Twin Cities podcast focuses on nutrition

There's nothing flashy about the 10-year-old nutrition radio show that Darlene Kvist hosts on 107.1 FM. No loud voices or people talking over each other. No crazy laughter or wild antics. Instead it's Kvist and a co-host or two talking quietly and knowledgeably about some aspect of food and health in an easy-to-understand manner. Carbohydrates, compulsive overeating, food allergies, heartburn. All become topics of discussion on the weekly listener-friendly program — one of the only nutrition shows of its kind. Podcasts of the show had more than 2.5 million downloads last year alone.

The former teacher has put her training to work on the air and in her business, Nutritional Weight & Wellness, which offers classes and counseling to the public and corporations on all matters of nutrition.

"Our goal is to make people feel better," she said.

What is the message that you are trying to get out?

If you change your eating, you will probably change your life. But you have to know what you're really trying to accomplish. For everyone, it's a little bit different. For some people, it's getting rid of joint pain. Or what causes osteoporosis and how can you change your eating to support your bone health.

It's getting out that message that what you eat really makes a difference with your health. That's still a big wake-up call to a lot of people. There's been this disconnect our whole life that what we ate didn't really matter. But it does matter. There's so much research that says that it matters. And people, once they've changed the way they are eating — which is usually convenient, processed fast food — once they stop eating that and start to eat real food, they feel better. They can see how it really supports their health.

What theme do you try to maintain throughout the shows?

Quality foods. We encourage people, if they can afford it, to buy organic, grass-fed, high-quality food. If you can't afford it, buy real food, not the factory foods. We want to get people back to cooking. It's amazing how far we've gotten away from cooking. We try to help them realize it doesn't really take that much time to cook real food. We came out last year with a new cookbook. We created recipes that were simple, easy to follow, with fewer ingredients so people are not overwhelmed and they end up with something that tastes really good. It's the "The Weight and Wellness Cookbook and Nutrition Guide," available on our website.

Do you find that over the past decade, people's questions have changed?

Their knowledge has changed. For some of the first shows, people had no clue what a trans fat was. But now, at least, people know the word and know that margarine is probably not a good thing for them and butter is OK and eggs are OK. Certainly people are much more knowledgeable. The role of nutrition has become much more important. There's more positive press about the value of nutrition and the value of eating good food. I see us making a lot of progress.

How did the podcast start?

The reason we started doing podcasts is that we had listeners here who wanted to know how others could hear the program. So my son Kory [Kvist] investigated and found that we could put our broadcast on iTunes and then suddenly it was very popular. That was about six years ago.

Who are your listeners?

A lot of women in that 45 to 75 range. But we also have a lot of people who listen to our podcasts as they work out, so we have a lot of the 20- and 30-year-olds. And we have a lot of people who listen as they drive back and forth to work. We have some men, but for sure we have more women who listen.

How do you convey your message?

I come from a family with lots of cardiovascular problems. Doctors never talked to my mother so she could understand what they were saying and so she could make changes — and my mother was a smart woman. But the doctors used a different language.

So I thought that if we were going to do this radio show, we needed to bring this down to a language that my mother could understand. My whole intent was to talk to the lay person, not to other professionals, and to help lay people understand how nutrition helps everyday health.

Let me give you an example. Most people don't realize that if they eat processed carbs one day and if they have joint pain, they probably are going to have more aches and pains. Now I could say it like that. But if I say it like this: If you go out and order that sub sandwich with all that bread on it, and if you have joint pain, probably the next day you will have a little more inflammation or stiffness. I really concentrate on bringing it to the level of everyday conversation.

How do you present what is a pretty dry subject?

Before I became a licensed nutritionist, I was a trainer of teachers. I had been a teacher for over 20 years before that. I think that's why I have this skill to take complicated science and bring it down to a level that most people will understand. That's why I spend so much time preparing these shows, usually up to 20 to 30 hours into each show. I have a fantastic group of dietitians and nutritionists on staff, and now once a month one of them will take over the show and write it and present. It's really a creative process coming up with words to explain complicated concepts.

Our goal is to have people take the information and apply it to their lives. People call and say they've lost weight after listening to the show or been able to get off their diabetic drugs or blood pressure medicine, or their cholesterol has returned to normal. We hear from all over the United States and other countries. It's just mind blowing; it really is.

Follow Lee Svitak Dean on Twitter: @StribTaste