Lisa Samuel, MBA, RDN is a
registered dietitian and nutritionist passionate about inspiring positive
changes in the way people think about food and the way they nourish their life.
Her food philosophy—eat real food and share it with those you love—is
informed by a lifetime of reveling in the richness of relationships developed
in the kitchen and around the kitchen table.
Lisa, with her best friend
and business partner, McKenzie Hall, launched NourishRDs, a nutrition communications
company, to make wholesome, sustainable living accessible, achievable and
affordable for everyone. Ardent in their anti-diet viewpoint, Lisa and
McKenzie inspire others to eat real food, love their bodies, and laugh a lot.
A registered dietitian with
over 15 years of experience in health communications and consulting and with a
Masters in Business Administration, Lisa is uniquely qualified to write and
speak about—and inspire—healthy lifestyles. She has been called dynamic,
smart and creative by her peers, someone who compassionately nurtures others to
live their best lives.
Through her consulting and
spokesperson practice, Lisa focuses on real foods nutrition and how to make
eating real food accessible and affordable—and delicious! Lisa offers
customized informational, hands-on or teambuilding workshops for community or
business groups, all focused on nutrition or real foods cooking. Through
her partnership with the Bellingham Community Co-Op Lisa provides cooking
classes and nutrition workshops, store tours, in-store nutrition counseling and
advice for members, newsletter articles and community outreach. She
writes a regular column for Bellingham Alive and other publications, including
the NourishRDs blog. Lisa, with her business partner, McKenzie, provides
consulting and spokesperson work for like-minded organizations that support
real food and a (non)diet approach to health.
Lisa’s passion for real
foods education extends to her community service—she is the Vice President of
the Board of Directors for Common Threads Farm, a Bellingham-based non-profit
connecting young people with healthy food through hands-on, seed-to-table
educational experiences.
Prior to becoming an RD,
Lisa was a successful Lifestyle Consultant, where among her many
accomplishments she taught cooking classes and designed and managed the opening
of Vino 100 Wine Bar & Lounge. Lisa
appeared on television as a regular guest contributor to Your Morning Saturday
on WTOL-TV in Toledo, OH, speaking on nutrition, cooking and
entertaining. Her cookbook,
Lisa’s Kitchen, was published in 2008, filled with fresh and simple recipes to
take the fear out of cooking for family and friends. She has published numerous articles in
local and national publications, including a recent article featured on Dr.
Oz.com, The Sweet Taste of Local, describing the beauty of sustainable eating.
As a consultant in
community heath, Lisa was instrumental in developing community resources and
programs to support healthy youth and families. Lisa served on the management
team that created Seeds of Compassion, a five-day event in Seattle which
launched a grassroots movement to nurture a more compassionate world.
Lisa’s work in southwest Ohio made her a sought-after expert on the design of healthy
communities, sharing her expertise at multiple conferences including the
National Conference on Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Community Campus
Partnership for Health Conference, the Ohio Department of Health Public Health
Summer Institute, the Ohio Prevention and Education Conference and
others. Lisa was the host of a local television talk show, Partnerships
for Success, interviewing community leaders on community health
resources.
Lisa has also honed her
nutrition and communications skills working with Good Morning America, St.
Luke’s/Roosevelt Obesity Research Center, Columbia University School of
Journalism, The Lewin Group and Fleishman-Hillard. Lisa has been an
adjunct professor at Wright State University and Bastyr University. She
has a degree in Biological Sciences from Columbia University and a Masters in
Business Administration from Wright State University. She completed her
Dietetic Internship at Bastyr University.
Lisa currently resides in
the lovely town of Bellingham, Washington, renowned for its commitment to
sustainable lifestyles. When not cooking up something delicious in the
kitchen for a houseful of friends, Lisa can be found hiking, practicing yoga,
or hopping a plane for another adventure in travel with her handsome husband,
Elie. You can read about your travels on her other blog, Simmstown.
an interview with Lisa
Why I chose to be an RD…
Food and cooking has
always been my haven. From the time I was little, I would relish at
helping my Mom bake homemade crusty loaves of bread and apple pies with buttery
golden crusts, or curling up beside my Dad to watch PBS episodes of The Great Chefs
of New Orleans and then recreating those dishes. If I close my eyes, I
can still conjure up the smell of a freshly picked green bean, hot from the
Kentucky sun, and the oily, lanolin smell of the sheep before they were
sheered. Conversation, laughter, debates, tears, discussions and
revelations shared over home-cooked meals around the kitchen table have been
some of the most satisfying, fortifying experiences of my life, both during my
childhood and as an adult. The kitchen is where I feel most at home, where
I work through my problems, relieve life’s stresses, and feed the people I
love. Becoming an RD that reads about, writes about and speaks about
these experiences means I can help other people create this connection to food
too.
Favorite food…
Italian food steals my
heart. I’m constantly on the search for the perfect slice of
Neopolitan-style pizza, and pasta carbonara is my go-to comfort food. But
the Kentucky girl in me also craves saucy pulled pork sandwiches topped with
tangy cole slaw, a plate of vinegar-laced greens or a sliced tomato with salt,
hot off the vine. All paired with a glass of red wine or Prosecco, of
course.
Favorite place…
I’ve traveled through 49
of the 50 United States (only Wisconsin left to go!), lived in many of America’s
great cities, including Boston, New York and Washington, DC, and in
Europe. Rome, with its food and wine culture, ancient history, exquisite
art and architecture, and fashionable people, certainly tops my list.
Although any place warm and sunny will do.
No one would guess this,
but…
I have visited 49 of the 50 states. Airports don't count. Only Wisconsin left to go.
If I wasn't a RD, I would
want to be…
A travel writer.
Something I'm terrible at….
Saying no. Asking for
help. Hemming a pair of pants. Playing the guitar.
Something I'm great at…
My friends would say
cooking, but I actually think I’m more of a great hostess. I love having a
house full of people eating good food, laughing and enjoying themselves.
And entertaining doesn’t stress me out. Guests have way more fun if I’m having
fun.
People would describe my
cooking as…
Easier than it
looks. I love taking simple ingredients and making something delicious
and beautiful. And if you set a pretty table and light some candles, it
makes up for a lot of flaws.
What I love about Nourish…
This is what I’ve always
wanted to do with my life. My life is immersed in food and nutrition and
cooking and eating…reading about it, writing about it, speaking about it,
inspiring others to care about it. And I’m doing it all with my best friend.
I can’t imagine anything better.
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