meet jackie
Cooking has always been part of my life . . . from as early as I started having memories. My mother was a caterer and taught me about the importance of high-quality ingredients and the art of good cooking . . . without a recipe in sight. Still, my favorite food was potato chips for quite a few years. My first culinary creation . . . bologna-potato chip canapés, of course! (I think I was probably 3 years old!) Thankfully, I entered adulthood with some healthful eating habits and amazing food lessons. I feel privileged to have learned so much about what “real food” is . . . and fortunate to realize how eating can and should be a pleasurable and important part of life.
Today, I love that I’m able to carry on the lessons my mother taught me, from how to pick the best grape leaves for making traditional Lebanese stuffed grape leaves to the secret for whipping up a batch of her finger-drop fudge. And after making my way through college at The Ohio State University (Go Buckeyes!) to become a registered dietitian nutritionist and after attending culinary school at Kendall College to become a chef, I have now married my passion for natural, plant-filled cooking with nutrition and culinary expertise to share with you my love of good cooking. I like to call my eating style PLANTerranean! It’s such a treat to be able to make a career out of something that I am so passionate about.
If you’re looking for me, I can often be found tinkering around in my kitchen in Los Angeles. And if you’re wondering if I play favorites when it comes to food? Yes! I am fanatical about avocados and chocolate-mint anything!
my food philosophy
“I believe in eating deliciously AND eating nutritiously. And I believe that natural, plant-based eating is the best approach to a healthy life ... and a healthy planet!”
My Mantra
go for great taste.
aim for plant-based.
try not to waste.
professional bio
Chef and Nutritionist Jackie Newgent, RDN, CDN, sure has come a long way since her earliest childhood creation of bologna-potato chip canapés. She’s a Los Angeles-based classically-trained chef, registered dietitian nutritionist, award-winning cookbook author, professional recipe developer, and media personality. She’s passionate about plant-based cuisine and the environment. And she’s a lifelong fan of flavorful food.
Jackie is the author of The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook–2nd edition, (American Diabetes Association, October 2015); it was awarded a Silver Nautilus Book Award 2015! The first edition of the book was also award-winning, receiving the “Best Health and Nutrition Book in the World” by Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2007. Her book, The With or Without Meat Cookbook (American Diabetes Association, 2014), is the first ever collection of delicious, plant-forward, flexitarian recipes perfect for diabetes, prediabetes, or heart health — plus it won the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2014 for “Best Health and Nutrition Book–Institutions (USA).” Additionally, Jackie is author of the media-acclaimed Big Green Cookbook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009), The Plant-Based Diabetes Cookbook (HCI Books, 2023), 1,000 Low-Calorie Recipes (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012), and The Clean & Simple Diabetes Cookbook (American Diabetes Association, 2020).
Be on the lookout, Jackie can be spotted as a culinary nutrition expert on television with dozens of national media appearances. Her past appearances have included ABC’s Good Morning America and World News Now, NBC’s Later Today and Dateline, Food Network’s Follow that Food, The Daily Buzz, and The Dr. Oz Show. She was a repeat guest on Planet Green’s Emeril Green and Martha Stewart Living Sirius Satellite Radio’s Whole Living. Additionally, Jackie can be seen as host of healthy cooking videos, including videos for Food Network.
Jackie is currently a a nutrition coach for My Peak Challenge. She’s also a Forbes Health Advisory Board 2026 Member and a Non-UPC Program Advisory Board Member. Her food articles, menus, and recipe features have been regularly seen in national online and print publications, including The Healthy, Health, and Eating Well. She has been a columnist for top magazines, including Fitness’ “Healthy in a Hurry,” Woman’s World’s “Diet Club,” and Glamour’s “Eat More”. And as a culinary specialist, Jackie has been interviewed well over 1,000 times for major national print and online media, including U.S. News, Everyday Health, and Eat This, Not That!
Jackie is an instructor at The Gourmandise School in Santa Monica as well as a private plant-based cooking instructor. Formerly, she was a chef instructor with the recreational division of the acclaimed Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, which was ranked as the “No. 1 Culinary School in America,” where she taught hands-on cooking classes for over a decade. Her popular courses included Superfoods, Cooking for Fitness, and Luscious & Lean Vegetarian. Jackie collaborates on popular consumer books as a highly-experienced and versatile recipe developer and tester. She has worked as a freelance professional recipe developer at Food Network Kitchens.
Jackie is often invited to speak and provide culinary demonstrations at consumer events and professional meetings, including the International Association of Culinary Professional’s Annual International Conference, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, Go Green Expo, and Kids Food Festival. She has significant experience leading corporate wellness programs. As a food media spokesperson, Jackie can be seen throughout the country via satellite media tours or hosting virtual cooking demos. Some of her clients have included the Mushroom Council, California Strawberry Commission, Seeds of Change, Beyond Meat, German Agricultural Marketing Board, Scanpan, and The Wonderful Company. Jackie is a former national media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
For nearly a decade, Jackie was a consultant for “Healthy Children Healthy Futures” a national after-school nutrition and fitness program targeted to city kids and parents. For the program, she wrote A Parent’s Guide to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity–a 100-page, full color guide for parents based on the “8 Habits of Healthy Kids.” She teamed up with Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools, a comprehensive grassroots public health effort to mobilize and engage stakeholders at the local, state and national level to support salad bars in schools.
Jackie received her B.S. in Allied Health Professions from The Ohio State University and Certificate in Professional Cooking from Kendall College. She is an official Meatless Monday ambassador. Her favorite hobbies include hiking, biking, traveling, listening to live indie music, attending sporting events, gallery hopping, hosting parties, exploring Los Angeles for the most intriguing cocktails and tastiest food finds, and, of course, experimenting with veggie-filled recipes in her kitchen. She also loves educating others about sustainability and ways to help fight our climate crisis though environmentally-smart food selection and rather quirky (yet impactful!) preparation techniques, like “lid cooking” pasta and “hyper-baking” cookies.
Jackie’s mantra … “Go for great taste. Aim for plant-based. Try not to waste.”
See a selection of Jackie’s plant-based recipes: jackienewgent.com/recipes. Follow her on social media: @jackienewgent.
Click HERE for short bio.
Click HERE for Jackie Newgent’s Media Kit.
