My experience with on-the-job nutrition.

Ms. Grace was my food savior. Grace: Food SuperHero.

She would either be observing my meals or heating them up, cooking for me or handing me recipes. It was never in question that Ms. Grace loved food and cooking, but most of all health. It was one of our biggest conversations, and she never gave up on me, if she saw me eating something that wasn't on par with my goals, or if I wasn't eating at all. With Ms. Grace, I was sure to pack a lunch and eat daily. But there were definitely days where this wasn't the easiest thing to conceive of.

One thing I miss about having her in the classroom with me was her constant desire to seek out conversations with food. Seriously, we were always discussing the health quotient of a particular practice or lifestyle, how food affects religious disciplines, what we could and couldn't eat, how much we would pay for a certain food, where we would shop and how long to cook a desired food for dinner that night. It is no surprise that I went into a health coaching program after changing schools. Without Grace in my daily bread, I needed that interaction on mealtimes still.

Every day she would check to make sure I had food, and what I ate for dinner, and how I was feeling. I could not go wrong with her support, love and attention to the very thing that nourished me. She would get me to tighten up my diet, and I'd encourage her to exercise more than a 10 minute walk after dinner with her husband, though that sounded like a very wonderful bonding session. She loved that I was vegetarian. Most recently I told her of my switch to pescetarian, and she was happy to hear it. I am sure she will send me inspiration soon.

My favorite part with Grace in the classroom was that I would usually teach history and english. The most awesome part of teaching history, is the cultural experience we created for each country we studied. It gave us an opportunity to try a new recipe or food and bring it for all to taste. Now, this was even more fun for Ms. Grace, and she is an amazing cook. The students would agree as well. Whenever the students earned it, Ms. Grace would cook delicious cookies and brownies for the kids, and they would be on their best behavior to receive these goodies.

Such good memories deserve a blog post and applause to the one woman who made me feel nourished all the time. Thank you Ms. Grace, for making sure I remained a healthy teacher. Love you.