574. A Conversation with Dr. Columbus Batiste on Building Nutritional Resiliency

Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg (by Food Tank)

Host Dani Nierenberg opens with a news roundup covering USDA regenerative agriculture funding, Ukraine's grain export crisis, climate impacts on European farming, and new healthcare-grocery partnerships. She then interviews Dr. Columbus

Key takeaways

• The USDA is increasing its regenerative agriculture pilot program funding to $1 billion for 2027, raising critical questions about equitable access for historically marginalized farmers.
• Dr. Columbus Batiste identifies chronic stress as a primary driver of early-onset heart disease and diabetes, explaining how sustained cortisol levels fuel inflammation and trigger poor dietary coping mechanisms.

Main topics

• Nutritional resiliency and stress management
• Systemic gaps in medical education and licensing exams

Notable quotes

Stress equals dessert spelled backwards.

Conclusion

The episode provides actionable frameworks for building dietary resiliency

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:03) Hi, everyone. Every week on Food Talk with Dani Nirenberg, I share some of the news that makes me excited, energized, infuriated, or curious. And I want to start with some big news for regenerative agriculture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it is increasing funding for the regenerative pilot program from $700 million to $1 billion for 2027. The program is designed to help farmers adopt conservation systems that improve soil health, water quality, and resilience over the long term. And states will have more flexibility to support practices that make sense for their farmers and their landscapes. And a billion dollars is a lot. But the question I'm thinking of is, you know, who actually gets access to that money? What practices count as regenerative and will smaller and historically underserved and marginalized farmers be able to participate? Because regenerative agriculture can't just become another label. It really has to work for farmers. Next, I want to talk about Ukraine. Ukraine's farmers have shown extraordinary resilience throughout the war, but they're facing a growing problem right now. They can produce food, but increasingly they can't get it to market. Ukraine's grain exports have fallen more than 60 percent this month as the war continues to constrain access to its seaports. Grain stocks are piling up and prices for some wheat in some regions have fallen nearly 30 percent in just... two months. This is something I keep coming back to. Food security isn't only about growing enough food. Ports are food security, roads are food security, storage is food security, and markets are food security. Relationships and infrastructure matter enormously. And when these systems break down, farmers and eaters around the globe really feel the consequences. Now I want to talk about climate change. Europe's farmers are dealing with the aftermath of an exceptionally hot and dry summer. The European Commission reports that temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius, unusually warm nights, and severe rainfall deficits depleted soil moisture and accelerated crop development. In some areas, maize matured as much as three weeks earlier than normal, really hurting yields. Livestock producers are also dealing with declining grassland and the availability of feed. These numbers can sound very technical, but I think the message isn't. Climate change is already changing what farmers can grow, when they can grow it, and how much they can harvest. And farmers need tools and resources, research and policies to adapt now, not 20 years from now. I also want to highlight some encouraging news on Food is Medicine. Unite Us and Instacart announced a partnership. aimed at making it easier for healthcare providers, insurers, and public agencies to connect people with grocery benefits and nutrition programs. The idea is to build food support directly into healthcare and make it easier to deliver and measure these programs at scale. This comes as evidence around food as medicine continues to grow. A new American Heart Association report. reviewed 57 studies published in just one year. And that's a 68 % increase from food as medicine research the previous year. That's exciting to me because we're moving beyond asking whether food affects health. Of course it does. The bigger question now is how do we make nutritious food accessible to everyone who needs it? How do we make it affordable? And how do we make nutrition a real part of healthcare rather than an afterthought? And finally, I've been thinking a lot about trust and investigation from the. Guardian and Documented found that food and agriculture interests are supporting a communications campaign called Growing a Healthier America that is working with social media influencers on issues around pesticides, seed oils, ultra-processed foods, organic agriculture, and regenerative agriculture. Whatever your politics, I think there's a bigger question here. Who do we trust to tell us what is safe, what is healthy, and what is sustainable? Is it scientists, farmers, doctors, companies, government, influencers? And maybe even more importantly, do we know who's funding the information we're receiving? Because we desperately need better conversations about food and agriculture and health. But those conversations really need a lot of transparency, good evidence-based science behind them, and a willingness to listen to people who we don't always agree with. Thank you so much for listening. As always, email me news that's happening in your own community at danielleatfoodank.com. Thanks, everyone. I was recently at a very powerful conference called The Power of the Plate and had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Columbus Batiste, who is a board-certified interventional cardiologist, lifestyle advocate, and the co-founder of Healthy Heart Nation. He is also the author of Selfish, a cardiologist's guide to healing a broken heart. Dr. Batiste, you had that audience riveted. People were taking notes furiously. Everyone was so excited. You're such an incredible speaker. So I'm really glad I had the opportunity to hear you. Speaker 4 (5:07) No, well, I mean, thank you so much for the kind words. You know, one, it's a pleasure to be on with you. And I've always been an admirer of the work that you all are doing behind the scenes. I will tell you this, and you know this as a speaker, is you never know how information is being perceived in the moment as you're crafting it in your mind to what the intended audience and the theme is. And it may make perfect sense in your mind, but sometimes when it comes out, maybe it is or is not well received. So I'm always very appreciative when... when individuals kind of give me a moment of gratitude or at least a level of appreciation for the content of what I'm trying to convey. So thank you. Speaker 1 (5:45) It was a great way to start that day. So thank you again for that. I do want to dig right in. I know you're very busy with your practice. And so, you know, you often say we need food as medicine more now than ever. What's happening with diet-related diseases that, you know, causes you and so many other people in the food as medicine space so much concern? Speaker 4 (6:07) Yeah, we're at this weird place in time in which we have an overwhelming large amount of knowledge and resource, but somehow we're losing the ability to apply it effectively. And we're caught into these vicious cycles of misinformation that's there. And we have really moved to a place in which there's a level of distrust in scientists and researchers and physicians. And we've relied upon people that we connect with on social media. Speaker 2 (6:39) And I Speaker 4 (6:40) think the pendulum has swung a bit too far the opposite direction in which there is a level of distrust, such a massive distrust, into thinking that there is something that is conspiratory that's happening behind the scenes. So that's where I believe that's why it's needed now more than ever. We're reliant on... medications, pharmaceuticals. We're distrusting of the science. And we're really just ignoring the basics of when we say it out loud, what makes sense? What makes sense when we say it out loud in terms of the foods we should eat? Speaker 1 (7:12) Absolutely. You're seeing heart disease, diabetes, and chronic illnesses in younger and younger people. Can you talk a little bit about what's driving that trend? Speaker 4 (7:24) Yeah, I really believe by heart of hearts that stress is driving a tremendously large amount of disease burden in not only our youth, our middle age, our elderly too as well. And that's one of the key things. And we understand from a behavioral standpoint what happens when individuals are stressed. Stress equals dessert spelled backwards. We turn to... substances and foods that may be culturally acceptable in terms of the deleterious types of foods that we eat, as well as things that are not socially acceptable of substances that