Discovering the Benefits of Plant-Based Nutrition with Linda Montgomery

Curious about how plant-based foods can transform your health and well-being? Join us for a fascinating conversation with Linda Montgomery, a culinary nutritionist and the visionary behind Teal Garden Nutrition. Linda takes us on her personal journey from traditional dietetics to a passionate advocate for a 100% plant-based lifestyle. Learn about her unique experiences with various diets, including the infamous lemonade diet, and how they fueled her mission to create delicious, nutritious meals using herbs, spices, and vegetables.

Wondering about the differences between vegan and vegetarian diets? Linda breaks it down for us, sharing critical insights for those considering these lifestyles. Discover the vibrant world of Teal Garden Nutrition's weekly meal prep services and how you can enjoy these healthy, plant-based dishes. Don't miss out on Linda's expert tips and her enthusiasm for participating in local markets, especially in the Shreveport-Bossier area. Follow Teal Garden Nutrition on Instagram and Facebook to stay updated on their menu offerings and market appearances. Tune in to be inspired by Linda's story and learn how food can truly be the cornerstone of good health.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Vegan is like 100% plants only. There's no animal byproducts, there's no animal meat for sure. So, like dairy would be completely cut out of that, it also cuts out cheese because that's just a byproduct, in my opinion, of dairy.

Speaker 2: 0:22

Just keep telling, just keep telling hey guys, it's me again. Thank you for logging in, thank you for listening. I do have Miss Linda here and she is going to tell us about her company and what inspired her. Thank you for coming on, miss Linda. Thank you for having me, kim, my pleasure, my pleasure. So tell us a little bit about you.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Okay, my name is Linda Montgomery and I'm actually a culinary nutritionist. There's a slight difference between nutritionist and culinary nutritionist. Most nutritionists are known in dietetics very clinically inclined, but for culinary nutrition, my focus is on food and its correlation to our health. Really, yes, I'm a Texas Women's University graduate and my degree program was in nutrition for business and industry and it taught me a lot about, like food manufacturing, how our food is made, where it comes from, um really, and wow. So I started to look at nutrition because not only do I just have a passion for um, teaching others, or at least you know, spreading the word, that food can be delicious and look and smell like Mickey D's but then actually be much healthier and cleaner for us than what Mickey D's is it's poison, by the way, can.

Speaker 1: 2:13

I say that on here I say it all the time, every time my friend be like I'm taking my child to Mickey D's, I was like you know, I feel poison, have a good time, but please don't cancel them, but please don't cancel them. So, but, um, yeah, so that's why I uh launched into, launched into this nutrition career and I finally walked out on faith and decided to move, move forward with my nutrition career and Tillgarden Nutrition was born, and it's your local history for it.

Speaker 2: 2:43

wow, yes, ma'am okay, so is that what is what inspired you to even get into nutrition? Honestly?

Speaker 1: 2:51

I've had this trend in my life where I would at times go on like fast, um, that's for budgeting reasons, and then, um, I also would try different like diets. I've heard of different kind of diets. I've even tried the lemonade diets. I've heard of different kinds of diets. I've even tried the lemonade diet twice.

Speaker 1: 3:07

I've never, even heard of the lemonade diet. It's just lemonade with, like maple syrup, water, lemon I'm sorry, fresh lemons, maple syrup and water. And yeah, because I went to go skydiving with my ex-girlfriend and so I was like just over the mark and they were like, sis, you got to do something. I looked at her, she looked at me. I said I guess I'm juicing it. I was kind of you know, I mean, was it really beneficial for my health? Was it a long term thing? No, because we went out to eat a steak that night.

Speaker 1: 3:38

This is before I went vegan by the way yeah, um, I went on that steak that night and I mean I was right back where I was, yeah, but that's been my inspiration, um is really to uh, just spread the word on culinary nutrition itself, also on the plant-based diet, on plant-based nutrition. I'm 100 plant-based. That is what till garden is. Um food is food. As far as I'm concerned, if we're hungry, we're going to eat, yeah, but at the end of the day, it's like what are we really eating? And I wanted, I wanted it all to be focused around plants and how our food and herbs, spices, seasonings, um vegetables, fruits, like it's more than meets the eye and we don't have to rely on only eating um animal products just to reach a perception of health. And so when I was like, wait, what? What did I hear? Because I mean, there's many studies that say that I feel like I'm going on a tangent.

Speaker 2: 4:38

You're actually helping someone like me. That was 400 pounds and God blessed me to get on a weight loss journey and I'm sticking to it. And I had to change a whole lot and I don't eat at McDonald's at all, so I don't have time for fake food to make me feel like I'm full and I'm not that's a fact.

Speaker 1: 5:01

People are like, oh, I'm full after eating until garden nutrition food and they feel so good, they feel light, they don't feel that heavy drag and I'm like there's a difference. It's a difference. That's what I love. I've always loved when I got a positive feedback on a meal, even a bad one, because there's been a time my mama could tell you I tried to bake a molasses something cake and my daddy, they looked at the pan, they were scared. They was like, baby, you going to try this? My daddy tried to put a knife through it. The knife stuck in. I think they threw the whole pan and the knife away.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Let me tell you. Let me tell you, at least you tried, I tried, at least you tried. So I have some times where you know I've messed up on a meal or something or tested some recipe and it just doesn't work out. But I guess I can say I've gotten my skills to this adept level and so I'm able to make meals using plants, using herbs and spices and seasonings that not only taste good, it also makes you feel good. And I've got that feedback from family, friends and strangers and all of them saying the same thing. That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 6:11

So if they can't come out and see you today, where can they reach you? How are you touchable for us to get this good food? Okay?

Speaker 1: 6:20

well, I do weekly meal prep services. I launch a menu out every tuesday on my website at till garden incom and then you can pre-order by friday and I'll have it delivered to you on that sunday or you can pick it up either either option. I do these pop-ups to really put my brand out there, really get it, make Shreveport more aware, not only about my business and what I do, but also like what is vegan, what is plant-based? I've received that question quite a lot in just today's market, but this is actually my third market so I'm a little fresh at this.

Speaker 2: 6:55

You're doing awesome, though You're doing awesome, though You're doing awesome. And honestly, before I decided to lose weight, I didn't know the difference between vegan and vegetarian. I just didn't know. So you want to tell us the difference?

Speaker 1: 7:09

Yes, tangent number two Okay, I love it, and you look fabulous, by the way. Whatever worked for you, that worked for you. And I'm going to let that lead into my description, or at least my own explanation, for vegan and vegetarian. Because no matter what a diet is titled, no matter what it is named, at the end of the day, a diet is the way that you eat, and the way that you eat is going to be fit to your lifestyle, your preferences, how you want to eat it, to your lifestyle, your preferences, how you want to eat it. So, when one person can be a vegetarian and maybe they're okay with um, eating, you know, eggs, dairy um, they're okay with eating plant, um, I'm sorry, not plant-based products. They're okay with eating, um, animal byproducts. That's like chicken broth, beef broth, um, that's also like butter, like the real butter, like made from whole milk. I'll say, and then, but they won't eat, like the actual meats they might not eat. That. There's that. There's also the pescatarians. I'm just going to throw them in there too, because the pescatarian, in my opinion, is just a vegetarian that eats fish. Right, me too. That's exactly what I think. Yeah, and so you know. But now, vegan is like 100% plants only. There's no animal byproducts, there's no animal meat for sure. So, like, dairy would be completely cut out of that. It also cuts out cheese because that's just a byproduct, in my opinion, of dairy. But as far as animal products, animal meats, even fish sauces, like, if you go to Asian restaurants you might not recognize it, but they might have a fish sauce that has anchovies in it, like that would no longer be a plant-based menu item I would be able to order because it has that fish sauce in it. So something as simple as that no one pays attention to. Oh, let me catch you with this one.

Speaker 1: 8:54

Gelatin is also something that's in a lot of our foods Candies, gummies and all these things. Gelatinous has gelatin in it and in some cases, if I'm not careful, I look at a cereal box it's going to have gelatin in it because of the marshmallow. So that does cut out Rice Krispie treats. But your girl got Rice Krispies on her dessert menu the plant-based version, but anyway. So, um, the vegan would not be able to consume that product because it has gelatin in it, but the vegetarian may still consume that and um it.

Speaker 1: 9:27

It is a drastic difference, because I'm 100 plant-based vegan and if I oh my bad, I touched the mic. Okay, if I accidentally consume a jell-O shot, right yeah, and the Jell-O is made with gelatin, I could have a health effect. I would get like a headache or my stomach would be aching and things like that until it passes. And usually when I find myself like, did I just eat something laced with something, I would cleanse myself because I don't want that to pollute my body. And so there is a big difference between vegan and vegetarian. I have to be careful, because I have gone to, like some like ethnic restaurants, like a Caribbean restaurant restaurant, and they just called everything vegetarian. But it was vegan. It was from veggie chunk. They gave it that, that Caribbean flavor. I said, oh, this is delicious. You sure this is vegan? I don't want to die today. And lo and behold, it sure was, but they just call it vegetarian. So there is a difference. But there's also that misconception is the word I want to say, but it can't be confusing, it can be?

Speaker 2: 10:32

yes, it can be well. Thank you so much for coming on the show and especially educating us on the difference between vegan and vegetarian and what to be careful for. So thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you for having me, I appreciate you?

Speaker 1: 10:45

oh my gosh, is it okay if I say what my Instagram handle is for Till?

Speaker 2: 10:49

Garden Nutrition.

Speaker 1: 10:51

So Till Garden Nutrition does its weekly meal preps. It is on the website wwwtillgardenincom, and you're also able to just follow along on our journey on our Instagram at Till Garden Inn and we're also on Facebook at Tillgarden Nutrition, you're able to leave reviews. If you've tried our food, leave a review. If you're just happy to be there, follow us. We'll gladly post out when our menus are going to be up, what's on the menu, and also when it closes, which isiday by eight. So please, um check us out if you're in streetport bozer, by all means also um share whenever we're doing markets and I hope I get to be in another market with you guys. It's really lovely seeing you guys here. This was the pre father's day mark. It's my third. Marketgarden Nutrition has received a lot of traction and please, people, food is food. If you're hungry, come on and eat. I got you.

Speaker 2: 11:53

Alright, thanks guys. Thank you, bye, bye.