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Erica Sonnenburg, PhD, is a senior research scientist at the Stanford University School of Medicine in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology where she studies the role of diet on the human intestinal microbiota. She has published her ground breaking scientific findings related to the microbiota in prestigious journals such as The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cell, and, Nature. She is the co-author, along with Justin Sonnenburg, of the book The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health. Erica has two school-aged daughters. In her free time she enjoys gardening and cooking for her family and their trillions of microbes! This is a video that Justin Sonnenburg did for the NY Times. Contact information: erica.sonnenburg@stanford.edu facebook.com/thegoodgut http://sonnenburglab.stanford.edu iti.stanford.edu/center-for-human-microbiome-studies.html To make a donation to help fund Erica's research at the Center for Human Microbiome Studies: https://makeagift.stanford.edu/get/page/makeagift?pgnTPC=399&stp=342&olc=28958&cturl=close Erica and Justin's book The Good Gut will be available for purchase at the salon. AT THE SALON: The trillions of microbes that we harbor within our gut are profoundly reshaping what it means to be human. These bacteria are wired into our immune system, our metabolism, and even our brains. Whether you have a food allergy, have trouble losing weight, or struggle with depression these conditions may be in some way dictated by what some refer to as our forgotten organ, our microbiome. At this salon, Erica discussed what we know and what we still need to learn about our microbiome. She discussed why she thinks our guts are undergoing a mass extinction event, and what we can do now to improve the state of our gut bacteria. Click here to see the salon video. Click here to view the salon powerpoint presentation. #fiber #microbes #microbiota #microbiome #disease

Laura Stec is a private and corporate chef, educator and author, specializing in meals, events and products for healthy people and the planet. She is the Innovative Cuisine and Culinary Health Educator for Kaiser Permanente and Bay-Area corporate wellness programs. Trained at the Culinary Institute of America, the School of Natural Cookery and the Vega Macrobiotic Center, Laura has worked in restaurants since age 16, including the iconic Seva in Ann Arbor, MI, and San Francisco Bay Area’s Left Bank and Flea Street Café. She co-authored the book- Cool Cuisine – Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming where she addresses why global warming could be the “best thing to happen to the culinary world in a long time;” and reports on innovative science, business, and savory solutions to the “Global Warming Diet.” Cool Cuisine has been covered in 20 countries and 7 languages. www.globalwarmingdiet.org. Her work has been featured at NPR, Martha Stewart, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, and numerous local and national media sites. The Food Party! is her featured blog for San Francisco-based Embarcadero Media. Noted by Time Magazine as a “leader who pursued her passion to become a community resource and expert.” She volunteers as a cooking teacher for local schools, for Tasting Week and for the national Chefs Move to School program. On her days off she hikes and boogie boards the Pacific coast. ​ ​ Contact Information: www.laurastec.com laurastec.com/blog facebook.com/LauraStecInnovativeCuisine www.almanacnews.com/blogs/b/the-food-party?i=14 twitter.com/LauraStecINC www.YouTube.com/laurastec These are two nonprofits that Laura supports. Please feel free to make a donation on her behalf: CUESA - Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture http://www.cuesa.org/ CAFF - Community Alliance with Family Farmers http://www.caff.org/ AT THE SALON: A cool cuisine would reduce our overall carbon footprint by using fewer animal products, fewer processed foods, less bottled water, and less food and packaging waste while using more fresh, organic, seasonal, and locally grown whole foods such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. The benefits of eating this way are nothing new, but now we realize that our planet, as well as our body, are paying the price for an industrialized food system. It is time for a new perspective on a very old problem. At this salon Laura discussed various aspects of global warming (this is addressed in her book, Cool Cuisine) and then prepared some recipes in accordance with these principles. We learned how to source and prepare food in ways that positively impact our environment. Laura's book, Cool Cuisine - Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming was sold at the salon. Click here to view the salon presentation. Click here for the salon recipes. #globalwarming #nutrition #obesity #sustainability

Christopher Gardner holds a PhD in Nutrition Science and is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford. For the past 20 years his research has examined the potential health benefits of dietary components such as soy, garlic, antioxidants, ginkgo, omega-3 fats, vegetarian diets, and weight loss diets in the general population. The most current continuation of this work includes an NIH funded weight loss trial among 609 overweight and obese adults that will try to determine if such factors as insulin resistance, genotype, and/or microbial diversity predict differential weight loss on different diets. Recently his nutrition interests have expanded to two new areas. The first is to explore motivators other than health for making positive dietary changes, taking advantage of ongoing social movements around animal welfare, climate change, social justice, and their relationships to food - stealth nutrition. The second is to focus on a food systems approach to eating habits (from procurement to preparation to consumption) that addresses the quality of food provided by schools, worksites, hospitals and other institutional food settings. Christopher has four boys (ages 8, 11, 22 and 25), and his wife Melissa is a professor of Political Science (Menlo College). He is an avid volleyball player and bikes to work just about every day. He has been a vegetarian since 1983 and most of his meals are vegan these days, with the exception of the eggs he eats from the five chickens in his backyard. AT THE SALON: After a decade or more of headlines alternately promoting and vilifying fats and carbohydrates, justifiably confused Americans seem to have concluded that the only sure bet is protein, and the more the better. There seems to be a health halo around protein that suggests it is great for strong muscles, satiety, growth for kids, energy and brain power for adults, and more. But really, how much is enough? And how much is optimal? Enough for what? Optimal for what? At this salon, Christopher clarified the facts vs. myths and helped us resolve our dietary conundrums around protein with an engaging blend of science and humor. By the time he was done we were able to tie together chef-inspired great taste, environmental sustainability, and optimal health. We all walked away with personal solutions to try out and global solutions to support. Contact information: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/christopher-gardner http://nutrition.stanford.edu/ To make a donation to help fund Christopher's research: http://med.stanford.edu/nutrition.html Click here to see the salon video. Click here for the salon presentation. #protein #diets #nutritionresearch

Clia's style of teaching incorporates both yin and yang elements into an aligned vinyasa practice. Clia believes the benefits of yoga and meditation are immense, and she teaches in order to share them while also introducing more calm, clarity and connection to and among mind, body and spirit. She believes that through our yoga and mindfulness practices we can learn to be more present, with awareness and compassion, to live our lives authentically. Clia’s education and experience includes an MA and certification in Educational Therapy, Yoga Alliance Certification, Mindful Schools mindfulness curriculum training and certification through Transform Coaching Academy. She currently teaches yoga privately and through PAMF (teen and prenatal yoga), hosts Mindfulness Workshops for all ages and stages and works one on one with women as a transformational life coach. At this salon, Clia took us through a practice that included both physical asana and mindfulness practices. The sequence was appropriate for all levels of interest – from first timers to experienced yogis. The theme was "renew and rejuvenate" with the intention to learn something new that could be practiced at home. After the yoga and mindfulness exercises, we relaxed while enjoying massages, teas from Pique tea crystals and a skincare demonstration by 5YINA. CONTACT INFORMATION FOR CLIA: cstierney.wix.com/asantewellness facebook.com/asantewellnesscoaching/ linkedin.com/in/cliatierney Massages by: Colleen Garratt (650) 851-4747 Colleen@wellnessstudio.com www.villagedoctor.com 2979 Woodside Road, Woodside Francia Luna "Luna" (408) 667-3421 lunawellnessadvocate@gmail.com mydoterra.com/oilswithluna Seasonal Skincare handcrafted in the San Francisco Bay Area. Timeless Beauty in Harmony with Nature www.5yina.com Email: hello@5yina.com Click here for the spiced nuts recipe. #yoga #tea #skincare #massage

A nationally-recognized culinary translator and expert on the role of food in supporting optimal health, Rebecca has a Masters of Science degree in Health and Nutrition Education, and received her culinary training from New York’s Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. As a consultant, speaker, teacher and chef, Rebecca works closely with physicians, nurses, and wellness professionals to include the powerful tools of flavor and nutrition in their medical arsenal. Rebecca is the Executive Chef Emeritus for The Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s renowned Food as Medicine professional training in medical nutrition therapy, and consults for Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine’s premiere nutrition conference for health professionals co-directed by Fredi Kronenberg, PhD, and Andrew Weil, MD. She is the founder of the Healing Kitchens Institute at Commonweal, which trains healthcare professionals and interested cooks how to translate nutritional science directly to the plate through taste and flavor. Rebecca is the author of Clean Soups: Simple, Nourishing Recipes for Health and Vitality, The Healthy Mind Cookbook: Big Flavor Recipes to Enhance Brain Function, Mood, Memory and Mental Clarity, The Longevity Kitchen: Satisfying Big Flavor Recipes Featuring the Top-16 Age Busting Power Foods, The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Beyond , and One Bite at a Time: Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and their Friends. A myriad of food related experiences, including a sojourn to Italy, where she studied Mediterranean cuisine with chefs and signoras from Florence to Sicily, shaped Rebecca’s philosophy that health-supportive food must taste great in order to be nourishing and healing. Contact information: For more information and yummy recipes: www.rebeccakatz.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rebecca-Katz/274759209292766 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccakatzyum/ Click here to view a short video from the salon. Click here to get the salon recipes. #FOOD #CHEF #recipes #soup #Author

Ken Cook, president and co-founder of the Environmental Working Group (EWG), is widely recognized as one of the environmental community’s most prominent and influential critics of industrial agriculture, U.S. food and farm policy and the nation’s broken approach to protecting families and children from toxic substances. Under Cook’s leadership over the past 23 years, EWG has pioneered the use of digital technologies to expose the harms done by misconceived crop subsidies, crop insurance and runaway agricultural pollution. The organization has also empowered American families with easy-to-use, data-driven tools to help reduce their exposure to potentially harmful ingredients in foods, drinking water, cosmetics and other household products. Ken earned a B.A. in history, B.S. in agriculture and M.S. in soil science from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He and his wife Deb Callahan live in Marin, California with their son, Callahan Cook. Contact Information: Learn more about EWG at their website ewg.org A few videos about the Environmental Working Group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPw_HvQzfw0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbB0HVS6h64 To get in touch with EWG: generalinfo@ewg.org To follow up after the presentation: kbaird@ewg.org TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE EWG: https://donate.ewg.org/p/salsa/donation/common/public/?donate_page_KEY=8053 About the Salon: Making safe and healthy choices for you and your family can be tough in today’s food climate. The nation’s focus on conventional produce, packaged and processed foods, factory-farmed meats, and valuing “simplicity” over nutrition has left many wondering how they can feed their families without adding an enormous chemical or health burden. Ken addressed the current state of affairs in today’s food system, how various food choices affect the environment, and how we can reduce our exposure to pesticides, food additives, antibiotics in meat and more with a few simple tools. Plus, he discussed how we are pushing to change the food system with every purchase we make. Click here to watch the salon video. Click here for the salon presentation. #EnvironmentalHealth #foodchoices #health

Growing up in the health food capital of the world that is also at the heart of California's farmland, Santa Cruz, Kristi cultivated a passion for good, local food that was at times healthy and at times just comfort. Having spent her career in high-tech, she is a self-described short-order cook who loves exploring new concepts in food and cooking and keeping it both super healthy and super tasty. Kristi loves to experiment both with different diets and various types of cuisine. She has gone deep in the world of macrobiotic, vegan, and 100% home made. After being a vegetarian for 10 years, she has become a full-fledged omnivore and even raises and sells her own grass-fed beef and ranch raised, hand fed pork. She is the fortunate mother of two very adventurous eaters who have healthy appetites and aren't afraid to give "constructive" feedback. Kristi loves to cook for family and friends and especially loves tips and tricks on efficient and advanced prep cooking so you can socialize and cook at the same time! When not experimenting in the kitchen, Kristi is a passionate conservationist and serves as the Board Chair for Audubon California and on other environmental boards. She is an active parent volunteer at her children’s schools. She loves to hike and do yoga. Salon Description: From the healthy to the hearty, breakfast is not only an important meal but can be the most delicious meal of your day. Join us for a fun morning exploring some unique breakfast recipes and ingredients to start your day off right. In this salon, we'll learn how to prepare a range of items for a quick weekday morning to a make ahead brunch meal to a quick and healthy smoothie. Kristi is excited to share tips and tricks with the SOUL Food Salon community on how to make breakfast delicious and fun. Click here to get the salon recipes. #breakfast #creativefood #cooking #brunch

Laura Poppink is a local psychotherapist who specializes in leveraging the mind-body connection to help people tap into their potential to heal and discover more aliveness and joy! After graduating from Stanford and living in Asia and Europe, Laura got her Masters in Somatic Psychology at CIIS where she loved learning about how many ancient holistic healing modalities were being "proven" by western neuroscience. She always explores the biological, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual aspects of any "dis-ease" or challenge. After working for 5 years at a local addiction rehabilitation center and 3 years as the clinical director of an adolescent girls group home, Laura launched her private practice in Menlo Park. She works with a diverse group of clients grappling with issues of addiction, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, grief and loss, life transitions, and relationship work. She feels honored and privileged every day to get to do such intimate work with clients and is constantly awed by how challenging experiences often teach us the most about our strengths and gifts as well as help make clear what truly matters in life. Laura is super grateful for her amazing husband, 9yr old son, 7yr old daughter, and naughty black lab as well as her incredible friends and inspiring Woodside community. She tries to spend lots of time in the woods and at the beach and believes laughter is definitely some of the best medicine. Laura loves all things sparkly and has a daily practice of looking for the light in the darkness! Salon Description: We celebrated the 3rd International Character Day! We dove deep as we considered what type of person you truly want to be and how focusing on gratitude and growing our individual character strengths can help us lead a more fulfilling and meaningful life while simultaneously making the world a better place for all! We learned to tap into the power of mind-body-emotional regulation tools and discovered how self-awareness and practicing a growth mindset can help you become the best version of yourself. We all left feeling inspired and grateful for both the blessings and challenges in life! Check out these videos for a taste of what we explored together! Click here for the salon presentation. Here is the Science of Character short video

Dr. Reshma Shah is a board-certified pediatric physician. She obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine. Reshma has over a decade of experience in primary care pediatrics and served as an assistant clinical professor at a Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, a leading children's hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. She currently cares for patients at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. In addition to clinical practice, Reshma has a strong interest in family health and wellness, with a focus on plant-based nutrition. She completed a certification program in Plant-Based Nutrition through the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell as well as a Professional Plant-Based Nutrition Cooking certification through Rouxbe Cooking School. In her spare time, Reshma enjoys yoga, traveling with her family, and of course, cooking! Reshma has a website called The Family Table, A Health and Wellness Guide for Families. SALON INFORMATION: Did you know that the simple act of having family dinner together more nights than not can have an enormous impact on your child's well being. However, between busy work, school, sports, and after-school schedules, it can seem overwhelming if not downright impossible to have a sit-down family dinner. At this salon, you will learn tips, tools, and recipes to get dinner on the table and get your school year off to a great start! As a fun and interactive addition to this salon... Please bring an easy, family favorite recipe in which to share. Jeanne will distribute these recipes to the group. Click here for the recipes from the salon. Click here for the salon handouts. Click here for the salon presentation. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.thefamily-table.com reshmashahmd@gmail.com Twitter: @reshmashahmd www.linkedin.com/in/shahreshma #SCHOOL #COOKING #familydinner #recipes #dinner #pediatrics

Dr. Lucia Aronica has a PhD in epigenetics. Epigenetics literally means on top of your genes (or DNA). Epigenetic markers are a set of molecular tags put on top of your DNA to either turn genes on or turn genes off. Dr. Aronica was born in Naples, Italy. She received her PhD from the University of Vienna, Austria and conducted postdoctoral research work at the University of Oxford, UK. As an epigenetic scientist, she researches the connections between diet, epigenetic changes and human health. Lifestyle factors such as diet leave traces on our DNA as epigenetic marks. These in turn regulate gene activity by switching genes on and off - like a sort of switch for genes. Therefore, although we cannot change our genes, we can affect their activity through our lifestyle choices, and epigenetics is what makes this possible. At Stanford University, Dr. Aronica is studying how a type of epigenetic mark, called DNA methylation, changes in obese people during weight loss. In addition, she is evaluating whether these changes can predict the reversal of the metabolic consequences of obesity (increased blood pressure, a high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels) during weight loss. This would enable one to know if a diet is actually successful and to monitor whether the metabolic status continues to improve even when the weight-loss reaches a plateau. Dr. Aronica’s work can be found in the journals Cell, Genes and Development, Nucleic Acid Research and the EMBO Journal. She is also an award-winning science communicator and educator who uses creative forms of communication such as digital drawings to explain complex topics from the world of epigenetics and science. She also works as a video producer for the podcast Goggles Optional, a weekly audio program where scientists from Stanford University provide their professional yet humorous takes from the world of science. To keep her epigenetics in good shape, Lucia enjoys exercising regularly, spending time outdoors, and nourishing meaningful relationships with her community. Here are some videos Dr. Aronica has made about Epigenetics: https://stanfordbioscience2016.wordpress.com/courseresources/ At SOUL Food Salon, Dr. Aronica explained to us what epigenetics is and why it plays a critical role in our health and predisposition to disease. She also uncovered how our lifestyle habits, such as our diet, can trigger epigenetic changes thus affecting our health. Finally, she gave practical tips on how to boost our diet with epigenetically active nutrients for optimal health. Click here to watch the salon video. Click here for the salon powerpoint presentation. #genes #genetics #diet #health #DNA

Reshma Shah Dr. Reshma Shah is a board-certified pediatric physician. She obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine. She has over a decade of experience in primary care pediatrics and served as an assistant clinical professor at a Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, a leading children's hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. She currently cares for patients at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. In addition to clinical practice, she has a strong interest in family health and wellness, with a focus on plant-based nutrition. She completed a certification program in Plant-Based Nutrition through the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell as well as a Professional Plant-Based Nutrition Cooking certification through Rouxbe Cooking School. In her spare time, Reshma enjoys yoga, traveling with her family, and of course, cooking! WEBSITE: www.thefamily-table.com Twitter: @reshmashahmd Ann Ming Yeh Dr. Ann Ming Yeh is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University in Pediatric Gastroenterology and practices at Stanford Children's Health and California Pacific Medical Center. She obtained her undergraduate degree at University of Pennsylvania and completed her medical training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area for her pediatric residency and gastroenterology fellowship at Stanford Children's Health. She is board certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Gastroenterology, and medical acupuncture. She completed Dr. Andrew Weil's two-year integrative medicine fellowship through the University of Arizona where she has gained additional expertise in mind-body therapies, botanicals, and nutritional supplements. Dr. Yeh’s research interests include functional dyspepsia, fatty liver disease, acupuncture and integrative medicine approaches for functional GI disorders. She has presented her research on fatty liver, inflammatory bowel disease and integrative medicine at national meetings. Outside of medicine, she enjoys gardening, hiking, and traveling with her husband and children. At this salon we learned that inflammation is the body's response to injury and its many components. We also discussed a broad overview of inflammation in its various forms - acute, chronic, and how it can cause disease. We introduced the components of an anti-inflammatory diet and discussed how simple dietary changes can help modulate inflammation. We then dove in a day's worth of food to fight inflammation-- breakfast, lunch, dinner and even a sweet note to end. Simple, tasty recipes. Click here for the salon powerpoint presentation. Click here for the salon recipes. #food #inflammation #GI #gut #bowels #health

Consultant and coach, David Baum integrates 30 years of experience as a nationally respected expert in change. His work includes conflict mediation in Northern Ireland, facilitating President Clinton's Summit for America's Future, designing walking conflict resolution meetings in the Middle East and large-scale change projects for Shell Oil, Barclays, GE and Fidelity Investments. He has worked with Jane Goodall, Oprah Winfrey, Rwandan President Paul Kigame and President Bill Clinton. His clients have won the Nobel Peace Prize, The Conrad Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the World Children’s Prize, the Malcolm Baldrige Award and the Clinton Global Citizen Award. He holds two doctorates. The first in organizational psychology from Temple University, the second in divinity from Naropa University. David worked his way through graduate school with the circus. Thus, he is one of the few people to have taught at three of the top ten business schools in the world with a background in fire eating, juggling, and magic. David’s work has been featured in Fortune, Business Week, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The London Times. David has written two books, Lightning in a Bottle: Proven Lessons for Leading Change and The Randori Principles : The Path of Effortless Leadership. He lives in Peterborough, NH with his wife Terry and Jack Russell terrier, Bertie, herself a master at simple living! AT THIS SALON We live in a complicated world, with almost no space for breath or thought. Fortunately there is a solution. TheFour Rules to a Simple Life is a poetic and practical way through the noise and chaos. Based on noted anthropologist Angeles Arrien’s landmark work, these four principles of life can be found cross-culturally world-wide as the antidote to complexity and stress. Follow them and your life starts to get easier. It’s that simple! CONTACT INFORMATION: www.davidbaum.com Or directly at david@davidbaum.com Click here to view the salon video. Click here for the salon handout. #meditation #divinity #Psychology #stress