Jennifer Gieseke

Jennifer and her husband moved to Shreveport, Louisiana from Chicago in 1991 and quickly started a family. With active children and a husband who traveled for business, she found it hard to find time to prepare healthy family dinners. That’s when she started cooking in bulk quantities, following a once-a-month cooking plan (that’s 30 meals in one day). The freezer was always full. After a busy day, it was such a relief to know that dinner was basically ready. In 1997 she started working as a Personal Chef to help relieve some stress for other families. Jennifer began her plant-based journey when her daughter decided to become vegetarian at the age of 16. Her main concern was if her daughter could get all her essential nutrients (mainly calcium, iron, and protein) with this diet change. After learning about all the positive health benefits of a plant-based diet, Jennifer quickly became a vegan. That all happened in 2010. In 2012 she created Healthy Chef Meals, the first all vegan business and first prepared meal service in her region. After a successful 6 ½ years, Jennifer decided to close Healthy Chef to pursue other ways to empower Northwest Louisianans and Eastern Texans to take control of their health through food. She immediately earned her Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate through e-Cornell Center for Nutrition Studies, became a certified Health and Wellness Coach with a focus on plant-based nutrition through the International Integrative Nutrition School and a licensed Food for Life Instructor with Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine (a dream of hers since the beginning of this journey). As a health educator, personal chef and cooking class instructor, Jennifer enjoys working with individuals and organizations, helping the community reach their health and wellness goals through a whole foods, plant-based diet.