Beth: Welcome to another episode of Fresh Focus. We are back again with another episode celebrating the 2022 National Nutrition Month®. March is a whole month dedicated to promote the profession of Nutrition services as well as delivering nutrition education messages to the mass public and I am excited to have a special guest today on Fresh Focus!

Yaqutullah: hello, hello , thanks for having me back, hope you are doing well. I am Yaqutullah Ibraheem Muhammad, Registered Dietitian and Program/project manager at the Atlanta VAHSC. I am virtual, like many of us, work for the women’s wellness, thanks for having me on here

Beth: absolutely, I always enjoy talking with you. You are a wealth of information and so much fun I bet your veterans say that about you all the time! You have been hard at work as usual with the National Nutrition month workgroup here at a the VA, we are on a workgroup committee together. this year’s theme is so fantastic. I love it.

Yaqutullah: I love it too and its always a pleasure working with you. I have been working with the NNM committee for the past few years and every year this committee really gets to assist in planning National Nutrition Month activities and marketing events across all VA facilities its always so much fun working with a bunch of great dietitians and we have been able to accomplish so much this year! We get to share information like a toolkit that can help Dietitians in the entire VA system have some resources on how to promote and ways to celebrate National Nutrition month we are all busy and time consuming to feel like you have to keep recreating the wheel so this year the committee really tried to make ideas and it helps veterans at all local VA facilities sometimes they’ll have fun ways to kind of meet or ask questions of our local dietitian or possibly have different class options virtually of course where we can share cooking demos and nutrition tips and information to watch.

Beth: Absolutely, and we want it to be fun for everyone and some of those cooking classes you could go sit in watch and now virtually you can be in your own kitchen watching so definitely fun. We have a great workgroup for National nutrition month, I really enjoy being a co-chair with Hillary from the Tampa VA. So if you haven’t seen the theme come across yet it is celebrating a world of flavors.

Yaqutullah: oh my gosh, I absolutely love this theme it’s so great! it goes so well with last year’s theme with personalizing your plate and how we can individualize for anyone. We all have different nutrition needs, health status/conditions, lifestyles and things like that we can focus on the foods and flavors and exploring a variety of cultures on how they flavor food, we as dietitians can help veterans add more cultural foods .

Us dietitians can really make an impact with veterans and their families by helping them add in more diverse foods to celebrate those cultures. Some cultural food items can play a critical and crucial role in what we eat and what we feed our families. And we as nutrition professionals want to assist in keeping with those family recipes and food and helping shift into planning a variety of healthy plates for everyone of course spices and herbs play a role in that.

Beth: yes that brings up a great point, us VA dietitians can even help veterans and their family members fine-tune traditional recipes or maybe provide alternative cooking methods and other healthful advice for incorporating those family-favorite foods into everyday meals, we really should all embracing a world of flavors….. any examples of how you have been able to do that with your veterans or any suggestions?

Yaqutullah: As we explore this year’s NNM theme celebrating a world of flavor, I like to provide resources and emphasize adding flavor and aroma when preparing meals as an option to limiting sodium. There is more to food than salt and pepper. Right?

Beth: yes

Yaqutullah: really exploring fresh and dried herbs and spices and themes around flavor pairings. Think Indian, Caribbean, Mediterranean, North African, really looking at the flavor profiles and how we can really enjoy and improve the flavor of our foods.

Beth: and I’m getting hungry just listening to you. What are your favorite fresh or dried herb?

Yaqutullah: oh I have so many, I love cilantro, cumin is great, smoked paprika and I love cardamom. That’s one of my favorite teas.

Beth: spice combinations can help you give your meals traditional ethnic flavors…. Such as with Thai food using basil, cumin, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cardamom and curry powder…. All fantastic things to add in. What would be your go to suggestions on how veterans and their families can bring more flavors from other cultures to the table? Or do you have any favorite spice combos you recommend frequently?

Yaqutullah: as always I do Encourage vets to explore their options at the grocery store, go to your local ethnic grocery store goa experiment with small amounts to see if you like it, taste it, smell it. When looking for recipes to try…. You can try YouTube you can find anything I call it YouTube university. If you don’t know how to cook a dish, you can learn anything. you can literally learn how to cook things you haven’t cooked with before. I can give them a list of vegetables to veterans and they may not have tried foods you want to try it and taste it, growing up my mom and dad wanted us to try it at least once or twice to see if you liked it and , and different ways you may like it another way or try it a different way if you don’t like it. Experience it to know whether you like it in the first place.

Beth: absolutely, we definitely want everyone to experiment and try things. And be open to try as if you don’t like it one way you may like it in a different way or with a different spice.

give our listeners some fun spice options that we could try this month? Maybe if you are sitting there listening and all you have are some beef, turkey breasts, pork chops or grilled chicken breasts how can someone jazz them up and have fun to embrace global cultures and cuisines but not be overwhelmed?

Yaqutullah: we have this great guide and it’s from MOVE actually it’s called Spice it up guide, it’s a resource guide actually offers suggested pairings for protein and veggie options. But if you have chicken breasts or pork for tonight’s dinner don’t just add salt and pepper you want to look at adding rosemary or sage or paprika for the chicken, and if someone is vegan or vegetarian how to add spice and flavor to beans and nuts and seeds, exploring curry powder or coriander and looking at you know what are the best herbs and spices, so they aren’t bland, want to bring out the flavor and it adds to enjoying the meal with the extra flavor

Beth: oh yes, we don’t want anyone saying the dietitian is going to say don’t eat anything that tastes good, I actually cringe sometimes when people say that that is so not true we want foods to have flavor we want you to experience really good healthy foods,
I was in MOVE class not long ago with that module and I love hearing how surprised some of the veterans get when going over some of examples… for green beans most of you listening may think green beans have to have certain item such as salt and bacon maybe but you could add dill, curry powder, tarragon or thyme to change up the flavor and it really is yummy! Sometimes we just have those spice items in the pantry already and we just get in the habit of using the same ones over and over again.

Yaqutullah: over and over again, and it’s interesting you say if it tastes good spit it out we definitely got to move away from that absolutely…. And even all spice and cloves so we can reduce the amount of sugar, we don’t have to use sugar we can add nutmeg, cinnamon You can always use basil, oregano and pepper for savory flavors instead of salt, or maybe try adding in dill seeds or onions and garlic things like that.

Beth: remind our listeners on how to begin or how to get started with herbs and spices…. Where should they go first or what are some tips to start first.

Yaqutullah: yes I go to a local store when I want to stock up on spices and herbs, some general guidance is to Begin with ¼ teaspoon of ground spices or ground dried herb, and adjust to taste, and be sure to keep in mind that 1 tablespoon of fresh herb = 1 teaspoon of dried herb.
And When doubling a recipe, do not double spices and herbs only increase by 1½ times. Always taste and adjust you don’t want to over season something again to be open to experimenting with spices and herbs.

Beth: yes make sure you taste before just adding in more, try experimenting and even experimenting with creating your own spice blend recipe too on your own taste preferences and you can use it on multiple things.

Yaqutullah: definitely, lots of great ways to add in some more flavor by mixing matching and blending! Buying spices whole and then grinding can help keep them fresh longer up to 2 years you could use peppercorns whole or whole cloves, you can grind in a coffee grinder but be sure to use a separate one from coffee. Your herb or spice will take on the flavor of the coffee because its so powerful just really looking at that and going from there.

Beth: oh great tip. although you could be flavoring your coffee that could be a good experiment too. Remember you can find some more information on MOVE.VA.gov and be sure to check out our HTK YouTube channel you can just search, that is where VA nutrition and foodservice professionals are posting cooking videos! Lots of great ones coming up for the month of March, featuring lots of great recipes each week of march to help celebrate this year’s theme.

Yaqutullah: yes Hillary will have a video with her borscht recipe. If you go to the HTK YouTube channel lots of great tips to grow your own herbs and spices, so definitely you want to check that out, I actually just recommended that the other day to a veteran to try! Go in and experiment and There is also a HTK segment out of Chicago that they do different recipes.

Beth: yes that is actually on Facebook live so anyone can join,

Yaqutullah: and yes Facebook live so check it out check it out

Beth: Hillary’s recipe it’s so pretty too made with beetroots. How would you describe the taste? The borscht recipe.

Yaqutullah: earthy

Beth: that’s a good one

Yaqutullah: savory, earthy it’s nice to have beets now its vegetarian and vegan and you can adjust ingredients to reflect preference.

Beth: absolutely, more sweet and sour potato soup sort of dish…that would be a great one to try this month to help celebrate national Nutrition month theme of celebrating the world of flavors… be sure to check out her video on the HTK YouTube channel.

You know not long ago I was talking to Hillary on video and she had just taught a class and she had a giant jackfruit behind her what better way to have veterans ask questions like what is behind you…. In my husbands family we had jackfruit dish for thanksgiving my 7 year old even ate some so I admit it does look weird at first and it may not be something you typically have but it’s fun to try new things and a delicious way to add some healthier items in there.

Yaqutullah: definitely and different ways to add in vegetables to your plate too especially for our vegans and vegetarians who are looking for different options like how can I add in protein or how can I do this without animal protein, I love hearing that the kid took part in that, what a fun addition to any meal! You really don’t need the holiday for a special meal to enjoy the food, you can have a special meal on a random Tuesday special meal on a weekend, keep an open mind and go for it.

Beth: so true, so you have to add some fun at any time for sure….. how can veterans bring more flavors?

Yaqutullah: Think of your favorite flavor profiles and themed flavor meals
Identify those flavors when you are shopping and pick them up, you may do different recipes like taco Tuesday, really exploring seasoning your favorite protein and veggie options using the MOVE flavor guide or similar flavor guide. Again… Check out YouTube for recipes using herbs and spices. A lot more much great info, I think my favorite flavor profile are Indian and Thai sometimes I actually crave them.

Beth: Just because they are delicious

Yaqutullah: exactly

Beth: and be sure to go back and check out episode 36 of fresh focus we had one of Marion dietitians Loran talk to her grandparents on episode series of gardening and they give such great tips on starting your own garden and growing herbs and drying them and of course her grandparents are adorable you should just listen to the episode for that reason alone but seriously lots of good helpful hints so if you are sitting there listening and think you don’t have enough room for a garden, even her grandparents gave some tips for container gardening if you live in a space with not much room for a garden.

Yaqutullah: I love the idea of container gardening, especially a lot of places in the country now its cold out, here in Georgia we had to bring in all our plants from outside, We had our first snow just a few days ago so like you know simple things cilantro parsley and ginger you can grow inside and it’s a nice addition to your kitchen, if you see it you use it. Gardening and growing your own would be a great way to add into your recipes…. Or if you don’t feel like trying your hand or feel like you don’t have a green thumb….. check out the variety of grocery stores or ethnic grocery stores in your area. You may be surprised what you have available. A lot of items are actually on sale.

Beth: yes I was in my area ---we have more options that I realized so I am making a list to go check them all out in the next few weeks, lots of neat ideas just by adding in new grocery stores.

Yaqutullah: yes here in Atlanta…. We have our outdoor and indoor farm markets and we have large immigrant community with our East African neighbors and they have halal meat markets and they had items like camel milk, We also have a large Indian community and they have a wide variety of different foods and items you cannot just normally find in a chain grocery store. You get a lot of variety and they have an amazing spice rack variety, it’s funny we often want to talk about switching things out in your pantry, how long have you had those spices it may be time to switch them out, how often you switch spices out, you want to look at fresh seafood, coffees, gourmet coffees, different types of roasts and I find it a very pleasurable experience and of course I encourage my veterans to really explore further.

Beth: it can be fun just to go look around, I have another dietitian coworker here that talks about making a date or appointment with the grocery store to have some time to look around so we can browse around. I myself have 2 small kids I’m in the habit of I don’t really just want to browse with 2 small kids, so making time for yourself to really explore and try out the newer farmers markets in the area or ethnic grocery stores

Yaqutullah: absolutely, I think go in and pick just one fruit or vegetable and grab a new spice to try! That would be a quick visit and then you can try YouTube ways to incorporate into your meals that week!

Beth: yeah, I love that suggestion! Just try 1 thing. Go to a different store just try one new thing. This has been such a great episode, thank you so much for joining me, we should make it a yearly thing every march you have to be on! We’d love to have you back any time for sure.

Yaqutullah: that’s so great, I love that I do appreciate you having me on, I love being on its always so much fun thank you guys the information has been beneficial.

Beth: absolutely, maybe I can get to Atlanta sometime and we can go shopping together.
That would be fun

Yaqutullah: yes that would be fun.

Beth: To everyone at home, be sure to subscribe to this podcast, rate the series and leave a review!