Tambra Raye Stevenson | |
---|---|
![]() Stevenson in 2021 | |
Born | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. |
Education | Carl Albert High School |
Alma mater | Oklahoma State University (BS) Tufts University School of Medicine (MPH) |
Occupation(s) | Nutritionist, public speaker, policy advisor, food justice activist |
Known for | Founder/CEO of WANDA and NativSol Kitchen |
Tambra Raye Stevenson is an African-American entrepreneur, nutrition educator, public speaker, policy advisor, inventor, and food justice activist. Stevenson founded WANDA (Women, Advancing, Dietetics and Nutrition) [1] [2] [3] and NativSol Kitchen. [4] She is a Nutrition and Health Co-chair for the DC Food Policy Council, [5] a Committee member for the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board, [6] and was named National Geographic Traveler of the Year in 2014. [7] She is co-chair of Bringing It To The Table. [8]
Stevenson was raised in a multi-faith family. [9]
Stevenson earned a BS degree in nutritional science and minored in Spanish at Oklahoma State University in 2002. During that same year, she completed a Study Abroad Program in Community Health and Spanish Immersion at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santiago, Dominican Republic as a Boren National Security Scholar. [10]
In 2004, she continued her education at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts achieving an MPH in health communications. [11] [12] Stevenson, through the University of the District of Columbia, Washington D.C., began a Didactic Program in Dietetics in 2012, [13] and completed a Dietetic Internship in 2014.
Currently, she is completing a Ph.D. program at American University School of Communication in Washington, DC. [14]
She is known for challenging Westernized diets that cause negative outcomes for women and girls of the African diaspora. [9] Through nutritional education, advocacy, government partnerships and cultural awareness, she focuses on building healthy, sustainable communities, foods, self care, and support for improved health outcomes. [7]
She was named a Change Maker, by Clean Eating magazine, [15] and 2021 UCS Science Defender, by the Union of Concerned Scientists. [16]
She began a career in public service at the Minority Business Development Agency, US Department of Commerce; including the first Washington, D.C. Mayor's Office on Women's Policy and Initiatives. [11]
In 2016, she organized “Black Women Getting in Formation." [17]
In 2020, she organized WANDA Academy. [18] She is the author of a series of bilingual children's books on nutrition called Where's WANDA? which are illustrated by Nigerian artists. [19] [20]
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack selected Stevenson to serve on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board, 2021. [21] In 2022, she advocated for and authored a "Food Bill of Rights". [22] [23] In 2023 she appeared at the National Food Policy Conference . [24]
She is representative to the African Nutrition Society. [25]
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production, works to assure food safety, protects natural resources, fosters rural communities and works to end hunger in the United States and internationally. It is headed by the secretary of agriculture, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, who has served since February 24, 2021.
Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. The availability of food for people of any class and state, gender or religion is another element of food security. Similarly, household food security is considered to exist when all the members of a family, at all times, have access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Individuals who are food-secure do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Food security includes resilience to future disruptions of food supply. Such a disruption could occur due to various risk factors such as droughts and floods, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability, and wars. Food insecurity is the opposite of food security: a state where there is only limited or uncertain availability of suitable food.
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with extending the nation's scientific knowledge and solving agricultural problems through its four national program areas: nutrition, food safety and quality; animal production and protection; natural resources and sustainable agricultural systems; and crop production and protection. ARS research focuses on solving problems affecting Americans every day. The ARS Headquarters is located in the Jamie L. Whitten Building on Independence Avenue in Washington, D.C., and the headquarters staff is located at the George Washington Carver Center (GWCC) in Beltsville, Maryland. For 2018, its budget was $1.2 billion.
A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds between the carbon atoms. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone and fatty acids that each contain a long linear or branched chain of carbon (C) atoms. Along the chain, some carbon atoms are linked by single bonds (-C-C-) and others are linked by double bonds (-C=C-). A double bond along the carbon chain can react with a pair of hydrogen atoms to change into a single -C-C- bond, with each H atom now bonded to one of the two C atoms. Glyceride fats without any carbon chain double bonds are called saturated because they are "saturated with" hydrogen atoms, having no double bonds available to react with more hydrogen.
Ann Margaret Veneman is an American attorney who served as the fifth executive director of UNICEF from 2005 to 2010. She previously served as the 27th United States secretary of agriculture from 2001 to 2005. Veneman served for the entire first term of President George W. Bush, and she left to take the UNICEF position. Appointed by the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on January 18, 2005, she took over the post on May 1, 2005. A lawyer, Veneman has practiced law in Washington, DC and California, including being a deputy public defender. She has also served in other high-level positions in both the state and the federal government of the United States, including being appointed secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, serving from 1995 to 1999, as well as United States deputy secretary of agriculture, serving from 1991 to 1993. Throughout her public career, Veneman was the first woman to serve in a number of positions, including secretary of agriculture, deputy secretary of agriculture, and California's secretary of food and agriculture. She was also just the second woman to lead UNICEF, following her predecessor, Carol Bellamy.
The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) is a system of nutrition recommendations from the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) of the National Academies. It was introduced in 1997 in order to broaden the existing guidelines known as Recommended Dietary Allowances. The DRI values differ from those used in nutrition labeling on food and dietary supplement products in the U.S. and Canada, which uses Reference Daily Intakes (RDIs) and Daily Values (%DV) which were based on outdated RDAs from 1968 but were updated as of 2016.
A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a multi-unit enterprise that includes a 501(c)(6) trade association in the United States. With over 112,000 members, the association claims to be the largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. It has registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs), nutrition and dietetics technicians registered (NDTRs), and other dietetics professionals as members. Founded in 1917 as the American Dietetic Association, the organization officially changed its name to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2012. According to the group's website, about 65% of its members are RDNs, and another 2% are NDTRs. The group's primary activities include providing testimony at hearings, lobbying the United States Congress and other governmental bodies, commenting on proposed regulations, and publishing statements on various topics pertaining to food and nutrition.
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a type of United States federal assistance provided by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to states in order to provide a daily subsidized food service for an estimated 3.3 million children and 120,000 elderly or mentally or physically impaired adults in non-residential, day-care settings. It is a branch within the Policy and Program Development Division of the Child nutrition programs, along with the School Programs Branch, which runs the National School Lunch Program. The program is commonly referred to as the Child Care, Child Care Food, Adult Care, or Adult Care Food Program, and is often operating in conjunction with other child and adult day-care programs, such as the Head Start. Its federal identification number, or CFDA number, is 10.558. Section 17 of the National School Lunch Act, and USDA issues the program regulations under 7 CFR part 226.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) provide nutritional advice for Americans who are healthy or who are at risk for chronic disease but do not currently have chronic disease. The Guidelines are published every five years by the US Department of Agriculture, together with the US Department of Health and Human Services. Notably, the most recent ninth edition for 2020–25 includes dietary guidelines for children from birth to 23 months. In addition to the Dietary Guidelines per se, there are additional tools for assessing diet and nutrition, including the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), which can be used to assess the quality of a given selection of foods in the context of the Dietary Guidelines. Also provided are additional explanations regarding customization of the Guidelines to individual eating preferences, application of the Guidelines during pregnancy and infancy, the USDA Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review, information about the Nutrition Communicators Network and the MyPlate initiative, information from the National Academies about redesigning the process by which the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are created, and information about dietary guidelines from other nations.
The National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory (NAREEE) Board is a 30-member board of the federal government of the United States. Established by the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977. In the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 NAREEE replaced three existing advisory committees. The Board, which was reauthorized through 2007 by the 2002 farm bill, advises USDA on national priorities and policies related to food, agriculture, agricultural research, extension, education, and economics.
Kathleen Manning Zelman, MPH, RD, LD, is an American nutritionist, dietitian, and communications expert who served as WebMD's director of nutrition for 17 years and is currently the owner of No Nonsense Nutrition, LLC.
Hunger in the United States of America affects millions of Americans, including some who are middle class, or who are in households where all adults are in work. The United States produces far more food than it needs for domestic consumption—hunger within the U.S. is caused by some Americans having insufficient money to buy food for themselves or their families. Additional causes of hunger and food insecurity include neighborhood deprivation and agricultural policy. Hunger is addressed by a mix of public and private food aid provision. Public interventions include changes to agricultural policy, the construction of supermarkets in underserved neighborhoods, investment in transportation infrastructure, and the development of community gardens. Private aid is provided by food pantries, soup kitchens, food banks, and food rescue organizations.
Alice Hinda Lichtenstein is an American professor and researcher in nutrition and heart disease. She is an expert on cardiovascular health, and has been recognized for her research on dietary fat. Designated a distinguished university professor, she directs a cardiovascular nutrition laboratory at a USDA center on aging and holds the Stanley N. Gershoff chair in nutrition science and policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts University in downtown Boston.
Isabelle M. Kelley was an American social worker who was the primary architect of the Federal Food Stamp Program. When she was appointed to be the director of the Division which oversaw the Food Stamp Program for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), she became the first woman to run a national social program or lead any Division of a federal agency. She has been inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame and the USDA’s Hall of Heroes.
Lenna Frances Cooper was an American dietitian and co-founder of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She has been called “a pioneer in vegetarian nutrition and dietetics.”
Johanna T. Dwyer is an American nutrition scientist and dietitian. She is a senior scientist at the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements and director of the Frances Stern Nutrition Center at Tufts Medical Center. Dwyer is a professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
Susan Marie Levin was an American registered dietitian, advocate of plant-based nutrition and veganism activist. She was one of the authors of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics position on vegetarian diets in 2016.
Esther Kathleen Keen Zolber was an American registered dietitian, Seventh-day Adventist and vegetarianism activist. She was president of the American Dietetic Association 1982–1983.
Lenora Moragne (1931–2020) was an American nutritionist. She headed the Division of Nutrition Education and Training at the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1972 to 1975. She served on the board of directors of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics from 1981 to 1984. In the late 1970s, she worked as a staff member of the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, serving as its coordinator of nutrition policy, and was a legislative assistant for Senator Bob Dole. Moragne received her PhD from Cornell University and taught foods and nutrition at several colleges.