239 | Combating the Hunger Epidemic By Democratizing Wellness with Samantha Pantazopoulos

The hunger epidemic in the United States is a real issue. We have Samantha Pantazopoulos on to discuss why people in the US are going hungry, available resources for navigating the hunger epidemic,  and the impact of food banks. Samantha discusses how you can reduce food waste in relation to expiration dates and ger top hacks in preventing foods from going bad. Furthermore, she explains the idea of food deserts through an equity lens. Offering a solution, Samantha dives into the Vizer app, their mission, and how the Fall Hunger Challenge is set to help this epidemic while benefiting your health. Let's learn more with Samantha! Join the Fighting Fall Hunger Challenge. It is a 2-week challenge from the 15th of September 15 to the 30th of September. With prizes to offer in this challenge, the rules are as follows: Donate 10 meals within the challenge dates to be entered to win a prize from Olipop. Instructions on how to join: 1. Download Vizer and create an account. 2. Navigate to the home page of the app. 3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen, and you'll see a button named "Join A Team". 4. Tap that button, enter the challenge code FFH2022, then click "Submit". 5. Once that's done, they have officially joined. They will see a confirmation message on the screen saying "Congrats! You've joined Fighting Fall Hunger Challenge". What You Will Learn In This interview Interview with Samantha Pantazopoulos: 3:17 - Why are people in the US going hungry? 5:15 - Resources for navigating the hunger epidemic 8:21 - The impact of food banks 10:48 - Expiration date 13:31 - Hacks to prevent things from going bad 16:13- Food deserts and equity 20;23 - What is the Vizer App? 23:55 - Rescuing food & how it's distributed 26:48 - What does it mean to democratize “wellness” 30:12 - Community & Vizer App 33:31 - Fighting Fall Hunger Challenge Items Mentioned: Vizer App Samantha's podcast, blog, and app Samantha's Instagram To learn more about Samantha and view full show notes, please visit the full website here: https://www.docjenfit.com/podcast/episode239/ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Optimal Body Podcast. If you haven’t done so already, please take a minute to subscribe and leave a quick rating and review of the show! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tobpodcast/message