Who will love this conversation?

Deepa is a Registered Dietician and Nutritionist first and has pursued an education in integrative and functional medicine.

It was this pursuit that opened Deepa’s eyes to food as medicine and how to identify and correct underlying deficiencies.

If you take a similar approach to help your clients, or you’re curious about how Deepa combines her expertise to help her clients achieve their goals, this is a podcast you’re going to enjoy :)

What lead Deep to functional and integrative approaches

Deepa was undoubtedly making waves in 2006/07 when she determined that gut health that most of our diet needs to include more plants, regardless of diagnosis.

Other healthcare professionals were perplexed when Deepa suggested treating gut health for diabetes patients

When Deepa started talking about lentils and turmeric and quinoa and millet, all her colleagues were skeptical.

They would ask, 'What about the protein Deepa?', concerned that plant-based diets couldn't meet their patients' protein requirements.

Undeterred, Deepa embraced the resistance she was experiencing and worked even harder.  She began creating simple recipes, tools, and information to educate her clients and peers about the benefits and how to incorporate these new foods and ingredients into their lives.

My focus was to help them learn what turmeric is, how to use it, cook with it, and the health benefits.  I created recipes, handouts, all the information people need to get on board and embrace these changes and healthy ingredients.

In her Private Practice, she noticed that regardless of the diagnosis, and the most common diagnosis was Diabetes, Weight Loss, Cholesterol, and Blood Pressure, there was a trend that people were complaining about being tired.

She started to realize that many of the traditional messages that she had been trained to deliver (for example, ' diet soda vs. soda' and 'margarine vs. butter') were not working.

So what I realized was making those changes was not giving them the energy they needed and I started to realize they are eating but not nourishing themselves.  

These insights, combined with a breakthrough observation from her years practicing in India that lead her to embrace gut health as a path to better living for her patience.

How the gut helps with nutritional deficiencies

One of the things I loved about this episode was how Deepa was able to cross-pollinate her experiences in India with what she saw in North America.

And I said here we have the same deficiencies that I treated in Indian patients.  

They were getting enough calories, but they're malnourished.  They are eating but are not nourishing.

Once she realized this to be accurate, she quickly figured out a course of action.   Since your nutrients get absorbed in your gut, she knew that focusing there would significantly impact her patient's lives.

How Meal Garden helped Deepa beat Google and Pinterest

Over the years, Deepa has developed recipes, done cooking classes, and created products to make it easier for people to understand how to incorporate healthy foods into their routines.

But in 2010, she had reservations about her efforts, and these reservations came from Google.  

Her thought (and I'm sure many of us have thought the same thing) was simple and somewhat intuitive. If people can go and just Google recipes or go to Pinterest, why would they want my cookbooks or videos?

But then every time I see people want recipes, they want structure? I noticed that people relapse or stop following the dietary recommendations if they don't have structure, if they don't have a meal plan if they don't have a grocery list ready.

So that was it.  She began searching for a platform that she could use as a teaching tool, making it easier for her to share with her clients and, more importantly, providing her clients the structure they needed to get on track and avoid relapses down the road.

She chose Meal Garden because it was easy for her to bulk upload her recipes, the existing database is very plant-based and whole food-based, and she needed to import specific ethnic ingredients.

Not only did Meal Garden have these features, but I can not speak highly enough of the support I've received from the Meal Garden team.  The tool is easy to use, and my clients find it extremely useful.

What drives Deepa

Here's the part of the conversation that I think you'll find the most encouraging and fulfilling. It's one of Kiki's toolbox questions, and it goes something like this.

‘Is there one story or client transformation that you can think of that made you so happy or proud?

It's that question that drives most of us to do what we do.

Those stories about life-changing transformation, that one question you asked that prompted a breakthrough discovery.  

For Deepa, the most rewarding thing is knowing that her clients can change and sustain their new lifestyle.

Because just telling her to change her diet is one thing, but giving her the tools to make that change and providing her with the recipes that's how you guide them to sustainable changes.

I’m sure you’ll appreciate the story she tells about helping the daughter of a butcher transition to a whole food diet :).

Favorite Recipes (with links)

Deepa’s response to another one of Kiki’s go-to questions comes with some links!

According to Deepa, the #1 nutrient for gut health is beta-carotene or Vitamin A, because it reduces inflammation, which is a symptom of poor gut health.

Fruits like papaya and vegetables like butternut squash and pumpkin and carrots are great.  The vegetables, when cooked, are easy to digest and help heal the linking of the gut.

So her favorite recipe is a simple butternut squash soup, with a dash of curry powder, or if spicy isn’t your thing, add a pinch of rosemary or garlic or black pepper.

As a secret ingredient, you could add a few ground pumpkin seeds (a couple of tablespoons) to add a bit extra fat to absorb vitamin A.

Connecting with Deepa

You can connect with Deepa on Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube, the best thing to do is Google Nutritionist Deepa.

Or, you can head over to her podcast AskNutritionistDeepa where she answers patient questions.

Keep Upleveling!

Found some value here?

Maybe some inspiration?

Keep going, if you haven’t subscribed to the series, you can do that on Apple, Spotify or Libsyn.

If you’re not ready to commit, you’ll find inspiration in the stories below.

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