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When her mom made chicken biryani, Shireen Abdullah was able to sniff it outside the house. South Asian rice dishes, a mixture of spices, onions, meat, and sometimes potatoes, were a staple of her childhood.
She loved the flavors of cumin and garam masala. It’s not the powder you can find in grocery stores, it’s real raw. In addition, she loved her memories that overflowed with each bite.
Ten years ago, when it was necessary to reduce foods that could cause inflammation due to chronic health, Abdullah rethought chicken biryani and other diets that define puberty. Dissatisfied with the lack of guidance for navigating her healthy diet, she researched options to protect her health while continuing to eat her favorite foods. Became her own supporter.
Abdullah has found an expert who pays attention to what she calls “culturally competent” nutrition education, the food she loves, and specializes in dietary advice that is important to her heritage. By 2018, she had launched a health tech startup, Yumlish, from a shared office space in Dallas to share the nutritional education she wanted to receive when she was first diagnosed.
Yumlish offers group nutrition classes to help people with chronic illnesses such as diabetes take charge of their diet. This model is structured so that the client and her family already have a healthy diet, rather than cutting out a food group or the entire dish.
“When you think of a healthy diet, you immediately think of grilled chicken salad all day long. It wasn’t what I grew up with,” Abdullah said. “I’m South Asian. I grew up with Indian food, lots of Indian food. I was really surprised that I didn’t. [any] The context for a healthy diet among the foods I ate. “
Diabetes prophylaxis
The United States is familiar with diabetes, which is experienced by more than 37 million Americans. 90% to 95% of them have type 2 diabetes. It develops over the years and is due to the body’s inability to properly regulate the use of sugar as a fuel. If left untreated, diabetes can cause havoc in the heart, nervous system, kidneys and eyes.
In 1996, the federal government launched a diabetes prevention program to study the effects of various diabetes prevention measures, and people who changed their lifestyles around diet and exercise were more likely than those taking medicines or placebos. It was found to delay the onset of the disease.
The findings were enlightening for physicians and health professionals treating this condition, but did not provide accessible nutrition-based care for diabetic and pre-diabetic patients, said the Icahn School of Medicine’s Endocrinology. Dr. Zachary Bloomgarden, a clinical professor, said. Mount Sinai in New York.
“You think … everyone will try to launch such a program in the community. It’s not really widespread,” he said. “Of course, it’s not easy to change behavior, but this was a big disappointment. This knowledge didn’t lead to change.”
Registered nutritionists and nutritionists have long worked with patients with diabetes and pre-diabetes, and the idea of culturally competent nutrition education is not new to the profession. The role of such professionals is to help bring about sustainable changes in their diet, not extreme changes that the average person does not have the time, energy, or money to follow.
“There are healthy Chinese food, healthy Jewish food, and healthy Ukrainian food. There are certain things you need to do to make your food suitable for diabetes,” Bloomgarden said. “It’s a matter of understanding what the patient wants to do and providing it to them the way they choose.”
Find a food community
Yumlish designed the program based on the idea of friendly and sustainable change. According to Abdullah, each class of about 15-18 people is affiliated with a registered dietitian based on the type of program.
There are different classes for people who want to prevent diabetes and those who want to manage diabetes. The curriculum of the program is approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Diabetes Association.
Conversations range from teaching the A1c test, which measures average blood glucose over the last three months, to simple ingredient exchanges, such as replacing sour cream with low-fat Greek yogurt.
The program also creates a cohort of participants who can face each other long after the class is over.
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The community is at the heart of Yumlish’s mission. Participants will learn how to navigate family gatherings and holiday celebrations while eating in a health-conscious manner.
At the same time, partnerships with community groups allow anyone who fights diabetes, regardless of insurance status, to connect to the program. If the client is not insured, the clinic will pay for the service or Yumlish will pay for it, Abdullah said.
The clinic measures A1c levels and allows Yumlish to track client progress before, during, and after the class.
Clinics help Yumlish find clients and track important health measures, but Yumlish supports patients in clinics who “have no dedicated nutritionist resources or are overworking their nutritionist resources.” ..
Local partners include Grapevine’s Grace Community Clinic, North Texas Area Community Health Center, Mesquite’s Mission East Dallas Family Health Clinic, and Waxahachie’s Hope Clinic. Yumlish also works with federal funding partners such as the National Institute of Nursing Research, CDC, National Institute on Disability, and Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research.
According to Abdullah, Yumlish has a lot of work with the North Texas Hispanic community, which the company uses to coordinate its services.
“In the Hispanic community, the family is the best. Returning to that cultural element, it’s not just food, it’s an event, a gathering,” she said. “How do you cook healthy food for the whole family coming with you? We’re not just focused on the dinner table.”
The company also encourages class cohorts to build their own communities outside of virtual classrooms, so everybody has a cheerleader who understands the pain and frustration associated with prediabetes and diabetes diagnosis. ..
Already, according to Abdullah, patients gather in online classes to exercise and share their diabetes experiences.
“that is [Alcoholics Anonymous] Because of diabetes, “she said. “Ultimately, the goal is to create a community and environment, combine it with education to harness the resources needed to succeed on a healthy journey.”
Yumlish’s clients have an average A1c drop of 2.26 percentage points. It is measured on a scale ranging from about 4% to over 14%. If the patient is hovering in the range of 5.7% to 6.5% of prediabetes, a 2 point reduction can be life-changing. According to Abdullah, class attendance is also 90%.
Limitations of Yumlish as an app
Adbullah’s programs have taken many forms since their inception to meet the needs of their clients.
Yumlish stays connected to the client via the internet and text reminders. This is a strategy that follows the initial attempt to provide the company’s services through the app.
“It used to be an app, but it failed miserably,” Abdullah said. “We are very careful about the technical literacy of the population we serve, so we meet them wherever they are, in everything we do.”
Clients attend classes from anywhere, such as a restaurant kitchen for one patient or a semi-truck cab for another patient. According to Abdullah, the goal is to make going to class comfortable and flexible.
According to the American Medical Association, clients may experience a lack of internet access and speed, and the availability of quiet spaces, creating unique barriers to running an online nutrition program. And for food desert clients, such programs cannot provide better access to affordable, fresh and nutritious foods.
Still, more than 100 patients are experiencing one of the Yumlish programs.
The company has raised just under $ 1 million in the last eight months, said Elijah Kelley, chief strategy officer and product manager. Still, according to the American Diabetes Association, cases of diabetes diagnosed in 2017 cost $ 327 billion, including $ 237 billion in direct medical costs and $ 90 billion in productivity declines.
The company refused to share revenue last year, but Abdullah said her team would raise money in the third quarter and expand Yumlish’s program throughout the community clinic.
Yumlish’s focus isn’t necessarily on net profit at this point, Kelly said of the nine-employee business. “It’s not really a short-term goal. We recognize that the population we serve is very important, so we need to invest in that population.”
Abdullah still eats little by little the food he grew up with. I replace clarified butter with olive oil and white rice with brown rice. She feels like she controls her well-being, like many of her clients.
“Through our program, people can lose weight, but more importantly, they can understand the relationship between food and different foods,” Abdullah said. “We have participants who come back and say,’We have more energy to play with our children.’ In itself, it’s very valuable for us to hear. “
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