Farming for Health Podcast #12: Dr. Deanna Minich

Dr. Deanna Minich starts this podcast with a shoutout to her cutting-edge mother. In the 1970s, while other mothers were giving into their kids’ cries for Wonder Bread, Deanna’s mother was helping her family to focus on growing their own food and eating healthy meals. That said, Deanna pushed against her mother’s ideas, still wanting the Wonder Bread. 

It wasn’t until Deanna was attending graduate school that she realized how food is powerful. 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 to put a 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.

Listen to podcast here.

When Deanna talks about a rainbow way of eating, she goes beyond the notion that you should include healthy foods of all hues into your diet, also encouraging 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!