Episode 96 | Sep 5, 2024

Teaching Children The Power of Nutrition, With Shetal Walters

Is changing nutrition education the key to fostering lifelong health from childhood? In this week’s episode of “Health Coach Talk,” Dr. Sandi speaks with Shetal Walters, the founder and executive director of Desert Garden Montessori in Phoenix, Arizona. The discussion focuses on how Shetal has transformed her Montessori school into a beacon of health and wellness by integrating holistic education into the curriculum.

“We’re just teaching these kids about whole food and understanding what it means to nourish your soul and your body from the inside out because it affects everything.”

Shetal Walters

Shetal’s journey began 28 years ago when she started the school in her living room, driven by a mission to provide a holistic education for her children and others. Today, Desert Garden Montessori serves 320 students and is a beacon of holistic education, integrating health and wellness into every aspect of the school experience. Shetal’s approach to education is revolutionary. She believes that teaching children about wellness, culinary literacy, and the importance of whole foods is just as essential as reading, writing, and math. From the youngest students to high schoolers, everyone at Desert Garden Montessori learns about the origins of food, how it’s grown, and how to prepare it. This hands-on approach extends to the school’s staff and parents, creating a ripple effect that encourages healthier lifestyles at home.

Dr. Sandi and Shetal discuss the challenges and successes of integrating these wellness practices into the school environment. Shetal emphasizes that while it has been a slow process, the benefits are clear. The school’s focus on health and wellness has led to improvements in the students’ overall well-being, behavior, and academic performance. Shetal’s story is inspiring, and her work is a testament to the power of holistic education. She is not only shaping the future of her students but also setting an example for other schools worldwide.

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Episode Transcript

Dr. Sandi: Today on “Health Coach Talk,” we’re talking about education, not just learning how to read and write and do math. We’re talking about education and living, healthy living. We’re talking about a school, specifically it’s a Montessori school, where the most incredible things are happening from the ground up, because the founder of this school, she is on a mission, and we get into a conversation about how from the time kids are very young, you show them how food is grown, you help them distinguish between fake food and real food. And you offer that at school for snacks, for lunches. Not only that, but you get the staff involved. You get the whole staff healthy, even doing microbiome testing. You get the parents involved. And so the ripple effect is happening where those kids are going home, and they’re wanting healthy food. This woman is starting a revolution, and I’m so proud because she happens to be a student of Functional Medicine Coaching Academy. She’s graduating and she is going to make great things happen. She is on a mission to change education for the better.

So, I can’t wait to introduce her to you. Let me tell you a little bit about this amazing woman. Shetal Walters is the founder and executive director, she’s the head of the school, the Desert Garden Montessori in Phoenix. She started the school in her living room in 1996 and has devoted her energy and care to its growing community of students and families ever since. She holds an MS degree in counseling, a bachelor’s in liberal arts. Her professional experience includes counseling families, couples, and individuals. But her most valuable skills are in bringing people together. And she is most motivated by the work of building community while educating children. She is a real dynamo. I know that you are going to enjoy this conversation just as much as I enjoyed recording it. Welcome, Shetal. And can you tell us, first of all, how you started this Montessori and tell us that journey and then where you’re at right now and your decision to become a health coach?

Shetal: Absolutely. First of all, thank you. It’s such an honor to be here and meet you in this fashion. I’m just blessed to be here. So, gosh, the school started 28 years ago in my living room with five children, two of them being my own. And I was a mom on a mission trying to find a holistic experience for my children. And children is my passion. I didn’t know what it was, but we bump into things that we call home and it felt like coming home. So, it was definitely what I think I was meant to do.

So, 28 years later, we’re still working hard serving children. We have about 320 kids, but I think really what makes this connection so important is understanding a lot of folks think of education as this one-dimensional pathway that’s about reading, writing, and learning, but it’s so much bigger than that. It’s very holistic. And understanding these children and especially after 28 years of seeing them, what they put in their bodies, what’s in their minds, their wellness, the way they breathe, the way they interact with the earth, letting their feet touch the grass, I think we live in a very different society today and even more than ever, teaching kids about wellness and literacy around culinary wellness and how to heal their bodies with food and everything we’re learning in health coaching academy but applying it at a very basic level with children. And we serve infants through high school.

So, we’re like the Little House on the Prairie. We have all ages and then staff of all ages. My father is the oldest. He’s a hundred. You met him once I think on office hours, but that’s a great age group. And when we do that here in this current state, I think with the world as it is with the processed fast food experience we’re in, we’re just teaching these kids about whole food and understanding what it means to nourish your soul and your body from the inside out because it affects everything. It affects their ability to learn. It affects their ability to be present. It affects their reading, writing, and math. I know I’m rambling, but once upon a time, we used to have elders in our societies that taught us these things. They taught us how to cook. They taught us how to garden. They taught us how to understand what’s important. And I think that unfortunately with our transient lifestyle and being able to live anywhere in the world, we’ve missed our elders and our families teaching us these rituals and traditions of just learning about how we care for our bodies fully.

And so we’ve become those coaches as teachers and as administrators here at this school to really teach the children. So, we are in the classrooms from infant all the way to high school, introducing whole foods that are local, that are seasonal, that are coming out of the ground. And what does it mean? And what does it look like? What is a wheat berry? And how do you make flour out of it? All the fun things. And kids just soak it up and they eat edamame and make lettuce wraps and vitamin water and everything that we give them. And then they go home and teach the parents. So, it’s quite extraordinary and it’s working. And so I want to keep building it. And I thought I wanted to share it with the world. We want to be a beacon of light so we can be a model school and hope to teach other people how to journey this way because it can be done. And we don’t have a lot of money. We’re a nonprofit. We’re a small school, but we have a big heart and a big mission.

Dr. Sandi: And you are making a difference, one child, one family at a time. And it’s so crucially needed. And I’ve had two guests recently on the podcast who are passionate about creating better health for our children. And one is Calley Means who is out there fighting the good fight to help to see how this ultra-processed food is just ubiquitous and how the big food companies is just pervasive in terms of how much influence they have and how children are hooked from an early age. And that results in them getting sicker and sicker where we’re seeing type 2 diabetes in high school kids and even younger than that. Fatty liver is on the rise, and it’s not from alcoholism alone. It’s these young kids getting non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It’s a crisis. And then Dr. Madiha Saeed, who’s a family physician and she has five boys and they are on a mission. She just wrote a series for children about fake food versus real food. And so you’re doing that. You are actually creating that. And can you share how that happened? Like, how did you get buy-in with the parents? Because I see all the time people are busy and they’re just giving their kids ultra-processed snacks. And then pretty soon, kids don’t want that real food. They say it’s yuck. They prefer what comes in a package, for example.

Shetal: Absolutely. It actually started about 17 years ago with a parent who inspired me to understand what organic food was because I was uneducated. And 17 years ago, that was not a thing. So, she actually had cancer at the time. I didn’t know it and she passed. But before she did, she inspired us and found a chef for me. And we opened an organic scratch kitchen 17 years ago. And I had parents digging in the dumpster, questioning whether I was really organic, which I understand it was not so common.

And we started with that and that education process of really eating whole food that is made on-site and what it means. And seeing kids eat everything from kale to seaweed strips to edamame and tahini and whatever, they were so excited to eat that. And because it’s cooked with love every day, I think that was the seed, and all our snack, everything is local and seasonal. And I’ve had to fight with the state because they want me to put fruit cocktail from a can. That’s not what we serve. We serve seasonal and local.

So, it has been an educational journey. When I say fight advocacy, we really are strong about that. But that process over time, now we have a cafe, we have CSA bags, we have garden towers, we have a greenhouse. It’s a process over time, but it is powerful. And now people seek out our school because they are knowledgeable or they want to become knowledgeable. They need a partner. And then when the kids go home and ask for it, then the parents listen because the kids are asking for it. So, that’s how it started. And now it’s permeated through in so many aspects of the school and the children have sustainability classes and they compost. And we have the whole food cycle from starting with that to compost, bringing it back, planting the seeds and then growing the food. And we are on a postage stamp. We are in a very urban area. We’re not on a big farm. We’re in a small area with a lot of concrete. And we’re still doing it. So, anybody can do this. Anybody.

Dr. Sandi: Wow. Can you describe the community where the school is located?

Shetal: Yes, it’s in Phoenix, Arizona. So, we’re in severe heat right now, but it is an extremely connected community. Our values of connection, respect, diversity, integrated wellness, and inclusivity or authenticity are our core values. And so the community, it’s like we’re an extended family, and we are small by design so we can manage really knowing everybody’s name and understanding the situations that we have as educators. It’s not just the child in our classroom. It’s the whole child. It’s when they’re sad, it’s when they’re happy, it’s when their belly hurts, it’s when they’re anxious. And food and health and wellness affect every aspect of that. And coaching and going through the coaching academy has been extraordinarily powerful. And I just can’t thank you enough for putting that together, the importance of it now more than ever. And in schools, I know people think of it in medical offices or with functional medicine doctors or a variety of places, but I don’t know if it’s really clear that schools are one of the most pivotal places that we can make a difference for our next generation. That’s our job.

Dr. Sandi: Absolutely. Well, I didn’t realize that you were in Phoenix, and I’m in the Phoenix area part of the year to escape the Chicago winter. So, definitely, I’ll have to come down to see the wonderful things you are doing. Can you share any stories? So, I’m assuming that children might come in at an older age other than starting when they’re young and going through the school till high school, but anyone who has come in when they’re a bit older and perhaps they were addicted to this processed, junk food and behavior might’ve been awry because of that with a lot of issues with their learning. And have you seen any transformations when kids are starting to eat whole real food?

Shetal: A hundred percent. Because it’s integrated in every part of our school, in our snack, in our teaching, in our harvest, in our cafe, in education, and parents, they have no choice but to at some point start to marry into that. And when they see their peers eating it and trying it, they do. And we have less than 2% of our population, maybe less than 1% that has any kind of weight challenges because I think kids really understand the importance of that. We also did partnership with Navipoint Health and did microbiome testing for all of our staff. And the understanding of your gut and the importance of what the food does to your gut and what is okay for me might not be okay for someone else is also been another aspect. And now we have parents wanting to test their children so that they get feedback loops.

And we’re actually running a study for autistic kiddos and seeing the connection between the gut and how they manifest as a human in the world and to see if we can partner and learn something because we’re all learning. We’re all experimenting and trying to figure it out. But we’re talking about mitochondrial health. Like, this is unusual and amazing. So, yeah, that’s really those kids slowly that are new to it start to embrace. And when they eat whole food, they realize how yummy it really is. And they understand. And when they’re cooking and we’re teaching them culinary classes and they’re actually… We had a salsa competition with our middle school, high school kids. They were amazing, the salsa they made. And it was all fresh ingredients and they had a competition like an Iron Chef with salsa.

But if you make it fun and interactive, they start to see that and then they take it home and want to do that in their kitchens. So, it’s so special and so easy if you just are clear and have a unified voice. Now we have rules at the school about you can’t walk around with fast food as adults or staff or no offense to any food companies. I’m not saying that, but we have to model what we want for our children. And each month, we have a challenge of the month. This month is hydration. Today is our first day of school, and hydration is our challenge for the month. And what does it mean to have structured water and electrolytes in your water and why? And there’s so many things even us adults don’t know, and the kids are learning and they’re teaching their parents.

Dr. Sandi: And it sounds like that is the way you are going to learn. You are learning the functional medicine principles and positive psychology principles at FMCA. And sounds like you’re taking that and integrating that into your work at the school, into the curriculum, and your work with parents. And it sounds like this is… What I love is it’s not just the kids, but you are creating health for their families, their immediate families, their extended families.

Shetal: Yes. I know it’s so exciting. And this year, we’re launching a dynamic cookbook where they get the binder. And each week, we’ll give them an interactive recipe. The kids learn it first and then we send it home. So, parents partner with us because it is about partnering together. And Dr. Hyman was the reason why I found you. And I listen to every podcast. And now I listen to you all the time. And just, gosh, I want to make a difference and get more people to realize that this is our future, is our kiddos. How can we make a difference and make noise to make this be something for everybody? Not just a few schools but really out there. And I do use group coaching. I’m starting a group coaching for my staff, and I’m actually going to run one for students and just enjoy the process. Keep talking.

Dr. Sandi: Yes. Wow. You’re making such a difference. And do you have any plans? So, you are a Montessori school. So, are there other Montessori schools that can follow suit? And you can be a role model where… Because I’m seeing this big… I’m seeing you on big stages at education conferences showing that this can be done and this model works. And it sounds like… Because really this is not an adjunct. This is when you get kids’ brains functioning, when they are getting proper nutrients and not eating the foods that are hijacking their brains, behavior problems disappear, learning problems disappear. So, you cannot teach anything at a school if you don’t have kids who are metabolically healthy.

Shetal: A hundred percent well-said. We’re actually presenting at the Montessori conference in Atlanta in November, and there are Montessori schools all over the world. And we’re all unique schools, individuals who start these schools. But the beauty of it is we’re a connected community. So, yes, if we can permeate that at the conference and start a firestarter of people understanding this could be a thing. We want to coach, we want to guide, we want to help. It’s not about making money. It’s about making a difference. Absolutely. So, we are going to do that. And for me, whatever platform, so these beautiful people you shared that are also doing this work, thank you for connecting me because we can put our hands together and make a difference for the kids.

Dr. Sandi: Absolutely. This is a big initiative. Do you get pushback from parents that say, “I can’t do this, I can’t afford it. Food’s too expensive. I can’t buy organic. I don’t have time to cook.” How do you handle any resistance?

Shetal: I think educating because if you really look at the power of whole food, it’s much cheaper than buying processed food and it nourishes your body, sustains you and you save so much on healthcare and everything else. So, I think it’s a slow process, but because we’re a unified voice, I do think that parents understand quickly that there is something here. And thank goodness for functional medicine doctors all over and people in the wellness movement, there is an awakening happening. It’s slow. Seveteen years ago, not so much. Everybody doubted everything we did but not so much. And we have kids, Sandi, gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, allergies, so many allergies. We cater to every diet. There are children at schools that don’t have access to this and it’s hard work, but it’s important to work. And someday we want to have a regenerative farm. We want to be able to really model this bigger and bigger, not because we’re a farming community but because we know this is cornerstone for everybody’s life and wellness. And I want to tell you a little tiny secret. I don’t know if… You probably don’t remember. Do you remember what Victory Gardens were back in the war?

Dr. Sandi: Yes. Yes, it was before my time but…

Shetal: My time, too. Or my time.

Dr. Sandi: It was my mom and dad’s generation. And, yes, you had a Victory Garden. Everybody did during World War II.

Shetal: Yes. So, I want to bring back the concept of Victory Gardens. Maybe coin it something different, but we have to grow food. We can. And just doing it because there’s a need that’s really a very important, soulful need for families growing together, families in the dirt together, out in the sunshine together, doing something meaningful. So, if I could figure out how to coin that somehow and make it a thing, that is a wish. And no, we’re not at war, but we are in some ways. It’s a different kind of war. A different kind of war.

Dr. Sandi: Yes, you are going to make that happen. I’d like to know, tell me about your dad, because I met him. You came to my office hours that I hold for students and graduates, and he was with you. And I would love to hear about him and how he is involved with the school and what he… He sounds like a wonderful role model.

Shetal: He is. He was very poor growing up in India and got a Fulbright scholarship to University of Chicago. He studied under the streetlights because he had no electricity and no shoes, but he managed to get to University of Chicago, which is my original hometown. And he has two PhDs, two master’s degrees and still working. He teaches a meditation class every Saturday night on Zoom. He teaches a Gita class, which is the Indian religious book, the Gita. And he speaks Sanskrit, but he is 100% a lifelong learner and he’s going to be 100 years old next year. And his health is amazing, but it’s because he lives so present. And I know this sounds a little kooky, but because he grew up very poor, their food was very wholesome, basic, simple food. And he married my mom who was very wealthy and she’s passed now, but she had a lot of health issues where my dad has very little. He doesn’t even wear glasses, I don’t think. And he doesn’t have cavities because he ate whole. And he actually was the inspiration for this school. His sister was taught by Maria Montessori in India. So, generational stuff is a thing. And he always wanted to own a school and never did, but then I ended up doing this, didn’t think I would, and here I am. And so he’s taught peace education. He’s taught mindfulness. He teaches breathing, being centered, being present. He lives exactly the way I would like to do, and then try and train others too. So, he’s genuinely an inspiration. If you ever want him on the podcast, he’s so cool.

Dr. Sandi: Absolutely. Without a doubt, he is going to be a guest on this podcast. Yeah, and I’m assuming that you and your dad bring that element, bring mindfulness, bring that mind-body component, because it is not just about what you’re eating but it is how you’re eating and also how you assimilate things and what you let go of that you have no control over. So, having that ability to really create a quieting response within you is so important.

Shetal: So important. We grew up with that. My mom was a counselor. He’s a therapist. And my house, every Friday night, we had family feeling night. My poor husband at the time, boyfriend said, “What is this?” And it was processing your emotions and learning how to deal with that. And we ate whole food every day. We’re vegetarians from India. So, she cooked grains and vegetables every day. There was no other option. We didn’t eat out. So, I do think our families bring us to where we’re supposed to be and got to carry that torch and keep teaching and keep helping each other.

Dr. Sandi: I love it. It sounds so much the way I raised my two daughters. That was years before we had Whole Foods and years before we had… Now we have this array of our health washing in terms of foods. But back then, I was in a co-op and I had a bunch of friends. We would get together and we would fax in our order and we would split cases of things that were organic. A big truck came down. We were in Chicago area, came down from Madison, Wisconsin. I would make soups and I would kale. They would dip it in some dressing. They were eating kale long before it was fashionable to eat kale. And it did create sometimes issues because they were not in a school like yours. We didn’t have that at that point. And sometimes kids at the lunchroom would make fun of them like, “Oh, you’re eating seaweed,” or, “What is that?” But it did give them a healthy foundation. But I think now there’s many parents who think they are doing the right thing and they’re buying these processed snacks. And just because it’s sold at Whole Foods and it has on the front like it’s eco-friendly or I’ve seen one, “It’s keto,” or, “It’s good,” but it’s still processed junk food. So, yeah.

Shetal: It’s funny you say about your kids getting made fun of. It happened to me throughout my life because, one, I’m brown skin. There was that in schools that it wasn’t popular, which is okay. We all learned, but also I was a vegetarian. And so it was not very sexy or known. And so I was made fun of, but I think that even more deepened my need to want to create a place where everybody was accepted and welcomed and nobody felt like the odd man out. So, all of the things we go through in life end up taking us where we’re supposed to go. Yeah, I’m so thrilled that your kiddos got to have that. And I thank my parents too. So, I hope we’re making a difference.

Dr. Sandi: Yes. Well, you are absolutely making a difference. And one of the things that I’ve also been a proponent of, because I’ve seen parents become too anxiety-ridden about the choices their kids are being given and pull them out of birthday parties and, “Oh, you can’t have the cupcake because it has this and this,” creating so much anxiety within them, isolating them, creating these strong emotions that are going to be worse for them. The stress of that is worse than just have the cupcake. But then you go home and, like, home is a place where we serve different kinds of food. So, it’s such an important lesson for parents to not become so rigid that food becomes anxiety-provoking. And I know I was certainly guilty of that in the day as well.

Shetal: True. It’s so true because I think you can’t… I don’t know, the relationship with food is such a critical one, and it does have to have that balance. And so I think that is so well-said. And I’ve seen parents struggle with that and we’re not perfect. That isn’t the plan.

Dr. Sandi: Well, you are an inspiration. And the model that you have set with this school, I think, deserves to be spread far and wide. I think schools could adapt this and you are going to make a huge difference. I should tell where can people find you.

Shetal: Just desertgardenmontessori.org. That’s our website and I’m on there. You can see our lunch program, our snacks, our wellness wheel program. We have so much on there, and anyone I can help if someone wants to reach out, I would love to partner with whoever is interested and willing. I have a team of people that are excited to be a part of a change, a movement.

Dr. Sandi: This is a movement that will grow. So, thank you so much.

Shetal: Thank you so much. It’s so nice to meet you.

Dr. Sandi: Great to meet you and great to have you as a student soon to graduate FMCA as a certified health coach. Thank you so much. Bye now.

Shetal: Bye, Sandi.