Meet Ayten Salahi of Planetary Nutritionist

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ayten Salahi.

Ayten, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a researcher, food policy advocate, and earth-conscious nutrition coach on a mission to heal people and the planet through food. As a first-generation daughter of Turkish-Cypriot immigrants, I learned at a young age to view food as a tool for healing, compassion, and unity. Around a decade ago, I began my career as a researcher at Duke University Medical Center, where I studied neurological pathways involved in mind-gut pathologies. I continued on as a researcher in Los Angeles, where I worked with an international team to study the effectiveness of an “artificial pancreas” system for patients with type 1 diabetes. During that time, I developed as an activist by deepening my understanding of the high cost of healthcare in the United States, and the inequitable distribution of health resources among minority groups.

After observing the power of nutrition through nearly a decade in medical research and food access activism, I decided to pivot my career to follow my true passion for intersectional food policy and medical nutrition. I left my job in Los Angeles and moved across the country to Boston to complete a Master of Science in Food and Nutrition Policy and Programming at Tufts University and a Didactic Program in Dietetics at Simmons University. I am so thrilled to begin my Dietetic Internship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Fall 2020 – it’s like medical residency for dietitians. 

Since pivoting my career and completing my Masters, I have worked tirelessly to apply my learnings towards the betterment of both personal and planetary health. In 2019, I laid the groundwork to found a budding international food and climate justice organization that leverages the unique role of food and nutrition professionals to cultivate a more just, regenerative, and climate-resilient food future for all. We have launched our website and are actively seeking volunteers to support our mission! Applying these same values, I have also proudly designed and launched an innovative and eco-friendly 12-week nutrition coaching program to help womxn heal their gut, beat bloat, and restore natural energy without sacrificing the joy of food.

In all facets of my work, I prioritize cultural humility, curiosity, non-judgment, and inclusivity. I seek to provide a unique coaching experience for colleagues and clients alike that is centered on decolonizing the practice of wellness and reconnecting individuals with the continuum that connects their mind, body, and spirit to the natural Earth systems that sustain us. I aim to embody what it means to be a Planetary Citizen and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with my clients in their journey to do the same.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Deciding to uproot my career in 2016 to pivot in the direction of my true passion for nutrition was simple, but getting to where I am today has not always been an easy road.

As a first-generation daughter of Turkish-Cypriot immigrants and forced displacees of war, my family has worked diligently for each and every hard-fought opportunity we have earned in the United States. In order to pursue my dream of becoming an effective anti-hunger advocate and an adept nutrition practitioner, I worked for five years in industry-led medical research to save funds and build clinical acumen. With gracious scholarship support from the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, I was able to complete my Masters in Food and Nutrition Policy and Programs with minimal financial burden. However, completing my Didactic Program in Dietetics, while affording the cost of living in Boston, required a different strategy.

Around 2018, I hit a period of financial hardship resultant from the high cost of education in the US. During this period, I relied on public benefits for both food and health coverage, and in fact became a beneficiary of the very same public programs for which I had so long been a staunch advocate. My drive to serve as an activist and advocate in support of anti-hunger programs, universal health coverage, and intersectional social justice grew even stronger, as my lived experience showed me just how critical affordability, accessibility, and equitable distribution of resources and services are to our quality of life. Having moved through this period, I knew that my approach as a nutrition professional would be different. 

It is critical to me that medical services and resources – even premium programs – be accessible to all, regardless of socioeconomic status. That is why I have chosen to pursue a career path that bridges personal and collective action. To promote personal healing in my new group nutrition coaching program, for every group I fill with paying clients, I offer a number of entirely pro-bono positions for SNAP beneficiaries and/or individuals deeply involved in organizing efforts for social justice movements, to ensure that my programs are accessible. To also promote collective action and civic engagement, I am building an online organizing platform that will showcase and advance the role of food and nutrition professionals in the fight against climate change.

Please tell us about Planetary Nutritionist.
The Planetary Nutritionist is my nutrition coaching business, and through it I have developed an innovative virtual coaching experience for climate changemakers who are seeking to heal digestive discomfort while minimizing the environmental impacts of their food choices. Through my 12-week nutrition group coaching program, called the MindBodyBiome Program, I guide clients through a 12-week journey through their mental, physical, and spiritual relationship with food and the environment. Mentally, we work to develop mindfulness and intuition around food choices, in place of largely Eurocentric calorie-tracking and food rule setting. We disentangle weight from wellness and emphasize felt experience over preconceived Western health and beauty ideals. Physically, we follow a gentle digestive protocol that promotes gastrointestinal healing and provides a step-by-step process to identify possible food triggers for digestive discomfort. Spiritually, we explore our connection to self, others, and nature in a space of total non-judgment and curiosity. This program provides clients with the tools and experiences needed to advance both personal and collective healing.

Separately, the Planetary Health Collective (PHC) is a nonprofit entity and online organizing platform that I have designed to provide unparalleled opportunities for food/nutrition professionals and healers everywhere to channel their unique passions and skills to counter the climate crisis, with the intersectionality, urgency, and persistence needed to succeed. To drive these changes, we unite in the belief that human health is inextricable from stewardship of the natural systems upon which it relies, and we believe that food is the single strongest lever to optimize both. We also believe that an intersectional and community-driven approach that actively works to dismantle systems of racism, classism, and oppression is at the core of this work. By arming food and nutrition professionals with the knowledge, skills, community, and opportunities needed to enact climate justice through food, we plan to build an active coalition of experts who will turn our vision into reality through intersectional community organizing, equitable food policy advocacy, and ecologically-centered culinary and/or nutritional practice.

In each of these endeavors, I aim to empower individuals to participate in both personal and collective healing and to connect the dots to show that these are truly one in the same.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I could do one differently from the past decade, I would have chosen to spend less time limiting myself by what others believe is possible. Instead of trying to fit into a pre-designed societal mold of what a job looks or feels like, I would have set out to define my own version of fulfillment, success, and impact much sooner. 

Pricing:

• MindBodyBiome Program – 12-Week Group Program for Personal & Planetary Healing: $1500, with an optional application process for pro-bono positions that is available for SNAP beneficiaries or those involved in grassroots organizing for social justice
• Nutrition Consultation Package (4 sessions): $500
• 20-Minute Discovery Call: Free

Contact Info:

• Website: www.planetarynutritionist.com 
• Email: ayten@planetarynutritionist.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/planetary.nutritionist
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/planetaryhealthcollective
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/aytensalahi

Image Credit:
Ayten Salahi LLC.

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