Johane Filemon is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), mom, and podcast host. We chatted about tips for good gut health, her best kid-friendly nutrition hacks, and her passion for food and medicine.

“I grew up in a house where both my parents were culinary trained, so we had a melting pot of Haitian and French cuisine in my house. I originally wanted to go to medical school because I’ve always had a passion for medicine. It wasn’t until I actually got to college that I found out about the dietetic field. When I learned that I was able to merge my two passions, I knew that being a dietitian was what I wanted to do.”

“The gut is a gateway to health. If your digestive system is not working properly, it’s like a domino effect where everything else in your body starts to be impacted. Making sure that your gut is working properly and that you have good gut health is key to health.”

“I have a few hacks that I use on my kids to make life easier for myself. I do batch cooking where I freeze foods so that I’m not cooking all the time. I try to add fruits and vegetables in every meal, so there are days when I don’t have time to cook three different things. But, I can pop something out of the freezer! The other thing that I love doing is one-pot meals. This reduces my time significantly, and they still get the nutrient dense foods that they need. Lastly, I try to make sure that my kids have a say in what they eat. I ask them what they want me to make them in the coming week and they give me ideas. They’re also a part of the preparation when it comes to cooking the meal, and this makes them feel involved. For my kids, I’ve found this makes them more likely to eat the food that is presented to them.”

“I would like to see quality when it comes to access to food, which is a big problem here in the United States. I want people to have access to nutrient dense and quality foods, at the very least. When it comes to the wellness industry, I find that people tend to be more attracted to products when the person that is telling them about that product looks like them. So if we have more diversity in the wellness and food industries, we are more likely to be more impactful when we are making recommendations.”

“One of the most misunderstood parts of living a healthy lifestyle is that we are all the same and that what works for one is going to work for the other. That is absolutely incorrect! To live a healthy lifestyle, it needs to be individualized. We have different backgrounds, cultures, and financial capabilities. You need to understand yourself and figure out what works for you and your body. That is how you start your journey on living a healthy lifestyle.”

“I just love the idea of the Tasterbox, especially for those who have been told that they have to be on some sort of nutrition therapy. They may not necessarily know where to start and the Tasterbox does the job for them when they are starting their journey.”

“My parents may be the most influential in who I have become because they always encouraged me to find my passion and to work hard at it, and I’ve done just that. I found my passion for nutrition, for gut health, for teaching people how to live their best life when it comes to nutrition, and I’ve worked hard at it over the years.”

“When it comes to gut health, start at the very basics of adding vegetables to your meals and eating the rainbow. This will allow you to have a lot of nutrients and fiber in your meals to support gut health.”

“There have been so many great episodes on my podcast that I don’t know that I can choose just one! I think that I’ve learned something from each and every one of the episodes we have released on Nutrition Lifestyles with Kim and Johane. And that has been the goal that everyone learns something, and they are all worth taking a listen to.”