Mother Nature provides us with beautiful fuel – the raw materials, essentially, that keep us alive. Farmers and growers are the nurturers. And we, when we cook and prepare foods, are the final artists in the cycle of food from farm to table. Wouldn’t it pay, then, to do what we can to maximize what nature provides?
Kale and I haven’t always gotten along. Even after this trendy superfood started flying off the produce shelves, I struggled to love it when I prepared it myself. No matter how much I massaged the leaves, I just couldn’t enjoy this fibrous, leafy green raw. I would add it to smoothies and salads, but it always felt like an obligatory addition rather than one made out of true appreciation for the vegetable itself.
Back in January of this year, three students came to Denver from different parts of the country to study Culinary Nutrition and the therapeutic use of foods. This month, they graduated from NTI and became Natural Food Chefs. We congratulate them and wish them the best of luck as they continue to add to the world with their passions, one delicious and nourishing meal at a time.
Here’s what each chef had to say about her experience. And check out two recipes from the Natural Food Chef Kitchen at the end!
Welcome to Part 2 in our series addressing the impact of stress on our health. In the first blog post, we discussed the slippery slope of restrictive diets. In this post, we’re going to examine the role of stress on the nervous system and discuss ways to generate a truly holistically healthy relationship with food.
One of the most significant lessons I’ve learned at NTI is that no amount of healthy eating and exercise can eliminate chronic stress. When it goes unmanaged, stress is the biggest threat to our health.
This begs the question: How stressed are you about your health?
Navigating the terminology in the fields of nutrition and dietetics can make anyone’s head spin. If you’re anything like I was when I decided to go back to school to pursue nutrition, you may feel overwhelmed by terms like ‘board certified’, ‘registered’ and ‘licensed’, and even more so about which path is right for you. If you’re finding the decision between nutrition and dietetics a difficult one to make, you’re not alone.
In sad news for baseball fans and others in the Denver area, Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis recently began chemotherapy for testicular cancer after unsuccessful treatment last year.
I work in the admissions office of NTI, and people often ask me for holistic health and nutrition recommendations. It seems that we’re all seeking similar advice. We want to feel better and have more energy. The advice seems consistent, too: Eat well, get better sleep, exercise, and reduce stress. Sounds simple, right?
Omega-3 fats have reached an almost painfully trendy status over the last few years. Health food companies are marketing chia and hemp seeds as reliable sources of omega 3s, but there’s more to know about these essential fatty acids than what they’re telling us.