Episode 50: When You Can’t Get Enough of the Food You Need
About the Podcast
Kate Scarlata is a registered dietitian, gastrointestinal expert and author of countless books on digestive issues. Clancy speaks to her about the ins-and-outs of her #EndHungerPain initiative and media tour shedding light on food insecurity in her area of practice. You won’t want to miss it!
About Kate Scarlata
Kate Scarlata, MPH, RDN, LDN is a Boston-based dietitian with 30 years + of experience. Kate’s expertise is in gastrointestinal disorders and food intolerance, with a particular focus on the application of the low FODMAP diet for functional gut disorders. She was awarded the Outstanding Massachusetts Dietitian Award and recognized as Boston’s Best Dietitian by Boston Magazine. Kate is the author of numerous books and articles on digestive health topics including the New York Times Best Seller, The 21 Day Tummy Diet. Her latest book is The Low FODMAP Diet Step by Step. Kate completed her postgraduate training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate.
Kate started her grassroots campaign, IBelieveinyourStory, to raise awareness of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), provide a safe place for people living with IBS to share their story, raise research funding and produce educational handouts. This year, Kate has added a new tenet to her IBelieveinyourStory campaign—raising awareness of food insecurity in America, a growing problem in the times of the pandemic, and how people living with food intolerance may be particularly impacted.
Discussion Takeaways
- One out of five people suffer from food intolerances and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) across America. But, only 11 cents of the National Institute of Health research dollars is spent per IBS patient. Kate’s #IBelieveinyourStory campaign is meant to raise awareness of digestive disorders, be a safe space for sufferers to share their stories, and help create educational materials for those on specialized diets.
- Kate’s research shows that many IBS patients would give up 15 years of their life for some sort symptom relief. IBS often presents with pain, bloating and alternation in bowel habits from constipation to diarrhea.
- When you’re struggling financially and must follow a special diet to manage your disease, the needed foods can be more expensive and less accessible. For instance, gluten-free foods are 183% more costly than their wheat alternatives.
- Being a part of a community means that we need to care for one another. It’s difficult to fully help people unless you know their barriers.
- You have a conversation with them.
- Use your passion, and influence the fight against hunger.
- In order to feed all people well, we need to have a vision. We can place the seed in the bird feeder, but birds might not come. We need to strategically place the feeder in the right place.
- Call your local food bank and food pantry to see what the need is.
- Connecting people, especially those in low-income neighborhoods, to the nourishing, specialty foods is not happening. That’s why Kate is leading an #EndHungerPain Initiative addressing food insecurity for those with digestive issues. To kick it off, she’s going down the east coast on a media tour and meeting with food pantries, food rescues, and doctors interested in getting more involved in this arena. She’s also partnering with organizations and companies to map out increased accessibility to specialty foods.
- Donations to food pantries are often beans which can trigger IBS, gluten-filled products, and common allergenic foods like peanut butter. There are a number people across the U.S. that can’t eat what’s donated. There are obviously a lot of reasons why people may leave food behind at the food pantry.
The beautiful images above were created by Rebecca Garofano, our Food Dignity Institute Lead and Illustration Specialist. You can find more of her work at @VeggieDoodleSoup on Instagram and at her website veggiedoodlesoup.com.
#1 tip to improve access to healthy food
When providing donations, we must think how we can donate better. Understand what you’re giving and why you’re giving it.
Each week on the Food Dignity® Podcast, the Food Dignity® Movement’s Clancy Harrison hosts a wide variety of hunger experts and other people making changes on the frontlines. Join us as we dive deep into conversations that will change the way you think about food insecurity.
Listen to our trailer!
Want to learn more about how we might work together?
Fight hidden hunger by becoming a
Food Dignity® Champion and take the HIDDEN HUNGER PLEDGE >