Hello there, Monica Reinagel, the nutrition diva here. We have a little something extra for you this week in addition to our regular weekly episode.

Last week, I joined Tom Hall on WYPR, that's my local NPR station here in Baltimore, for a segment on

midday, that's his daily news and current events show.

And Tom had asked me to come in to talk with him about a big

announcement by the White House of an additional $1.7 billion commitment to their ongoing

campaign to reduce hunger and food insecurity in the United States.

We had a great conversation about the factors that contribute to food insecurity,

the private public partnerships that have come together to address this.

We talked about food as medicine, food dignity, and how you can most effectively support these efforts and I thought you might like to hear what we were talking about.

So with the gracious permission of Baltimore Public Media and WYPR FM in Baltimore, we are including an edited version of that show

as a bonus for Nutrition Diva listeners.

Enjoy. Good afternoon and welcome. It's midday. I'm Tom Hall and today it's another

edition of Smart Nutrition with the Nutrition Diva Monica Ryan Engel.

Monica is a licensed nutritionist, an author and a speaker. She's also the host of the Nutrition Diva Podcast

and The Change Academy Podcast, which focuses on the art

and science of behavior change.

Yesterday, second gentleman, Doug Mhoff, announced a new initiative by the Biden administration

to address hunger. Mr. Emhoff announced a $1.7 billion program to promote healthy eating and to make healthy food more accessible.

According to the Food Research and Action Center, one in eight households, or nearly 13% of families in the United States experiences food insecurity

or they don't have access to nutritional affordable food.

In an interview on C.N. B.

Gary Pillnick, the CEO of Serial Giant Kelloggs, said that one solution to the affordability

...