Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate from Cornell's Center For Nutrition Studies
This site has been on hiatus since May, because I needed to redirect an Environmental-Crisis/Species-Loss Grief Cycle howwwwl stuck flaming in the anger sector of that loop, and simmer it on down by distracting myself with a 6wk Pediatric Nutrition class with Nutritionist Kiran Sidhu, wrapping up Q’s last few weeks of (homeschool) Kindergarten, and then soaking up a sliver of summer break.
By July, we’d started his First Grade year up with a gusto, I signed up for Cornell’s Center For Nutrition Studies Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate Program (<— with the hope of learning something more to help resonate folks to action); and as the weight of information in those classes batted me around like a seed in the wind, I realized it’d be best to write about it afterward because there was too much to absorb/juggle in the present.
There were 3 courses to take for the certificate, it clocked out around 80hrs of content from some of the world’s best doctors/minds; and I’m thrilled I get a few more months of access because I’ll be going back in, organizing it it into digestible chunks, and parsing it back out along with our perpetual stumbling forward pictorials of how we’re implementing what we learn.
Why? Plant-Based foods are environmentally imperative 🌎. They also promote ideal health💪 (which takes stress off our overburdened health care system), are inexpensive🙌, delicious🤤, & compassionate💕. It’s a win-win-win solution all around for humanity and the species we share this planet with. 🙌
If you look below, hopefully some topic with spark an interest for you or your kin. Each will have their spotlight & explanation over the comings weeks/months.
Nutrition & Society
Nutritional Paradigms
How Science Changes Our World View
Clinical Trials & Nutritional Research
Ten Leading Causes of Death
Chronic Disease Prevalence
Reductionism vs Wholism
Dr T Colin Campbell (founder of Cornell’s Center For Nutrition Studies, worked around the world & with the National Institutes of Health, conducting cancer research & prevention studies)
Migration Studies & Disease
Intro to Macro Nutrients
“What is Nutrition”
Nutrient Classifications
History of Protein Research
Protein Recommendations & Requirements
Animal-Based Proteins
Protein Quality & Quantity
What Are the EAR (Estimated Average Requirement) & RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance)
Introduction to Carbohydrates
Understanding Carbohydrates
Confusion About Carbohydrates
Whole & Refines Grains
Fiber (Mechanisms, Purpose, Benefits)
Introduction to Fats
Understanding Fats
Macronutrients and Food Label Calculations
Macronutrients in Plant & Animal Foods
8 Principles of Food & Health
1. Nutrition represents the combined activities of countless food substances
2. Vitamin Supplements are not a panacea for good health
3. There are no nutrients in animal foods that are not better provided by plants
4. Genes do not determine disease on their own
5. Nutrition can substantially control the effects of noxious chemicals
6. The same nutrition that prevents disease, may also halt/reverse disease
7. Nutrition for chronic diseases translate across the board of disease. Plant-Based Whole-Foods help in all vectors.
8. Good Nutrition helps in all areas of our existence. All parts are connected: health, society, environmental sustainability.
Dr Bruce Monger lectures:
“Food Choices, Health, & The Environment”
“Effects of Meat Production on the Environment”
“Water A Finite Resource”
“Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Animal Agriculture vs Plant-Based Foods”
“Human Impacts on Marine Life”
Dr Allison Wilson & Genetically Modified Crops
Human Health Risks: Herbicides and Pesticides
Food Labels
Food Policy & Politics
Michele Simon (JD, MPH) & How Lobbying Works & Who Is Involved
Lobbying Research
Overview of Front Groups
The Politics of Dairy
Milk & Dairy Checkoff Programs
The Politics of Food Stamps (SNAP)
SNAP & Industry Lobbying (<— passion point over here as we were once on SNAP, many of my old clients balanced their health on the razor’s edge of SNAP, and some of our dearest loved ones rely on it to this day)
The Politics of Meat & Dietary Guidelines
Current Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Diseases of Affluence (Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, Diabetes)
The Cause & Pathology of Disease
Cancer
Dr T Colin Campbell’s Decades of Cancer Research
The China Project
The Cancer Atlas
Fat, Fiber, & Disease
Hormone Levels in Women & Diet
Cancer Stages & Development Over Time
The Causes of Cancer
Carcinogenicity Testing & Predicting Human Response
Initiation vs Promotion of Cancer
Cancer Treatment & Prevention
Dietary Protein & Liver Cancer
Effects of Protein Feeding on Viral Carcinogenesis
Carcinogenicity & Exploratory Mechanisms
“Is Casein a Carcinogen?”
Casein, Animal Protein, & Cancer
Dr Dean Ornish & Cancer Research
Prostate Cancer & Lifestyle Research
Breast Cancer & Diet
Cardiovascular Disease (<—additional passion-point. CVD is so wrought in our family trees that our son was ordered to have a pediatric cardiologist…who thankfully confirmed he’s thriving and eating exactly what he recommends his patients eat: plant-based foods)
Studying Heart Disease via Large Populations
Saturated Fat & Heart Disease
Studying Populations with Lower Rates of Heart Disease
Studying Heart Disease Outliers
Heart Disease Migrant Studies
Heart Disease Causes & Conclusions
Recent Cardiovascular Observational Research
Dr Caldwell B Esselstyn Jr
Treating Heart Disease
“Who Gets Heart Disease”
Trending The Mortality of Heart Disease
Natural Defense Mechanisms
Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease
“Maintaining the Covenant of Trust” (“Dr. Esselstyn has spent decades asking the question, "Can we improve heart disease treatment?" In this lecture, he summarizes the costs, both in lives lost and dollars spent, of current treatment protocols.”)
Preventing Coronary Artery Disease
Eating for a Healthy Heart
Reversing Coronary Artery Disease
“Treating the cause of cardiovascular disease”
Dr Dean Ornish and Heart Disease Research, Prevention, & Reversal
Heart Healthy Diets
Oil-Free Recipes for Heart-Health
Facts About Obesity
Diabetes
Observational Research
Global Diabetes Rates Throughout History
Epidemiology Transition in China
Dr Michael Greger
Insulin Resistance
Dr David Jenkins (created the glycemic index)
Glycemic Index & Glycemic Load
Diabetes: Low Glycemic Index Foods
Dr Neal Barnard & Diabetes Research & Prevention
Plant-Based Diets & Diabetes Improvement
Eric Adams (Brooklyn Borough President) & Diabetes
Diet, Diabetes, and Obesity
Plant-Based In Practice
Dr Doug Lisle (Clinical Psychologist)
Changing Behaviors
Assessing Health Behaviors
Identifying Conflicting Forces (Paradigm Shifts)
The Motivational Triad
The Pleasure Trap
5 Phases of Change
The Ego Trap
Setting Goals, Permission to Fail
Self Determination Theory
Dietary Trends - Separating Fads From Facts
Healthy Diet Research
Lifestyle Model of Dietary Behavior
The Standard American Diet
American Diet Timeline
Paleo Diet: Cardiovascular Disease & Cancer Risk
Dr Kim Williams (President of the American College of Cardiology) & Ketogenic Diets
Dr Brie Turner-McGrievy (Dietitian) Research Comparing “Healthy Diets”
Examining Gluten-Free Diet Trends
EXALUS Food Continuum
Plant-Based Health from Pregnancy to Raising Children
Dr Padma Garvey (Obstetrician & Gynecologist)
Reproductive Lifespan
Male & Female Infertility as it Relates to Diet
UTIs, Vaginal Infections, & Diet
Pregnancy and a Plant-Based Diet
Supplements During Pregnancy
Breastfeeding & Breastmilk
Formula, Weaning, & Milk Alternatives
Dr Jackie Busse (Pediatrician)
Dairy, Calcium, & Bone Health
Whole-Food Plant-Based Nutrition for Kids: Why It’s Important
Overview of WFPB Foods for Children
Supplements & Micronutrients for Children
Starting Solids with a WFPB Baby
How to Talk to Pediatricians & Schools
“Picky Eaters”
“Healthy Families”
Plant-Based Nutrition for Athletes
Dr Matthew Lederman
Eating to Prevent Injury
Protein Research & Athletes
Diet & Performance
Calculating BMI & BMR
Do Athletes Need to Supplement?
WFPB Endurance Athletes
Hydration
Plant-Based in the Kitchen & Beyond
Evelisse Capo (Culinary and Spanish Content Specialist for the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. Amazing pharmacist who was lit up by the research she discovered about Plant-Based feasting and now she leads cooking demos and educational programs with CNS.)
“Your Path - It’s Personal” (“Find Your Why”)
Planning Plant-Based Meals
How to Shop
Plant-Based on a Budget
Preparing Quick & Easy Meals
Quick/Easy Recipe Videos
Preparing Power Bowls
Batch Cooking
Plant-Based Breakfasts
Cooking Without Oil
Oil-Free Dressing Recipes
Involving Children in the Kitchen
Healthy Pantry
Dining Out
Reshaping Your Food Environment
Tips to Overcome Social Challenges
Reversing Disease with Nutrition
Making Change Happen
Things of Note:
The combined hours of this certificate program & my lessons with Kiran, are sadly magnitudes higher than my/Quillan’s/Ian’s and likely your doctor received in school, and this is why we may not be hearing about the above from our doctors, and why I/we totally understand if any of the above causes you to balk.
Here’s Harvard: “Today, most medical schools in the United States teach less than 25 hours of nutrition over four years.”
Here’s the American Heart Association: “The most recent survey, in 2013, found that 71 percent of medical schools provide less than the recommended 25 hours.”
…but thankfully we can educate ourselves and help inspire our doctors ( <— we’ve lit up both Q’s pediatrician and the doctor Ian & I share), and we have a tremendous amount of respect for the doctors/dietitians/nutritionists/nurses who’ve already taken their precious/hardworking time to look into current nutritional guidelines, or go above and beyond and do this program (especially the ones who were classmates as I was mind-blowing through it, because I was learning bounds more through their posted assignment responses)
If my previous tone/howl was off-putting to you:
The broken-heart/howling open-letters to loved ones have mostly been removed & the call to-action at the end of each post has been updated
2020 was the year of starting out Pollyanna-positive that evidence-based nutritional/environmental information (+ years/months of living-the-life & explaining why) would spark up all sorts of loved ones, but those original light-hearted writings were met on the back-end with disconnection, mocking, hostility, text messages full of “Hah, look at this meat I’m eating”, and threats (from blackmail to litigation to disconnection)…. and not from strangers, from souls with shared blood and/or many years bound by love.
If I was more evolved (<— I’m not, and have made it clear I’m always stumbling forward), I would have been tapping out from that pit of poison & not reacting in flame (mixing that heartbroken-fire with environmental-fury was a volatile/volcanic mix), and instead focused on the staggering amount of folks who were reaching out to say “Wow! Just so you know I hear your voice in my head a lot and am reminded to make better (kinder/sustainable/healthier) decisions! Thank you!”
I lost count & track when it topped 200 because I was out simmering down and learning some more, but from here on out this voice will be aimed at the folks who’ve reached out to say that they want to learn how/why to be more sustainable, compassionate, & healthier while lowering their bills and feasting like Happy Hobbits
I’ve started to compile recipe folders in the drop-down menu and will be filling them in with updated & new recipes (Q is keen to be involved in this process, so buckle up for that adorable wallop)
The Jasquatch Instagram is public-access, and it’s the same open-book/open-heart/open-flame format coupled with what we’re learning, what we love, sustainability, evidence-based nutrition, compassion, and tight-budget living… and it gets updated more often than this website.
We have the ability (deliciously, healthfully, kindly, inexpensively) to *preserve/protect* the planet we share with millions of species & our kin. How are we going to use that power today?✌️🤟🖖
