#12 - Parker Brook: Cleaning Up America's Cereal Aisle

#12 - Parker Brook: Cleaning Up America's Cereal Aisle

Parker Brook is the founder of Lovebird Cereal, a family-run brand on a mission to “clean up junk food” with real, nutrient-dense ingredients you can actually pronounce. After years working at General Mills, Parker became a dad and that changed everything. He walked away from the corporate food world to make a cereal he’d be proud to serve his daughter, free from glyphosate, artificial dyes, and ultra-processed fillers. In this conversation, we discuss: * The hidden health costs of conventional cereal and processed food * The challenge of competing with subsidized, artificially cheap products * How grassroots consumer choices can transform the food system * The role of ingredient transparency and trust in building lasting change

#11 - Dr. Molly Anderson: Transforming Our Food System

Dr. Molly Anderson is a food systems expert and author of "Transforming Food Systems" (2024). With decades of experience in research, teaching, and food system planning at local, state, and regional levels, she has witnessed firsthand the environmental and social costs of industrial agriculture and champions agroecological alternatives that prioritize both planetary and human health. In this conversation, we discuss: * The hidden costs of CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) * The difference between organic farming and agroecology, and why both matter * The New England Food Vision and the push for 30% regional food production by 2030 * How consumers can navigate a food system designed to hide the true costs of cheap meat and produce

#10 - Kendra Atkins: Tips for Raising Healthy Kids in Modern Times

Kendra Atkins is a mom of 3, Youtuber, and health enthusiast who has been creating content for over 13 years and has hundreds of thousands of subscribers. She advocates for from-scratch cooking, raises backyard chickens, makes weekly sourdough bread, and maintains a household focused on avoiding processed foods and plastics. As both a content creator and mother, Kendra balances sharing health knowledge with navigating the challenges of social media and raising children with proper nutrition awareness. In this conversation, we discuss: * From-scratch cooking * The benefits of raising backyard chickens for fresh eggs * Teaching children about nutrition and healthy eating habits * Avoiding processed foods and plastic packaging concerns * Managing social media challenges as a health content creator

#09 - Marion Nestle: Navigating a Broken Food System

Marion Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health Emerita at New York University and a widely cited authority on how industry and policy shape what we eat. She has written seminal books—including Food Politics, Unsavory Truth, her 2022 memoir Slow Cooked, and The Fish Counter (2025)—and continues to advise national bodies on nutrition and public-health issues. In this episode, we discuss: - The critical role of government in breaking (and fixing) the American food system - The decline of small scale family farming - How consumers can make conscious food choices at the store or market - The importance cooking literacy plays in healthy eating across economic backgrounds - What makes shopping for fish and seafood uniquely difficult

#08 - Jared Seidman: The Case for Eating Healthy in your 20s

Jared Seidman is a content creator, college student, and local food enthusiast. With his unique perspective as a 20-year old committed to health and wellness, this episode dives into:     ⁃    The benefits and challenges of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in college     ⁃    Navigating buzzwords and claims at the grocery store and farmers market     ⁃    Combining modern tech with ancestral wisdom for optimal wellness     ⁃    The importance of balance     ⁃    The problem with health influencers