Press · Media · Stories
Kitchen Monk in the World
Published stories about Kitchen Monk™ and its founder, Nathanael Elijah Smith, FNP-C, DipACLM, written by people outside Kitchen Monk. Each link below takes you to the original publisher.
This page belongs to the documented journey: real published articles, kept separate from The EVERgreen Chronicles™ story-world.
Featured in Women’s Wellness
The Kitchen Monk: Reinventing Healthcare, One Meal at a Time
Written by Robin Jeep · Women’s Wellness / OptiMYz · September 1, 2026
Celebrity chef, published wellness author, health coach, and Enliven Foods co-founder Robin Jeep profiles Nathanael Smith’s journey, from the day he came to her kitchen for hands-on Nutritarian, whole-food, plant-based cooking to the nurse-led Kitchen Monk™ model and his vision for a Flourishing Experience Center with teaching kitchens, gardens, movement spaces, and nurse practitioner care.
◇ FUTURE VISION The Flourishing Experience Center described in the article is a future vision. It is not open, and Kitchen Monk does not currently offer nurse practitioner care.
About the author: Robin co-wrote The Super Antioxidant Diet and Nutrition Guide with Baylor University professor and cell physiologist Richard Couey, PhD; has cooked for Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne of ELO, and the Emmitt Smith family; and worked for Dr. Joel Fuhrman as his dietary assistant and a nutrition writer. She teaches kitchen nutrition courses that help people transition to whole-food, plant-based eating. Full bio →
Relationship disclosure: Robin Jeep is now a Kitchen Monk collaborator and is co-authoring a book with Nathanael. She is also a co-founder of Enliven Foods, a paid food business mentioned elsewhere on this site. Kitchen Monk receives no money from Enliven Foods. Please keep that relationship in mind as you read her article.
You’ll leave KitchenMonk.org and go to optimyz.com, the original publisher. Linking to the article does not mean OptiMYz or Women’s Wellness endorses Kitchen Monk.
🌱 Robin’s next chapter: Chef Robin Jeep is now co-author, with Nathanael, of The Book of the Garden: The Cup of Flourishing, a clinical culinary medicine companion in development, and she is leading an effort to bring Kitchen Monk to a community college in New Mexico. Meet Robin
🎞 Media · Mentorship Archive · Chef AJ Archive
From the Archives: Dr. Ron Weiss + Chef AJ
Two preserved moments from Nathanael’s earlier lifestyle-medicine journey, featuring former mentor Dr. Ron Weiss, DipABLM, on Chef AJ’s YouTube channel:
- Iodine discussion (streamed March 17, 2023): segment 53:47–58:34, with a Nathanael reference at about 56:36. Watch the 56:36 moment on YouTube ↗
- Lyme disease discussion (streamed March 15, 2024): segment 23:30–29:30. Watch from 23:30 on YouTube ↗
Historical mentorship, not endorsement. Archived medical discussions are shared for historical context, may not reflect current evidence, and are not medical advice.
Learn → Experience → Serve → Flourish
Nathanael first sought practical culinary education because lifestyle recommendations only help when people know how to live them. That idea grew into Kitchen Monk™: people should not merely be told to eat differently. They should be taught, supported, and given a chance to practice, to taste healthy food, to move with someone, to find community, and to have clinicians who connect evidence with real life. Robin Jeep’s article offers an outside account of that arc.
