About Chef Namaste
Natallia Clancy has been working in the healthcare industry for over seven years. She has a background in healthcare management and founded a staffing agency in Los Angeles placing employees in the medical and wellness fields.
Looking to broaden her life perspective, she spent time in India and became a certified Ashtanga yoga instructor in 2011. She returned to her hometown of Los Angeles inspired by the South Indian culture, food and lifestyle and began teaching yoga classes to adults and children in LA. Looking to further her passions, she enrolled in NYU’s Graduate Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health program in 2013. For her self-directed master's thesis, she created a holistic food education curriculum with components of cultural awareness and mindfulness.
Natallia has spent the last four years working in over a dozen public and private schools and homes throughout the greater New York City area, teaching a variety of topics covering nutrition, food education and food sustainability. Everyday she strives to share her affection in cultural exploration and mindful living with the children and families that she works with.
The 6 pillars of Chef Namaste
All Foods Are Good
We believe in encouraging healthy and happy eating routines and we speak positively about all foods. We don’t adhere to the philosophy of “bad” foods, diets or strict restrictions. Instead, we focus on food and nutrition education as a means to understanding what foods we should be eating on a daily basis and why.
Eat The Rainbow
We pride ourselves in eating delicious, well balanced and colorful meals. Every color reflects a different set of phytonutrients, so by eating the rainbow, we ensure that we are getting a variety of benefits. Yellow fruits and vegetables have beta carotene, vitamin A and alpha carotene. Green plants contain phytonutrients like chlorophyll.
Spread The Light
We believe that food knowledge is one of the most valuable life skills, and that's why we like to start young. We encourage talking about where in the world our food is grown, how it's grown and cherishing its historical origins. While we teach these philosophies, we believe in sharing knowledge, not preaching it.
Body Awareness
Wholeheartedly understanding your unique levels of hunger and fullness is a very important component in developing a balanced and intuitive eating lifestyle. A child who is accustomed to eating mindfully understands the body cue’s that he or she receives indicating hunger and fullness, and everything in between.
The Namaste Plate
All of the meals at Chef Namaste will be sure to include proteins, carbohydrates and fats- the basis of a well balanced meal. Throughout the lesson, we review why when all three of these macronutrients are used in the right combination, they not only give us 100% of the energy that we need all day, but they make for a tasty food pairing as well.
Table Of Gratitude
Pairing a brief gratitude exercise with something that we enjoy and make time for each day (like eating) will help us to make gratitude a larger part of our lives. Studies show that giving thanks just once a day for a few weeks can improve the physical and psychological wellbeing of children and adults.