Join BCAGlobal's Advisor Committee: Brealynn's Story

BCAGlobal is seeking a committee of advisors to help us as we hope to expand our Mindful Eating for the Beloved Community (MEBC) footprint, credibly and tangibly measure our impact, and apply our intervention in more settings, including in healthcare. Initially, we’re looking for a 12 month commitment of quarterly meetings where members will provide input to webinars and community engagement seminars on mindful eating and nutritional literacy; recommend grants and funding proposals for BCA Global’s initiatives; help publish research findings in peer-reviewed journals; develop educational materials for healthcare providers and the public; and create policy recommendations for local, state, and national government bodies.?

We’re hoping to hear from individuals with a background in public health, nutrition, culinary arts and sciences, mindfulness, and from those in communities experiencing high rates of food insecurity and chronic illness. Experience with policy development, advocacy, and data are also ideal. Keep reading to learn about Brealynn’s experience with MEBC and why you should get involved.

Apply here: https://forms.gle/xvMeJKtKxbH5kTd8A

Brealynn was diagnosed with adult onset Type 1 diabetes when she was 28, but originally received a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. After years of mismanagement due to her misdiagnosis, her A1c was 15, she was entering kidney failure, and went temporarily blind.

Barely able to navigate her own home and drive with a three year old child, she struggled to take care of herself and her child. At the time, she was working at CVS as a Care Concierge, and enjoyed helping people, but her illness kept getting in the way of her work. After finally stabilizing with a new insulin pump after a scary hospital stay, she and her care team resolved to improve her lifestyle to help stabilize her blood sugar. She participated in workplace-based challenges with support from her care team, and used the tools she learned in Mindful Eating for the Beloved Community, combined with her culinary background, to recalibrate her diet and approach to foods. Despite all the struggles with her job, raising a young daughter, and her health (including two recalled insulin pumps), mindfulness helped her to reframe her circumstances and recalibrate her lifestyle and relationship to food. Over time, she lost 187 pounds and lowered her A1c to 4.1. She’s proud of being able to model these healthier decisions for her daughter, who is now eight and surprisingly averse to candy. Paying attention to her diet helped her manage her daughter’s health conditions as well.

There is broad consensus that there is a crisis of preventable, diet-related diseases in this country, including a high prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders, and some forms of cancer. An estimated 37% of Americans over the age of 20 have some form of cardiovascular disease, and the US spends approximately $1.1 trillion a year treating chronic, diet-related diseases.? In 2023, USDA reported significant growth in food insecurity for a second year in a row, with Black and Hispanic households being more than twice as likely to report food insecurity than White households. BIPOC communities are disparately ravaged with these diet-related conditions when compared to White communities, facing significantly worse health outcomes that, ultimately, are caused in part by experiencing social and structural determinants of health that make living a healthy life incredibly difficult.

With the growth of the food as medicine movement in recent years, with more stakeholders interested in health equity and social determinants, there has been increased action at the Federal, State, and local levels on policies and programs that help those who might be food insecure or are facing chronic illness to challenge some of these barriers. This includes the second ever White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, and a recent White House Vision for Advancing Nutrition Science in the United States, and significant investments in programs such as WIC and Summer EBT, which serve vulnerable communities. Food banks and pantries across the country have sought to improve the quality of foods they distribute. Health systems, hospitals, and insurers have created Produce Rx programs and referral systems to social service providers, and not only in the food arena. These are all great steps towards some semblance of equity.?

For many people, the solution starts at home, and before then, in their minds. Even if their budgets are low, with mindfulness and culinary skills, individuals and families might be able to make incremental changes that help improve or manage the way they shop, prepare meals, and eventually lead to improvements in their conditions, like the story we read above. This is where BCA Global’s Mindful Eating for the Beloved Community (MEBC) program comes in.?

MEBC is an initiative to empower individuals and communities to address the health challenges rooted in the social and structural determinants of health. Among many lower income individuals, higher stress and anxiety can be a constant struggle, and many face food insecurity and high rates of diet-related chronic illnesses. MEBC seeks to build food-related skills through a context of mindfulness and mindful eating; improving self-efficacy and reducing stress and anxiety; and potentially leading to better management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. The MEBC program has been deployed for over a decade, including in healthcare settings, and has been evaluated through work with CVS/Aetna and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, there is further need to evaluate the effectiveness of MEBC through innovative research and evaluation pilots.

We’re hoping interested individuals apply by Monday, March 31st at https://forms.gle/xvMeJKtKxbH5kTd8A. Please include a resume, cover letter, and bio in the application. We will have health equity sub-groups focused on:

• Children and youth,?
• Seniors and aging well,
• Adult health/Community Health, and?
• HealthTech and MedTech services.

After her journey, Brealynn resolved to help others even more. In addition to volunteering her time and energy to BCAGlobal and continuing her work at CVS, Brealynn integrates mindful eating into her Introduction to Culinary courses at El Centro College, a community college in Dallas. Brealynn says, “Mindfulness starts with you and spreads abroad. Peace is a choice, happiness is circumstantial and situational, but peace is a choice.”