A Recipe for Gentrification: Food, Power, and Resistance in the City (co-edited with Yuki Kato and Joshua Sbicca).  Related website:   https://www.ted.com/talks/alison_alkon_food_as_racial_empathy 

Did you know that food is an integral part of the human experience, yet that which is served in prison most often fails to contribute to the rehabilitation of those who are incarcerated?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Leslie Soble, M.A., Impact Justice research fellow for the Food in Prison Project and lead author of  the report, “Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison.” Soble reviews and discusses the first of its kind comprehensive review of food served in state prisons. In the 6-part report, Soble reveals that some food served in prison is labeled “not for human consumption,” and describes unique and model facilities where food is part of rehabilitation. A webinar featuring Soble and a former inmate can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY39ejRc2zQ Related website:   https://impactjustice.org/impact/food-in-prison/#report