I am in my first year of the PhD track in Global Health (GH). While GH is interdisciplinary, my main grounding is in medical anthropology*, and my specific interest is nutrition. I am not an anthropologist by training- my undergraduate degree was in business, my master’s degree- in health promotion. I have always had an interest in nutrition- first personally, then academically. I myself tried all sorts of diets and eating styles- I became most interested in the raw vegan diet in 2007; got certified as a raw chef and educator; taught classes as the health food store I managed; was a private raw chef, and so on.
Currently, I am interested in exploring how people use food as medicine. I plan to focus on the raw vegan diet and the “paleo diet”- two examples of eating styles that are often perceived as pristine or “the way we are meant to eat”.
I will be posting thoughts and information I encounter along the way. My goals are to explore:
-how to eat to feel good, look good, and maintain health
-how food can affect our health, mood, looks,etc.
-psychology of eating (why people at what they eat, etc)
*Medical anthropology(MA) attempts to understand human health and illness, in short. The longer explanation is:
MA is the study of health, illness, healthcare, & related topics from a broad anthropological perspective. It draws upon cultural, biological, and linguistic anthropology to better understand those factors that influence health & well being, experience & distribution of illness, prevention & treatment of sickness, healing processes, social relations of therapy management, and cultural importance of pluralistic medical systems.
Mariya V. PhD 