Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Salmon.
Hi Samantha, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I am an Integrative Nutrition Coach and community development professional on a mission to eradicate type 2 diabetes in this country and create a culture of health. I have always had a passion for fitness, but after watching my grandmother die at home on hospice care due to complications from type 2 diabetes, I realized food was not worth that level of suffering. I discovered Dr. Neal Barnard’s book about reversing type 2 diabetes with a whole foods vegan diet and have been vegan ever since. I have been committed to not getting saddled with chronic illness.
After getting a degree in economics from New York University and opening a raw vegan organic restaurant in Chicago, I went on to receive my health coach certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I learned about more than one hundred dietary theories and studied a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods.
I am the founder of RawFoodMealPlanner.com, the Raw Food Health Empowerment Podcast, and the Raw Food Health Empowerment Summit. I also wrote a book, You Can Afford to Be Healthy, to help folks make space in their lives for clean eating.
I have been active in the health equity space in an effort to achieve my mission of eradicating type 2 diabetes in this country. I am a member of the Good Food Economy and Good Food Purchasing Policy Working Groups for LA Food Policy Council, one of the largest food policy councils in the country. We were able to get the Good Food Zone policy passed in Q1 of 2020 which was a lot of work but super exciting, so I am looking forward to seeing the results of the pilot starting soon.
I am also currently the community manager for 10 million Black Vegan Women, an exciting new initiative and nonprofit supporting 10 million Black women in going vegan over the next 10 years.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Running a small business is never a smooth road. When I moved to Orlando, I was feeling really isolated and lonely. As a health coach, I stay up to date on the latest in wellness and knew that fostering friendships that are healthy with people that have healthy habits would be beneficial for my mental and emotional well-being but also critical for overall health and longevity. Loneliness has the same impact as smoking 20 cigarettes a day! You could drink all the green juice in the world, but you need to also cater to the other parts of yourself. Health is fueled by more than food. That period of my life birthed the Central Florida Health and Wellness Weekender, which we publish each week on RawFoodMealPlanner.com. It started as a project to help me connect with like-minded folks here locally after moving across country. It helped pull me out of loneliness and mild depression, and I continue to publish it just in case someone else here in Central Florida needs the same resource to help pull themselves out of a funk. Community is so important, and I found my people here. I want to help my readers do the same.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about RawFoodMealPlanner.com?
The Raw Food Health Empowerment Summit is happening again this year October 28-30, 2022, with new special guests. This Summit was inspired by the conversations I was having in food policy circles in Los Angeles with Black folks who were saying veganism is white. I realized folks have not been seeing themselves in the clean eating movement because folks that look like me have not gotten the platform and the reach to be seen. I made it my business to do something about it. The Raw Food Health Empowerment Summit celebrates the diversity in the raw vegan movement. Guest speakers include a raw vegan doctor, restaurateur, fitness professionals, etc.
https://rawfoodhealthempowermentsummit.com/all-access-pass-order-form-regular-price1625326870846
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love the weather. Humidity is great for my hair and skin.
I do wish there were more organic raw vegan establishments and just more organic produce available in general.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rawfoodmealplanner.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawfoodmealplanner/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RawFoodMealPlanner/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RawFoodMealPlan
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SamanthaSalmon
Image Credits
Samantha Salmon
