Keeping Ashland Healthy - Episode 122 – Partnering for Change | Denise Reed

Keeping Ashland Healthy - Episode 122 – Partnering for Change | Denise Reed

In this eye-opening episode, you'll learn about how food choices might shape everything from physical health to mood, with a special focus on the Ashland community. David Ross chats with Denise Reed, Director of the Dietetics Program at Ashland University and clinical assistant professor of dietetics, who brings years of clinical hospital experience into the classroom. Denise shares how many of her students arrive from athletic backgrounds, having noticed that what they ate changed how they performed.

From there, she builds their understanding of what she calls “the power of food” – how what you eat in your teens and twenties can affect your bones, heart and health decades later. She reminds them that “we can save people's lives through good nutrition,” but also that moderation is still the hardest, and most important, habit to build. The conversation gets practical fast.

Denise tackles the confusion around changing national food guidelines and fad diets, stressing the need to “consider the source” of nutrition advice online. She points out that many influencers have no formal training, even though nutrients “can work like medicine”, and supplements are barely regulated. Things get especially interesting when they talk about gut health and the microbiome.

Denise explains why dietitians are so excited about emerging research that links gut bacteria, food, and health, and how this may explain why people react differently to the same foods. She’s already using this science in her own work, using fermented foods and yoghurt strategically with patients. You’ll also hear how Ashland University’s professional-standard teaching kitchen lets students run real events, teach cooking classes, and see how food preparation changes nutritional value in practice.

If you’re trying to cut through nutrition noise, question quick-fix weight loss trends, or simply want food advice grounded in science rather than hype, this conversation offers plenty to think about. How might your own daily meals be shaping your long-term health?