COURSE DESCRIPTION

Weaving together community wisdom from contributors at Plenitud Puerto Rico and expertise from trusted registered nutritionists, this course considers holistic approaches to nourishing our whole selves. Holistic Health and Wellbeing invites learners to consider what it means to “consume,” thinking beyond simple caloric measures of what we eat and instead considering consumption across all senses, as well as how to carefully consume information related to health, wellness, and nutrition. The course also covers the relationships between our food choices and the choice architecture constructed through policy and colonialism. How can we navigate grocery stores? How can we push back on the prevalence of food-related chronic illness? How can we look back to ancient practices while integrating modern scientific knowledge? Join us as we explore our diverse relationships with food, offer guidance for building plates and spice blends, and unpack what we mean by “wellness” in a world that insists on selling it at a premium.

Learning Objectives

As they journey through this self-paced, online course, learners will have the opportunity to:

• Survey new holistic perspective regarding eating, wellbeing and nourishment habits
• Identify the tenets of basic nutrition and where many nutrition recommendations originate from, and leverage both to navigate nutrition choices in the real world.
• Identify and practice habits that support their own healthy digestive process informed by an understanding of how the digestive system works.
• Practice using herbs, spices, marinades and broths in cooking to support healthy digestion and enhance flavors.
• Differentiate between whole-foods plant based food versus processed foods, and contextualize nuanced definitions of each.
• Explain the connection between health and chronic disease.
• Survey the basics of the current food system from agriculture to grocery stores.
• Analyze stories and case studies that highlight challenges and successful endeavors in Puerto Rico and beyond to improve eating habits and the broader food system.

This course was created through and is part of :

COURSE-AT-A-GLANCE

The topical overview of the course below provides an early taste of what you can expect as you embark on this learning journey.

Module One: What is Holistic Health?

Module Two: Digestion Using the Five Senses

Module Three: What is Our Relationship with Food?

Module Four: Bodily Digestion, Basic Nutrition, and Best Tips for Eating

Module Five, Part One: Our Food is Our Medicine: Understanding the Problems

Module Five, Part Two: Our Food is Our Medicine: Solutions from the Soil

Module Six: Local Solutions to Global Problems

AUDIENCE

Holistic health and wellbeing are loaded terms. Still, we can recognize that underneath the baggage they carry, at their core, they hold something valuable – something that we want for ourselves, even if we don’t know how to get there. Lifelong learners who want to understand what holistic health and wellbeing mean for them and their communities, who want to understand how to nourish their whole selves, who never learned what nutrients their bodies actually need to thrive, and why offering that care and nutrition are so challenging will benefit from enrolling in the course. While the course does not offer personalized nutrition advice and we certainly aren’t replacing the care offered by a medical professional, we have taken great care to offer the best general knowledge we can in an ever-evolving field to a wide audience. We learned a lot about ourselves when crafting the course, and we think you will, too. There are no prerequisites; all are welcome.

COURSE FACILITATOR

A truly holistic approach to health and wellbeing requires diverse perspectives. This class was developed primarily by Plenitud PR with additional contributions from the EcoGather team, others at Sterling College, and Christina Manian, RDN, a registered dietitian, sustainability professional, and trusted friend in Colorado. Meet some of the course contributors below:

We’re Plenitud Puerto Rico, a 501c3 non-profit educational farm and teaching center dedicated to service, sustainability, and community.

Through service, we find our greatest joy by giving equal value to the needs of others. Through sustainability, we help each other be more resilient and prepared for increasing global challenges, while minimizing our impact on Mother Earth. And through community, we see how much stronger we are together, unified in our shared purpose. We ground all of our programs and initiatives in this mission.

Our work helps facilitate the skills, knowledge, and inspiration needed to encourage inner growth and to live in harmony with ourselves, each other, and the natural world. More specifically, we aspire to help people acquire skills in sustainable technologies that can help them serve their communities in the areas of food, housing and water security, which we practice by organizing a variety of educational experiences.

Since 2008, Plenitud PR has been bringing sustainable agroecological practices back to Puerto Rico. Our vision is to increase food sovereignty on the archipelago. This would be a huge victory. Puerto Rico currently imports 85% of its food, which results in environmental pollution, loss of cultural identity connected to local food and cooking, and epidemics of nutrition-related diseases. So, how are we increasing food sovereignty? We have 25 community gardens, we provide agroecological education to over 300 students in local schools through Crezco en Plenitud, we offer workshops in permaculture and agroecology to 600+ people, and we run a weekly vegetarian meal delivery service (the Amo mis Abus program) for 50 elders in our community. Our programs serve community members of all ages and backgrounds, and , we have integrated plant-based nutrition into all of these efforts.

One of Plenitud PR’s biggest questions is “How do we really empower the Puerto Rican community through food?” There is a deeply rooted, multifaceted cultural, political, and economic problem facing most Puerto Ricans today—there are very few resources and/or opportunities specific to Puerto Rico’s context for community members to learn from. So, this is another thing we’re trying to change.

Because we know that when someone really understands how to use food as a way to make their life more vibrant, it is undeniably life changing. We regain the sensory experience of the kitchen—the bright array of colors Mother Earth gives us in her fresh produce, the aromatic smells that fill the air, the distinctive flavor combinations that send our taste buds into their own ecstatic experience. But also, in a much bigger sense, we have seen that food has the power to transform how we connect with our community, our ancestry, and our own bodily autonomy.

As Plenitud PR has grown and witnessed the worsening food and health crises that plague the lives of Puerto Ricans, we feel more committed than ever to improving food literacy and empowering the community. With the support of like-minded individuals who believe in the power of plants as medicine and as a key to living a healthy life, we know we can reach more community members who are ready to transform their lives through their diets.

Read more about our efforts in an article from the Center for Nutrition Studies by course developer Seona Boyle!

Meet Christina Manian, RDN:

DISCLAIMER: Course descriptions on this webpage are for informational purposes only. Content may be updated or changed as planning evolves. EcoGather reserves the right to alter the program specifics, including details about course content, instructors, collaborations, field trips, facilities and pricing, at any time without notice.