The Book of the Lamp — Read free with Kindle Unlimited · Kindle eBook: $0.99 · Paperback: $5.75.
The National Health Association Community Orchard
🤝 Community · 📚 Education · 🥗 Food · ⛵ Experience · 🌱 Flourishing
Choose what you need: 🥗 Find a recipe · 🎧 Watch & listen with Stacey · 🎪 Conference · 🌍 Travel · 🌲 Explore contributor tributes
🏅 Nathanael is a Life Member of the National Health Association (2026)
🎉 In 2026, Nathanael Elijah Smith, FNP-C, DipACLM became a Life Member of the National Health Association, the National Health Association’s highest membership level, as part of his long-term commitment to the National Health Association and its health-education mission.
💚 Why Nathanael endorses National Health Association membership
“I personally endorse the National Health Association’s membership program, and I want to help support our community by supporting the National Health Association. 🌱 In my experience, the National Health Association is the only patient-facing organization I know of that goes above and beyond to keep its teaching and recipes free of added salt, oil, and refined sugar. 🥗 I saw that same standard up close as Clinical Administrator at TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, California (April–November 2023), under Dr. Alan Goldhamer.”
— 🥷🌿 Flourishing Nurse Ninja Nathanael Elijah Smith, FNP-C, DipACLM · National Health Association Life Member (2026)
🎁 National Health Association Life Member benefits & perks
- ♾️ All National Health Association membership benefits, for life
- 💸 No annual dues, ever again: one payment and you’re a member for life
- 📰 Health Science magazine every quarter: ad-free issues with interviews, member stories, and salt-, oil-, and sugar-free recipes from top chefs
- 📸 Recognition in Health Science: new Life Members are featured by name and photo
- 🎤 Special recognition at National Health Association conferences and events
- ✈️ Top-priority booking for National Health Association Travel plant-based trips
- 💻 National Health Association Community membership included: online community, past conference videos, ongoing education videos, member forums, expert Q&As, and live events and webinars
- 📚 Members-only website and free classic health eBooks
- 🏷️ Member discounts on books and early notice of National Health Association events
💡 How to become a Life Member: according to the National Health Association, through a one-time $2,500 payment or by being a Century Club member for 10 years. 🌿 Not ready for Life Membership? Every National Health Association membership level helps support the mission, from the online Community Membership to the Century Club.
👨🍳 Chef James Rohrbacher — National Health Association member benefit: The National Health Association’s public discount directory lists a 10% discount from Chef James Nutrition for National Health Association members. The National Health Association directs members to sign in for discount codes. Orders are placed with the independent seller; check current eligibility, terms and availability before purchasing. Source checked October 19, 2026.
ℹ️ Nathanael’s endorsement is his personal recommendation. The National Health Association has not endorsed, sponsored, or partnered with Kitchen Monk™ or Flourishing Nursing™, and neither has Chef James. Nathanael is a former TrueNorth Health Center employee with no current affiliation. Benefits and prices are summarized from the National Health Association’s membership pages as of October 20, 2026 and can change; always confirm current terms directly with the National Health Association.
Celebrating Chef AJ
Good food. Shared laughter. A moment worth keeping.
Chef AJ, thank you for the joy, encouragement, and love of whole plant foods you have shared with me. This memory from TrueNorth Health Center in 2023 still makes me smile.
Nathanael & Chef AJ · A carotenoid-scan moment · Tap the video to play or pause.
Thank you, Chef AJ, for being part of this chapter of my flourishing journey. Here’s to nourishing food, human connection, and making room for joy.
Stay connected with Kitchen Monk™ & Flourishing Nursing™
KEEP THE JOY GOING · CHEF AJ’S OWN YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Keep watching Chef AJ
Enjoy the recorded celebration below, then explore Chef AJ’s own uploads, newest first.
On YouTube, choose Play all to start at the newest available upload and continue through the collection. Use the playlist menu to choose another video; turn shuffle off to keep the order.
The collection opens on YouTube because its current player restricts playback on other websites. Continuous playback depends on YouTube, video availability, and your browser. YouTube updates the uploads list as new public videos become available.
Our vision: make nourishment visible — read Nathanael’s story
Our vision: make nourishment visible
“An ultimate goal of Flourishing Nursing™ and Kitchen Monk™ is to help everyone enjoy God-made whole plant foods so consistently that their nourishment is reflected in their carotenoid scores.
Thank you, Dr. Alan Goldhamer, for making the scanner available to help people learn about their carotenoid status. My hope is that more healthcare organizations and certified lifestyle medicine clinicians will explore carotenoid screening as a routine nutrition measure alongside traditional vital signs. That’s this lifestyle medicine nurse practitioner’s vision.”
Nathanael Elijah Smith, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, DipACLM
Skin carotenoid scores can help estimate carotenoid-rich fruit and vegetable intake. They do not measure overall health or prove someone’s complete dietary pattern; this vision is not a claim that carotenoid screening is an established vital sign. Read the research.
More about this memory
🌿 A joyful moment with Chef AJ
A personal memory from Nathanael’s 2023 chapter at TrueNorth Health Center: connecting with Chef AJ around nourishing food and a flourishing life.
▶ Watch the Reel on Instagram · Read the TrueNorth 2023 story
💚 Why we wholeheartedly recommend the National Health Association
🌿 Kitchen Monk™ and Flourishing Nursing™ strongly endorse the National Health Association’s commitment to plant-based living, education, and community, and enthusiastically recommend exploring its educational resources and travel program.
🙋 Nathanael volunteered at a National Health Association conference and fell in love with its mission. 💚
🏛️ Promoting plant-based living and health education since 1948. 🌱 We want to help carry this educational work forward for the next generation, with a lasting commitment to accessible information, compassion, and practical support.
🤗 We want to help more people discover these resources, understand the information, and find practical ways to apply appropriate ideas in their own lives.
📖 Our patient explanations use everyday language, identify the original source, and provide direct links for readers who want the complete information. Our summaries are educational and have not yet completed independent clinical review. Consult the original source and your own care team before applying health recommendations.
🚢 Lisa McCarl, National Health Association Travel Coordinator and Advisor (coordinates National Health Association Cruise Travel) · 🗺️ Wanda Huberman, Executive Director, National Health Association (coordinates National Health Association Land Travel). The National Health Association lists both email addresses on its official travel page.
Travel information is free to browse; each trip is a separate purchase made directly with the booking provider the National Health Association names. For example, the National Health Association’s 2027 Rwanda and Cape Town & Botswana listings send booking to World Vegan Travel. Check each trip’s own National Health Association page for its provider and terms. Our endorsement of the National Health Association is one-directional: it does not mean the National Health Association has endorsed our organizations, approved our summaries, or entered a partnership with us.
🌿 Help health education flourish: explore National Health Association membership
Kitchen Monk™ and Flourishing Nursing™ encourage nurses, nursing assistants, nurse practitioners, patients, caregivers, families, and community members to explore membership in the National Health Association. With roots dating to 1948, the National Health Association offers education and community around plant-based nutrition and healthful living. Membership dues and donations help sustain its educational work.
We value opportunities to learn together, build supportive connections, and make practical health education easier to find. Explore the National Health Association’s public resources, consider membership if it fits your interests and budget, and review conference and travel opportunities directly with their organizers.
Our independent recommendation does not imply that the National Health Association or Lisa McCarl endorses our organizations. We do not sell memberships or travel, collect deposits, or manage bookings. Review current membership prices, billing periods, benefits, and cancellation terms on the National Health Association’s own page. For individual trips, request a complete written cost, cancellation, accessibility, and insurance summary. Educational resources do not replace individualized care.
National Health Association history · National Health Association mission and educational support. Links and organizational details checked October 16, 2026.
📋 National Health Association at a glance
👥 Who it helps: People who want to follow a whole plant-food lifestyle with no added salt, oil, or sugar; the National Health Association has promoted this approach since 1948.
✅ What you can do: Sign up for the free eNewsletter, watch National Health Association TV, listen to the podcast, find salt-, oil-, and sugar-free recipes and plant-based travel; members receive Health Science magazine; annual conference.
💲 Cost: Mixed: newsletter, podcast, and National Health Association TV are free; membership, magazine, and conference tickets are paid.
🌐 Where: 💻 Online + 📍 in-person conference (2027 conference in Independence, Ohio)
🔗 Our relationship: independent organization; featured, not affiliated. We receive no payment. Details checked October 14, 2026 on the official website; programs and prices can change.
🏘️ Where education becomes community
Lifestyle education becomes more powerful when people do not have to practice it alone.
🏛️ Since 1948, the National Health Association has worked to educate and empower people toward healthful living, including whole-food, plant-based nutrition. It offers recipes, a podcast, Health Science magazine, conferences, travel experiences, and a warm community. Kitchen Monk™ independently recommends exploring the National Health Association’s public educational resources and annual conference.
🤗 You do not have to be a clinician to belong in this learning community.
Patients, families, caregivers, nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, nurse coaches, Certified Nursing Assistants, dietitians, students, and anyone curious are all welcome.
🧺 Explore National Health Association Resources
🏷️ Access labels: 🟢 FREE · 🟡 MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED · 🟠 PAID / EVENT REGISTRATION · ⚪ CHECK CURRENT ACCESS. Please confirm current access directly with the National Health Association.
🥗 Cook With the National Health Association
Explore whole-food, plant-based recipes made without added salt, oil, or sugar from chefs and educators featured by the National Health Association. Find Recipes in the National Health Association website menu. ⚪ Check current access
🧺 New: we’ve gathered every National Health Association recipe we could find on its public pages (539, checked October 16, 2026) into one library, sorted by meal, with chef videos where they exist and a cook-along week with grocery lists. 🟢 Free.
🌿 Explore the National Health Association meal library
Kitchen Monk™’s most recent documented National Health Association catalog review (November 2, 2026) reports 527 deduplicated National Health Association source-version records, including separately documented recipe formulations; this is not a count of 527 unique dishes. The historical October 23, 2026 index contained 539 web/PDF entries (316 National Health Association website recipe-page entries plus 223 conference-PDF recipe entries), with overlaps: 539 is not a verified count of distinct recipes. These are our working inventory figures, not official National Health Association totals or a fresh complete recount. We credit original recipe authors and link to source recipes; videos and grocery-list features vary by entry. Check each source ingredient list before calling a particular recipe salt-, oil-, and sugar-free: some originals include sweeteners or prepared condiments. · Official National Health Association recipes ↗
Nutrition status: We have not yet calculated verified per-serving nutrition for this National Health Association collection. Estimates will be shown only after checking ingredient amounts, substitutions, recipe yield, and matching ingredients to documented United States Department of Agriculture FoodData Central records; otherwise we mark analysis pending. Cronometer is independent and optional: its free Basic account supports manually created recipes; paid Gold provides website recipe import and friend-to-friend recipe sharing; and Cronometer Professional can share custom foods, meals, and recipes with connected clients (Cronometer documentation updated October 29, 2026). These features do not create a universally public Cronometer URL for each recipe. Verify every ingredient match and serving yield before logging, and note that our sites do not sync any recipes or personal diaries to Cronometer. Kitchen Monk and Flourishing Nursing™ endorse the National Health Association for patient education. This is our own endorsement; the National Health Association has not endorsed or sponsored either site.
🎧 Listen and Learn: National Health Association Today
National Health Association Today is the official podcast of the National Health Association, with conversations about nutrition, lifestyle, plant-based living, and real stories from the National Health Association community. 🟢 Free to listen
🎧 Watch and listen with Stacey Lynn
Hear Stacey as both a guest and a host in the National Health Association podcast archive, explore The Herban Farmacy, and watch an original culinary demonstration. The dated recordings and creator links are collected on her dedicated page.
📰 Health Science Magazine & Newsletter
The National Health Association publishes Health Science magazine. Magazine access and archives are a National Health Association member benefit (🟡 membership required); check the National Health Association site for any sample issues. You can also subscribe to the Health Science newsletter from the National Health Association homepage (⚪ check current access).
🎟️ Take the learning off the screen
🎤 The National Health Association Annual Conference
This is not a clinicians-only conference, and that is its strength. Health professionals and everyday community members learn side by side, and everyone goes home with a deeper vocabulary for flourishing.
📅 UPCOMING · as of October 2026
79th Annual National Health Association Conference
🗓️ June 24–27, 2027
📍 Holiday Inn, Independence, Ohio
The National Health Association describes four days of education and community around whole-food, plant-based living, including speakers and health professionals, six salt-, oil-, and sugar-free meals prepared by chefs, yoga and mindfulness, and a welcoming community. 🟠 Event registration required
Speakers, pricing, lodging, and schedules can change. The National Health Association’s website is the authoritative source.
👫 Don’t come alone. Clinicians: bring someone you love.
Nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, dietitians, pharmacists, therapists, and students: consider bringing a spouse, partner, friend, parent, colleague, or caregiver. Lifestyle education becomes more powerful when clinicians and communities learn together.
You don’t need a healthcare credential to become an informed participant in your own health.
⛵ Sail Toward Flourishing: National Health Association Plant-Based Travel
Award-winning whole-food, plant-based group trips, including cruises with Windstar, with cruises coordinated by Lisa McCarl, National Health Association Travel Coordinator and Advisor and a former open-heart recovery nurse, and land travel coordinated by Executive Director Wanda Huberman. 🟠 Paid · National Health Association members get priority notice
🌟 Wanda Huberman
Executive Director, National Health Association · Coordinates National Health Association Land Travel 🗺️
If you are looking for a welcoming community centered on whole-food, plant-based living and health education, we encourage you to get to know the National Health Association and its Executive Director, Wanda Huberman. Wanda has attended National Health Association conferences since 1991, has managed them since 2017, and became the National Health Association’s full-time Executive Director in 2020. She leads alongside National Health Association President Mark Huberman and the broader National Health Association team.
Kitchen Monk™ warmly recommends exploring the National Health Association and appreciates the community-building leadership of Wanda Huberman and the whole National Health Association team.
🍎 How the National Health Association Fits the Flourishing Orchard
The National Health Association is the Community Stream in the Kitchen Monk Lifestyle Medicine Library: the place where people live and learn together. Nurse Coaches, our Flourishing Care Connectors™, can point people toward trusted places like the National Health Association to keep learning, while Flourishing Certified Nursing Assistants™ help bring practical food learning home.
🧭 Where to next?
ℹ️ Independent Recommendation
Kitchen Monk™ independently recommends the National Health Association as an external educational and community resource. Kitchen Monk is not sponsored by, affiliated with, or endorsed by the National Health Association unless expressly stated otherwise. References to Wanda Huberman and other National Health Association leaders are factual acknowledgements and do not imply personal endorsement of Kitchen Monk. All National Health Association names, recipes, and materials remain the property of their respective owners; we link to them rather than reproducing them.
🩺 Some National Health Association content discusses practices such as fasting. Please talk with your doctor or other healthcare provider before making any lifestyle changes, especially if you have a medical condition or take medications.
Last updated October 2, 2026.
🌿 Explore the National Health Association resource guide: Education, recipes, plant-based travel, and our proposed Flourishing EVERgreen Guardian invitations. Independently recommended; no National Health Association endorsement or partnership is implied.
🌲 Stacey Lynn — Chief Non-Clinical EVERgreen Guardian™
Discover Stacey’s plant-based education, culinary conversations, and public work. This is an honorary, non-clinical recognition from Kitchen Monk™ and Flourishing Nursing™.
🪷🪔 New: National Health Association Africa 2027 + our Living Lamp
Explore upcoming National Health Association Africa travel, our complete-cost comparison approach, and a living dedication to people and lessons that helped light the Kitchen Monk path.
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” 
