Season 1: Episode 5:Breaking Barriers: Tackling Health Disparities and Empowering Communities Through Nutrition Education in Mississippi

What if you could improve your health and make a positive impact on your community by understanding the hidden challenges faced by underprivileged communities in Mississippi? Join us for an enlightening conversation with registered dietitian nutritionist Rebecca Bagwell, as we tackle nutrition, health disparities, and the importance of proper education for everyone.

From food deserts to healthcare deserts, Rebecca shares eye-opening statistics on the prevalence of obesity and other health issues in Mississippi's most vulnerable populations. Organic products aren't always as they seem, and sugar hides under different names. Find out what steps we can take to improve nutritional choices, starting with educating ourselves, healthcare providers, and our children on making healthier choices that last a lifetime. Don't miss this essential episode on the significance of nutrition and health education for building a healthier, more just society.

Powerful The Podcast Intro

Powerful the podcast  Outro Music

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

Welcome to powerful the podcast. Powerful, optimistic women evolving relentlessly for uplifting lives. This podcast will discuss powerful topics regarding unspoken conversations that we usually shy away from on public platforms. Welcome to powerful the podcast. I am one of your hosts, shalonda Carlile, and we have Dr Bianca Bulling, and today our episode is health is wealth. I don't know if many of you know that the March month is national nutrition month. You know. So we decided that it will probably be a good episode to let individuals know about you know, healthy food choices and developing healthy eating habits, and so we have a wonderful guest, miss Rebecca Bagwell.

Speaker 1: 1:29

Miss Rebecca Bagwell is a registered dietitian nutritionist. Rebecca serves as a pediatric dietitian at the Mississippi Center for advanced medicine And as an integral part of the pediatric indy chronology and pediatric metabolic medicine program. She also works with pediatric allergy, pediatric call itology and maternal fetal medicine patients patients referred to MCAM by community providers, and so Bagwell holds a bachelor's of science in family and community science from Delta State University and a bachelor's of science in food, nutrition and dietetics from Mississippi State University. Rebecca is a registered dietitian nutritionist and a licensed dietitian in Mississippi, and she believes that a solid foundation in nutrition is key to good health and is passionate about developing a healthy relationship with food.

Speaker 1: 2:36

Early in life, prior to joining MCAM, rebecca served as a clinical dietitian at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center and a consultant dietitian for nutrition systems. Rebecca has served on the board of Northwest District Academy of nutrition and dietetics as a president, the Mississippi Academy of nutrition and dietetics as professional development chair and the board of the junior auxiliary of Madison County. In her spare time she enjoys sewing, playing tennis, traveling and spending time with her family. Welcome, ms Rebecca Bagwell, good morning. Good morning, so our first question that we have, could you explain to the audience what is actually a registered dietitian nutritionist?

Speaker 3: 3:33

So registered dietitian nutritionist are individuals who work with, of course, healthy eating and plan out menus. We work in a wide variety of fields in healthcare. To get to be a registered dietitian nutritionist, we have to hold a bachelor's degree and we participate in a internship that is accredited with a send, and then we have to take a nationwide exam. Our bachelor's degree is very heavy in nutrition, so all of our classes are nutrition based, and so our internship is 1200 hours of supervised practice. So it takes a while. So we have studied and we have worked in the field and our nutrition experts, and so there's a wide variety of jobs available for dietitians, from public health to the private sector, to the geriatric population. So there's a lot that we can do.

Speaker 1: 4:36

Wow, It sounds like a very lot that you can do. Okay, so let's just get into this. So we thought about some great questions that not only myself wanted to know the answer to, but a lot of people in the community in our audience, you know, may want to know the answer to. So one of the questions are what are some health disparities you see amongst different cultural backgrounds?

Speaker 3: 5:03

You know health disparities. They are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged population. We have tons in the state of Mississippi and you know it's very sad to see because different things that can affect this are, you know, your race, your socioeconomic status, your gender, your disability, your finances and your education levels. So some of the things I kind of wrote down some of these statistics that I pulled from the health department's report on health disparities And you know, just going in with we can focus in on, like obesity, for example, just between African Americans and the white population.

Speaker 3: 5:48

You know African Americans do have a higher prevalence of obesity, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, renal disease, hiv and AIDS, cancer, homicide and infant mortality rate compared to the Caucasian community. Like a specific example of obese 43.7% of African Americans are obese compared to the 31% Caucasians. In the state, 37.2% of Mississippi women are obese compared to 33.9% of Mississippi men. That's what I am focusing on in my job right now is trying to combat obesity and childhood obesity because it's I mean it's detrimental to our health. That's a couple of the health disparities and of course you know whether your education level and your finances, they can really play. I have an impact on those disparities for us.

Speaker 1: 6:52

Why do you think that it is higher in the African American population?

Speaker 3: 7:00

I think a lot of it is, you know, the poverty level, the education level and then, of course, food deserts that we do have in the state and the access to healthcare and to healthy foods. I've lived in the Delta and you know it's very poverty stricken there and it's also a food desert and even a healthcare desert becoming one now, and you know it's just the access to nutritious foods plays a huge part in that.

Speaker 1: 7:32

And I remember growing up. You know nutrition was not something that was a forefront in my household. It was more about seasoning, it was more about are you full? So if my grandmother one of my grandmothers when she would fix food because she was so used to a household of men, she would give me two pieces of pork chop, two sides a bread and we had to have something to drink. It would be either sweet tea or juice. But in our family that was not something that was we were educated on, as I remember, in my childhood. I remember in school that we had more nutritional options, but I don't remember being educated on the importance of making sure, you know, we watch our cholesterol or we, like, watch our intake. I don't remember us having those type of conversations in my household.

Speaker 3: 8:34

Right. So a lot of times now what I see in my own practice is parents are still teaching the clean plate as a happy plate, right. So they, you know, or they're starving children in other countries, you know, be thankful that you have food to eat, kind of thing, and see a lot too that parents are just providing huge portions to the children, and so when I show them what an actual portion of a certain food looks like, they're like, oh, i'm giving them triple that and making them eat it. And so it's just the culture of, you know, cleaning your play.

Speaker 3: 9:17

I bought this food and I don't want it to go to waste to plays a part in that. I've been guilty of that with my own kids of, hey, i spent this much money at the grocery store. We have to use this food, i don't want it to go to waste, and so we'll cook a bunch of stuff at one meal and we won't need it. And then, of course, you know, it's just making sure that we are providing correct portions to our children and, you know, to our cells as adults.

Speaker 2: 9:45

A lot of women also feel when they cook. They feel appreciated when the food is fully eaten and nothing is left on the plate.

Speaker 3: 9:57

Exactly.

Speaker 2: 9:59

And it's a way to show you know appreciation for the hard work of cooking in the kitchen Correct When you don't clean your plate, then it's taken as you didn't like it was wrong, while I was wasting my time or you wasting food, like you said before. What are some of the best foods to implement on a daily basis? to come back, diseases such as diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Speaker 3: 10:31

Fruits, vegetable whole grains and then lean meats and then low fat, non-fat dairy products. When we were growing up, we had the My Food Pyramid and they have replaced that now with the My Plate. It's a visual that shows that you need a standard nine-inch plate and it has the five different food groups fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and dairy. It's really about moderation and making the healthier choices So limiting added sugars, limiting saturated fat, limiting trans fats, making sure that we're eating a balanced diet with the correct portion sizes. So once you are diagnosed with diabetes or hypertension or heart disease, we have different diets like carb counting, the DASH diet, which is the dietary approaches to stop hypertension, and then the Mediterranean diet. All of those incorporate low sodium options, fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, lean meats and then low fat, non-fat dairy products on those. So really it's just about moderation and portion control of the different food groups.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Do you think that we are feeding because we think that we're feeding our families nutritional items? We have organic, we have food markets and fresh markets and we assume that these items are nutritional. Do you think that we're doing? I know, with obesity rights and the different health disparities that can continue to increase, but do you think that is still a lack of knowledge of what actually nutritional items are?

Speaker 3: 12:35

Absolutely, Absolutely. I will have patients come in and the parents will be so excited that they have started feeding their kids, like Nutri-Grain bars, for example, And just because it says Nutri in the title of the bar, they're like it's healthy, right. But whenever I sit down with them and I'm like hey, let's look at this food label and really see if it's healthy and try to teach them how to read a food label, They realize oh, my goodness, I've been feeding them things that are not healthy. And looking, going to a food label and looking at it is important to look. Number one, look at the serving size, So that you know, hey, this is the amount, because a lot of foods have two and three servings in that one package And so people think the whole package is a serving, whereas a lot of times it's three and four servings. And so, just making sure that you are eating the correct portion size, look at the calorie amount, look at the saturated fat amount, look at the trans fat amount. Diabetic, you want to pay attention to total carbohydrates, not grams of sugar, because total carbohydrates include that number. You know it is important to teach people how to read a food label, to know, you know certain ingredients what that actually is, because you know, a lot of times I'll have people who will be looking at stuff and thinking that it's healthy, like take MSG, for example.

Speaker 3: 14:13

I recently had a person who came to me and like they were telling me that they had been doing low sodium and that they feel like they're really doing better with it. But when we looked at those she was telling me the food she was eating I was like let's look at those labels. And so we pulled up the nutrition labels and they were full of MSG, which is a sodium, it's a salt, It's just there is a lack of knowledge as far as nutrition And, you know, marketing play huge role in that. Organic, like you said, for example, organic is not always truly organic. There are still approved herbicides and pesticides that they are able to use the farmers are, And so it's not truly organic. And then, of course, there are products that are marketed towards diabetes friendly And it'll say no sugar added, yet There's still carbohydrates in there. So just because it says no sugar added or sugar free doesn't mean that it's carbohydrate free. And so there's just a lack of knowledge of knowing how to read the food labels and choose the healthier options.

Speaker 1: 15:26

And Rebecca, you made a good point with the sugar I'm looking at. I was trying to be intentional about not having so much sugar in my diet, but I was not aware that sugar has different names. I think that's how you see it correctly, but it's different sugar names. So you're thinking, because it don't say sugar, that you're not having sugar, but that's not actually the case.

Speaker 3: 15:53

Correct, correct. So I mean you have, like the sugar, alcohols, like sorbet, all and then you have, you know, regular plain table sugar. But there's also the other types of sugars, fruit, toe, sucralose, all of those And people just don't know that. I wish that we could get more nutrition education into the schools early age, so that you know we can teach people these things.

Speaker 2: 16:20

Rebecca, to piggyback off of the carbohydrates. In my practice of orthopedics and getting patients ready for surgery, Part of the process is to run their lab work, check their A1C, check their blood pressure and so forth, And many of them would have A1Cs greater than 7.7 is considered controlled diabetes, but many of them would be maybe eight or 10. And when I asked them about their diet, I find that many of them are consuming carbohydrates And they say well, I didn't know that was a carbohydrate. Some of the foods do not come with food labels And some do, And I would always tell them if it's white, that's not right Meaning.

Speaker 2: 17:16

if anything is made with flour, sugar, rice, most things that are white are carbohydrate, whether it is made with it or whether it looks like it mashed potatoes. And many of them would say, Oh, I didn't know, I shouldn't be eating that. And I said have you ever been to a dietitian? Well, yeah, but I didn't know I shouldn't eat this. How do we bring more awareness into also reading the food labels but also recognizing the foods that are not best for us?

Speaker 3: 17:57

So that's one thing that I've seen a lot of is the lack of the education on the actual carbohydrates.

Speaker 3: 18:04

I also work with gestational diabetes patients And they'll be told if it's white it's not right And it goes back to.

Speaker 3: 18:19

There needs to be more nutrition education in the schools and then, of course, more of these conversations with their doctors and their nurses, because y'all the nurse practitioners and the nurses at the health care clinics and the doctors are all kind of the front line for health care, for whenever they come in there And a lot of times it's overlooked, and it's not just because I don't think it's because they don't care or anything, i think it's they come in sick and it's only focused on the sick visit type thing, but it's also in the hospital setting.

Speaker 3: 19:01

When I was working there, it's hard on us too in the hospital setting, because you only get so much time, because you have so many patients to see that day, and so you're just going through and just given a very quick education and not able to sit down and take the time with them to truly make sure they understand what it is, and so people are most of the time just handed a sheet of paper and not taking it into the account that people are able to read or not, or able to comprehend what's on that paper. You know it's difficult to say. You know where can we start other than in the schools or doing like community outreach and setting up these classes to kind of help teach people, have them, you know, come in in the communities and teach. There's a lot of great programs that do do that. It's just it's so hard to reach everybody.

Speaker 2: 20:01

What, Rebecca? what are some of the snacks that are good for children and adults to choose?

Speaker 3: 20:10

So what I like to teach people is to choose a quick energy and fiber item So a fruit, a vegetable or a whole grain and then pair it with a healthy protein or a fat. And the reason I like to teach that is when you eat just will take like a unhealthy snack, so a bag of Cheetos is not full of nutrients. So 30 minutes to an hour later after you eat that, you're probably going to be hungry again. But if you take one of those quick energy and fiber items like a fruit, a vegetable or a whole grain, and pair it with a protein or a fat, those proteins and fats help delay the release of that energy when it's digested And so it makes you feel fuller for longer and helps, you know, keep you energized for longer.

Speaker 3: 20:56

And so examples of those could be like a string cheese stick with a couple of crackers. It could be apple and peanut butter. It can be some. This is one of my favorites to do is like cucumber, carrot, celery sticks, cut up those into little sticks and then make like a Greek yogurt ranch dip. So you take low fat Greek yogurt, plain Greek yogurt, and mix in a ranch seasoning packet and it makes a healthier ranch dip.

Speaker 2: 21:27

I do that with sour cream. Yes, that's really good.

Speaker 3: 21:30

And so I have a whole list that you know that I give my patients with these options, and then on the back of it I have, you know, 30 snack ideas. So just a few of them. you could do make your own P3 packs. So have some cheese cubes with nuts and deli meat cubes. You could do the wheat, the ends and slice of cheese. You could do Greek yogurt with chopped nuts and berries on top, carrots and cucumber slices with hummus. Just because you're getting those quick, energy fiber items with that protein and that fat.

Speaker 1: 22:07

So what I'm hearing today is education intervention is very important. We need to start doing more incorporating given our kids healthier snacks at an early age so that they'll be able to incorporate that when they become a teenager or in adulthood. And also, what I'm hearing is we need to have more conversations with our primary care providers about what we are eating and do we need a referral to a dietitian or nutritionist to make sure that the foods that we are eating, or the ingredients that we're putting in our food, are health friendly? Correct, correct, okay, okay.

Speaker 3: 22:52

Well, do you have any closing thoughts, rebecca, before we close this episode, You know I think, just as if anybody listening that just wants to start eating a healthy diet the two main things is cutting out the sugar sweetened beverages, so you don't want to drink your calories and your sugar, it's better to eat it. So. And then moderation, so making sure we're eating those fruits, those vegetables, the lean proteins, whole grains and then low fat, nonfat dairy, if we're a dairy person.

Speaker 1: 23:27

Well, thank you, ms Rebecca Backwell, for providing us with this great insight. I know it's going to touch others, and this is the end of our episode on health is wealth. I want everybody to have a great day and stay blessed.

Speaker 3: 23:45

Thank you, thank you all, for having me.