"Using Food to Teach Wellness"

I am happy to announce that I will officially be attending the Natural Gourmet Institute's chef's training program beginning at the end of January. As I have pondered the thought of going to culinary school for a while now, I never actually thought that I would (1) find a time when I could devote 7 hours, five days a week, for five months to completing it and (2) actually be able to justify the crazy time commitment without wanting to become a CHEF...in a restaurant. Although I love being in the kitchen and, more importantly, love to serve others good food, I do not want to forfeit my social life and hours of sleep to doing it. Rather, I want to help others understand the importance of eating good food by facilitating their own discovery of eating well and cooking for themselves. Therefore, I am seeking the knowledge and credibility of both pursuits, dietetics and the culinary arts, by studying to become a registered dietitian AND a trained chef! I feel so fortunate that I have been given the time and resources to not only discover my passions but also to lay out the groundwork for a career in which I can practice them too. "Using food to teach wellness," as the director of career services at Natural Gourmet Institute stated in the Detroit News article published Friday discussing the school's philosophy, which has served as a model to a Michigan hospital planning to open a culinary school. I have to admit that I was somewhat peeved to read that Henry Ford Hospital on the west side of Detroit is planning to open a culinary school next year that will be geared toward educating dietitians in the practice of nutrition in the culinary arts, as I have found it enjoyable to be referred to as a "black sheep" in the dietetics program at NYU for my interest in practicing within the food service industry. Although hundreds of others will be squeezing into the niche that I seek to exploit once I hit the job market, I am overjoyed by the humongous impact that is clearly going to be made with this newfound recognition of food and its power amongst health professionals...woohoo!