Student Spotlight
Nina Baldwin, candidate for B.S. in Holistic Nutrition
This single mother of a teenager has worked in the food industry ever since she herself was a teenager. Nina Baldwin is a road warrior who now oversees almost 165 restaurants in America and abroad. She enjoys the convenience of distance learning because our holistic nutrition curriculum allows her to study while on the road. That way, when she gets home from a 60-hour work week, she is free to spend quality time with her son, Matthew.
Like so many students of natural health, Nina first discovered this innovative career path while seeking answers for a chronic health problem that wasn’t addressed by conventional medicine. Constant migraines threatened her ability to keep working and support her family. “Different doctors recommended surgery and so many other harsh treatments that the side effects were almost worse than the headaches. The physical health aspect of my life had become miserable until I decided to learn how to heal myself.”
Nina adds that the source of her unrelenting headaches turned out to be a seemingly unrelated prescription that she had taken for many years. “Every time I had questioned this medication as the potential problem, doctors said that that couldn’t possibly be it. Since it was an ‘elective’ prescription, I decided to take myself off of it. That’s when I started getting my health back.”
Through CCNH, Nina has discovered a passion for holistic nutrition that she hopes to someday parlay into a second career. “I have always enjoyed exercise, and I want to help people make the mind/body/spirit connection so that we can all more fully appreciate the holistic health opportunities that we were born with. I am blessed that 90% of my restaurant management duties involve training, motivating and developing people. It is so exciting to see people learn and grow, on a business level. I am thrilled to be learning how to help people find the simple way back to better health through holistic nutrition.”
Perhaps her greatest reward is seeing her son consciously make intelligent food choices – “no sugar is quite a biggie for teenagers!” – and also following his mom’s example by choosing to exercise regularly to relieve stress and also build stamina. Nina is happily observing Matthew’s health choices helping him mature into a strong and healthy young man. Over the years they have enjoyed the camaraderie of shopping together for organic food and experimenting with healthy recipes.
“I love my job, and I am good at it. I also love the idea of teaching others how to trade in unhealthy habits, things that we unwittingly do on ‘autopilot’ that sabotage our health. I had always intended to go back to school one day but I thought I would be studying business rather than holistic nutrition. Now I want to work with the original causes of ailments that compromise people’s quality of life.”
Interesting food for thought, that maybe Nina Baldwin’s dream job is to marry these two passions: food management and holistic nutrition.
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