Why Culinary Medicine Belongs in Every Medical School | Sherene Chou | ANEW Ep 99

In this landmark 100th episode of ANEW Insight, we welcome award-winning dietitian and chef Sherene Chou for a powerful, forward-thinking conversation about the future of healthcare and nutrition. As a pioneering force behind the launch of the University of Southern California’s first culinary medicine course, Sherene brings a wealth of experience from clinical nutrition, culinary education, and food justice spaces.

This episode explores why culinary medicine and lifestyle medicine are more than buzzwords—they're the future of patient-centered healthcare. Sherene walks us through her journey developing a program that integrates evidence-based nutrition and culinary skills into medical education, preparing future doctors to better understand how food is medicine.

We dive deep into:

• The gaps in current medical training around nutrition and lifestyle
• Why nutrition education must be mandatory in medical schools
• How food accessibility and equity tie into holistic health
• The difference between diet culture and true health advocacy
• Practical ways doctors and healthcare providers can embrace plant-based nutrition and culinary skills to improve patient outcomes
  
  

Sherene’s experience goes beyond academia—she’s worked in hospitals, taught at universities, and collaborated with food service teams to bring culturally relevant, nutritious meals to underserved populations. Her advocacy for sustainable food systems and health equity shines through every story she shares.

This episode is a must-listen for healthcare professionals, medical students, dietitians, food educators, and anyone passionate about transforming the way we think about food and health.

🖥️ Want to take action? If you're ready to reject harmful dieting messages and embrace a healing approach to food, enroll in our online course: Deprogram Diet Culture — available now at anew-insight.com.

Wants to know more about Sherene Chou,  here are her social media channels : https://www.sherenechou.com/, https://foodandplanet.org/team_bios/sherene-chou/, https://www.vndpg.org/vn/idea/sherene-chou, https://www.instagram.com/eatsustainablefoods/?hl=en, https://www.healthykitchens.org/sherene-chou-ms-rdn.

🎧 Tune in now and be part of the movement changing the future of healthcare—one meal at a time.

#culinarymedicine, #ShereneChou, #nutritioneducation, #foodasmedicine, #dietitianpodcast, #medicalschoolnutrition, #holistichealth, #lifestylemedicine, #sustainablefoodsystems, #dietculture, #healthequity, #plantbasednutrition, #medicaleducationreform, #drsupatratovar #anewinsight  #anewinsightpodcast #deprogramdietculture #nutrionalpsychology #sherenechou #chefdietitian, #foodjustice, #healthcareinnovation, #culturallyrelevantnutrition, #clinicalnutrition, #cookingandhealth, #publichealthpodcast, #foodeducation, #nutritiontraining, #medicalcurriculum, #rejectdietculture,

Thank you for joining us on this journey to wellness. Remember, the insights and advice shared on the ANEW Body Insight Podcast are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine. To learn more about the podcast and stay updated on new episodes, visit ANEW Body Insight Podcast at anew-insight.com. To watch this episode on YouTube, visit @my.anew.insight. Follow us on social media at @my.anew.insight on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads for more updates and insights. Thank you for tuning in! Stay connected with us for more empowering stories and expert guidance. Until next time, stay well and keep evolving with ANEW Body Insight!

Transcript

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:00

Welcome to the ANEW Insight podcast. I am Dr. Supatra Tovar, and I am very excited to have award-winning dietician and chef, and former classmate and former internship mate Sherene Chou with us today. Sherene, welcome. So before I delve into the questions, I am going to read a little bit about Sherene and then we'll get into it. Sherene Chou is an award-winning dietitian and chef dedicated to fostering a more equitable and sustainable food system through plant-based nutrition, culinary medicine, and health equity. I'm so excited to pick your brain. I wanna go back into your inspiration, your personal journey into plant-based nutrition and what inspired you to focus on sustainable food systems.

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:03

So following that, and then just combining the two pieces. And then over time, about over 10 years, 10 or 12 years ago shifting to a 100% plant-based diet. So a vegan diet. And my big change for that was, and it might not seem like a big jump to people from vegetarian to vegan. But I think for a lot of vegetarians, maybe they wouldn't think about a vegan diet for those nuances. But anyways really transitioned to a vegan diet because the more I learned about the politics of our food and our whole food system was kind of one of the things that helped me shift my diet in that direction. And also I wasn't having dairy foods to begin with because most people who are non-white are allergic to dairy and can't digest it. so that was one piece. And then I was really having eggs and then just kind of finding alternatives for that. And so I'm really happy, had two really healthy vegan pregnancies and happy to share more. Yeah, so that's kind of been my journey just from a personal to a professional and kinda larger perspective of just my own education and my own preferences.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:04

Yes, and I can relate, think delving into our food system has really just been eye-opening for me and has, along with the health benefits of being plant-based. There's so many and we're gonna go into those and talk about them. The politics of the food systems, I think are worthy of a discussion.

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:05

I think it's I mean I was already not having meat just based on my religious and just personal background, but I think fully plant-based, just learning about food subsidies the dairy industry and kind of learning more about how all those pieces influence policy, influence kind of recommendations in a lot of ways. I think it's very, it's a very complex topic and I think that what I want to, before I get into more is that I, I really wanna share that I food shaming is not something I support at all. I think that people are very much welcome to have their food choices. I think it's really important. In terms of like, let me just get all fresh fruits and vegetables. Let me just go for all organic. Let me just go for all local things. I think a lot of the conversations we're having now in politics with a lot of different people in office and different people in decision making positions are pushing for a certain perspective, and I think that there's nothing inherently wrong with, of course, having more fruits and vegetables because we all know that that's creates healthier, you know, bodies, healthier food systems. But is it realistic? I think that just having that nuanced conversation and then not having the shame around that piece. And I think as dietitians, we all know that that's our guiding principle for defining, you know how we wanna educate people on how to eat. That also defines different meal programs out there. So school lunches anything government funded are following dietary guideline patterns. And then also when we're talking about when healthy food patterns, we follow the dietary guidelines. So recently, I think the last two weeks, they had people going. So part of the process of defining the guidelines, you have public comments, but these public commenters are not random, it's, I looked at the full list and half the people were from the meat industry and the other half were advocating for plant-based diet. So it's just, there's this big divide and you know, they might not have a direct influence on the overall guidelines because that ultimately is not shaped from the committee. They could give recommendations based on the current research, but the whole process is not always transparent. And I think that just learning. I just encourage any listener to learn a little bit more about the politics behind foods and but I don't know if that's too, too nuanced.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:09

Yeah, she's a wealth of information. I've, I've read her books and I think for anyone who needs a background in just the history of food politics, she is the woman to go to. Also, Melinda Hemmelgarn, who's the Food Sleuth Radio personality. She also has a lot of great information. And I think the more that people can educate themselves, then they can make decisions that are not only

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:10

are a lot of different diets out there. And I don't particularly, guess, push for one diet or the other. It's really how do you add more plants to your plate? How do you add more fiber to your day? I feel like that is. The easiest way to process the information and also makes it not intimidating when I'm talking to people or making recommendations. So if we're able to advocate for just more plants in general. More access to plants, more plants on people's plates. That's the best way. And going back to your question about defining a whole food plant-based diet, a lot of people use that term very specifically, so whole food plant-based as it is a vegan diet, but it's also excluding a lot of different vegan foods that might be processed. And for me, I, I don't do not shy away from certain like veg meats, vegan meats and the, even the term processed is very complex. It's very triggering for different people depending on who you're talking to. Is there a place for processed foods in your diet? Yes. I don't think that eating a 100% whole food, plant-based diet is a bad thing, but I also don't think that it's realistic for a lot of people.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:12

and it can be hard to sustain Going to restaurants where, you know, they may not have completely 100% whole food plant-based options. Having some flexibility around it, but really just trying to promote the need for us to have more plants and for to have more fiber. So, specifically talk about fiber, because I think people tend to think

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:13

If we're looking at the dietary guidelines and the research and the evidence, you know, most Americans consume double the amount that is needed, and so that's not something we're deficient of. I think why fiber is not talked about as often is that it's not a really sexy topic. Fiber is associated with pooping, bowel movements being regular, so. know, is that gonna be on a billboard? I don't think so. Is, you know, so it's and then a couple of comedians who put on this health show, health comedy show to encourage people to learn more about their gut health and, you know, getting their checkups. And I didn't think that people would be uncomfortable, but I'm around, you know, I'm not, I talk about it so common and normal. Yeah, I mean, I think it really is great for your overall, I mean, first of all, it's something that we need and it helps you, of course, be regular, but also helps you with your gut health as well. And when we're talking about fiber, I think a lot of people think about like, okay, like probiotics. So these are foods that are leafy, you know, not just leafy greens, but fruits and vegetables, you know, just fruits, vegetables, and whole grains have a lot of amazing fiber, and so all of these things are part of what we recommend when we're talking about a balanced diet or even having a plant forward or a plant-based diet.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:17

some way. If we maybe even open up and expand its benefits beyond just pooping.

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:18

And so we're focusing on just. These very few crops, that are kind of shaping our overall diets it not only impacts us from to a micro level like our own individual bodies and our microbiome, but it also impacts on a macro level kind of the food system and the land and not being able to regenerate in that sense.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:19

for agriculture that could go to feeding more people. So go into that a little bit more. How does a plant-based or plant forward diet help with sustainability and also with global warming?

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:20

Yeah, I mean it's, it's very, let's see, how do I wanna talk about it? It's very complex, but I think it's easy to talk about it in a few simple points. Of course, eating more plants helps with diversifying what we're growing. It also helps, like I mentioned, diversifying that gut connection as well. What we're currently doing now is very much impacting our overall land, our resources. Just to quote this paper, which I could put in the notes later, 80% of the world's d deforestation is related to food systems and it is the leading cause of land use and biodiversity loss. And that's what I was talking about in terms of biodiversity loss and how important it's to diversify our diets. All that to say though is that just the current system we're operating in is not sustainable because. And I feel like it's a very challenging, obviously challenging topic to solve because there are so many actors that, and different inputs. Of course there's the policy piece, there's the consumer piece, you know, there's people who are eating every day. There's also the commercial piece, so people who are making the foods and making money off of different foods. And then what's accessible and what's realistic and so without going back to why I even wanted to go into sustainability is thinking about the policy piece because without changing policy policy, it's very hard to change downstream a lot of different things. Of course we're, you know, I'm always encouraging advocating people where they can to kind of choose more sustainable products or look into brands or companies to see how they're run. If you do have that choice, you know that's to choose the different foods and the different labels. We call that our 4 D framework. And not only are we thinking about planetary health which is a lot of things we're talking about now, but also nutrition from a dietician perspective or health professional perspective, but the sociocultural aspects as well as the economic aspects. So looking at all different four dimensions of sustainable diets is how we can transition to more sustainable food system. There isn't like a linear answer or linear way to doing this, but as health professionals, when we're building out education think about ways that we can engage in these different pieces when we're talking to patients or when we're talking to government policy changing government policies or any, any places that we're working in kind of how we can lock in into these pieces to make slow shifts.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:23

Just what kind of a difference it would make economically and globally. And that to me was really profound. I think that you know, people think, oh, I can't just go 100% vegan. And of course that's very difficult for a lot of people and it's also, you know, kind of, not. Not accessible to so many people, but so many people can do one day a week.

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:24

Yeah. I mean, I think what you said is right. That's the point is that it does not have to be all or nothing. I think that people, I. When it's all or nothing, a lot of people are trying to catch you on failing and then that doesn't help or encourage, you know, it just, it's not, it then becomes about something else versus your own health. And I think that if you are able to let go of all or nothing. But think about it as something as simple as just one meal a day, or one meal out of the, you know, the whole week. And then seeing, you know, you might even have naturally some plant-based or plant forward meals that you're already having that you might not know about. Or even swapping out different proteins that you're thinking about, you know, diversifying the proteins that you're consuming. Those are just some simple ways and strategies. And when you brought up Meatless Monday, that whole campaign, they actually just updated their website, I think last month and launched it. And so they have all these different amazing resources on different strategies and even recipes on there for people to try. So it doesn't have to be all or nothing. And definitely, don't feel like it's. I feel like try to reimagine the meals that you are used to having, or even try something different and something new. Because if you're using something that you usually have, and then you just say, okay, well I'm just gonna remove the meat out of it, and then you're gonna say, okay, well that wasn't fulfilling, because of course it won't be because that's not something you're used to having in that way. You're used to having it created in a different way. So re-imagining different meals or look at through different recipes that really inspire you and that look delicious to you. I think focus on something that looks delicious to you is something a great way to try something new.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:26

you're gonna have more health benefits from that plant-based meat than you would have you know, from animal products. So I think it's valuable to experiment and then to just kind of dip your toe in and to see how you feel, especially after a plant-based meal versus a standard American diet meal.