Tony Mantor: Why Not Me ? - Leah Oladitan: Cultivating Wholesome Nutrition Across Life's Stages and Embracing Dietary Diversity in Autism

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Send us a text Navigate the complexities of nutrition with Leah Oladitan, a distinguished registered dietitian, as we uncover the dynamic realm of dietary guidance. Leah's international expertise illuminates the intricate process of customizing nutrition plans, debunking the myth that dietitians are merely gatekeepers of calorie counting. We traverse the puzzling world of food labels together, equipping you with Leah's practical strategies to sidestep marketing traps and select wholesome options on your supermarket safari. Feeding a family isn't just about putting dinner on the table; it's an art, especially when catering to children with sensory sensitivities or who are on the autism spectrum. Leah and I share candid insights into the subtle art of introducing new foods, the power of a structured mealtime, and the virtue of patience as tastes slowly evolve. The dialog extends to the wider challenges parents face, offering sage advice for cultivating a nourishing eating environment and tackling the commonplace trials of picky eaters. As we round off our conversation, Leah and I delve into the unique nutritional requirements through various stages of life, from cracking the truth about eggs to addressing the needs of our aging population. Discover how technology like health apps can be a double-edged sword in managing wellness, and hear my personal reflections on the triumphs of those who've transformed their lives, one bite at a time. This episode is a heartfelt ode to the victories, both big and small, on the journey to better health. Join the conversation and find encouragement to make changes that resonate deeply with your own life story. https://mentorednutrition.com https://tonymantor.com https://Facebook.com/tonymantor https://instagram.com/tonymantor https://twitter.com/tonymantor https://youtube.com/tonymantormusic intro/outro music bed written by T. Wild Why Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI) The content on Why Not Me: Embracing Autism amd Mental Health Worldwide, including discussions on mental health, autism, and related topics, is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect those of the podcast, its hosts, or affiliates.Why Not Me is not a medical or mental health professional and does not endorse or verify the accuracy, efficacy, safety of any treatments, programs, or advice discussed.Listeners should consult qualified healthcare professionals, such as licensed therapists, psychologists, or physicians, before making decisions about mental health or autism- related care.Reliance on this podcast's contents is at the listener's own risk. Why Not Me is not liable for any outcomes, financial or otherwise, resulting from actions taken based on the information provided. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Why Not Me The World Podcast, hosted by Tony Mantor. Broadcasting from Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry. Real life people who will inspire and show that you are not alone in this world. Hopefully you gain more awareness, acceptance, and a better understanding for autism around the world. Welcome to Why Not Me the World. Today's guest is Leah Alataton.

She's a registered dietitian here in the U.S. and the UK. We're going to talk about nutrition, diet, and how it affects us in our daily lives. Welcome to the show. I appreciate you coming on. Well, how are you? Thank you so much for this. I'm really excited about it. Oh, the pleasure's all mine. Thanks for coming on. So if you would, give us a little information on how you became a dietitian. Yeah, so I got into nutrition. Actually, I found the degree when I was already in college. I took one of those aptitude tests on what you're good at. And this being a dietitian actually popped up as something that would be good for me based on my personality and my interests. I happened to go to a school that had a really great program for that. So a lot of, you cooking information, like it was a human nutrition and dietetics, just the study of science and food and how that impacts health. And so that's what I got a degree in in human nutrition and

dietetic. When I think of a dietitian, nutritionless, I think about someone that's going to help me with my food intake, my calories, everything that I need to lose weight or whatever I'm trying to do. But it's way deeper than that, right? So when you have a new client come your way, what's the first step. How do you analyze, what do you go over? How do you determine what needs to be done to help the person that's sitting in front of you? Yeah. So the very first question that I think is the most really, really an important question is, you know, what is it that you're looking for today? Like, what is it that they are hoping to get out of a visit with a dietitian? You know, because we all have different things or ideas in our mind on what's most important and what we're most motivated

to make changes on. And a lot of my career and the work that I do is helping people get to where they want to be. Or for families and people with children, how do I get my kids to where they want to be or where I hope for them to be or what they medically need to be doing?

So that's the first question. I think that I like to answer to see where people's frame of mind is at and what's kind of the most important thing to them. Okay, that makes sense. Now, I've heard of different things that you can do with 10, tests for foods that will tell you if you're allergic to them or if they affect you in some way.

Do you do blood tests or what is the next step that you would take once you find out what the person is looking to do with their time with you? Yeah. So the next step would be to do just like any healthcare provider, you do an assessment, right? So we're going to ask quite a few questions to get to know like specifically eating habits, foods that are eating, pattern of eating. if there's a concern with allergies or sensitivities, are there certain things that they notice a reaction to having?

As a dietitian, I don't have the privileges to order labs. I can certainly make recommendations and say, hey, I think based on what you're telling me, that you could be not getting enough vitamin D. So you can go to your doctor and you can ask your doctor to do a blood test to see if you are in fact not getting enough vitamin D. So once you have the assessment done, then you kind of know where they are health-wise. What would be your next step after that?

Yeah, the next step is to give some ideas on next steps as far as goals until the next time I might see someone as a dietitian. You know, the next time I see them or like what they're, you know, over the next month until they come back to see the provider that I'm working with or the provider that they're working with. So, like, what are, let's talk, we'll talk through some different ideas on, okay, this is what you're hoping to change. And this, these are different strategies you can put in place in this time frame to work towards that change or make that change happen. So do you get into labeling at all? Because when you go into a grocery store and you look at those labels, they are just so confusing. You look at the carbs. You look at the sugars. You look at the fat. You look at all the things. And then people trying to find out their net carbs or whatever they may be trying to find out. It can be so confusing and so overwhelming to people and they'll think one thing but actually reality is another.

So do you get into that at all and help them so they can read the labels and understand what they're buying? Oh, yeah, definitely. And when you say it's confusing going to the grocery store, it is so confusing. You know, there's like you go down, there's an aisle for cereal. There's so many different kinds of cereal. like it's a lot of choices and trying to understand and comprehend what are the what are the important pieces I need to look at and then what does it mean on that label yeah I get into that you know the nutrition facts which has like calories the protein the nutrient part of it or

the ingredient list which talks about the ingredients or the actual foods and additives that can be added in there so we yeah definitely talking through parts of those things to help people have a better understanding when they are at the grocery store so that they can help better understand what they're seeing there for sure. That's definitely something I could do and we do a lot as dietitians. Great. So once you get into all that and you start really digging in with your clients, what is your typical time frame? Is it 30 minutes? Is it 60 minutes? How long do you spend with each person to help them with what they need? Yeah. So generally dietitians that work outside of a hospital setting so that you might call the first appointment is generally about an hour to get all that

history and then go through a lot of goal setting and then education and through all of that. And then the follow-up appointments are generally 30 minutes each time. When I've worked in hospital settings, you know, when you're in the hospital and you're sick or you're seeing a medical provider and they have a dietitian come in. It can range. I used to be have to do, you know, I'd have about 10 minutes because they're about 10 providers coming into a room up to an hour and a half to two hours. for a really intense in-depth education that really, and then sometimes even multiple educations. So when you have that all laid out,

what's the plan after that? Is it once a week, once every other week, once a month, once every two months, once every three months, and what's your schedule from that point on? Once a month is a pretty common frequency or length of time. Also, it depends on what we're working on. So some things like trying to change your weight,

it's better to have more touch points more often. So if weight is a concern, either too much, you know, you're trying to get to a lower weight or trying to get to a higher way, generally it's more often than that, even up to once a week. And those appointments are generally not as long. They can be, you know, 15 minutes or 30 minutes depending on kind of how much needs to be talked about. Those kinds of the things need more regular meetings.

Just research has shown that that's more important to see progress and make changes. more frequently. That makes sense. So once they start their program, whether to gain weight or lose weight, or just get some overall health, once you have that plan in place, is that something that stays fairly rigid? Or is it something that you have them come back, you look at it, and then once you evaluate, you tweak it to keep evolving into something that's going to make them closer to where they want to be? Yeah, it can be both. So it can make small changes to a a plan. If you're trying to gain weight, let's say, and the goal is to add in, I'm thinking about kids now, because that's the population I've worked a lot with, you know, adding a snack

after dinner time every day. You're eating a snack every day after dinner time and the weight is going up, then we just keep doing that. But if you're adding a snack after dinner time and the weight still isn't going up, okay, we need to talk about maybe some other things. And so then we would make a whole, we might make a whole other plan altogether. Now, what about exercise? Do you Do you work with them on that, or do you send them to someone that can help them train and use their weights right to help build muscle and get them along with a healthy diet more closer to where they're hoping that they can get to? Yes, that's an option sending them to a gym somewhere where they can work out. And part of that could be setting goals from an activity standpoint too. It might not just be meals or eating or a meal plan that we do goals on it.

It might be goals related to exercise too. So that could be going and finding someone to work with like a personal trainer to work with. Or it can be maybe getting a membership to somewhere to work out or going on walks three times a week if those are not options from a financial standpoint. Again, it goes back to kind of what they would like to do and give. giving them options. Some people prefer to work on eating foods differently first or some people prefer to work on the physical activity side of things first. You mentioned that you work with a lot of kids. Now, in my podcast, I talk with a lot of parents and their autistic children have a real tough time with texture. Now, that's texture of their clothing and of course, textures of their food.

So they have a situation where they have a child that is refusing to eat a lot of things because they just don't like the texture. When you have a child that has a texture issue, how do you handle that? The parents want their kids to eat right because they need proper nutrition, but yet they don't like the texture, they don't like the food, they don't like eating it. And we can't have them just eating what they like because lots of times what they like just isn't healthy enough to sustain it. So what's your approach on something like that? My first thought that comes to mind is before I address the question you asked is, you know, that adds, there's so much stress that feeding children, especially children who really are struggling to eat or maybe struggling with, you know,

the doctors are concerned about growth in some standpoint. That's so stressful for parents. So I want to just acknowledge, you know, first with parents that that is stressful. A lot of times I feel pressure that they're the ones, like they're doing something wrong. You know, a lot of times it's that all that pressure and all that anxiety, the child can feed off of it, right? And they can sense that and it adds to the anxiety for them around meals or eating, eating in general. So as hard as it is trying to get parents to a place to come calmly to and relax to a meal or a snack time and not be in that place of being stressed, that's a step that's one piece of the puzzle. And this puzzle is a very fuzzy puzzle.

When you have parents of autistic children, many times it's a situation. of their learning as they go because it's their first child. They've never had anything like this happen. So they don't know exactly what to do. So they're trying to work with different people to find different things at work. It's just very, very tough for everybody involved. Okay, so with parents, you know,

them kind of having some ideas on what are their responsibilities when it comes to feeding. What are the things they're in charge of? So they're in charge of providing nutritious food. options. I think another thing is providing foods that the child is familiar with. As you said, well, kids in general, and then especially kids that have special needs or sensory issues like a lot of children with autism, they struggle with change. And so having foods that are known to them with foods that may be new or maybe not the foods that they necessarily have been

okay with in the past. And having both of those at meals and snacks. So not just catering to only the things that they like, but going ahead and putting things out there. And when I say out there, like on the table, even on the table, not even be on their plate, but just in the area of where the child is eating, even can be a first step. So like I said, the parents being calming down, they're in charge of what options are provided and they're offering a variety, maybe not at every meal, but over time, like right through the day or through the week. So they're, That's their jobs. And then having set meals and snack time, so having a schedule.

So another thing with kids with who are sensory, have a lot of sensory challenges or on our autistic, having a very familiar environment. So having the same plates and cups and utensils, the same place to sit every time. That can sometimes help de-stress the situation for them. Right. Now, what about the ones that they've kind of got used to certain things? But there are certain things, no matter how good it is for them, they just don't like the texture and they refuse to eat it. So there must be a way to substitute some things that have good nutrition, but maybe they'll accept it a little bit better because the texture is not quite as bad as the other one.

Yeah. So what I would tell, first of all, is for kids that don't have sensory issues, it can take, 15 to 20 different times of an exposure for them, for the same, the same exact thing for them to be willing to accept it. And children that are sensory, you know, have trouble with sensory or textures, specific textures, they can take, it might even take longer. So not to get frustrated and give the child time. You can also offer things in different formats, but from what, with children with autism, they don't like change very often. So you're wanting to make it very similar to other foods that they like, right? So if, you know, if they don't, I don't, I don't endorse

like trying to sneak foods. But if they, you know, if they like a hamburger, you know, maybe you could try a soy burger. You know, something that's just a little bit different, but it looks, it's very similar in the, in the appearance or the texture or the taste. It's very, it's very similar. But children, again, it's a long process for children who have sensory issues and it's not going to be something that you see huge changes overnight. So parents being okay with like a 1% change or 1% in the direction of where you want to go, that's still progress. And that you should celebrate that. And you should be, you know, making those kinds of goals that are small, very, very small, incremental goals to see changes.

So baby steps, in other words. Exactly. Have you had adults that have come to you that have had texture problems and they just don't like a lot of foods and they'll come to you and say, look, we don't like this, this and this and this? And have you helped them by giving them other options or giving them at least choices that they can try and figure out so they can get better and more healthy as well? Yeah.

So I haven't worked with a lot of adults with those kind of sensory issues. But what I can say about that is, you know, adults who have them, if they're motivated to make changes, I could see that being something where, again, we would do really small, very, very small increments, like you said, baby steps to make changes. Right. But I haven't really worked with anybody in the adult realm to do that. Sure. Now, when you talk with people that are just trying to get a general wellness,

do you have people that come to you that's just just looking for general wellness rather than huge changes, just making subtle changes that can add to their diet? Yeah, yeah. So like making just a few modifications. And one thing I would do with that is I would do like a diet analysis. Like I would do what I call a diet analysis. So it's really just having them write down what they're eating and drinking for several days.

And then I can do analyze it and look at, you know, are you, for small like vitamins. level things. Are there a couple of vitamins that maybe you need a little bit more of or, you know, calcium or are you getting too much of something that salt would be one thing that's pretty common? So, and give them recommendations there. Okay. What's some of the biggest issues that come your way? And I'm not going to say on a regular basis, but when they do come your way, you can look at it, you can analyze it, and you know right away exactly what's going on in their life. Yeah, so the biggest issue with kids and adolescents is the picky eating. So, you know, parents, a lot of parents, they're great parents, and they worry about their kids

and they just want to provide the best for them. And so they worry a lot. vegetables every meal or their selective, it's called selective eating as well. And so that would be one of the, probably the thing I hear the most from parents. And that's really common in kids in general. Like in childhood, that's a pretty common thing in the younger years to toddler age. And kids tend to grow out of it as they get older for the most part. If parents are following those kind of what their responsibilities are that I mentioned earlier, providing healthy foods a set schedule and kids a lot of times will grow out of it. Over the years, it's been so, many changes in the way that we look at things. So what are some of the biggest challenges that

you think you face on a day-to-day basis because of the changes that have happened over the past few years? One of the really challenging things for people in general, and even for me, even as a practicing clinician in this field, is research and evidence and the knowledge base continues to grow so rapidly. You know, people a lot of times get confused because you'll hear one day, you know, coffee is good for you. The other to next day, coffee's not. not good. But you hear that back and forth because there's always more research done. And unlike a lab with a pill for a medication where you can control everything except the pill, you can't really do that when you're eating day in and day out multiple times per day. So it's really hard to navigate

that. And so that's one thing that people feel lost and feel like the evidence changes all the time. They're right. It does because we get more information. Okay. That leads me to another question. with everything changing so drastically, how do you keep up with it and how do you implement it to your clients? Right. And that is a question that you take to an individual level. So what I like taking eggs, for example, they're a really great protein source. One of the best protein sources in the egg white. The yolk has a lot of vitamins and mint, some vitamin like vitamins and micronutrients. It's high in cholesterol too. So if cholesterol is something that you're high with, you know, there's a potential that it might have an impact. And I don't quote me on it because I haven't read this research recently on that. But I think the last thing I read is that they didn't think it made a difference in your cholesterol. But it is high in cholesterol. So like my father-in-law, you see two boiled eggs every morning for breakfast and he had high cholesterol levels.

And so one thing I could tell him is like, well, you could try not eating the eggs for every day and see if that changes your cholesterol level. Like that's a change you could make. Right. But yeah, it's, yeah, the eggs are a great example of that. Okay, we've covered kids, we've covered parents. What about older people? Do you have people coming your way that have decided that they've gone through life, their bodies have changed, and metabolism has changed? They want to add some things, subtract some things. They just kind of want to get general health going again. Do you have that kind of situation at all?

Yeah, for older people, it can be changes in, you know, ability to what they can eat, like from a text, you know, sometimes teeth having trouble chewing or swallowing can be a common thing or not being able to prepare, you know, prepare meals on their own. They have to for one person. So those are the kind of the things that older people sometimes struggle with, you know, being able to provide nutritious foods on a really limited budget as well. They are on a really fixed income. And in those case is trying to get people connected to resources too for food because there are a lot of them out there and then giving them some advice on, you know, easy and quick or cheap things that they can make or modifying textures of foods. Right. Sure. Now, we're in the age of iPhones and apps and all

those type things. My favorite that I use is My Fitness pal. What do you think of things like that? Do you think they help quite a bit or do you think they have areas where they need to be tweaked a little bit, do people put too much stock in their value? What's your thought on apps like that? Well, I think some apps can be really helpful. Knowledge is power, right? Right. If you have knowledge about things on, you know, how many, how many calories you're eating or how many steps you're taking in a day and you know how many you're supposed to have, apps can really help you keep kind of track those things so that you can be more aware of what's happening in your day, at day-to-day.

One of the areas that struggles, the apps continue to be challenged with is like more of the than micronutrient. So for micronutrients and macronutrients, so looking at the vitamins and minerals, that information is not readily available outside of hospital systems or large medical institutions a lot of times.

You have to pay for software that can provide really evidence based and analyzed nutrition information at that level. But it is a good resource for, you know, calories or protein a lot of times. It can give you pretty good information on that and then physical activity habits as well. The other thing that some apps are great for are, you know, giving you that daily touch base on like positive motivation. I've seen some out there for that as well. That can just give you some motivation each day to keep working towards your goals.

Is it accurate enough to where, if anybody uses these apps, that they're going to be close to their nutrients and where they need to be? Or do they really need to kind of check further than that to know that they're getting at, especially if they're picky, and especially if they tend to not change their diet a whole lot? Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that is what would be concerning to me if people were using an app to tell them exactly how much magnesium they needed in the day, whether they're getting that enough or calcium. Yeah, at that level, I don't know that the apps are quite there yet. At least I haven't seen one yet, that is. Right, sure. So basically, they're just a decent measuring stick for the basic things that people can look at on a daily basis.

Yes. Yeah. So what are some of the biggest challenges that you come across and you feel like you've won? So the thing that really I love and I get really excited to see is when people reach their goals or they can hit some big minds. from like a medical standpoint that they were working towards that I really, I love helping people. That's my favorite thing to do. And so it's a challenge. There are things like motivational, behavioral change is really hard and it can take time. And when and when people are able to implement changes, that that is the biggest thing that I have not personally overcome, but helped

people to overcome. Right. So what do you do? You get this person. that comes in, they're totally out of shape. They don't eat right. They know they have to change. They're willing to try, but you know deep down their motivation just is not there. How do you break down that barrier where they can see that if they make these changes, they do what they need to do that potentially they could add years to their life? Starts with, well, one thing is as a dietitian, I generally have more time than a doctor does get to spend with someone. So that's helpful. So we have more time. to go through and in that 60 minutes or 30 minutes go through and kind of delve into the weeds of

it has a scientific term but but really what it is is it boils down to you know what are the things that are driving you like what are the important things in your life and then a lot of times I'll relate what the health things they can do to improving that part of their life so if they really, you know, if they really want to be around, spend time with their kids, you know, I can talk about, well, you know, in 10 or 15 years, like, okay, what are the health things you can do to be able to do that? Yeah. So I try and relate, talking to them about what's important in their life and then relating the diet and how health changes that they can make or their doctor is asking them to make, relating that to the important things in their life. Like I've,

I've worked with kids who maybe want to get into sports or they want to be, you know, athletic. And so talking about nutrition and how that impacts your physical abilities is one example. And the things from a dietary standpoint that they can do to be better performers. So it's really, you know, for older people, sometimes it's taking more medications because changing your diet a lot of times is the thing you can do without having to add more medicines. The doctor will allow you time to do that first before you have to add more medication in. So those are some of the things that when I'm talking to them in that hour or 30 minutes I have, I like to go and learn about them and see what are the things that are important to them

to help them try and be able to continue to do those things. Okay, you brought up doctors. Do you work with doctors one-on-one or do they send you people that they feel you could help? What's your relationship with a lot of doctors in that capacity? I have in the past, at the current moment, not as much, but yes, I have worked a lot with doctors and doctors offices in the past, I'm okay either way. If it's if it goes into the realm of a doctor prescribed something to to someone, then generally I want to have a conversation or some information from the doctor as well. But for people who are just looking for general health

and wellness related things, doesn't need to necessarily have a doctor involved in those conversations. Okay. Since we are in the virtual world now, have you gone into doing any virtual consultation at all? Yes. So I have done virtual visits with people in the past through the jobs that I've had. I haven't done it as an individual. It doesn't mean that I can't though. And a lot of what I do right now is more of like an analyze what you're eating or for companies and look at meal, that kind of thing. I do more of analyzing like meals now or like, you know, what you eat over several days and looking at what is in there and what's missing or if you have, you know, some kind of medical thing that you want to see, am I getting enough calories or am I getting enough sodium or getting too

much. I'm someone who would be willing to do things like this where if somebody wants someone to come talk or educate, I do a lot of education. That's in the realm of what I'm able to do, if that makes sense. Okay, that makes sense. So this is the first time that a person is hearing about a dietitian and a nutritionist and knows nothing about it. So they've heard some information that you've given to me today on this podcast. So what kind of advice would you give them? Yeah. Let me think on that for a second. Well, I'll first start by my dad had no idea what a dietitian was when I went into school. And so I had to do a lot of education with him. But I think the most important thing you need to know is that really a dietitian is there to be an advocate for you and to help you meet your goals? Like what are the things that you

want in your life and help you get there. Give you tools to do that. And so that's, you know, if that's something that you are looking for and that would be something you would find helpful, then a lot of times a dietitian can be that for you. That's great to know. So with all the information you've given us, now someone wants to reach out to you. How do they contact you? Yeah.

So they can email me at my email address, which is my first and last name. It's Leah Olaton at gmail.com. It's L-E-A-H-O-L-A-D-I-T-A-N at Gmail. Well, this has been a great conversation, a lot of super information. Thank you for taking the time and coming on my podcast. I've really enjoyed it. Well, thank you for having me. Again, I do appreciate being here as well, and I look forward to hearing it.

It's been my pleasure. Thanks again. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to listen to our show today. We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. If you know anyone that would like to tell us their story, send them to tonymentor.com. Contact, then they can give us their information so one day they may be a guest on our show. One more thing we ask, tell everyone everywhere. about why not me the world,

the conversations we're having and the inspiration our guests give to everyone, everywhere that you are not alone in this world.