Why Nutrition Education Must Return to Our Schools and Communities

Nutrition isn’t just a part of my career. For me, it’s survival, healing, and transformation.

As a teenager, I was completely addicted to sugar and processed snacks. It felt normal, everyone around me was eating the same way. Inside, my body was breaking down. I struggled with weight gain, acne, major gut issues, unstable moods, and crushing anxiety. I would under-eat, then binge-eat, and the cycle left me exhausted, inflamed, and ashamed.

Like so many kids and teens today, I was caught in a trap: the pressure to look good, to be “fit” and “beautiful,” but without the tools, support, or education to actually nourish myself in a healthy way.

Then came the wake-up call in my mid 20s: a brain tumor. Facing something that serious forced me to look at my life differently. My adrenals were burned out, I was crashing every afternoon, I couldn’t sleep, and I was running on empty. Learning how to care for myself through food was not optional—it was the way back to balance.

Step by step, I started to rebuild. I learned how to eat for stable energy, steady moods, and long-term health. I discovered that food could support my mental health just as much as my physical health.

I embraced simple principles: eating the rainbow, filling snacks with protein and fiber, choosing whole foods most of the time, and allowing room for joy with an 80/20 approach. I was building a relationship with food that was sustainable, nourishing, and kind.

That transformation changed everything for me. It’s why I believe so deeply that every child and every family deserves access to nutrition education. Because the truth is, what nearly broke me is what so many kids are living with right now: sugar addiction, processed food as the norm, and not enough role modeling and guidance on how to eat well.

This isn't not just about nutrition and food—it’s about our connection to the earth. So much of what we call “food” today comes out of a box or a package. Real food doesn’t start in a factory; it comes from the soil, from farms, from trees, from water. Eating seasonally and locally is not only better for our bodies—it reminds us that we are nature. We’ve drifted so far from that truth.

I love that even here in New York City, reminders of this connection are everywhere if you look closely. The NYC Greenmarkets. Peach trees in yards and grapevines grow along fences. Fig trees in your neighbor's yard and dandelions that thrive in sidewalk cracks and empty lots. Community gardens exist in all boroughs where you can pluck an onion from the ground or pull a carrot up by its green top. Farms just outside the city harvest beautiful nutrient-dense produce and often donate the surplus to food pantries. There is abundance all around us, we just need to notice it, care for it, and share it.

And yet, instead of prioritizing nourishment, our country is cutting corners. School meals are still loaded with processed, high salt, high fat, high carb foods. Families in food deserts lack affordable access to fresh produce. SNAP benefits are being cut while lawmakers debate whether soda and sweets should be restricted—band-aid fixes that don’t solve the real problem. Meanwhile, we waste tons of good food each year because of aesthetic standards, labeling restrictions, and distribution.

We could feed our children better. We could make breakfast and lunch free in every school. We have the money and the resources...it’s just not being directed where it’s needed most.

This is why Julia and I founded Roots to Rise. Our nonprofit is about bringing nutrition education back to our schools and communities—through nutrition talks and cooking workshops, hands-on learning, food rescue, and connecting families with gardens, farms, and food pantries. We want to give parents and kids the tools I never had when I was struggling: the knowledge that nourishing your body doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or out of reach. It can be simple. It can be joyful. It can reconnect us to the earth and to each other.

Nutrition isn’t just about food, it’s about equity, mental health, disease prevention, and remembering our place in nature. It’s about raising the next generation to be strong, resilient, and connected: to their bodies, their communities, and the planet.

With Roots to Rise, we’re planting seeds for a future where parents and children are supported, kids and parents know how to care for their health, where food is not wasted, and every family has access to the education and resources they need to thrive.

👉 Join us in making this possible. Visit Roots to Rise Website to learn more and support our mission. Every contribution helps us bring nutrition education and food access where it’s needed most.