Interview: Seema Dixit

Today I am delighted to feature my long time friend Seema Dixit on my site! Not only does Seema have multiple degrees in Nutrition, International Health and Policy, and Public Health and over 15 years of experience in Public Health focusing on health promotion, she is also a gorgeous soul! Extremely passionate about spreading the word about achieving good health through nutrition, here are her words of wisdom and practical tips on how to achieve a lifetime of good health and wellbeing .

Tell us a bit about yourself, your background and the work that you do.

I work in the area of public health and policy. Was trained and practiced as a nutritionist/lecturer many years ago in India and the United States. Later went to Tufts University, Boston for studying International Health Policy and later Public Health. Since then, have worked at Government Public Health Departments managing various chronic disease prevention programs. Currently manage the HIV and infectious disease control programs for the State of Rhode Island that conducts surveillance, epidemiology, prevention and management of HIV/AIDS and all infectious diseases in Rhode Island.

What did you have for breakfast today?

Egg white omlette on flat bread coffee

A health and nutrition trend/development that is overrated..

I have quite a few actually:

a. Expensive organic stuff (other than the baker’s dozen),
b. Expensive exotic juices and waters that boast to be micro-nutrient dense. The reality is nothing beats what you get naturally from fruits and vegetables
c. The growingly popular coconut oil which casino online has more saturated fat than canola or olive oil

A health and nutrition trend that is underrated..

a. Home cooked meals and portion sizes;
b. Avoiding vending machines and snacking wisely

What do you think about GMOs and how important is it to remove them from our diet?

Given what we know of GMOs its best to try to avoid them when we can. It is unfortunate that despite the strong consumer interest and demand it is still not universally banned. There is a strong co-relation between genetically modified food consumption and increased rates of chronic disease prevalence. It is therefore important to be aware at least of labeling that lists GMOs and try to eliminate/reduce their intake.

Something you are doing these days to ‘edit’ your health..

I continue taking home-cooked meals to work most days and try to control intake of simple carbohydrates at least on weekdays. Weekends are challenging due to the holiday season. I also plan on getting back to exercise sometime soon

What are your tried and true remedies for the common cold, headaches and minor digestive upsets?

Common cold: honey turmeric lots of lemon juice and hot compresses
Headaches: Lots of water and ginger tea
Minor digestive upsets: Grated ginger lemon juice salt or black salt; Ajwain (Bishops seeds) hot water

The one cooking trick you picked up from mom..

Multi-tasking and thinking beyond the current meal while preparing it that helps plan better and save time greatly.

What is the easiest (and nutritious)kid-friendly midweek meal ever?

Grilled whole grain cheese sandwiches with fresh mozzarella cheese and fruit on the side
Soy chunk rice with carrot/yoghurt salad on the side

Any exciting/surprising nutrition discoveries that you can share?

I have a couple, actually.
It is possible to modify vegetarian diets into low carb diets with some creativity.
The time invested in making and preparing healthy food choices be it breakfast smoothies, packed lunches equals if not exceeds the value of exercising. Both done will achieve better results obviously but both are equally important.

I’m going to sneak in just one more question/confirmation. Dark chocolate is awesome, no? I mean study after study confirms its benefits, just wanted to get this out of the way…

Of course it is! The darker the better and if it has exotic nuts in it even better. Great source of flavanoids, anti-oxidants, anti-depressants = anti-PMS.

Thanks so much, Seema!