Shireen Abdullah  0:01  
What does it really take to balance weight and diabetes, not just for today, but across every stage of life, from the unique challenges kids and teens face to how puberty, pregnancy, and even menopause can shift the body’s needs to the sustainable strategies adults and older adults can rely on, this episode dives into it all. Our guest dietitian and educator, Dr. Alison Childress, shares practical insights on the foods to keep in your pantry and the one lifestyle habit she wishes everyone would focus on for long-term health. Whether you’re living with diabetes, caring for someone who is, or simply aiming for a healthier balance. This conversation is packed with strategies that can help you for life. Stay tuned.

Shireen Abdullah  0:49  
Podcasting from Dallas, Texas. I am Shireen, and this is the Yumlish Podcast. Yumlish is working to empower you to take charge of your health through diet and exercise and reduce the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. We hope to share a unique perspective and a culturally relevant approach to managing these chronic conditions with you each week.

Shireen Abdullah  1:20  
Dr. Allison Childress is an associate professor of practice in nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University, where she directs the graduate online programs and specializes in culinary medicine and sports nutrition. She’s a registered dietitian with over 15 years of patient care and experience. Welcome, Dr. Childress.

Dr. Allison Childress  1:41  
Thank you. I’m so excited to be here.

Shireen Abdullah  1:43  
Such a pleasure having you on. So, okay, first, I want to take a step back before we go into the topic for today, which is really around managing diabetes and weight. But first, I want to understand a little bit from you around what inspired you to become a dietitian, and then just really want to expand your knowledge in the classroom with teaching.

Dr. Allison Childress  2:01  
So interestingly, when I was 17 years old, I was a junior in high school. I had friends who were seniors in high school, and they came to Texas Tech University for a university day. And I came with them because I figured I would go there eventually. And we were sitting through seminars about different things you could major in, different careers there were, and I remember sitting in the one about nutrition and becoming a dietitian, and I thought, “That’s it. That’s what I want to do.” I just I knew from the second I was in that course that was what I wanted to do. So I’ve known since I was 17 years old. Now the road and the path has been a little bit challenging, but I’ve known for a long time. But I think what I really liked about nutrition and what and how I really knew that was for me, was the preventative aspect of it. And also that everybody eats. So, you know, whether I’m teaching a class, you know, to pre-med students, or if I’m teaching, you know, out to the elderly in the community, there’s something there for everybody to learn because everybody eats, everybody has needs  nutrition, and has nutrition. And so it’s so applicable, you know, to not only to your profession, but to your life as well.

Shireen Abdullah  3:05  
That’s interesting. Dr. Childress, with sort of your own experience there, I want to next get into the topic for the day, which is around diabetes and weight management. Can you walk us through how weight management particularly impacts diabetes risk and management from childhood all the way through older adulthood?

Dr. Allison Childress  3:26  
So interestingly, we’re seeing more and more diabetes, for example, in children, and the type of diabetes we’re seeing is Type 2 diabetes, and typically, in the past, it’s been mostly Type 1 diabetes. In fact, it used to be called Type 1 diabetes, used to be called juvenile onset because it typically happened in childhood, but now we have way higher rates of Type 2 diabetes in children, and a lot of it has to do with obesity. There is that. You know, we’ve had rising rates in childhood obesity in the U.S. for a long time now. Interestingly and thankfully, we’ve sort of leveled off. We don’t see the obesity rate in children rising as much anymore. We’ve leveled off, but it’s still not coming down. So basically, what that means is, kind of those, also, those type 2 diabetes rates are going to probably stay, you know, pretty stable as well.

Dr. Allison Childress  4:15  
So, you know, in childhood and in adolescence, it’s most important to try to prevent obesity as much as possible. And you know, we’re doing that through, you know, system-wide. We’re doing that through education, through various channels. But also, you know, I think at home, you know, helping prevent that obesity and learning to talk about things that are sensitive, food intake and weight in a very safe environment are really important. So, because what we know is that weight management, even when we’re young, it improves insulin sensitivity, and it really kind of supports normal growth and development as well. And then we also know that a lot of times childhood obesity translates into adult obesity.

Dr. Allison Childress  4:53  
So that kind of moves us into, you know, kind of the young and middle adulthood is where we see most of the weight gain happen. It’s that kind of that, young and more middle adulthood, but in there as well. And so, you know what we know, as far as type 2 diabetes goes, there is that those insulin resistance rates tend to skyrocket and continue to go up, but moderate weight loss can actually improve insulin resistance.

Dr. Allison Childress  5:17  
And a lot of times, my patients, maybe they come in and they, you know, they have 100 or 150 excess pounds on them, and they feel like it’s a very daunting task for them to try to lose that much weight. But what we know in clinical practice and in research is that even 5% of your weight loss can make a difference, you know. So if you weigh 20 pounds, you know, losing even, you know, a pound or two, two to five pounds can dramatically improve the insulin resistance.

Dr. Allison Childress  5:46  
And then, you know, as we move into older adulthood, you know, especially those who might still have type 2 diabetes, weight management is still really important, but we have a different worry in older adulthood, and that is preserving lean mass and preserving bone mass, because, you know, even those older adults who have obesity, their lean mass will start to decline. And what we know is, as you start to lose muscle mass, your chance of dying from anything is higher. So we have to be very careful with how we do weight management in the older adults, because we need to maintain lean mass and bone mass but also try to reduce that. So it can be very challenging.

Shireen Abdullah 6:26
To expand on you know what you were talking about with children. So what are some unique challenges children and teens with diabetes face when it comes to healthy weight management?

Dr. Allison Childress  6:36  
That’s a great question, because there are some very unique challenges. And the first one is that we have to balance growth needs with their intake, with their weight, and with their glucose control. And this is this can be very difficult, especially if we don’t have, you know, professional help or somebody to help kind of guide us through this. So you know, when you think about kids and teens who have type 2 diabetes, we have to maintain that blood sugar balance, and that blood sugar control, because if we over-restrict calories in order to reduce weight, in order to, you know, kind of prevent some of those type 2 diabetes problems and issues. We can compromise growth, and so, you know, then we can also end up with some nutrient deficiencies. So it’s a very tough kind of balancing act. So I would say thats the biggest challenge is balancing those growth needs with food intake, weight, and then also glucose control.

Dr. Allison Childress  7:27  
The other thing that I see sometimes, in practice, insulin, interestingly, especially with teens, this happens a lot of times with teens who are on insulin, who are taking either insulin injections or an insulin shot, is that, you know, insulin can promote weight gain, and especially, you know, in teens, that’s a very sensitive time, and they’re very, most of the time, very averse to gaining weight. And if they learn that taking their insulin can make them gain weight, a lot of times, they’ll skip that insulin. And so then we can end up with a lot of problems. So, you know, there’s a lot of education that has to happen there as well. And then, you know, we have to to think about it too. You know about peer pressure, and not just peer pressure with weight, of course, but the peer pressure to fit in, even with the foods that you’re eating and your eating patterns. Because, you know, a lot of times teens they tend to skip breakfast, or they skip meals, or they may not have, you know, the same eating patterns. And if they’re in school and they’re eating something different, or they’re eating in a different pattern, that kind of peer pressure and social pressure can be really hard on them, mentally and emotionally. So we really have to take that into consideration as well.

Shireen Abdullah  8:32  
You know, when you’re talking about teens, I wonder, what are some hormonal changes, you know, during puberty or even pregnancy or menopause, for that matter, that affect blood sugar or weight for people with diabetes?

Dr. Allison Childress  8:46  
So, puberty, when we go through puberty, both males and females, that can actually increase our insulin resistance. So somebody who is either already has pre-diabetes or who already has type 2 diabetes before they hit puberty, when they go through puberty, they may find their diabetes more difficult to manage, because insulin is a hormone, just like our sex hormones are, and so a lot of times, when we have one hormone that’s not functioning properly, or one hormone that’s out of whack, either real high or real low, then that can affect the other ones, so that puberty can be an issue.

Dr. Allison Childress  9:18 
In pregnancy, for those who might go into pregnancy with pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes, the hormones that our placenta produces can also increase that insulin resistance. So if we have a woman who goes into pregnancy who already has insulin resistance, now she’s pregnant, and the chance of her insulin resistance getting worse is pretty high, which makes her diabetes a little bit more difficult to manage. And then finally, in menopause, estrogen, sort of—that estrogen loss or that shift in estrogen can also worsen our insulin resistance. So, you know, unfortunately for females, because of pregnancy and menopause, our diabetes can get worse and worse and worse throughout the lifespan.

Shireen Abdullah  9:59  
So, that’s a double whammy. So, because of all these things are affecting blood sugar and weight, as a result, as well. What are the types of things that can be done during this period, especially when these hormonal changes are happening?

Dr. Allison Childress  10:13
I think the first thing to learn is just what good balanced nutrition is, and just to have a really good basis in what that looks like, because we can’t fix something if we don’t know what’s broken. So I think you know, having that good nutrition knowledge, but and really focusing on balanced eating and not restrictive diets. I think a lot of times, our knee-jerk reaction when we gain weight or when we are diagnosed with a chronic disease like diabetes or cardiovascular disease, we think, “Oh my gosh, I need to lose weight, and I need to lose weight as fast as I possibly can.” And so we go on like crash diets or very restrictive diets, and those can be really dangerous. And so we are really focusing on nutrient-dense foods,that eating pattern, and our portion sizes, and our consistency is better than trying to do a quick fix, because a lot of times, yes, maybe you can do a crash diet, and you might lose 10 or 15 pounds. But what we know in clinical practice and research is that most of the time, that’s going to come back.

Dr. Allison Childress  11:11 
But people who have kind of a balanced approach to eating do a lot better with maintaining or keeping that weight off. Maybe they don’t lose as much weight in the beginning, but they will eventually, and then they typically tend to keep it off. And so that’s that—a more balanced approach is ideal. We also know that, you know, regular physical activity can help boost that insulin sensitivity. So, as far as weight management goes, yes, eating is important, but so can physical activity. And so, you know, and the physical activity matters; aerobic training and resistance training are really good for improving insulin resistance, and even modest increases can help.

Dr. Allison Childress  11:50 
I think sometimes people think I have to go to the gym, and I have to get on the elliptical for 45 minutes, and then I have to lift weights for another 45 minutes. But even just as simple as, you know, taking a 10-minute walk after each meal, or even starting with even after one meal, can help that insulin sensitivity. And then, you know, with kind of what we’ve got now with some of the new medications, those are an option for some people, but not an option for some. And we while those medications help the vast majority of people, we’ve actually seen them be harmful in some situations as well. So it’s really important to individualize when we start to recommend those medications and who we recommend them to. So basically, consistency beats perfection any day of the week; those small daily habits are what last, not the crazy things we do for a short period of time.

Shireen Abdullah  12:40  
Speaking of small daily habits, what are some staple foods or ingredients you recommend keeping on hand for managing blood sugar and maintaining a healthy weight?

Dr. Allison Childress  12:49  
That’s a great question, and I’m glad you asked, because I think a lot of times people think they need special, diabetes-friendly foods, or they need vegan foods, or they need organic foods, or they need sugar-free foods, and really, none of this is true. And in fact, the foods that are the best and healthiest for you can sometimes be the most inexpensive. That’s another kind of misconception. People think that it can be very that it’s very expensive to eat healthy, so staple foods to have around high fiber carbs. So these are things like oats, very inexpensive, easy to fix. Beans, you know, whole grains, quinoa, brown rice, lentils, chickpeas, any of those types of legumes, are good.

Dr. Allison Childress  13:30  
So, your high-fiber carbohydrates—the reason why those are good—is because they help to regulate blood glucose once in the blood. So, for example, if I eat a low-fiber carbohydrate, my blood sugar will spike and then drop. But if I eat a high-fiber carbohydrate, my blood sugar will go up, but not as high, and it’ll stay pretty even, and then it’ll even go down slowly, so we don’t get high spikes in blood sugar, and we don’t get lower spikes in blood sugar. So that’s why those high-fiber carbs are important. Then, of course, lean proteins, so eggs, chicken, preferably without the skin, fish, cottage cheese, edamame, tofu, and those sorts of things are really good, even beef. I think a lot of times, people are very afraid to eat beef as well, because they perceive it to be unhealthy. But interestingly, there are more monounsaturated fats in beef than there are saturated fats. And so if you choose a lean cut, like a sirloin, a filet, a flank, those sometimes have a very similar nutrient and fat profile to chicken or poultry. So those can be a good option.

Dr. Allison Childress  14:34  
And then for the third, the healthy fats, so avocados, nuts, any kind of nuts, seeds, like chia seeds, are really trending right now; people are making chia puddings and putting chia in their overnight oats, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, and then, you know, using olive oil, or even, like, avocado oil, is a great one to put in dressings or to put on vegetables. So, and what protein and healthy fats really do, as far as helping with glycemic control, is keep food in the stomach longer, and so instead of me getting a big dump of sugar into my small intestine and my blood sugar going up, I get a slow trickle when I mix it with some healthy fats and carbs –  healthy fats and proteins.

Shireen Abdullah  15:18  
What’s one lifestyle and nutrition habit you wish more people would focus on to support healthy blood sugar and body weight? Excuse me, long-term.

Dr. Allison Childress  15:28  
I would say focusing on their eating pattern. I have had countless patients that are on insulin, that have high blood glucose, that have type 2 diabetes, and we haven’t changed what they’ve eaten; we’ve just changed when they’ve eaten it. And I have had people cut their insulin levels in half. So, if I could have the general population understand the importance of an eating pattern, that’s what I would take away, because so many of us are busy, and, you know, we eat maybe once or twice a day, and that wreaks havoc on our blood sugar and our metabolism. So I think that the eating pattern is really important.

Shireen Abdullah  16:05  
Perfect, with that, we are toward the end of the episode over here, Dr. Childress, how can our listeners connect with you and just learn more about your work?

Dr. Allison Childress  16:13  
So I actually have, I’m the CEO of a company, 3 Culinary Med Docs, and we have a product called Sam, and you can find it at www.mypartnersam.com, and we actually have a web-based app that creates meal plans for persons who have chronic disease, especially people with multiple chronic disease. We address 14 disease states. So if you have diabetes and high blood pressure and celiac disease and fatty liver, for example, it will make you a meal plan. So there’s my contact information is on that webpage. I’m also on LinkedIn as well. And then finding me through Instagram and Facebook.

Shireen Abdullah  16:48  
Perfect. We love that, and we’ll link up everything here for our listeners so they can also shortcut to it and find you easily. Thank you so much for your time, Dr Childress. To our listeners, thank you for tuning into another episode of the Yumlish podcast. Your assignment next is to head over to Facebook or Instagram, find this podcast post, and comment below to tell us, What are your go-to meals or ingredients that help you stay on track with your blood sugar, with your weight goals? We’ll continue the conversation there. Again, the question is, what are your go-to meals or ingredients that help you stay on track with your blood sugar and your weight goals? We’ll continue the conversation there. Thank you so much for listening to another episode, and thank you, Dr. Childress.

Dr. Allison Childress  17:27
Thank you.

Shireen Abdullah  17:30  
Thank you for listening to the Yumlish podcast. Make sure to follow us on social media, @Yumlish_ on Instagram and Twitter, and @Yumlish on Facebook and LinkedIn for tips about managing your diabetes and other chronic conditions, and to chat and connect with us about your journey and perspective. You can also visit our website, Yumlish.com, for more recipes, advice, and to get involved with all of the exciting opportunities Yumlish has to offer. If you like this week’s show, make sure to subscribe so you can hear more from us every time we post. Thank you again, and we’ll see you next time. Remember, your health always comes first. Stay well.

Connect with Yumlish!
Yumlish Website: Yumlish
Yumlish on Instagram: @yumlish_
Yumlish on Facebook: Yumlish
Yumlish on Twitter: @yumlish_

Connect with Dr. Allison Childress!
Website URL: www.mypartnersam.com and https://www.depts.ttu.edu/hs/ns/childress.php 
LinkedIn URL: www.linkedin.com/in/allison-childress-3-culinarymed-docs