Food Sleuth Radio

Did you know that 70 percent of our immune system is in the lining of our guts? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Tanmeet Sethi, MD, an Integrative Medicine Physician on the faculty at the Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency in Seattle, WA. Recognizing the power of food in mental and physical health, Sethi established a culinary medicine program. She discusses the “sacred act” of eating, the holistic practice of mind-body medicine, and the power of a “food, herb and spice pharmacy” to reduce inflammation and treat and prevent chronic diseases.Related website: http://tanmeetsethimd.com/

Did you  know that exposure to pesticides puts children and farm workers in harm’s way? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Kristin Schafer, Executive Director of the Pesticide Action Network (PAN). Schafer discusses the risks of pesticide drift and harms related to exposure on children and farm workers, including neurological damage from chlorpyrifos, and increasing herbicides used on genetically engineered crops. Schafer shines a light on the politics and PR spin used by the pesticide industry, and reviews a tool kit http://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/DriftReporting-InCaseofDriftToolkit-2017.pdf designed to identify and reduce drift damage. Schafer has been lead author on several excellent PAN reports, including Chemical Trespass: Pesticides in our Bodies and Corporate Accountability; and, Nowhere to Hide: Persistent Toxic Chemicals in the U.S. Food Supply. She also co-authored both A Generation in Jeopardy and Kids on the Frontline (2016).Related website: www.panna.org

Did you know that the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables has been declining over the past few decades? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Andrew Smith, Ph.D., Research Director for the Rodale Institute’s new “Vegetable Systems Trial.” The new, long-running trial will compare biologically-based organic with chemically-based “conventional” vegetable production. Smith explains why and how conventional methods for increasing crop yield reduce nutritional quality, and how organic production methods can improve soil, plant, and therefore human health. Smith also explains the mission of Rodale’s new Regenerative Health Institute.Related website: https://rodaleinstitute.org/

Did you know that “hydroponic” growing methods have been a controversial topic among organic farmers? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Dave Chapman, organic farmer http://www.longwindfarm.com/about, and founding farmer behind the “Real Organic Project.” From his high-tech organic farm in Thetford, VT, Chapman discusses his decades-long career in farming, and his work to protect the integrity of the organic label. Chapman describes hydroponic methods for growing produce, why he advocates for soil-based organic farming, plus what consumers can do to help protect organic integrity in the marketplace.Related website: www.realorganicproject.org

Do you know how to navigate food labels in the marketplace? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Andrew Gunther, Executive Director of A Greener World. Gunther defines food label terms to better enable consumers to navigate the marketplace. An outspoken critic of industrial farming systems, Gunther was the senior global animal compassionate product procurement and development specialist for Whole Foods Market, leading the team that designed and launched the company’s five-step welfare program in the United Kingdom. He  routinely exposes the negative impact of industrial agriculture on farm animals, the environment, and society as a regular contributor to Huffington Post. He also works closely with restaurants groups and retailers to increase the availability of Animal Welfare Approved meat, dairy and eggs in traditional retail settings.Related website:  https://agreenerworld.org/solutions-and-certificates/what-food-labels-really-mean/

Did you know that chlorpyrifos, produced by Dow chemical,  is the most widely used insecticide globally? Commonly known as Durzban, this particular pesticide causes nerve damage in children. Prenatal exposure predicts ADHD, lower IQ, and creates an increase in children with “special needs,” putting a burden on schools and society. Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Dana Boyd Barr, Ph.D., Research professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. https://www.sph.emory.edu/faculty/profile/#!DBBARR  Dr. Barr describes her research on pesticide exposure and  damage to the neurodevelopment of children, and the political difficulty in banning chlorpyrifos. For more information on chlorpyrifos see: http://www.panna.org/resources/chlorpyrifos-facts and beyondpesticides.orgRelated website:  http://leaderlaboratory.org/about.html

Did you know that the Lancet Commission has referred to climate change as both the biggest public health crisis, and biggest public health opportunity of the century? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Dr. Lori Griffin Byron, M.D., Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and co-leader of the Citizen’s Climate Lobby Health Team (see: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/) Dr. Byron describes how climate change, with rising levels of CO2, more severe and unpredictable weather, flooding and drought, will impact food and agriculture, as well as mental and physical health. She offers hope and encouraging strategies for citizen action.Related website:  https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/climate-change/Pages/Climate-Change-and-Childrens-Health.aspx

Did you know that today’s children are suffering from increasing rates of auto-immune illnesses, asthma, autism, ADHD, and digestive disorders?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Michelle Perro, M.D., author of “What’s Making Our Children Sick? How Industrial Food is Causing an Epidemic of Chronic Illness, and What Parents (and Doctors) Can Do About It.” Perro describes the changes in children’s health she’s witnessed from over 35 years of practice as a pediatrician, how she became interested in integrative medicine, and the connection between genetically modified foods (and related increasing herbicide use), gut integrity and health. She also explains the importance of the Precautionary Principle when protecting children’s health: https://www.sehn.org/ppfaqs.htmlRelated website: https://www.gmoscience.org/whats-making-children-sick-can/

Did you know that organic food and farming have far reaching impacts on our environment and health? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Margaret Scoles, Executive Director of the International Organic Inspectors Association (IOIA). Scoles explains the integrity, meaning, and benefits of the organic label; describes the process of organic certification, and the rules farmers must follow to earn the label. She also helps us navigate competing labels, including “natural” and “non-GMO.”Related website: https://www.ioia.net/

Did you know that food is intimately connected with issues of justice, equity and community? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Julia Turshen, writer, recipe developer, and cookbook author. Turshen discusses her most recent book: “Feed the Resistance: Recipes and Ideas for Getting Involved,” which takes us beyond our plates with healthful, easy, plant-based recipes mixed with activism and politics.  Turshen describes her latest project as “part cookbook, part activism handbook.” It includes recipes, essays, and practical lists of ideas from a diverse group of cooks, writers, activists, and entrepreneurs — a product of a dedicated community invested in equity. Turshen is donating all proceeds from the book to the ACLU, “to help protect free speech and protest in meaningful spaces.”Related website: http://www.juliaturshen.com/feedtheresistance