Farms, Food & Health
Farms, Food & Health Trainings
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, Munson Healthcare, and Great Lakes Culinary Institute at Northwestern Michigan College are hosting the Farms, Food & Health, Culinary Medicine Trainings in 2026, in Traverse City, Michigan.
Think like a chef. Cook like a dietitian. Eat like a local farmer.
This national caliber training opportunity is right in our own backyard of Traverse City.
CULINARY MEDICINE LECTURE SERIES
Healthy Breakfasts: Energizing Starts to the Day// 6–8pm, September 16, 2026, Esperance Community Teaching Kitchen
Registration for health care professionals
Registration for students
Meet the faculty
Breakfast foods vary around the world. In the United States, breakfast often includes eggs, sausages, bacon, pancakes, pastries, and sugary cereals or bars. These items aren't part of a Whole-Food, Plant-Based (WFPB) diet and generally aren't healthy. Recent meta-analysis reveals that a regular breakfast habit reduces the risk of Cardiovascular Diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, strokes, Metabolic Syndrome, cardiovascular mortality, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterolemia, and abdominal obesity, regardless of gender. And skipping breakfast once a week may greatly reduce the benefits of cardio-metabolism.
This hands-on culinary nutrition session will provide research updates and guide participants to make healthier breakfast foods, and focus on vegetables and resistant starches. Many store-bought options advertising whole grains may still be high in processed grains and added sugars. We will also practice reading nutrition facts labels.
In this session, students will learn to make WFPB dishes reminiscent of common breakfast foods but nutritioally enhanced. Students will also practice reading nutrition labels.
Learning Objectives:
1) Distinguish between healthy and less healthy carbohydrate options for breakfast by reading nutrition labels and avoiding foods with added sugars and selecting foods that are good sources of calcium.
2) Recognize and demonstrate how to eliminate sugar from common breakfast dishes
3) Create healthy breakfast dishes that are suitable for someone with celiac disease
4) Recommend a nutritionally balanced breakfast for someone who eats an entirely WFPB diet
5) Illustrate at least one way to include vegetables at breakfast.
Credit Designation
Munson Healthcare designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The Munson Healthcare designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 Hour(s) Attendance w/ No Credit. Participants should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The American Osteopathic Organization recognizes AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ as AOA Category 2 credit. This activity will be submitted to the American Osteopathic Association-Division of CME. Designation of credit is pending approval by the AOA-CCME.
The American Osteopathic Organization recognizes American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Prescribed and Elective Credit as AOA Category 2 credit. This activity will be submitted to the American Osteopathic Association-Division of CME. Designation of credit is pending approval by the AOA-CCME.
learn more!
Resources
2023 Culinary Medicine workbook
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Reserve Friday, September 27, to hear three remarkable keynote speakers explore the health potential of local food at our Farms, Food & Health Conference, Traverse City.
"I’ve dreamt about what you are doing here in this exact city my entire life. You might just be the place that will invent the future for a healthy, resilient community.”
— Dr. David Eisenberg, Director, Culinary, Nutrition,
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Medicine