Dr. Joel Hamilton brings awareness of the Juneteenth flag with this bonus episode highlighting the arc, which represents a new horizon.

For those with cancer, eating can become a frustrating task. Some foods can aggravate symptoms, whereas some foods can help. Your taste buds can begin to deceive you. Your appetite can vary greatly. There are many appropriate questions and concerns to have during this process, even in regards to snacking.  In this episode of Fresh Focus, Kathy attempts to answer some of these questions, and also talks about some great snack ideas for anyone that may be dealing with cancer.   

Non-starchy vegetables can be a phenomenal go-to to when it comes to snacking. They are nutrient dense, provide a low calorie source of volume, and they are very affordable! Join Beth as she discusses the benefits of vegetables as snacks, and gives us five usable tips to incorporate more into our intake!  #1 – Eat your vegetables first!#2 – Try convenient, and easy, options. #3 – Bring life to your sandwiches and wraps with vegetables!#4 – Go slow. #5 – Expand your palate. 

Snacking for people with diabetes!? Yes, of course!  As with anything else, proper knowledge and the appropriate incorporation of snacks can absolutely be an option for someone dealing with diabetes.  In today’s world, there are many advances to diabetes medication and insulin regimens, which allows for intake to be more individualized than ever before. Join Natalie as she shares her expertise on how to identify glucose patterns, understanding common diabetes medications, and determining when...

Kerri knocks this topic out of the park by getting into the ins-and-outs of concession eats! There are many options to consider at sporting events, and not often are they the most nourishing. There are so many other factors that come into play as well, including what meal of the day it may be, if we plan to eat something small to keep us tied over before a meal, if we are eating just to be eating, are we trying to lose weight, and so on.   Kerri takes us through the ringer of how we can plan...

In this episode, Sieger leads us down the rabbit hole in regards to the potential downfalls of snacking. Snacks, although enjoyable and sometimes appropriate, can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help. How can we identify the difference?  Sometimes we do things that aren’t quite working in our favor. Sometimes we have bad habits. It’s all about optimizing our intake and improving our relationship with food, snacks included. Join us as we discuss the issues with common snack choices,...

Whether you’re a parent with kids at home, or a grandparent, aunt, uncle, babysitter, or friend, this episode is for you! Lauren leads us through some practical tips and ideas to make your whole family’s snacks healthier. The typical American child eats about triple the recommended amount of added sugars and about double the recommended amount of sodium per day. We can help reduce that amount by starting with snacks and learning how we can make them healthier. We may not have a win with every...

Listen in as Yaqutullah and Hillary share practical tips to reduce food waste and help save you money and time with meal planning.  VA Healthy Teaching Kitchen provides numerous recipes and meal ideas to fit your taste preferences and nutrition needs.  Have a plan to use up items that you have on hand to make sure don’t end up in the trash as food waste. 

Eating a plant-based diet can provide both health and environmental benefits. Listen in as Jennifer and Becca talk about the benefits of gardening and composting.  Composting offers a way to turn food waste into something that can benefit the environment. Consider starting your own garden. Gardening not only brings more plant foods into your life, but can also be good for the environment and help your budget too.

If you are looking at incorporating more plant-based proteins in your meals and snacks, listen to this episode as Shelby and Selena talk about some of their favorite recipes.     Be sure to visit the Healthy Teaching Kitchen YouTube Channel to watch videos and find plant based food items to try at home. You can have easy, delicious food choices while being more mindful on how they affect the environment. Check out the new VA Nutrition and Food Services  Practical Plant-Based Cooking Cookbook...

Working towards being more sustainable is much easier than you might think! Listen in as Jamie and Becca discuss easy steps to start with during your next grocery store trip. Try to purchase foods that are versatile, can be stored easily and foods that you can use in more than one way. Remember it is always a good practice to push older fruits and vegetables to the front to remind you to use those items first! 

This year, for National Nutrition Month®, the team at Fresh Focus Podcast partnered with the Green Environmental Management System Committee, GEMS, to bring you information on getting started with being more sustainable by reducing food waste, eating more plant-based food items, and learning to cook and prepare more food in your kitchen. Jaime and Selena have great tips on how to start by looking Beyond the Table.  Sustainability and good nutrition are more than just what we cook, it’s how we...

All of the lifestyle changes that you have made in the last several weeks of this program have led to a healthier you! We want to help you maintain all of these healthy habits moving forward, which brings us to today’s episode! The last episode of the series focuses on how to maintain the progress you have made while participating in MOVE!. We will talk about some things that will help you keep the progress moving forward and ways to maintain your motivation.    Staying motivated is essential...

Ever wonder about the connection between sleep and body weight? Tune in to this episode as Angie, Dietitian and MOVE! Facilitator at the St Louis VA Health Care System, talks about ways to improve your sleep hygiene and how the MOVE! Weight management program can help you reach your health goals. This episode will educate you on how sleep can influence weight and provides tips to increase sleep quality and quantity.   Host Bio: Fresh Focus is a team of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists at...

A weight plateau can be a challenge and barrier we face when we are trying to better manage our weight. Find out how to set yourself up for success when experiencing this issue. Tune in to this episode to find the best way continue moving forward with your goals. Aimee Wittmaier with the Kansas City VA Medical Center provides specific strategies to help you along your journey!   Host Bio: Fresh Focus is a team of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists at the Marion VA collaborating with...

Exercise is such a great thing for our bodies and there are numerous ways to modify activities to avoid pain and to make them more comfortable. It is possible to increase activity throughout the day no matter what your circumstance is! Listen to this episode as Dr. Raine Bradshaw, a Physical Therapist for Truman VA in Columbia, MO, speaks with Amy and shares how Veterans can incorporate physical activity with the MOVE! Program. Find out how to increase your physical activity and exercise to...

Navigating recipes can be a challenge when you are cooking for one. Common recipes are created for 4-6+ people. It is important to include a variety of foods to help you get all of the nutrients that you need, but how do you do this? Tune in to find out more about how a VA dietitian can help assist you in creating anindividualized meal plan for yourself! If you are worried about being able to cook the meals due to lack of experience in the kitchen, we can work with you to modify your plan and...

Description:  You may or may not have heard of the MOVE! program at your VA before tuning into today’s episode.  However, MOVE has actually been around since 2006. MOVE!is the nation-wide weight management program designed to help Veterans lose weight and keep it off.  Using weekly sessions to keep participants involved on a regular basis, MOVE! highlights making healthy behavior changes in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, emotional eating, stress management and other self-care...

March is a whole month dedicated to promote the profession of Nutrition Services as well as delivering nutrition education to the public. A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist can help you improve your overall health and wellness. Episode #70 focuses on the topic of health-related marketing, and more importantly, how we perceive, and engage, with this information. VA Dietitians help to observe the context in which these methods thrive, and how to shift our perception in a way that helps to...

In episode #69 VA Dietitians discuss different meal planning strategies to better “fuel for the future” which is the 2023 theme of National Nutrition Month®. For most people, hearing the word meal planning or meal prepping may elicit images of extra time cooking, pre-portioning the same meal into containers to be eaten throughout the week. And while that is one approach to meal planning that works great for some people, this episode explores different approaches to find a system that fits...

In the United States the USDA indicates that 13.8 million people are considered food insecure. Food security is a federal measure of a household’s ability to provide enough food for every person in the household to have an active, healthy life. In this episode we take a closer look at food security, and explore a dietitians role in helping you reach your health goals.  

March is National Nutrition Month® and is a chance to celebrate eating healthy. In episode #67, our VA Dietitians review tips for eating healthy on a budget. Specifically, whether you are buying groceries and cooking at home for yourself, including family members, or making the choice to enjoy food away from the home.

The body can do great things, but we need to give it time to do so. In Fresh Focus episode #66 we discuss exercise in relation to cardiac health.

Having less sodium in your diet may help you lower or avoid high blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Listen in Episode #65 as Ashley, Marion Dietetic Intern as she clears the air on how to make a heart healthy selection.