Welcome to rEATsearch, the podcast that gives bite-sized pieces of nutrition research with a pinch of nerdiness. Meet Lindsay and Leesa, your hosts, and learn how this podcast can help you stay up to date with current health studies.

For more information on Leesa, visit:
https://leesaklich.com/

For more information on Lindsay, visit:
https://www.lindsaycarvalho.com/

*** TRANSCRIPT ***

Lindsay: Welcome to rEATsearch. Yay, we're starting a podcast. 

Leesa: Hello.

Lindsay: This is so exciting. We are at episode zero. This is where we get to tell you a little bit about ourselves and why we're investing so much time and effort into starting this podcast. 

Lindsay: So, I'm Lindsay. 

Leesa: And I’m Leesa 

Lindsay: Okay, so, Leesa, to get started, we're gonna be talking an awful lot about science research and specifically, nutrition and health research. 

Leesa: Yes.

Lindsay: Why do you love this so much? Why are we doing this? 

Leesa: You know? Yeah. How do you even answer why? Like, how can you not love health research? 

[Laughter]

Lindsay: I know a few people that might argue with you about that. 

Leesa: Whaaat?

Lindsay: Not me. 

[Laughter]

Leesa: Yeah, well, this is why. The whole idea with science is that it's just a means of understanding. It's a way of making observations and doing experiments to see how nature works. Like astronomy, how do the planets operate? Where did the rocks come from? How does our blood circulate in our body? How do we digest things? It's all of these; you have to be a curious person and a lifelong learner. You're always learning new things. Understanding the complexities of the human body is never-ending. It's just being a lifelong learner and being curious and trying to learn more. There's so much we don't know. 

Leesa: You know the cool thing when I was doing my Master’s was when I actually found something, and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, nobody has ever found this before.” I just figured something out. It's so empowering. We're learning things every day that we literally didn't know yesterday. And that's especially true and transparent with what's happening with the coronavirus pandemic. We're learning more every day.

Lindsay: Yeah.

Leesa: And I think just the constant updating of knowledge that just drives me. 

Leesa: So, Lindsay, please tell us all: What do you love about scientific research? 

Lindsay: You totally hit the nail on the head there. I love learning how things work, and I love learning new things every day. I just feel like reading the research fills in all those gaps. And I love that we don't know it all yet. I think it's so funny when people are,like all the researchers out there, “Oh, my God. We finally figured it out.” And then they're like, you know, a little while later, “Oh, just hold on. Wait, no, we need to learn a little bit more. We're not there yet.” And so reading the research is really just keeping up to date with all the truly amazing things about how the body works and biology and just how it all fits together and how all interconnected it is. And just how beautiful the design is when you really look at it from that perspective. So that's why I love research. I just think it's fascinating watching the mystery unravel. 

Leesa: Totally. Let me ask you the second question. How did you get started in health science? 

Lindsay: Oh, my goodness. We're gonna have to go back aways for this one. Actually, right after high school, I went into a nursing program for a year. I thought I was going to be a nurse and quickly realized that it is not for me. All of the health care professionals out there right now: I'm so impressed with you and what you do. I couldn't do it. And so I ended up going into a different program to learn how to work in a lab. And then I followed up with a degree after my college education and studied Molecular Biology and Genetics at Guelph.

Leesa:  Yay, Guelph.

Lindsay: Yeah. I just fell in love with the sciences. And I just never let it go. So, I've worked in a few different labs since then. I love that university environment. I love, again, the thrill of discovering things that people didn't know before. 

Lindsay: And then, after I had my third kid, I decided it wasn't feasible to keep working anymore. And I had some health issues of my own. So I went back and studied holistic nutrition and since then I've just been, oh my God, reading so many papers just to learn more and more and more about nutrition research and how food and all of these different health, lifestyle habits—like how it all works. So I've really kind of taken that holistic nutrition and taken it a few steps further and just want to share everything that I learned with everybody. 

Leesa: That's awesome! 

Lindsay: What about you? How did you get into it?. 

Leesa: A little bit similar; a little bit different, which is cool. This is why we’re working together. Yeah, I always was interested in the environment. In fact, right out of high school, I started environmental science at the University of Toronto, and I did that for a couple of years. And I just always wanted to figure things out, like, How does nature work? It's so complex and amazing. Ecology was one of my favourite courses. Just how everything is so interconnected. You know, it's amazing to me. I studied that for a while, and then I ended up going into engineering, and I got an engineering technologist [diploma] in chemical engineering. And then I realized, I don't want to be an engineer; I want to learn more about biology, because there is so much cool stuff. And that's when I started at the University of Guelph in the Biomedical Toxicology program.

Lindsay: That’s so cool.

Leesa: And the Human Biology and Nutritional Science department. And it was just a constant learning. 

Leesa: And I'll tell you one quick thing that happened to me in second year cell bio. Basically we were presented with a study— I don't even remember—a scientific paper, you know, abstract introduction, methodology, etc. And our job in a group was to decipher this. And I thought, “Ho-ly-cow. How does anybody even understand this? This is not even English. This is so complex!” I'm this second-year university student I don't even know. And you know what? You can learn these skills. It's just a skill you need to develop and learn from the experts to understand the terminology and grow and build on that. And it just opens up a whole world of understanding. And I think that's part of and I'll start into question three. 

Leesa: I think that's part of what we want to do with this podcast is we want to bring these very detailed various specific, very scientific, concepts to: How does this apply to life? What do we know? And even important to what we learned from a study is: What does this study not answer? What are the other questions that have come out of it? And what other studies need to happen in order to answer these questions.

Lindsay: So, where do we go from here? 

Leesa: Where do we go? Lindsay? Tell us where do you hope to go with this podcast? 

Lindsay: Oh, my goodness. I really am just wanting to share all the really cool information out there with anybody who wants to learn more for either their job. I'm thinking of a lot of people who work with clients, work with customers, work in the healthcare field, can use this information to help with their profession. But I really feel if we get people listening, just your average person who wants to learn more about how to understand this new language, we’re able to bring that knowledge to them. I really, truly feel in my heart that you should never stop learning, and we only have one life. And so we need to make it the best life for ourselves, and we need to make educated decisions. And so we're going to help people do that. We're not going to tell you what to do. We're going to educate and share knowledge. And then what you do with it is up to you. That's really what life is all about making educated choices—the best choice for you and your family. But you have to make educated choices. 

Leesa: Knowledge is power.

Lindsay: Yeah, it totally is. And we should never stop learning. It is sometimes hard for people to know where to start. But this is why I love this format. Podcasts are a fantastic way to share information in a free, easy to digest—Ha, ha. I'm so funny.

[Laughter]

Leesa: Nutrition puns. We’re already starting!

Lindsay: I know! Just wait. Oh, my gosh, there's more coming. I have some really good cheesy jokes. We’ll put those in later. Podcasts are a great way of learning. You know, you could do it while you're walking while you're washing dishes, while you're driving to work. And they’re free, and people are willing to share what they know. So take advantage of that. And we're now one of those people. We’re joining this very elite group, and I'm just so excited to get started. 

Leesa: Me too. Welcome to the rEATsearch podcast. 

Lindsay: Welcome.

Leesa: We're gonna talk about food. We're gonna talk about nutrition. We’re gonna talk about health. And we're gonna bring some of the coolest studies (that are fairly recent) to you and chat about. And we welcome your input and questions. 

Lindsay: We definitely do. If you wanna learn about certain topics, please don't hesitate to reach out and ask. And we will do all the research for you and let you know what we find out. 

Leesa: Awesome. 

Lindsay: Yay. 

Leesa: Thanks so much. 

Leesa: Thank you. 

Lindsay: Okay. Do you want to hear a couple of the jokes before I go? What do you call a cow with no legs? 

Leesa: Cow with no legs? What?

Lindsay: Ground beef.

Leesa: Oh, it’s on the ground!

[Laughter]

Leesa:  And you’re in Alberta, right?

Lindsay: I am in Alberta. Okay, I have one more for you. What do you call a pig that knows karate? 

Leesa: Karate pig. 

Lindsay: No. A pork chop. 

[Laughter]