Scott Webb (Host): Though many of us could probably
stand to lose a few pounds, focusing solely on cutting calories and weight loss
is not recommended by my guest today. I'm joined today by Shirley Dakin. She's
a registered dietician and diabetes educator with the Champion Diabetes and
Nutrition Clinic, and she's here today to tell us about the services that are
offered and encourage all of us to focus on wellness rather than our weight.

Host: Welcome to the Champions for Wellness Podcast,
brought to you by Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center. We believe knowledge
is the key that opens the door to a healthy life. I'm Scott Webb. Shirley, I
know you've been a registered dietician for nearly 25 years, which is awesome.
Tell listeners about yourself and your background.

Shirley Dakin: I grew up in North Carolina, but I've
been an army brat basically. We moved around, so I'm used to moving around.
This is my second time in New Mexico. I was here early in 2000s, working up in
Shiprock. And then, I went back to the VA working in Biloxi, Mississippi, and
then came back here when this job opened up in Indian Health. Now, I'm retired
from federal, but I'm still working at the local hospital here.

Host: Yeah. That's awesome. Right. So, you've moved
around quite a bit over the years and working there in New Mexico, as I told
you before, we got rolling a little warmer than where I'm at. So, nice to meet
you, good to have you on. Let's talk about the Champion Diabetes and Nutrition
Clinic and what services are offered.

Shirley Dakin: Well, it's a fairly new clinic.
Definitely, we offer diabetes education; both I and Denise are diabetes
educators. But we also offer a wide range of wellness and nutrition advice.
Another focus is full weight management. Of course, this time of year
everybody's trying to make resolutions and stuff with the new year. But we do
deal with wellness, weight management. We've had some eating disorders. We've
had some celiac disease, things like that. But mostly, I like to think we focus
on wellness overall.

Host: Yeah, I see what you mean. And that seems to be a
trend, you know, that a lot of folks focusing less on their weight and calories
and more, just on overall wellness, whether that's physical, mental, sort of
all the above. So, what are some of the benefits of the new service?

Shirley Dakin: Like I said, we are focused on nutrition.
A lot of people don't really understand how to navigate reading food labels and
everything to eat healthier because we're so bombarded with all the
advertising. And basically, manufacturers can say pretty much what they want to
get you to buy their food. And we're just kind of here as a guide. It's like,
"Well, maybe we really shouldn't pay a lot of attention to that over
there. You know, focus on this and try to eat healthier." Also, budget-wise
as well, with the current prices as they are, we focus on how to eat healthy
cheaply or on a budget, things like that.

Host: Yeah. There's no doubt. Those of us who do the
grocery shopping, we know that the prices have gone up dramatically. And it certainly
informs our choices, right? We're walking the aisles at the grocery store.
Maybe you have some suggestions, you know, when we walk in, it could be a bit
overwhelming in the grocery store. There's so many things. And, you know, like,
should we stick around the outside where like the fresher foods and things are?
What are some recommendations you have for those of us who are trying to eat
healthy but also eat on a budget, if you will.

Shirley Dakin: Well, number one is don't go grocery
shopping hungry because--

Host: I always make that mistake.

Shirley Dakin: If you'll notice, a lot of the grocery
stores now have their in-store delis, where they roast chickens and baked goods
and stuff. And they do that deliberately to have that aroma in there, more enticing
aroma. So, you're much more likely to buy that if you can smell it and you're
hungry. Okay. So, don't go shopping hungry. Definitely stay to the outside
edges, like you said. It's the aisles down the middle that have all the
processed foods that you want to stay away from. You want to stay more with the
whole foods that are around the edges. Most grocery stores are set up like
that.

Make a grocery list. Plan out your meals. I know it can be kind
of tedious to sit there and try to plan out meals, but you will save a lot of
money that way if you do that. And you can get it down to where it just takes a
few minutes a day to do that. It just takes practice basically, and getting
people into the habit of doing these things.

Another way to save a lot of money is to try not to eat out as
much because eating out is very expensive, because you're paying for the
convenience. But even going to fast food restaurants these days is pretty
expensive as well. So by eating at home, you can save a lot of money and can eat
a lot healthier as well.

Host: Yeah, you definitely can, you know, and it becomes
one of those things, like you try to just maybe treat yourselves, treat your
family once in a while to something, you know, where either you carry out or
you go and actually sit in a restaurant, which for the first time in a few
years, I think folks are a little bit more comfortable with. I want to have you
talk about some of sort of like fad diets. I know that keto is really popular
in the media and social media. Wondering what your thoughts are about sort of
the diets of the moment and whether or not we should sort of stay the course
with what's worked for us over the years or give some of these a shot.

Shirley Dakin: Well, first of all, like I said, being a
dietician for so many years, I've actually seen diets come into fashion, go out
of fashion, come back into fashion. So, I've seen the whole cycle of these fad
diets. And really what it comes down to is a lot of these fad diets are just
basically coming up with a gimmick to get people to cut calories. So, a keto
diet helps people cut calories because they're not eating all the carbs. Same
thing with like the Paleo diet. It kind of guides people into eating whole
foods, you know, things like that. But basically, a lot of them are just like
little gimmicks to get people to cut their calories. And so, they will lose
weight when they cut the calories, but it's very hard to stay on these diets,
and so people tend to drift back into their old habits again.

Host: Yeah, those old habits do tend to die hard. And
yeah, as you say, the focus for Champion really with this Diabetes and
Nutrition Clinic is really more on overall wellness, not just losing weight,
not just watching and dropping calories. So, how can folks, you know, if they're
interested, how can they get more information and schedule an appointment?

Shirley Dakin: They can always call the clinic here. The
office number is area code 575-446-5085. If they want to find out more about
the clinic, we do have a Facebook page, the Diabetes and Nutrition Services
Facebook page. They can look us up on on Facebook. Also, the homepage for the
hospital itself, they have a link to our clinic there as well, so they can find
out more about our clinic there.

Host: Well, that's awesome. It's been great to meet you
today and learn more about you and learn more about the Champion Diabetes and
Nutrition Clinic. Thanks so much for your time. You stay well.

Shirley Dakin: Okay. Thanks.

Host: And for more information, call 575-446-5085. And
if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. And
thank you for listening to Champions for Wellness, local caregivers educating
our community. And if you missed one of our podcasts, go to gcrmc.org/podcast.