At The Table

Dezi Abeyta, RD - Dairy Fuels Network

At the Table is a short-run podcast mini series from Dairy Fuels Network, an Arizona-based multimedia platform dedicated to the people, stories, and science that live at the intersection of food, culture, and community. Produced in partnership with the Arizona Dairy Council Host Dezi Abeyta, registered dietitian, sits down with the dietitians, food access leaders, and researchers who are doing the real work, and rarely get the platform to talk about it the way they actually see it. Every episode follows the same arc: origin, conflict, a specific moment, a belief, and a look forward.

Episodes

  1. Jul 3

    In Defense Of Dairy | At the Table Ep. 05 (Finale) | Chris Cifelli, PhD

    This episode is produced in partnership with the Arizona Dairy Council. Dairy Fuels Network maintains full editorial independence. All views expressed are those of the host and guest. Chris Cifelli, PhD is a nutrition scientist who has spent eighteen years at the National Dairy Council doing the research that dietitians cite. We like to think of it as the studies that change how people think about food. He wanted to be a medical doctor, but that first round of applications was a doozy. Then he found nutrition by accident and never left. In this final episode of At the Table: the myths that frustrated him most, the science of the food matrix (why cheese and a Twinkie are not the same even if they have the same macros), why the gut is the largest immune organ in the body, how tryptophan in dairy connects to serotonin and sleep, and what perfect looks like when eighteen years of research finally lands: a world where there is a dairy food for everybody. Ep. 05. The finale. Chris Cifelli. — CHAPTERS — 0:00 Cold Open 1:04 Welcome — The Series Comes Full Circle 1:46 What He Does — “I Sell Insurance on Airplanes” 4:13 Origin — Wanted to Be a Doctor, Found Nutrition Instead 6:53 What Brought Them Both Here 7:36 Hot Take — “We Could Have Done a Better Job” 10:09 Research Spotlight 1: The Food Matrix — Cheese vs. Twinkie 12:25 Research Spotlight 2: The Gut — Largest Immune Organ 13:47 Research Spotlight 3: Mood, Sleep & Tryptophan 15:13 The Microbiome Lawn — Fertilizer, Weeds & Dysbiosis 17:22 Dairy at Home — Chocolate Milk, Yogurt & His Family 19:24 The Perfect Picture — “There’s a Dairy Food for Everybody” 21:44 AI, Information Noise & 80 Peer-Reviewed Papers 25:10 Why Dietitians Belong in Hospitals 26:24 Creativity as the Future of Science Communication 26:33 Where to Find Chris 27:03 Fireside — Spaghetti, PB&J & Chocolate Milk Recovery — ABOUT CHRIS CIFELLI, PhD — LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chris-cifelli-phd-fasn-06bb5211/ National Dairy Council: usdairy.com #undeniablydairy #azdairy

  2. Jun 26

    Your Googling Is Making It Harder | Pediatric Dietitian Courtney Bliss, RD| At the Table Ep. 04

    This episode is produced in partnership with the Dairy Council of Arizona. Dairy Fuels Network maintains full editorial independence. All views expressed are those of the host and guest.“If I’m going to do something, I should love it.”This is Episode 04 of At the Table, a short-run podcast mini series from Dairy Fuels Network featuring honest conversations with the people doing real work at the intersection of food, culture, and community.Courtney Bliss is a pediatric dietitian whose answer to "what do you do?" is five words: I help families have more fun with food. She didn’t start there. She started managing a pool in Las Vegas at 21, with 70 employees, three bars, and two kitchens, all before walking away from $40k a year to move across the country and become the dietitian she didn’t know existed until an advisor told her it was an option.In this episode: the ADHD she didn’t know she had, the moment she blew up her life, the families who have done everything right and are still struggling, why she tells her clients to stop Googling, and what she means when she calls her work "quiet resistance" — one family at a time.— CHAPTERS —0:00 Cold Open1:12 Welcome & Series Intro3:34 What She Does — "I Help Families Have More Fun With Food"4:37 The Work in Practice — Picky Eaters, Stressed Parents, Decision Fatigue7:55 The Villain Era Setup8:44 Origin — Pool Manager in Las Vegas, 70 Employees, 3 Bars11:21 What Called Her to Nutrition13:14 Soul Equity — Money vs. Meaning14:55 The Marathon, Not the Sprint — "You Don’t Quit"18:44 Dairy in Her Work20:09 Hot Take — "Your Googling Is Making It Harder"22:13 Best Case Scenario — What It Actually Looks Like23:41 "I’ve Cried With Families" — Quiet Resistance26:24 Fireside Questions — Tiramisu, Hot Dogs & Yogurt Pouches— ABOUT COURTNEY BLISS, RD —Instagram: @feedingbliss

  3. Jun 19

    "We Don't Eat Nutrients. We Eat Food." | At the Table Ep. 03

    This episode is produced in partnership with the Arizona Dairy Council. Dairy Fuels Network maintains full editorial independence. All views expressed are those of the host and guest. This is Episode 03 of At the Table, a short-run podcast mini series from Dairy Fuels Network featuring honest conversations with the people doing real work at the intersection of food, culture, and community. Christy Wilson is a registered dietitian whose career has always started from one word: teacher. She grew up not knowing dietitians existed, stumbled into nutrition in college, and once she found it, spent the next twenty-plus years using food to reach patients, families, and communities in ways clinical systems rarely do. She currently works at a Medicare clinic serving the Hispanic community in Tucson, and she does it bilingually because she knows what gets lost in translation when the language isn't there. In this episode: why she calls teaching her DNA, the mentor who told her she'd only get in because she speaks Spanish, why dairy keeps showing up in her life (cottage cheese with salsa — yes), and what success actually looks like when a patient stops seeing food as the enemy. — CHAPTERS — 0:00 Cold Open — "We don't eat nutrients. We eat food." 1:28 Welcome & Series Intro 3:01 Who She Is — Teaching Is in My DNA 4:39 Current Work — Medicare Clinic & the Hispanic Community 7:33 The Calling — "I Had Never Met a Dietitian" 12:04 The Mentor Story — "Only Because You Speak Spanish" 15:35 Dairy in Her Life & Work — Lattes, Oatmeal, Cottage Cheese 19:27 Nutrition Philosophy — Taste Rules 22:19 Bilingual Superpower — "Everybody Eats" 25:39 The Vision — Tamales Without Guilt 28:47 Fireside Questions — Jicama, Hot Dogs & Cottage Cheese + Guac — ABOUT CHRISTY WILSON, RD — Instagram / TikTok / Facebook: @ChristyWilsonNutrition Website: christywilsonnutrition.com Forthcoming cookbook, stay tuned.

  4. Jun 12

    Feeding People Is Not a One-Time Thing | At the Table Ep. 02

    "I was not put on earth to work in some giant grocery store and make money for billionaires." This is Episode 02 of At the Table, a short-run podcast mini series from Dairy Fuels Network featuring honest conversations with the people doing real work at the intersection of food, culture, and community. Steven Cota Robles is the founder of the Tucson Family Food Project, a nonprofit that delivers weekly meal kits to food-insecure families in Tucson alongside a YouTube cooking channel to teach the skills to go with them. He didn't come from a nonprofit background. He came from 15 years in grocery and restaurants, a COVID-era news report, and the question he couldn't stop asking himself: what am I actually here to do? In this episode: what "social wellness entrepreneurism" actually means, why one meal a week is more than you think, the moment a mom stopped him in a grocery store and changed everything, and why he believes we're just getting started. — CHAPTERS — 0:00 Cold Open — "I was not put on earth for this." 0:45 Welcome & Series Intro 2:35 Who Steven Is — Social Wellness Entrepreneurism 4:42 The Mission — Tucson Family Food Project & Meal Kits 7:33 The Origin — COVID, a News Report, and the Decision 11:06 The Hard Truth — The Problem Is Worse Than You Think 16:49 The Mom Story — The Moment That Grounds the Work 19:49 Dairy in His Life — Broccoli Mac, Arizona Butter & Ice Cream 22:00 The Vision — "This Is Going to Happen" 25:00 Fireside Questions — ABOUT TUCSON FAMILY FOOD PROJECT — tffptucson.org | @tffptucson on Instagram — LISTEN WHEREVER YOU GOT YOUR PODS —

About

At the Table is a short-run podcast mini series from Dairy Fuels Network, an Arizona-based multimedia platform dedicated to the people, stories, and science that live at the intersection of food, culture, and community. Produced in partnership with the Arizona Dairy Council Host Dezi Abeyta, registered dietitian, sits down with the dietitians, food access leaders, and researchers who are doing the real work, and rarely get the platform to talk about it the way they actually see it. Every episode follows the same arc: origin, conflict, a specific moment, a belief, and a look forward.