CORPORATE WELLNESS & NUTRITION PROGRAMS FOR SCHOOLS

Our Nutrition Philosophy

Food is sacred and should be for nourishment as well as pleasure. All bodies have the right to pursue health in a way that is joyous and meaningful to the individual while relying on the fusion of nutrition science and Intuitive Eating. Monica serves up science with a side of sass.

Monica relishes working with brands that align with her principles, interests, ethics and of course –
enjoying the delicious aftermath of a product photoshoot.

Evidence-based and Enriching Nutrition Programming:
• Reduces Insurance Premiums & Sick Days
• Prevents Chronic Diseases
• Improves Employee Morale & Workplace Culture

Our Approach

IDENTIFY PAIN POINTS
Locate the endemic problems in the organization with respect to nutrition.

TAILOR PROTOCOLS
Enter the nutrition SWAT team hatching dynamic programming for sustainable, customized, scaleable and enjoyable nutrition change that honors your company’s size, demographics, culture, and specific needs/requests.

STAY AGILE
Respond with flexibility to stay current and valuable to your company with programs that transcend time, management changes, and a thousand cookies that will no longer be in the office pantry.

Praise for Corporate Wellness and Nutrition Programming

“Monica’s presentation was engaging and had so much depth.”
“Monica is a super fun and engaging speaker. I loved every minute of it!”
“I loved how informational Monica’s presentation really was and shows how nutrition and other aspects of life can affect your overall health. I also loved how motivated it made me. I’m excited to be a healthier person overall.”
“What a fantastic presentation she delivered. It was truly a pleasure meeting her and having the opportunity to learn from her invaluable insights.”
“Monica’s presentation provided us with a wealth of valuable information, and I can confidently say that everyone in the room was thoroughly impressed and eager for more.  Her expertise and enthusiasm were evident, and it made for an engaging and informative session.”
“Monica’s energy and enthusiasm, not to mention her knowledge, made this a great use of my time.”

Our Services Menu

Mix, match, bundle or order a la carte. Bon Appetit!

• Seminars & No Bake “Cooking” Demos*
• Health Haunts Area Dining Guide**
• Company Cookbook Creation**
• Individual Employee Nutrition Mini Consults*
• Office Pantry Makeover**
•Dietitian In Your Pocket**
• Group Grocery Store Tours*
• Downloadable Supermarket Survival Guide**

*Available virtually or on site.
**Digital work done remotely.
Spanish-speaking dietitians available upon request.

DIETITIAN TO DIETITIAN CONSULTING

Starting a business, brand, or private practice can be daunting and discouraging in the nutrition field. As nutrition professionals, we don’t receive sufficient business courses in our education curricula, and navigating the business and marketing world as a private practice nutrition professional can feel stressful. Our consulting services for other dietitians and nutrition professionals can be a welcome set of training wheels to help you get started.

We’ll teach you how to:

• set up your nutrition business and access clients from the get-go
• design your digital storefront — your website and social media pages
• manage your books/accounting
• counsel and provide support during the entrepreneurial process
• set the table for all of your client processes, communications, and materials
• brainstorm creative other non-traditional revenue-generating lines
• market and brand yourself
• keep you accountable and on task
• form your vision and mission
• expand into a group practice
• connect you with all our trusted network of professionals such as designers, branding professionals, social media professionals, lawyers, and accountants

Not available for businesses located in Miami-Dade County.

MEDIA REPRESENTATION

• Print + Screen Opportunities
• Corporate Education and Wellness Programming
• Menu and Food Product Consulting for brands, restaurants, meal delivery, and schools
• Sponsored Brand Campaigns: Social Media + Blogs

Past Clients:

• The Miami Marlins Foundation and MLB Team
• The MET School
• Miami Children’s Museum
• RASG Hebrew Academy
• KLA Schools
• Temple Beth Am

Past Features:

• NBC6
• WPTV
• The New York Times
• Cosmopolitan
• O Magazine
• Elle Magazine
• Delish Magazine
• Eat This, Not That
• RedBook
• Self Magazine
• Women’s Health
• Shape
• Reader’s Digest
• Prevention Magazine

MENU CONSULTING FOR FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS

Essence Nutrition is pleased to offer nutrition consulting services  for restaurants, hotels, spas, meal delivery companies, cafes, commercial kitchens, and foodservice sites. There is tremendous pressure for restaurant establishments to accommodate guest demands for nutrition while dining out. Investing in a dietitian in order to build menus that offer contemporary nutrient-dense options, cater to dietary needs, and still honor chef-driven concepts allows organizations to fulfill and stay one step ahead of the dynamic consumer demand landscape. Many states are even moving toward mandatory nutrition fact labeling on menus.

We are happy to work with your establishment to yield menus that honor food for health and sensory pleasure. An innovative dietitian as a consultant can help your food establishment stay abreast of current nutrition/health and food trends which will impress your consumer and position your restaurant as unique, creative, and contemporary in your field.

Our Menu Consulting entails:

• Menu creation / consulting –  working alongside restaurant executives and chefs to align with the vision of the facility and harness nutrition goals 
• Menu analysis (complete nutrient data analysis for all food/beverage items complete with generated labels)
• Creating Allergy Statements
• Ability to use dietitian’s likeness and written/video contributions to live on website or promotional materials to leverage as a marketing tool

SCHOOL NUTRITION CONSULTING

Welcome to the most fun and enriching classroom. I hope to bring nutrition education to your school in a meaningful, health-enhancing, compassionate, considerate, and fun way. A groundwork program like this will be very good marketing, recruitment, and public leverage for the school and serve as the foundation for a legacy nutrition program to improve the health of your school’s community for years to come.  

Monica principally meets with stakeholders in the program to develop pillars and themes that represent the essence of the school in order to design a custom curriculum. Monica recommends separate faculty, parent, student modules. Student modules are divided into younger elementary (grades K-2) and older elementary (grades 3-5). Middle and high school-appropriate content is available as well. Each younger student seminar (K-8) involves a hands-on activity as well as a didactic presentation. All work focuses on optimizing growth and development from belly to brain, fostering confident attitudes in relationships with food, and building a lifetime heal thy relationship with food with a natural inclination towards nutrient-dense choices.

Sample Themes include:

• Body Kindness and Respect
• Cultural Nutrition Appreciation and Food Competence
• Nutrient Density
• Sustainability and Environmental Kindness
• Physiological and Psychological Growth and Development

Each module incorporates elements of all pillars with a core around one to two nutrition-centered topics, such as:

• Sugar Intake
• Hydration
• Movement and Fitness
• Mindful Eating
• Snacks
• Breakfast
• Picky Eating and Mealtime Behavior & Etiquette
• Food Allergies and Intolerances
• Food Safety
• Easy Meals
• Body Image
• Cultural Exploration in Nutrition
• Disease Prevention
• Puberty
• Athletic Support
• Sustainable and Earth Food Systems
• Nontoxic Living

All material is presented without a focus on weight with respect to the tenets of Health At Every Size and Intuitive Eating. All bodies, humans, and animals are respected and glorified. An emphasis on children’s relationships with food, not just a mere understanding of the science, is a key component of programming.

Menu Magic
Edible teaching, that is, creating learning moments on childrens’ plates, is tantamount to maintaining congruency within the program framework and to optimize health outcomes. Monica’s innovative menu consulting results in gourmet meal and snack ideas for schools as she works closely with your school catering company, chef, or outside restaurant options to deliver the finest and healthiest fare to the most precious plates. Imagine a cafeteria stocked with a rainbow of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and seeds prepared in mouthwatering ways, housemade plant-based dressings, mushroom ceviche, pumpkin butter chocolate cups, poached pears, cheesy kale chips, superfood arepas, salmon slaw burgers, and other tantalizing options that can be a reality within your school’s congregate dining area. All dining options can be modified to fit kosher and allergy needs. Monica has consulted on menus from daycare through high school and has a unique understanding of foodservice operations from her graduate school program and work alongside dozens of chefs and caterers with the Miami Marlins.

As Gen Y and Gen Z consumers, students crave innovative menu concepts, while school nutrition professionals must adhere to strict nutritional guidelines and budget restrictions. Food allergy management in school nutrition programs is on the rise. Districts across the country now have gluten-free, kosher, vegan and vegetarian menus while also identifying the common allergens in the meals they serve. Monica assists schools who are transitioning to these special menus by carefully reviewing their recipes and ingredient lists and providing suggestions for alternative items that will meet both guidelines and budgetary constraints.

Why Nutrition Education in Schools?

The Time is Now 
With an increased interest and demand in and for school nutrition programs from school communities to have diverse menus and robust nutrition education curricula — all while actively being involved on social media to promote programs to parents, students and the community, many schools are becoming contemporary and forward-thinking leaders in the community and enlisting dietitians.

Farm to School 
The increased interest in sustainability and food sourcing has allowed dietitian-lead programming to focus on these core values. Dietitians are spearheading these programs in school districts by developing education materials for students on edible gardens, composting and environmental safety while also using their expertise as food and nutrition experts to help students understand how they can utilize their garden bounty in a variety of recipes. From school garden harvest meals to discussing the plant parts students can consume, the possibilities are endless in involving parents, faculty, and families in hands-on learning activities that will serve as the basis for their health and environmental decisions for life.

Nutrition Education 
Dietitians are uniquely positioned as the true nutrition experts with their pediatric clinical prowess to help students, faculty, and parents understand the impact food choices have on their futures and academic success. Dietitians use their expertise in the field to develop curricula to target specific age groups on a variety of essential topics, from fruit and vegetable consumption to physical activity. These roles allow dietitians to be creative –whether it is having a smoothie challenge to promote breakfast consumption or veggie bingo to help students learning English or Spanish in school recognize their vegetables in dual language programs, or a food critic role play, the opportunities are endless. Monica prides herself in programming that is wildly entertaining and has a knack for communicating with children.

Marketing and Communications.
The push for school nutrition programs to engage with their consumers on social media is one that has been steadily rising. Dietitian-lead programming provides schools the ability to leverage the dietitian’s work as a unique marketing opportunity. The dietitian can assist by writing blogs, social media posts, and newsletter content to represent the school’s commitment to wellness to the community and position the school as the best in show

Bilingual sessions are available with other Essence Nutrition dietitian associates.
Work can be conducted on-site or virtually. 

Funds and Figures

I usually allow each school to come up with a lump budget figure and I create a curriculum to best allocate those funds, including materials for non-baking demos.  I like to work with schools to design a budget that best is comfortable for them while still accommodating a robust program to elicit measurable educational outcomes. Pricing bundles are available for multiple services employed. 

See You In The Classroom