In February I started studying to become a health counsellor with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York, via correspondence. Name someone big in nutrition and I can safely say they’re probably lecturers at this place…Deepak Chopra, Joel Fuhrman, Sally Fallon Morell, Mark Hyman, etc.
I’ve learned things like: Eat melons alone or leave them alone (they digest so fast that if you eat anything else with them, digestion is retarded…leading to gas). There you go, hey!
Also, always soak brown rice overnight before cooking. It gets breaks down the phytic acid in the husk, which when ingested regularly can leach zinc and other vital minerals from your system.
Anyway, I’ve managed to strike up a deal where if anyone reading this decides to enroll in the course, too, and they mention I referred them, INN will hand me $500, which I’ll donate to OzHarvest.
OzHarvest is a wonderfully authentic Australian charity run by Ronni Kahn (who meditates in the same group as me) that collects excess food from restaurants and cafes and delivers it to those in need. A perfect synergy of issues I get awfully fired up about: nutritous eating and wasting less. Please feel free to forward this around to anyone wanting to study in this area…it’s a great opportunity to give.
I’m studying the course out of interest, but also so I can pass on worthy information. I care about how we’re eating today. In America, 60% of the diet consists of processed food. 35% is animal-based products and the remaining 5% is fruit and vegetables and nuts and seeds. Of this 5%, half is made up of potato. Scary!! And I’d say Australia is following not far behind.
I hate diets. This course covers more than 100 diets…but then advises we forgot all the rules and just take on board the sound information. Their big mantra is “crowding out”. That is, eat more good food so that, naturally, we don’t have room for the bad stuff. It’s not a nutrition course. It qualifies you to be like a life coach, but focusing on eating.
Some extra things you might need to know:
* I listen to all lecturers on an ipod that they supply. Exams are done online.
* The course is roughly $4-5K (depending on exchange rate) and is for a year.
* I dedicate about 2-4 hours a week on the course …it’s not taxing, especially given I can listen to the lectures whenever I want.
* Check out the website here. Or view an info session here.
* Updated October 2014
I recently recorded a webinar about the course, answering frequently asked questions.
