Dr. Deanna Minich begins this podcast by acknowledging her forward-thinking mother. In the 1970s, while other mothers succumbed to their kids’ requests for Wonder Bread, Deanna’s mother encouraged her family to prioritize growing their own food and consuming nutritious meals. Despite this, Deanna resisted her mother’s ideas and persisted in her own calls for Wonder Bread.
It wasn’t until Deanna attended graduate school that she realized how powerful food is. From that point on, she was in it for the long haul, studying health and food. She earned a Master of Science degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Illinois in 1995 and a Doctorate in Medical Sciences from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands in 1999.
To gain an understanding of the food manufacturing industry, she worked in that field before training in functional medicine. As part of her journey into functional medicine, she worked with Dr. Jeffrey Bland, who is known as the father of that specialty.
Deanna also has a passion for color. This came from two different directions: the scientific studies of phytochemicals during graduate school and how she dealt with personal health issues, which included paying attention to the colors she used while painting.
Although how she ate played a role in dealing with her health issues, her situation required additional modalities, which helped her focus on connecting food to both mind and body. Because being creative helped her mentally and emotionally, she also began paying close attention to how creativity helps with stress.
Weave this all together, and you have the art of eating.
When Deanna talks about a rainbow way of eating, she goes beyond the notion that healthy foods of all hues should be included in one’s diet. She also encourages people to feel the colors as they take them in.
Fascinating, right? Find out more! You can listen to the rest of her story in her own words in our Farming for Health podcast, Episode 12.
Past Episodes of our Farming for Health Podcast
If you’ve missed any of our previous episodes, you can find them here:
- Episode One: Keto, Cruciferous Vegetables, Salt and Your Mindset
- Episode Two: Cooking, Conviviality, and Preserving the Harvest
- Episode Three: Ferments, Food Insecurity, and Wasted Food.
- Episode Four: Anti-Cancer Diet, Food as Medicine, and Vegetables.
- Episode Five: Plants, Happiness, and Mindful Neglect.
- Episode Six: Whole 30, Sustainable Habits, and Loving Vegetables.
- Episode Seven: Iodine, Egg Yolk Enzymes, and Miso
- Episode Eight: Fungi, Bitter Foods, and Food Extinction
- Episode Nine: Understanding Food, Nutritional Healing and Farming
- Episode Ten: Enjoying the Process, Connection and Soup
- Episode Eleven: Monica Geller, Community and Limiting Salads – Farming For Health | Podcast on Spotify
Stay tuned for more!