Nuances of Nutrition with Santa Barbara Dieticians

Nancy Dale’s Individualized Diets and DeLaney Gabriel’s DNA-Focused Digestive Aids

By Matt Kettmann | January 27, 2022

Though trendy diets like paleo and keto work for some people, most folks usually roll their eyes when talking about those one-size-fits-all solutions. Many nutrition experts agree, believing that optimized eating should really be an individualized affair.

“For 40 years, I’ve been figuring out that what worked for one doesn’t work for another,” said Solvang-based nutritionist and chef Nancy Dale, who started using food as medicine at age 23 when battling breast cancer. “When you take the ‘T’ off of ‘diet,’ what do you have? You die.”

She’s developed an online system called “Diet Typing” that uses a series of questions to give her a baseline for what type of eater she’s dealing with: their cravings and preferences, how food makes them feel, and so forth. Once you’ve taken the 20-minute survey, it immediately spits out your report, a detailed suggested foods list, and cookbooks that Dale herself wrote.

“This is the beginning point,” said Dale, who is currently launching the survey program nationwide for other dieticians to use. “It’s not perfect, so you learn what works best in your body. I get 80 percent of my people to their goals.” She then works directly with clients to fine-tune diets into enjoyable routines. “That’s my job,” said Dale, “to make people realize that food is so important to all of us.”

Like Dale’s eye-opening cancer fight, DeLaney Gabriel came to nutrition after falling ill many years ago and finding a way to health through holistic medicine. For Gabriel, whose office is on Anacapa Street, the key to individualized nutrition is all in the hormones.

Since 1988, she’s relied on blood and urine analyses to assess deficiencies or imbalances in her clients, and then suggests dietary changes and proprietary enzyme supplements like Digest-Aid to help. Follow-up tests and appointments continue as needed to track and adjust the program.

“I have literally helped thousands of people improve the quality of their lives over the past 38 years by recommending specific dietary supplements for their specific health needs,” said Gabriel. “Many of my clients who are in their seventies and eighties continue to impress their physicians with lab test numbers of healthy people in their thirties. They credit Digest-Aid for their good digestion, lack of reflux, healthy bowel movements, and excellent quality of life.”

See NancyDaleCN.com and DeLaneyGabriel.com.

Read all of the stories in this year’s Self-Care issue here.