Top 5 Reasons to Study Natural Cooking

Hippocrates was born almost 2,500 years ago, though his testament of Food as Medicine lives on. Recently, technology and social media have catapulted the paleo, ketogenic, vegan, and other food movements from the fringe to relatively well-known topics of conversation. People are becoming more aware of the dietary impact on health, and healthcare practitioners are adding nutritionists to their teams to meet the need for expert dietary advice. The missing link, it seems, is the knowledge of how to execute a significant lifestyle change in the kitchen. There is no better time than now to be a part of the culinary nutrition movement as a Natural Food Chef.

Here are our top 5 reasons to study Natural Cooking:

Improve your own health and well-being for life.

Nutrition is at the root of holistic health. Holistic health encompasses our spiritual, emotional, physical, and psychological states of being. By nourishing the body on all of these levels, we release the life force within all of our cells, literally providing the building blocks for optimal wellness. You enhance your vitality and extend your capacity to dream and achieve in your life.

Improve the health and well-being of the people you love.

When you study natural cooking, you study the healing capacity of food, and you learn how to tailor dishes to the needs of those you are feeding. Great food is more than tasty. It promotes healing. From beginners to seasoned chefs, the art and science of studying how to be a natural food chef is transformative for both chefs and their loved ones. It opens possibilities to support the health of our families for a lifetime.

Be part of a burgeoning movement.

Research has shown that health is not merely determined by genes; that is, our predispositions are not pre-destined. Lifestyle and environment can affect whether or not certain genes are expressed. This is the definition of epigenetics: the study of how the choices we make can suppress or switch on the genes that express disease. These lifestyle factors include stress, behavior, smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and nutrition.

In the United States, we’ve strayed far from the way our ancestors ate. But the pendulum is swinging the other way because of the limitations of modern medicine: it is no longer enough to treat the symptoms. We have to treat the root causes of health conditions for sustainable health.

Fuel your passion.

You may know exactly what you want to do for work when you finish studying natural cooking. You may not have a single idea. Or, you may be somewhere in between. Regardless, your passion is the most important driver when choosing meaningful work. The range of possibilities for a Natural Food Chef is endless: you may work with private clients in their homes, teach cooking classes in community centers, create cooking videos, start your own line of healthy snacks or other foods, work at a health-conscious restaurant, menu plan for commercial kitchens, consult for restaurants, collaborate with functional medicine doctors, or create content for schools, online programs, or your own website. Take a step in the direction of your dreams, and watch the doors open to unimaginable opportunities.

Connect more fully to the Earth.

Disconnection with the natural world plays a role in the skyrocketing rates of modern-day illnesses, as people suffer from depleted or toxic food and lifestyle choices that are out of sync with the ways our bodies were created to function. These illnesses include Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, cancer, atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and depression.

When we engage consciously with our food, it opens a thread that connects us not just to food, but to those who grow it and the natural world. It opens an ancient pathway to what is sacred, life-giving, and fundamentally human. As a Natural Food Chef, you will have the opportunity to connect people to the Earth by presenting delicious food in its most nutrient-dense, natural state.

Ready to hear more about NTI’s Natural Food Chef program? Take the next step and contact us today!