Make Mindful, Sustainable Food Choices & Cook . Learn strategies and skills for protecting your health and the health of the planet.

4.8

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306 ratings

Maya Adam, MD

4,543 already enrolled

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Food Sustainability, Mindful Eating, and Healthy Cooking SpecializationStanford University

What you will learn

Make more environmentally sustainable food choices
Eat mindfully and rebuild your relationship with food
Cook using simple, fresh ingredients for health and enjoyment
How to practice mindful eating or food mindfulness.

Skills you will gain

mindful eating
sensible shopping
sustainable eating
food mindfulness
Cooking
Devise a customized plan for optimizing your eating patterns.
Rebuild your relationship with food by learning to genuinely love the foods that will support your health in the long term.
Practice self-compassion with regard to your eating behaviors and food choices.
Observe your own unique eating patterns and identify areas of improvement.
Practice food mindfulness or mindful eating on a day-to-day basis.
How to identify sustainably caught (or farmed) fish and seafood
How to choose more sustainably raised meat and chicken when shopping at the supermarket (if you eat these foods)

About this Specialization

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This specialization is intended for anyone seeking to improve their health, protect our planet and build a stronger, more positive relationship with food. The courses aim to improve knowledge about the relationships between our health, our food, how our food is made, and our environment, while inspiring us to make decisions that will protect our health and the health of the environment. After completing the specialization a learner with no previous food, nutrition, sustainable, mindful eating, or cooking skills will be able to 1. evaluate contemporary food choices for their impact on both human health and planetary sustainability, 2. achieve stepwise personal behavior change towards healthier, more sustainable eating, 3. prepare healthy, delicious meals using simple techniques and readily available ingredients, and 4. incorporate into their lives, the practice of food mindfulness, dietary moderation, varied meal composition and self-compassion with regard to their eating behaviors and food choices. Together, these skills and competencies will facilitate a lifelong, positive and health-promoting relationship with food for each individual learner and for their loved ones. Special thanks to: Lucas Oliver Oswald, Desiree Labeaud, Christopher Gardner, William Bottini, Sejal Parekh, Arielle Wenokur, Janine Van Schoor, Ann Doerr, Bonnie Maldonado, Perry Pickert and the fantastic team at Friday Films.

Applied Learning Project

In this specialization you will be asked to apply the principles of sustainable, mindful eating and healthy cooking to plan and prepare a meal that will delight the eaters and protect our planet. You’ll be asked to write about your decision-making process and how you applied the principles learned in this specialization to the planning and preparation of your planet-friendly, delicious and healthy meal. Online learning has never tasted this good!

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Beginner Level

Approximately 3 months to complete

Suggested pace of 2 hours/week

English

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Beginner Level

Approximately 3 months to complete

Suggested pace of 2 hours/week

English

How the Specialization Works

Take Courses

A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.

Hands-on Project

Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.

Earn a Certificate

When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.

There are 3 Courses in this Specialization

Course1

Course 1

Rebuilding Our Relationship with Food

4.9

stars

201 ratings

Have you ever made a conscious effort to change the way you eat (for health or other reasons) and then felt frustrated when your plans were derailed? You’re not alone. The best laid plans are often sabotaged by a food environment that makes it increasingly hard to make healthier food choices. This can leave many people feeling mistrustful of food or feeling that our relationship with food is somehow broken. In this course, we’ll explore the history of our changing food environment, the science behind cravings for unhealthy foods AND most importantly, you’ll learn some concrete strategies for rebuilding your relationship with food. You’ll learn to practice mindful eating and self-compassion (proven strategies for supporting healthier food choices) as well as designing a customized plan to protect your relationship with food and improve the health of your greatest asset - you! I can’t wait to start on this adventure together.

Course2

Course 2

Introduction to Food and Our Environment

4.7

stars

96 ratings

This course is designed to help learners around the world become more sustainable eaters. Course videos can be watched in any order. Feel free to explore special areas of interest by skipping ahead and coming back to less familiar topics at a later stage. Together, we’ll explore key topics, like how food production impacts the environment and why meat production and protein consumption are often at the center of the debate around sustainability. We’ll introduce the pros and cons of different kinds of agriculture, fishing and food packaging, with a focus on how we can make more environmentally friendly decisions on a daily basis. We’ll also look ahead and explore some of the technology innovations that could become increasingly important as we look at the future of food for a growing global population. If this is the first course you’ve ever taken on food and sustainable eating, you’ll come away with concrete tips for how you can make food choices that will protect the world we hand over to the next generation. Our planet needs many people making small changes in the right direction and we’re here to help with that. If you’re an expert in food sustainability, we hope to offer you some tools that could help you to communicate key messages to others in simple, digestible ways. Whatever your level, we hope you’ll join this discussion as we explore, together, the ways in which we can all become more sustainable eaters.

Course3

Course 3

Cooking for Busy Healthy People

4.6

stars

77 ratings

Cooking is one of the most powerful ways in which we can optimize our enjoyment of great quality food while protecting our health. Even on a tight budget, cooking can be a cost-effective, joyful and rewarding way to love the food that will love us back for a lifetime. In this course, you’ll learn some basic recipes from a home cook and two professional chefs who prioritize healthful eating. You’ll also learn some of the fundamentals of principle-based cooking that can help you break free from the chains of having to follow recipes exactly. Better health and creative expression lie in the ability to improvise in the kitchen, using whatever is available to make tasty, simple meals. We can’t wait to welcome you into our kitchens in this mouth-watering course! Here’s to your health and the home cooking that can support it!

Instructor

Maya Adam, MD

Lecturer

Stanford School of Medicine

1,277,122 Learners

8 Courses

Offered by

Stanford University

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the refund policy?
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
Can I just enroll in a single course?
Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
Can I take the course for free?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply for financial aid.
Is this course really 100% online? Do I need to attend any classes in person?
This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.
How long does it take to complete the Specialization?
12 weeks, four weeks for each course
What background knowledge is necessary?
No background knowledge is necessary, though we recommend taking our previous course, Stanford Introduction to Food & Health.
Do I need to take the courses in a specific order?
You do not need to take the courses in any particular order, but the order we have specified should provide the best experience.
Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?
There is no university credit for completing the course
What will I be able to do upon completing the Specialization?
You will be able to rethink your own relationship with food, how food relates to the envrionment and sustainability, and you will be able to cook a few dozen new recipes from scratch using cooking fundamentals you learn.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

Food Sustainability, Mindful Eating, and Healthy Cooking Specialization

What you will learn

Skills you will gain

About this Specialization

Applied Learning Project