Why Doctors Must Learn Nutrition with Sherene Chou | ANEW Ep 100

Welcome to the 100th episode of ANEW Insight! In this powerful milestone episode, we’re joined by award-winning dietician and chef Sherene Chou for an eye-opening conversation about the future of medicine, the role of nutrition, and the uncomfortable truths about gut health that too many still avoid.

Sherene Chou has played a pivotal role in shaping how nutrition and food systems are discussed within medical education. As the force behind the launch of USC’s first culinary medicine course, Sherene shares how she combined science, food, and community to create an evidence-based, culturally relevant curriculum that is changing how future physicians think about food and care.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

– Why gut health remains a taboo topic—even among health professionals
 – The importance of normalizing conversations about pooping
 – How Sherene co-designed and taught USC’s first-ever culinary medicine course
 – Why nutrition training must become mandatory in medical schools
 – The rise of lifestyle medicine and how it’s transforming patient care
 – How food can be a powerful, healing intervention—not a restrictive prescription
 – Sherene’s personal story about shifting from diet culture to food liberation

Whether you’re a healthcare professional, student, or someone on a healing journey, this episode breaks down complex ideas in a relatable, grounded, and thoughtful way.

Sherene also shares her thoughts on making gut health marketable and why so many companies still struggle with approaching these essential topics in an authentic and empowering way.

🌱 Ready to rethink everything you’ve been told about dieting?

Explore our online course “Deprogram Diet Culture”—a transformative path to rejecting food rules and reclaiming your well-being. Visit https://anew-insight.com to learn more and take the next step.

🔗 Link in bio to watch, listen, and subscribe.

💬 Leave a comment if you’ve ever felt confused by nutrition messaging or pressured by diet culture—we’d love to hear your story.

Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more honest, evidence-based conversations from leading voices in health and wellness.

👥 Guest:
 Sherene Chou, MS, RD
 Award-Winning Dietitian & Chef
 Educator, Culinary Medicine Expert
 Founder, Food + Planet

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.

🎧 Listen on:
 Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Buzzsprout | Amazon Music | Google Podcasts | YouTube

 #ShereneChou, #ANEWInsight, #CulinaryMedicine, #anewinsightpodcast #LifestyleMedicine, #GutHealth, #NutritionEducation, #FoodAsMedicine, #GutMicrobiome, #drsupatratovar #USCCulinaryCourse, #DietCulture, #AntiDiet, #HealthAtEverySize, #depro

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 back to the ANEW Insight podcast. We are back for the second half of our interview with award-winning dietitian and chef Sherene Chou. She gave us some really amazing insight into her history and background with vegetarianism and how she transitioned to a vegan diet and how that diet for her benefits

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:01

I think have been a lot of changes, but not enough changes, and so I think sustainability is slowly being incorporated into some nutrition programs. there are even programs that are solely focused on sustainability. But overall, I think as for practitioners, it's not a requirement. And I think that's something that we're working to change. So right now we're actively working on creating programs with. So Meatless Monday was co-founded with Johns Hopkins Center for Liveable Future. So we're actually working with them to build out nutrition curriculum for all nutrition programs across the country. So this is just a introduction program for dietitians, dietetic students internship directors, and everything that we do with Food + Planet everything we create is free and open access, and we really wanted to separate ourselves from Academy as well as other organizations where we don't take any industry funding whatsoever because there's just so much that can be, I guess, challenged in terms of building out education or building out information. And so, that's something that we took a really hard stance on as an organization. And we started our organization in 2020. Our first year we did take some funding just to show our concept, but after the first year we took some funding from Barilla. Cliff as well as Danon. And that helped shape. They had no influence on our education, but it did help shape and get our organization started. But after our first initial year, we made it a point and kind of a policy not to take any industry funding, and we're really proud to continue to create education for health professionals and, make everything free and open access. Well, I really, we really do want dietitians and health professionals to feel like they do have the power to help people shift towards more sustainable diets and be engaged in the sustainable food systems conversation. Even though it isn't part of our education, so many people are interested in this topic. Dietitians, newer students are interested, but they really don't know where to go to for information. And I think in these larger conversations, in terms of policy and even convenings, dietitians are left out of those conversations where we really should be right there with everyone else having these conversations and making these changes. We are, we have so much information, so much knowledge, and most of us are seeing patients and clients one-on-one. Three years ago, we launched this, the first ever survey assessing dietitian's attitudes towards sustainability. This was co launched with today's dietitian, which is our industry magazine. And year after year, we've just been seeing dietitians their hunger for this information and also their need to be educated on this piece. And so this was something that was really missing. And we are launching our next annual survey on Earth Day, so be on the lookout for that one.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:05

by industry. I think that that's really important is that we really focus on trying to get pure science out there and really to understand the impact of these food systems on the planet.

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:06

And that's also ridiculous because there are so many different peoples, you know, especially, you know, living in Los Angeles, we serve so many different people, talk to so many different people, and food impacts everyone. So not to be seen in you know, the things that we're learning, it's just, it feels like you're overlooking so many populations and communities and essentially telling them that hey, they, they don't really matter, or that the foods that they're eating are just not appropriate, which is not the case at all. And being able to, I think, see, like help people see that what they're eating is healthy. It can be a part of a healthy diet, that their traditional foods are welcomed. I think a lot of those concepts are not, I wouldn't say newer concepts, but these types of conversations have evolved since our education. so I think initially, you know, just during our education, I, I don't feel like it was talked about really at all to celebrate people's cultural foods. And I think over the years, more and more conversations around that have happened, and even like in popular media, and that's something that I continue to advocate for in everything we do, including Food + Planet. This is a conference directed towards health professionals put on by Harvard as well as the Culinary Institute of America and in Napa every year. And I joke that in my session I'm covering Asia like quote unquote Asia, which is just how, that's just impossible. How can, how could I possibly cover all of Asia in 20 minutes basically including a cooking demo. And so, you know, I try my best. I try, you know, one of my first few talking points is, you know, I'm not gonna cover all of Asia. Like, that's just not possible for me. But I do think that, you know, there's a really helpful map. I share share, which is that, you know, in different every different state there's, you know, whatever the large majority population is. I think that's helpful to know. But even, you know, knowing that, you know, Chinese population is a big majority in California, we don't really have resources that are directed towards this community or, or even any community that's diff, you know, non-white. Um, one of the resources that I found on our academy's website you know, was something where it was translated into Chinese, but everything on there was not appropriate for someone who is, Chinese. Like my parents would not follow that advice on that piece of paper. So what they essentially did was. Just kind of the typical American diet, but translated it to Chinese, so you're recommending people eating, tortilla or a pita, which is not something that my parents typically eat. Just really basic things like that where it's still missing in our education and our resources, is why I continue to advocate, why this continues to be a big part of I do in, in all the education that I create.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:10

fundamental to certain cultural cuisines, and there certainly has been a backlash against that. There's a lot of people out there on social media that you know, kind of wanna decolonize essentially dietetics and nutrition. I think that that is so valuable and so important. And when you really look at And that really do promote longevity and prevent against disease. So I think we have so much to learn rather than impart upon these cultures. And so it's really wonderful that you are such a strong advocate for that. And I think we need a lot more voices out there really to promote and investigate these foods as medicines.

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:12

I mean, that's also. So in January I was invited to be a part of this group to define culinary medicine and no definition yet, because I was just a two day. Event. There were 15 of us doctors, dietitians, chefs came together to talk about how do we really define culinary medicine? Because this term, like you said, is used all the time. It is used all the time in so many different ways. Just, is used in so many different ways that it can get very confusing. There has been a shift to build in nutrition education into medical schools, last 10 years. There's an organization called the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, which I'm an advisor on as well. And that's something that started about 10 years ago, and it's really looking at all the different spaces that have teaching kitchens. So whether you're in a hospital, a university community, a school, these all different places have teaching kitchens and people are these to build out classes that might that are educational classes.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:14

I love that. I think that's wonderful for the public. And I'm wondering too, I, and I think there's many doctors that will admit they only get maybe 25 hours at most

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:15

I think doctors are very interested. Not, I wouldn't say all doctors, you know, of course not everyone is interested, but a lot of people, because we all eat so doctors really do they are really, you know, hungry for this type of education. I helped USC School of Medicine build out their first culinary medicine course, and it's like, because it's not a requirement. I think that's where the things need to change, is that it needs to be a requirement within these medical schools to make this program consistent or to have ongoing curriculum for doctors because. med students wanna learn doctors wanna learn, wanna be educated. I think a lot of people are finding different ways to be educated. There's a whole organization called the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, ACLM, they are focused on. Food and overall lifestyle medicine, including stress management, all these different things. So doctors are going there to get certified in lifestyle medicine to learn more about this whole body and whole person approach. And so I think being able, if we're able to change medical curriculum, medical education, kind of starting from there, advocating for that. People wanna learn. Doctors wanna learn med students wanna learn. It's just a matter of building it into that piece. And I would say that with the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, there's many different organizations that are doctor, there's medical institutions universities, hospitals that have teaching kitchens that are dietitian led. Doctors advocate for it, and dietitians are able to lead those classes and share out those classes because those, that's our expertise.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:17

He has he was the one who treated, President Clinton When he had major heart problems, put him on his program and reversed President Clinton's health to where he's now just, you know, really thriving and and free from cardiac disease. So I was so excited to hear about that. And I got invited to go with a, with a psychiatrist associated with

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:18

that'll be great. I'm excited to hear about that. So there's a one pager on almost any type of condition or specific nutrient that you can educate yourself on. And then also a consumer patient focused one. So there's already resources there to help you educate yourself on and easily download and share out with your patients. I mean, that's one piece. A second piece is just, I think en engaging more.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:20

I love that and I think probably what is the number one most common question that they might get from the public is, how do I get my protein? I won't get enough protein. This will, this pivots back a little bit to what we were talking about in the first half, but a lot of people have misconceptions about plant protein.

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:21

I wish I had that paper readily available, but there was a paper published it's the protein index paper. I don't know if you've seen it. For one of my co-founders, she was one of the authors on there, this protein index paper and just talking about viewing protein in a different lens. And also there's been also a lot of papers published talking about, all foods have, all the amino acids is just varying levels. And so I think that is just something that is missing in our education or the misconception is out there. But you know, you do. I think, you know, I wouldn't say if you're switching to a hundred percent plant-based diet, I mean, definitely work with a dietitian to plan out, you know, what your needs are. And it's not, don't make it too complicated. Most plant foods have protein, just varying amounts. And being able to plan out and figure out what those foods are and choosing from those buckets, just like you would with fruits and vegetables, don't overcomplicate things. just try, be open to trying different things.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:22

foods, but if you're eating a variety of foods and concentrating on those plant foods that do contain more protein, of plant protein, which people are seeing are, you know, vitamins and minerals, the fiber that you get you don't get any fiber from animal-based protein. You do get a lot of benefits from plant-based protein and when you talk about sustainability and affordability. It's much less expensive to eat in that way.

Sherene Chou, RD: 0:24

Yeah. So we're working on this is to all the health professionals out there. We're working on, you know, this Johns Hopkins curriculum for nutrition programs. We're also working with food EDU which is a part of American Heart Association to build out a global nutrition curriculum that's also open access on sustainable food systems. And that should be launching the next year, or year, or year and a half on the American Heart Association's website, open access as well. So we're currently in the process of building that out. It's really exciting. And then very immediately in the future we're doing a promotion at a supermarket chain in the East Coast focused on showcasing all different types of aquatic foods, which are blue foods, ocean foods. So talking more about. ocean sustainability, which we didn't, I couldn't, we didn't get into today. But we have a whole cookbook called Blue Foods as Medicine that's open access, free and downloadable for everyone to utilize. There's a whole website called eataquaticfoods.org, and you can go to the cookbook page and see recipes focus on different scallops, mussels, and clams. Those are sustainable ocean foods as well as seaweed, all different types of seaweed, which are plant-based ocean foods.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:25

Yay. Oh my goodness. You have so much going on and you know we are 10 years out of our program and out of our internship, and look at all the amazing things that you have done. I'm really proud of you, Sherene. You're doing amazing work out there. I'm gonna plan that because I keep talking about it. It needs to happen. But thank you so much for all the work that you're doing out there, and it's so great to reconnect with.