I’m a dietitian and I love to cook! But, most of all, I love teaching people how to cook. 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.
I'm an ambassador of Culinary Medicine
I earned my Master of Science degree in nutrition from Bastyr University where the focus is on clinical nutrition, but also this 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. Eventually, I started my own practice within a naturopathic outpatient women’s clinic where I focused more on cooking with my patients as means for achieving optimal nutrition and health. I started teaching cooking classes at another local hospital 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.
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In food and love,
Carly Knowles, MS, RDN, LD
Master of Science in Nutrition / Didactic Program in Dietetics, Bastyr University
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Commission on Dietetic Registration
Licensed Dietitian (in the state of Oregon and Washington)
