Kitchen Monk™ → EVERgreen Chronicles → Founder Story → Mentors Who Lit the Way
🪔 From the EVERgreen Archives
Mentors Who Lit the Way
HISTORICAL ARCHIVE · GRATITUDE, NOT ENDORSEMENT
The Kitchen Monk™ Mentorship Archive
Someone carried the lamp before us. We remember them. We learn from them. And then we carry the light forward.
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🪔 Lamps Lit This Season · September 2026
🎉 Newly elected to the ACLM Board of Directors
Dr. Karen Laing, DNP, APRN, AGPCNP-BC, DipACLM, HWNC-BC, CHES, FPCNA
Karen has been elected Director At-Large (Professional Team Member/Healthcare Executive) of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine for 2026–2029. A nurse practitioner and board-certified health and wellness nurse coach, she founded All Heart Coaching in 2017 to help people prevent heart disease, founded the Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group at the University of South Florida, and serves on the faculty of the Integrative Nurse Coach Academy.
A nurse and nurse coach helping lead ACLM is a milestone for everyone who believes nursing belongs at the heart of lifestyle medicine.
Follow Karen’s work and cheer her on:
ACLM’s 2026 election also welcomed Dr. Meagan Grega (President-Elect), Dr. Allison Collins and Dr. Daniel Chen (Directors At-Large), and Paige Juriga (Young Director).
🌱 Leadership announcement
Meryl Fury, MS, RN
Plant Based Support has named Meryl Fury its new President & CEO, and she also leads the Plant Based Nutrition Movement. Meryl is Kitchen Monk’s Chief Flourishing Guardian and one of Nathanael’s closest nursing friends.
When Nathanael was brand new in his current clinical role, Meryl was one of the very few people who stepped forward to help. She gave her time. She trusted him. She encouraged him. She wanted another nurse to succeed. If that isn’t nursing leadership, what is?
Follow Meryl and share the good news:
🥗 Featured by PCRM’s Nurses Nutrition Network
Joanne Evans, MEd, RN, PMHCNS-BC
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Nurses Nutrition Network, home to Food for Life nurse leaders Tammy Robertson and Cody Stubbe, featured Joanne as a special guest speaker. A nurse for 50 years, Joanne serves on PCRM’s Medical Advisory Board and has spent years helping nurses learn plant-based nutrition. PCRM also shared her study in which 19 George Mason University nurses tried plant-based eating for 21 days (American Journal of Nursing, 2017).
📖 The Flourishing Nurse’s Bookshelf
Cultivating Seeds of Health with Plant-Based Nutrition
Joanne Evans, MEd, RN, PMHCNS-BC (2020)
Nurses who discovered plant-based nutrition after nursing school share how they now teach it to patients, families, colleagues, and communities. Seeds, gardens, and nurses who plant health: it could have been written for the Garden of the EVERgreen Chronicles.
Code Calm: A Nurse’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving
Nurse Blake (Blake Lynch, BSN, RN) with contributing nurses (2026)
An honest, practical guide to burnout, trauma, mental health, and boundaries, written by nurses for nurses. Blake has shared that it grew from his own time as a patient, when he noticed that several of the first people he met there were nurses. It answers the question at the heart of Kitchen Monk: who nurses the nurse? The book benefits the Nurse Support Network.
If you are a nurse who is struggling right now, you are not alone. In the U.S., you can call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline any time.
Recommended reading. Kitchen Monk™ earns nothing from these links, and the authors and PCRM have not reviewed or endorsed this site.
📚 The Flourishing Nurse’s Bookshelf, continued
More Books by Nurses Who Lead With Lifestyle
🥗 The plant-based kitchen shelf
- The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook (2014) · Jane Esselstyn, RN, with Ann Crile Esselstyn. Over 125 plant-based recipes.
- Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior · Jane Esselstyn, RN, with Ann Crile Esselstyn.
- The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook for Beginners · Jane Esselstyn, RN.
- The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet · co-authored by Jane Esselstyn, RN, with Rip Esselstyn. Jane also created the recipes for Plant-Strong.
- Food Is Climate by Glen Merzer · with recipes from nurse Cody Stubbe and her daughters of So Many Kids in the Kitchen.
❤️ The heart-health shelf
- Heart Attack! Advice for Patients by Patients (Yale University Press) · co-authored by nurse practitioner Kathy Berra, with chapters written by heart attack survivors themselves.
🌿 The nurse coaching & holistic nursing shelf
- Nurse Coaching: Integrative Approaches for Health and Wellbeing (2015) · Barbara Dossey, Susan Luck, and Bonney Gulino Schaub, all RNs. The first comprehensive Nurse Coach textbook.
- The Art and Science of Nurse Coaching (American Nurses Association; 2nd ed. 2021) · Southard, Dossey, Bark, and Schaub.
- Dossey & Keegan’s Holistic Nursing: A Handbook for Practice (8th ed., 2022).
- Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Visionary, Healer · Barbara Dossey, PhD, RN. For every nurse who carries the lamp.
📝 Chapters by nurses we honor
Kelly Freeman is principal author of the “Dementia” chapter in Improving Women’s Health Across the Lifespan (CRC Press, 2022). Karen Laing, Deborah Chielli, Janine Santora, Elizabeth Click, Carolyn Sweetapple, and Elizabeth Simkus wrote nursing chapters in Lifestyle Nursing and Lifestyle Medicine (see Nurse Authors ↓).
Are you a nurse who has written a book on lifestyle medicine, plant-based nutrition, nurse coaching, or nurse well-being? Tell us and we’ll add it to the shelf.
Recommended reading only. Kitchen Monk™ earns nothing from these books, and the authors and publishers have not reviewed or endorsed this site. Books are for education and are not a substitute for individualized medical care.
👑 Our Florence Nightingale Queens
Connect With and Support These Nurses
Every one of these nurses carries the lamp. The best thank-you is to show up for their work: follow them, read their books, listen to their talks, share their posts, and invite them to speak.
📖 New on the Bookshelf
Faith Forward · LaTaya De Jesus, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, DipACLM
A book about moving forward in faith, from a nurse whose journey began as a U.S. Army combat medic and who now helps people reverse chronic disease through lifestyle medicine at Eden Health Restored. LaTaya credits God for guiding every step of her healthcare journey. Faith, food, and flourishing, all in one lamp.
| Nurse | Follow, read, and share |
|---|---|
| Karen Laing | Podcast ↗ · Nurse Coach Academy ↗ · PCNA ↗ |
| Meryl Fury | @themerylfury ↗ · LinkedIn ↗ · Plant Based Support ↗ · PBNM ↗ · Her Kitchen Monk page → |
| LaTaya De Jesus | Eden Health Restored ↗ · Faith Forward ↗ |
| Janine Santora | Capital Health ↗ · LinkedIn ↗ |
| Deborah Chielli | LinkedIn ↗ |
| Karla Rodriguez | NYU ↗ · LinkedIn ↗ |
| Krista Dewar | LinkedIn ↗ |
| Josie Bidwell & Lauren Turner | Josie at UMMC ↗ · UMMC team ↗ |
| Kelly Freeman | Indiana Lifestyle Medicine Network ↗ |
| Joanne Evans | Cultivating Seeds of Health ↗ |
| Caroline Trapp, Tammy Robertson & Cody Stubbe | PCRM Nurses Nutrition Network ↗ |
| Barbara Dossey & Susan Luck | Integrative Nurse Coach Academy ↗ |
| Nurse Blake | @nurse.blake ↗ · Code Calm ↗ |
| Everyone | ACLM on Instagram ↗ |
Are you one of these nurses? Send us your Blinq card, website, or social handles and we’ll add them so more people can find and support your work. We only post contact links nurses share publicly or ask us to add.
Public professional links only. These nurses are not affiliated with Kitchen Monk™ and have not endorsed it. We earn nothing from any link here.
👑 More Ways to Find and Follow Them
| Nurse | Profiles, practices, and stories |
|---|---|
| Trey Bennett | Vitality Lifestyle Medicine profile ↗ · His #healthynurse story ↗ |
| Kara Mosesso | A day in the life of Kara ↗ (26-time marathoner) |
| Tammy Robertson | Food for Life instructor page ↗ · Her #healthynurse story ↗ |
| Cody Stubbe | Food for Life instructor page ↗ |
| Caroline Trapp | P-POD profile ↗ · Plant Yourself podcast ↗ |
| Kelly Freeman | P-POD profile ↗ |
| Kathy Berra | Heart Attack! ↗ · Lifestyle Nursing ↗ |
Still looking for public handles for Susie Spell, Elizabeth Winings, Elizabeth Simkus, Elizabeth Click, Carolyn Sweetapple, Kathleen Wilson, Allison Leppke, Amy Becklenberg, Lisa McCarl, Erin Sinnaeve, and Jane Esselstyn. If you are one of them, send us your links or Blinq card.
🩺 Nurses leading inside the American College of Lifestyle Medicine
ACLM Nursing Member Interest Group leaders
These nurses currently help lead ACLM’s nursing member interest group, where RNs and APRNs across the country come together around lifestyle medicine.
Susan “Susie” Spell, FNP, DipACLM (Jacksonville, Florida): family nurse practitioner and holistic health coach who leads lifestyle medicine shared medical appointments, runs her own coaching practice, and hosts the Return to Vibrant Health podcast.
Krista Dewar, DNP, ARNP, FNP-C: family nurse practitioner and owner of Lifestyle Health and Wellness. LinkedIn ↗
Karla Rodriguez, DNP, RN, CNE, NC-BC, DipACLM, FNYAM: NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing professor who teaches a lifestyle medicine elective and founded the student group Plant-Based Lifestyle for Nurses. NYU ↗ · LinkedIn ↗
🎉 New Fellow of ACLM: Deborah Chielli, MSN, APRN, AGNP-C, DipACLM, FACLM
A board-certified lifestyle medicine nurse practitioner with the Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute, Deborah is now a Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. She is a PCRM Food for Life instructor, contributed to the Lifestyle Nursing textbook, and co-wrote a chapter on nursing ethics, self-care, and the changing roles of nurses in the textbook Lifestyle Medicine. Deborah on LinkedIn ↗
Recognition of public work only; these nurses are not affiliated with Kitchen Monk™ and have not endorsed it.
🪔 The nurses who show up
More Nurses Lighting the Way
At ACLM’s 2023 conference, lifestyle medicine nurses gathered for a photo simply captioned “Nurses representing”: Deborah Chielli, Karen Laing, Susie Spell, Joanne Evans, Erin Sinnaeve, Kelly Freeman, Elizabeth Winings, and Elizabeth Simkus. Lamps, side by side. Here are more of them.
Elizabeth Simkus, DNP, FNP-C, DipACLM: medical director of the RUSH Prevention Center in Chicago and author of the advanced practice nursing chapter in the textbook Lifestyle Medicine.
LaTaya De Jesus, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, DipACLM: founder and CEO of Eden Health Restored, a lifestyle medicine health coaching company; her healthcare career began as a U.S. Army combat medic.
Elizabeth Winings, DNP, APRN, PMHNP, DipACLM: psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, Jacksonville University nursing professor, and owner of Winings Wellness, a practice grounded in lifestyle medicine.
Elizabeth R. Click, DNP, ND, RN, CWP: nurse educator who co-wrote the textbook chapter on bringing lifestyle medicine into nursing education.
Carolyn Sweetapple, RN, PhD, MBA: co-author of the opening nursing chapter, “Lifestyle Nursing: Lifestyle Medicine and Nursing.”
Lauren Turner, MSN, FNP-C, DipACLM: lifestyle medicine nurse practitioner at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, on Josie Bidwell’s preventive medicine team.
Erin Sinnaeve, DNP, FNP-C (friend of the movement): family nurse practitioner with 25+ years in health care who practices allergy and immunology alongside lifestyle medicine.
Recognition of public work only; these nurses are not affiliated with Kitchen Monk™ and have not endorsed it. Send a correction anytime.
The Lamp Is Never Lit Alone
Kitchen Monk™ did not begin with a logo, a website, or a book. It emerged gradually through years of nursing, advanced-practice nursing, bedside experience, prevention, lifestyle medicine, Food as Medicine, patient education, mentorship, professional collaboration, and a growing conviction that healthcare could become more relational, restorative, preventive, joyful, and human.
Every person who eventually carries a lamp was once helped by someone else’s light. This archive preserves some of those moments. It is not a list of endorsements. It is a record of gratitude, and of how many people it takes to help one human being grow.
We Honor the People Who Helped Us Become
Kitchen Monk™ believes flourishing is relational.
Every person carries lessons received from others.
Mentors help us see possibilities before we can fully see them ourselves.
Teachers give us language. Patients give us wisdom.
Families give us roots. Communities give us belonging.
And eventually, we are called to pass what we have learned forward.
That is why we preserve these moments.
Mentorship Archive · Lifestyle Medicine
Dr. Ron Weiss, DipABLM
Earlier lifestyle medicine mentor
Before Kitchen Monk™ became a name, Nathanael Smith’s journey through lifestyle medicine was shaped by mentors, colleagues, teachers, patients, nurses, physicians, chefs, and advocates who helped him understand what healthcare could become.
Among those earlier mentors was Dr. Ron Weiss, DipABLM, a board-certified lifestyle medicine physician and founder of Ethos Primary Care and the Ethos Farm Project in Long Valley, New Jersey.
Archived conversations on Chef AJ’s YouTube channel preserve small but meaningful moments from that period, including public acknowledgment of Nathanael during an educational conversation. The videos now live in the Kitchen Monk Review, linked below.
🎞 Now in the Kitchen Monk™ Review
Watch the Chef AJ Moments
The archived Chef AJ videos now live in one place, the Kitchen Monk Review, with embedded players and timestamp buttons: the iodine discussion and Nathanael’s recognition at about 56:36, the 59:40 moment that planted a seed, and the Lyme disease discussion at 23:30.
🌿 More about Dr. Weiss
The doctor who grows what he prescribes, and who trains tomorrow’s physicians on his farm. Thank You, Dr. Ron Weiss · Full tribute on FlourishingNursing.org · When the Healer Needs a Nurse · Your Nurse May Notice Something Important
Historical content, not medical advice. Archived discussions are provided for historical and educational context and may not reflect current evidence, guidelines, or Kitchen Monk™ educational recommendations. They are not individualized medical advice. Health decisions should be made with an appropriately qualified healthcare professional familiar with the individual’s circumstances.
What this archive is, and isn’t. This page documents historical mentorship. Dr. Ron Weiss and Chef AJ are independent and are not affiliated with Kitchen Monk™, Flourishing Nursing, Flourishing Nursing Forward™, or The EVERgreen Chronicles™, and nothing here means they have reviewed or endorsed them. The videos belong to their original publisher and are linked, not copied. In an emergency, call 911.
The EVERgreen Chronicles · Book of the Lamp
The Lamps Before the Lamp
Before Nathanael carried the Kitchen Monk™ Lamp, others carried light for him. Teachers. Nurses. Physicians. Mentors. Patients. Family. Friends. Colleagues. Chefs. Advocates.
Each left something behind: a lesson, a question, a challenge, an example, a word of encouragement, a glimpse of what healthcare could become.
Some people light the trail. Others become anchors. Others teach us how to SAIL. All become part of the voyage.
📜 The Scroll of the Lampkeepers
Honor those who helped light your road.
Remember their lessons.
Carry forward what was good.
Keep learning. Keep questioning. Keep growing.
Then turn around and hold the lamp for someone coming behind you.
The Light Is Handed Forward
A mentor teaches a clinician. A clinician teaches a nurse. A nurse teaches a family. A parent teaches a child. A Flourishing Guardian teaches another Flourishing Guardian. The lamp continues.
Learning across disciplines did not lead Nathanael away from nursing. It deepened his belief in what nursing can become. We learn from physicians, registered dietitians, chefs, therapists, physical therapists, community health workers, patients, families, and one another. Nurses then bring those lessons together at the human point of care. That is the heart of Flourishing Nursing Forward™.
Look at how many people help one human being grow. Now imagine what happens when we do that for everyone.
More Lamps Along the Trail
This archive will keep growing, across family, nursing, lifestyle medicine, Food as Medicine, culinary medicine, faith, education, community, and the patients who taught us. For now, you can meet some of these lamps elsewhere on the site:
- Our Family Story: the Seaside, Oregon roots of Kitchen Monk
- Where My Roots Began: Anchor Christian Academy and Riverside Fellowship
- Meryl Fury, MS, RN: Kitchen Monk’s Chief Flourishing Guardian
- Dr. Yami Cazorla-Lancaster: a lamp we’re grateful for
Keep exploring: The EVERgreen Chronicles · About Kitchen Monk · Kitchen Monk in the World · Lifestyle Medicine Library
All the lifestyle medicine nurses we honor
Every nurse featured on this page, in one list. This is a recognition list, not a list of partners: these nurses have no affiliation with Kitchen Monk™ or Flourishing Nursing and have not endorsed them.
| Nurse | Public work in lifestyle medicine |
|---|---|
| ⭐ Karen Laing, DNP, APRN, AGPCNP-BC, DipACLM, HWNC-BC, CHES, FPCNA | Newly elected ACLM Director At-Large (2026–2029); nurse coach; founder of All Heart Coaching (featured ↑) |
| ⭐ Meryl Fury, MS, RN | New President & CEO of Plant Based Support; Kitchen Monk’s Chief Flourishing Guardian (featured ↑) |
| Josie Bidwell, DNP, RN, FNP-C, DipACLM, FACLM | First nurse inducted as a Fellow of ACLM (2022); ACLM board director; University of Mississippi Medical Center |
| Kelly Freeman, MSN, RN, AGPCNP-BC, DipACLM, FACLM | Director of Workforce Development at ACLM; co-founder of the Indiana Lifestyle Medicine Network |
| Deborah Chielli, MSN, APRN, AGNP-C, DipACLM, FACLM | New Fellow of ACLM; Food for Life instructor; textbook author |
| Janine Santora, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, SCRN, CNRN | Neuroscience NP; co-author of the nursing ethics and self-care chapter in Lifestyle Medicine (featured ↑) |
| Kathy Berra, MSN, NP-BC, FAHA, FPCNA, FAAN | Co-editor of Lifestyle Nursing; founder of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association |
| Caroline Trapp, DNP, ANP-BC, CDE, FAANP, DipACLM | Director of Diabetes Care at PCRM; helped establish its Nurses Nutrition Network |
| Susan “Susie” Spell, FNP, DipACLM | ACLM nursing interest group leader; Jacksonville NP, health coach, and podcast host |
| Krista Dewar, DNP, ARNP, FNP-C | ACLM nursing interest group leader; owner of Lifestyle Health and Wellness |
| Karla Rodriguez, DNP, RN, CNE, NC-BC, DipACLM, FNYAM | ACLM nursing interest group leader; NYU nursing professor |
| Elizabeth Simkus, DNP, FNP-C, DipACLM | Medical director, RUSH Prevention Center; textbook author |
| LaTaya De Jesus, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, DipACLM | Founder and CEO of Eden Health Restored; Army combat medic turned lifestyle medicine NP |
| Elizabeth Winings, DNP, APRN, PMHNP, DipACLM | Jacksonville University nursing professor; owner of Winings Wellness |
| Elizabeth R. Click, DNP, ND, RN, CWP | Co-author of the textbook chapter on lifestyle medicine in nursing education |
| Carolyn Sweetapple, RN, PhD, MBA | Co-author of the textbook chapter “Lifestyle Nursing: Lifestyle Medicine and Nursing” |
| Lauren Turner, MSN, FNP-C, DipACLM | Lifestyle medicine NP, University of Mississippi Medical Center |
| Trey Bennett, MSN, NP, DipACLM | Founder of Vitality Lifestyle Medicine, Kansas City area |
| Kara Mosesso, MSN, ANP-BC, AOCNP, DipACLM | Oncology NP; founder of Nomadic Nourishment |
| Kathleen P. Wilson, PhD, APRN, CPNP, FNP-BC, BC-ADM, FAANP, FNAP, DipACLM | Author of “The Nurse’s Role in Lifestyle Medicine” (Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation) |
| Allison Leppke, DNP, MPH, APRN, FNP-C, DipACLM | Emory nursing faculty; led a lifestyle medicine FNP curriculum pilot |
| Amy Becklenberg, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP | NP educator; co-author of that curriculum pilot |
| Joanne Evans, MEd, RN, PMHCNS-BC | Author of Cultivating Seeds of Health with Plant-Based Nutrition (featured ↑) |
| Tammy Robertson, RN, BSN | Co-chair of PCRM’s Nurses Nutrition Network; founder of Cooking On The Veg and Robertson Health and Wellness |
| Cody Stubbe, MSN, RN | Nursing instructor; author of “Nursing’s role in lifestyle medicine” (American Nurse Journal) |
| Lisa McCarl | Nurse and plant-based travel leader |
| Erin Sinnaeve, DNP, FNP-C | Friend of the movement; allergy and immunology NP who also practices lifestyle medicine |
Credentials and roles are listed as they appear in each nurse’s public work and may have changed. Are you a lifestyle medicine nurse? Use the nomination form below to be added, or let us know if you’re listed and would rather not be. See the full list with links on Flourishing Nursing ↗.
💌 Nominate a Nurse
Know a nurse who carries the lamp through food, movement, sleep, connection, or prevention? Are you one? Tell us, and share their public links or Blinq card so others can find and support them.
We list nurses only with their permission and only share links they make public. Please don’t include private health or contact information.
Holistic nursing: the American Holistic Nurses Association
Since 1981, the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) ↗ has advanced holistic nursing through community building, advocacy, research, and education. Its sister organization, the American Holistic Nurses Credentialing Corporation (AHNCC) ↗, offers nationally accredited certification in holistic nursing and nurse coaching.
Recent from holistic nursing (September 2026)
- AHNA virtual conference: on-demand 2026 conference sessions are available to registered virtual attendees through December 31, 2026, with contact hours. Details at ahna.org ↗
- 46th Annual Conference: held June 10–14, 2026, in Niagara Falls, New York, on the theme “Holistic Nursing: Engaging Mother Nature’s Wisdom.”
- Nurse well-being: AHNA’s free Promoting Nurse Health and Well-Being Resource Kit, in English and Spanish, is under Resources on ahna.org.
- Nurse coaching and Medicare: AHNCC reports that a 2026 CMS proposed rule would let health and wellness coaching be billed to Medicare under provider supervision. It is a proposal, not a final rule. AHNCC press releases ↗
- Research: AHNA publishes the peer-reviewed Journal of Holistic Nursing.
Latest posts from AHNCC (updates automatically)
AHNA and AHNCC are independent organizations. They are not affiliated with Kitchen Monk™ or Flourishing Nursing and have not endorsed them. Always check their official sites for current dates, fees, and requirements.
Archive source record
Archive No. 1
Title: The Doctor Is In: March Q&A with Ron Weiss, M.D – Sinusitis, Urticaria, Iodine Deficiency & More…
Original URL: https://www.youtube.com/live/amSCAI-qZ_Q?si=L5n0-5IxV5wdmCs7
Host / channel: Chef AJ (YouTube) · Featured speaker: Ron Weiss, MD, DipABLM
Date: streamed live March 17, 2023
Moment One: iodine discussion, 53:47–58:34 · Nathanael reference: ~56:36
Moment Two: 59:40–1:00:14 · cited as an inspiration for the Flourishing Nursing Coach Ninja™ (Nathanael’s framework)
Accessed: September 25, 2026 · Verified quotation: none yet
Archive No. 2
Title: Ron Weiss, MD Answers Viewer Questions on Lyme Disease, Cellulitis Do Vegans Break More Bones & More
Original URL: https://www.youtube.com/live/agRrBa_yEEU?si=qeQUlp7PbPDGxUcm
Host / channel: Chef AJ (YouTube) · Featured speaker: Ron Weiss, MD, DipABLM
Date: streamed live March 15, 2024 · Topic: Lyme disease (within a broader Q&A)
Relevant segment: 23:30–29:30
Accessed: September 25, 2026 · Verified quotation: none yet
