Name
Julita E. Baker
Education
Ph.D. in Nutritional Biology with a concentration in Metabolism and Behavior.
Company
Science of Food Choice, but I also am a Health Educator for Kaiser Permanente, am an Advisor for Ample Foods, and consult on an individual and company level to multiple people and organizations.
Within SoFC, I help empower people to healthier food choices through a multi-step process- the 4x4 M’s- which provide a holistic approach to health betterment:
1. Mindset
2. Mindfulness
3. Meditation
4. Mindlessness
5. Microbiome
6. Modified Mediterranean diet
7. Mitochondria
8. Movement
These M’s are divided into 4 and 4 because they differentiate the mind/brain, and the body. The physiological/neurochemical systems, but also psychological. Altogether, they provide not only the what, but also the how and the why, and hence are heavily weighted towards behavior as the method to health change.
What made you interested in the science of nutrition and food choice?
My journey into nutrition began quite early. I was born and raised in a small coastal town in Poland called Gdansk, and I initially became fascinated with food, and all that encompasses growing, cooking, and eating, from my grandparents. My parents immigrated to the US when my sister and I were young (my dad came here when I was a year and a half, and mom came when I was 6 years old) and so we spent quite a bit of time with our grandparents before we joined our parents in the US in 1989. I was 7 and my sister was 6 at the time.
Learning from my grandparents was the foundation of my curiosity about food and health.
During the years that my grandparents took care of us, I was curious about everything that encompassed food. We had a very “farm to table” way of living, and because we didn’t have the finances to go to the doctor with every small ailment, also embraced a “food as medicine” mindset.
We had chickens (and hence eggs), pigs, a garden full of vegetables, and went to the grocery store only for any other necessities. I became fascinated with how my grandparents not only tended to all of this, but also how they prepared food.
Eating wasn't only used to nourish us, but also to heal us. When we were sick, my grandparents gave us honey with milk (and probably other stuff :) ) to help us feel better (maybe for the antiviral/antibacterial aspects?). When we had tummy aches, they gave us other high-antioxidant remedies to cure our ailments. I asked a lot of questions and wanted to know the how’s, why’s, and what’s about all of these remedies.
Once my sister and I joined my parents here in the US, I got into science and became interested in how things worked. I loved studying cells and wondered how our body works.
I joined the Microbiology Program at UC Davis, acquiring my undergraduate degree in Microbiology in 2004, following which I worked at a biotech company, the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), in Walnut Creek California. I worked in the Microbial Ecology Program for several years studying Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) of DNA in termite hindgut microbial communities.
I loved working there as a biomedical scientist, but realized that something was missing. Having begun my life journey being really interested in food and health, I knew I had to go back and pursue this inevitable passion. So, I applied, and was accepted into the Nutritional Biology program at UC Davis, this time for a Ph.D.
I studied under a great mentor, Nancy Keim, who allowed me much freedom and creativity within the projects we had at the Western Human Nutrition Research Center (WHNRC).
Her allowance of me to create a physiological and behavioral niche within one of our studies allowed me to continue to be passionate and creative past graduate school. Once I completed the Ph.D. in 2014, this creativity and passion led me to design and teach courses at Stanford University.
Since then, the root of what I do is deconstruct complex nutritional and behavioral science and I translate those ideas into actionable tools for health change.
How have you applied your knowledge of nutrition to your own life?
My style of eating (and exercise) has changed many times throughout my life, and this is very much how I approach nutrition, as a whole. Nutrition knowledge changes frequently. New research comes out. What was once thought to be true, no longer is.
I think it’s important to notice these changes and adapt. Not only in the ever-evolving research, but more importantly, in your body’s needs. What you may need to consume for athletics, pregnancy, or lactation, is much different than what you need to consume to live a long life, lose weight, or cure diabetes.
What is one of the biggest misconceptions people have around nutrition and their health?
That it has to be one specific diet for optimal health.
In my experience, researched and anecdotal, what works for one person may not work for the next. Some people do really well on a vegan diet, while others thrive on Paleo. Another person may have excellent health on a Ketogenic lifestyle, while their neighbor gains weight and gets really high LDL cholesterol from it. We have to be our own experimental scientists and figure out what way(s) of eating are conducive to our physiology, our goals, the time in our lives (we have to eat differently during any growth stage, pregnancy, or building muscle, for example).
What role does fitness play in your life?
I am a competitive runner and love movement in all shapes and forms. I love competition because it challenges me and I like working towards a goal. But whether that’s running a race, dancing with my 9-month-old in the living room, hiking a 10,000-foot mountain, or going for a stroll with my family, I have always enjoyed moving.
Why do you support Fitnescity's mission?
Precision Nutrition and Health is the inevitable and necessary path to wellbeing. It is apparent that individuals respond differently to the same foods and people have completely different physiologies, lifestyles, goals, and needs. We have to be able to adjust to these individual needs and differences. Fitnescity is doing a great job at this inter-individual empowerment into health and I fully support a scientific approach like this! Happy to be a part of the team.