In a Localist SD interview, health and wellness expert Reena Vokoun celebrates National Nutrition Month by outlining five practical nutrition priorities for 2025. She begins with protein, recommending 0.36 g per pound of body weight and highlighting diverse sources such as lean meats, fish, eggs, edamame, peanut/almond butter, cheese, beans, and lentils. Next, she stresses fiber intake (25‑30 g daily) and advises loading the plate with colorful fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. She then explains gut health, linking a healthy microbiome to brain health and suggesting prebiotic and probiotic foods like sourdough, Greek yogurt, and supplements. The fourth tip covers blood‑sugar management, urging the use of modern glucose‑monitoring tools and a focus on low‑glycemic, Mediterranean‑style foods (e.g., popcorn, oats) that support stable insulin levels. Finally, she promotes her two books—The Wellness Empowered Woman and The Wellness Evolved Woman—and announces upcoming audiobook recordings. Throughout, she cites Harvard School of Public Health research and frames the advice as actionable for families.
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It is time now to call on our favorite health and wellness expert. Reena Vokoun is sharing 5 things we can all do to improve nutrition for our whole family. Reena, it seems like there is a month and a day for everything, and this lines up with you especially. March is National Nutrition Month.
Yes, it is, and it's just a great time to talk about nutrition because according to the Harvard School of Public Health, having healthy nutrition and a healthy lifestyle can really help not only with your lifespan but your healthspan as well, meaning you have more healthy years to live.
Well, you're going to help us all get everything we need into our daily diets and routines. Let's start with protein because I think that's a really challenging one for a lot of people.
Yeah, yeah, we'll cover kind of 5 areas of focus in 2025 in the health and wellness world, and protein is really important. It's good for muscle building, for your bone health, your skin and hair health. It's good for your immune system as well. And studies show that you need about 0.36 grams per pound of your own body weight of protein every single day. Whether you eat meat or you are vegetarian, there's lots of great options. Obviously, obviously if you're a meat eater, then, you know, different types of lean meats and fish and eggs are all great. But as we have here, there's edamame, which is another really great source of protein, peanut butter or almond butter, and I think a lot of people think of cheese for dairy but don't realize cheese is packed with protein. So these are all great sources.
I did know about the peanut butter and the cheese. I had no idea that edamame was full of protein. That's great.
Yeah, it's filled with protein. Lots of beans and lentils as well. It kind of falls in the soybean category.
Okay, wonderful. Fiber is another big one. You want to make sure you're getting enough.
Yes, fiber is so important for our digestive health and weight management. So you want to load up on fresh fruits and vegetables. As you see here, oranges, apples, bananas, lots of vegetables like broccoli, carrots, kind of pick your favorites. The color of the rainbow is usually the kind of school of thought, just get as many colorful vegetables as you can. And then whole grains are also really important, whether you're getting that through pasta or bread or quinoa or other things. But this is all, again, very important, and you want to get about 25 to 30 grams of protein per day.
I know, and it helps when you just leave it out on the counter, especially for kids, they're more likely to grab it if it's out. So I love that, keeping the color of the rainbow. In mind. Um, I would love to talk a little bit about gut health because that's another big term that's thrown around a lot, but people may not understand the importance or what exactly that means.
So yes, gut health is another important focus in 2025, and it's important not only for our gastrointestinal health but for our brain health as well. I think people don't realize that the brain and the gut are directly connected, and what we want to avoid is inflammation in the gut, and that can come from prebiotics as well as probiotics. You can take that in the form of a supplement or lots of great foods like sourdough bread, you know, Greek yogurt. These are all good sources of food to really help the gut. And overall, you want to have a nice mix of healthy bacteria as well as a healthy microbiome.
Okay, lots of great tips and information. What about blood sugar? When it comes to monitoring our blood sugar, what do we need to know?
There are so many new tools and resources now to really manage your insulin levels and your blood sugar. There are glucose monitoring kits. Even with your wearable devices, you can really measure your metabolic health through exercise and calories burned. But it is important to know what foods are actually causing your blood sugar to spike, right? And so different foods like popcorn and even oats and oatmeal can help lower your blood sugar. So you really wanna focus on the lower glycemic foods on the index. And overall, all of these foods really make up the Mediterranean style of eating, which is what I recommend to my clients. It's what I practice for myself and my family. And it's recommended from the Harvard School of Public Health because it's all natural, unprocessed, whole foods, and it doesn't eliminate any food groups.
Okay, wonderful. Well, I always love having you on, and people can stay in touch with you online, of course, and following you on social media and reading your two books. And I heard a little birdie told me you're working on an audiobook.
Yes, you guys are the first to know here in the Localist SD family. And yeah, you heard it here first, I am working this spring on recording both The Wellness Empowered Woman and The Wellness Evolved Woman on audiobook because I've had a lot of requests from my readers.
Awesome. Great reading material when you're walking, you can listen to everything. So thank you so much for sharing that with us, and as always, for sharing all these great tips.
