Carly Knowles, MS, RDN, LD, PCD (DONA)

I combine my expertise in nutrition with my love and passion for cooking to offer a little something extra to my postpartum doula clients. Because when a mama is fed, nourished, and cared for holistically, the whole family thrives!

I earned my Master of Science degree in nutrition from Bastyr University where the focus is on clinical nutrition, but also the concept of individualized nutrition and food as medicine. I completed a yearlong accredited supervised internship and passed a national board exam to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN).

I have a diverse work history, beginning in clinical inpatient nutrition at a hospital where I worked in the neuro-trauma ICU, cardiovascular ICU, family birth unit, medical/surgery unit, and burn unit. I also worked as an outpatient dietitian at a diabetes and weight management clinic and eventually started my own practice where I started teaching cooking classes for my patients as means for achieving optimal nutrition and health. Not only did my patients benefit from this, but I quickly learned how much I loved teaching people how to cook and began writing my first cookbook.

My cookbook, The Nutritionist’s Kitchen (Roost Books 2020) is a comprehensive guide on how to transform your food into medicine, including over 60 seasonal, whole food recipes. I’m extremely proud of this book and hope you love it as much as I do. Read more info about my book here. You can purchase it here and here.

Then, I had two beautiful children and life got really busy. I quickly realized how much was lacking in postpartum care and wanted/needed to help shift this reality. I knew I had to incorporate postpartum care into my work as a dietitian, so I became a Postpartum Certified Doula. Now, I work with families directly in their homes to provide holistic postpartum care including nutrition support as well as prepare delicious and healthy meals for the whole family. I continue to teach cooking classes to the general public, both in-person and virtually, as well as provide virtual health and wellness classes.

My food philosophy stems from the concept that food is medicine and is always a part of the healing process wherever you’re coming from and whatever you’re up against. There are so many things we can do to our food, little tweaks and twists we can make, that increase the vitamin and mineral content or make something more easily digestible, for example. We can actually transform our food into medicine, and I think that’s incredibly cool.

I like to say I’m an ambassador of Culinary Medicine. This is an emerging evidence-based field that blends the art of food and cooking with the science of medicine. The belief is that high-quality foods can help prevent and treat disease. This isn’t a one diet fits all approach. Clinicians who practice culinary medicine focus on the individual, how food works in the body/their body, socio-economic-cultural aspects, and the joy of eating and cooking. To learn more about Culinary Medicine, click here.

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In food and love,

Carly Knowles, MS, RDN, LD, PCD (DONA)

 

Master of Science in Nutrition / Didactic Program in Dietetics, Bastyr University

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Commission on Dietetic Registration

Licensed Dietitian (Oregon and Washington)

Certified Postpartum Doula (DONA International)