10 highlight discussions on health and nutrition

Eating a better diet has been linked with lower levels of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately 821 million people — about 1 in 9 worldwide — face hunger, and roughly 2 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese, according to the U.N. World Health Organization. In addition, food insecurity is associated with even higher health care costs in the U.S., particularly among older people. To help direct worldwide focus toward solving these issues, the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals call for the elimination of hunger, food insecurity and undernutrition by 2030.

In these 10 episodes of the "Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg" podcast, expert guests discuss how they're working to connect people with nutritious food, take aim at common misconceptions about health and diet, and prove that food really can be the best medicine.

What Nutritionists Pack Their Kids for Lunch

Registered dietitians have picky kids too! When my son was younger, he would never eat fruit when he was younger, but he would go for green vegetables. Go figure!? For his lunch, I would pack broccoli because I knew he would eat it. I asked other RDs from around the country pack in their kids’ lunchboxes, and some of their answers may surprise you.


Fruit

It’s no surprise that fruit tops the list of RD-approved lunch fare.


“My 2 year-old son Lucca loves fresh raspberries, so I pack him a container of organic raspberries every day he attends daycare. If the berries don’t look good at our local grocer, I’ll slice up organic strawberries, which he also loves. He puts the raspberries on his finger tips and eat them off one by one.”

–Jenny Shea Rawn MS, MPH, RD is a Cape-Cod, MA, based Registered Dietitian, nutrition communications consultant and healthy food blogger at MyCape Cod Kitchen.


“I always include a fresh fruit that’s easy to eat, like watermelon chunks, grapes, or fresh or frozen mango, depending on the season. Adding fruit helps curb sweet indulgences and boosts water intake.”

–Melissa Halas-Liang, MA RD CDE of SuperKidsNutrition