Newgent in particular to learn how to make dishes suitable
to their special dietary needs, adjust their cooking to their
newly adapted less-active lifestyles (eg, former athletes), or
understand vegan cuisine. But others are simply interested in
cooking flavorful, high-quality meals and transitioning their
taste buds to crave more healthful foods, the latter of which
Newgent says is one of her biggest challenges with clients,
particularly when it comes to sodium. “Since I promote whole-
some, plant-forward cooking, the ingredients they work with
are often naturally low in sodium ... and they don’t realize it’s
okay to add a little salt to these foods to make them highly
enjoyable,” she says.
One of her favorite ways to add flavor (and reduce sodium)
is through incorporating acid. This key recipe component
imbues depth in dishes and is one of the tips her students find
most helpful, especially when they taste something like tangy
tomato juice spritzed with balsamic vinegar. Newgent’s clients
also find relief in her recommendation to be more “Zen” in the
kitchen by not overstirring, overpeeking, or overflipping dishes.Rocking the ’Gram
After teaching herself how to cook via Google, a knife skills
class, and what she refers to as the School of Life, DJ Blatner,
RDN, CSSD, a Chicago-based dietitian in private practice,
author, and nutrition consultant for the Chicago Cubs, gained
a diverse array of culinary education experience; she led
cooking party happy hours at Whole Foods Market, instructed
at a cooking school, and taught clients privately in their homes.
Now, she teaches culinary topics via her new favorite tool:
Instagram. Blatner’s on-brand, visually appealing images and
videos posted to the popular social media platform focus on
fun, simplicity, and deliciousness. She often takes recipes from
her book The Superfood Swap and brings them to life in her
Instagram feed in her popular What’s for Dinner Wednesday
posts using the hashtag #WFDW. Her popular post on green
juice bags, made by portioning ingredients into baggies to
make green juice, inspired her to make them on live national
television on Good Morning America.
Her favorite culinary success story is helping convert a
couch potato client into an Iron Man. “He had no equipment—
not even a cutting board or chef’s knife,” Blatner recalls.
“Learning about stocking the necessary cooking tools is one
of the first steps for a lot of people.”— Chef Michelle Dudash, RDN, is a Cordon Bleu–Certified
Chef, author of the new Clean Eating for Busy Families, Revised
& Expanded, and creator of 4Real Food Reboot, an online
meal planning program and cooking school. Find her at
michelledudash.com, on Twitter and Instagram
@michelledudash, and Facebook.com/MichelleDudashRD.RD CULINARY
TEACHING TIPS
Be authentic. “You don’t have to be an expert; you just
have to be a real person,” says Ann Kent, MS, RDN,
CDE, owner of Peas & Hoppiness in the Fort Collins,
Colorado, area. “Recall what was hard for you when
you tried cooking new things. What was scary to you?
Share those stories and you will become more relat-
able to people.”
Make it easy and fun. “Recognize that what you know
about cooking can be of value to other people, whether
you have culinary training or not,” says Michele
Redmond, MS, RDN, FAND, chef dietitian and food
enjoyment activist at The Taste Workshop in Scottsdale,
Arizona. “Identify what your patients need the most so
you can bring them into the skill set that gives them the
most confidence and lessens their stress and anxiety.
It doesn’t need to be serious. Don’t overwhelm people.
Keep it as simple and fun as possible.”
Just do it. “Start small, perhaps with just one recipe.
And just go for it! Write down the steps and organize
it out,” says Indianapolis-based Tara Rochford, RDN,
owner of Tara Rochford Nutrition and a dietitian at
Butler University.
Practice makes perfect. “Attend culinary nutrition
presentations, especially when given by one of the
outstanding culinary RDs in our profession,” says Jackie
Newgent, RDN, a New York–based culinary nutritionist.
“Hands-on culinary education is the best way to learn for
yourself. Start with a knife skills class.”
DJ Blatner, RDN, CSSD, a Chicago-based dietitian in
private practice, author, and nutrition consultant for
the Chicago Cubs, adds, “Remember that you are client
number one. Practice your own skills on yourself so
you can share your knowledge authentically.”— MDaugust 2019 http://www.todaysdietitian.com 15