Lisa Dorfman — Culinary, Sports and Performance Nutritionist

Extensive Culinary Consultant Expertise

Lisa Dorfman, MS, RD, CSSD, LMHC, has been “the chef’s nutritionist” for more than two decades, serving resorts, cruise ships, food corporations, professional athletes and the medical community. Her unique credentials and vast experience make her a highly sought-after culinary medicine specialist and performance nutritionist.

Hospitality

As CEO of Food Fitness International, Inc. Lisa is often called upon by industry leaders to consult on groundbreaking culinary programs. She has served as a food and culinary consultant for major corporations and world-class resorts, including The Ritz-Carlton, Sandals Resorts International, Norwegian Cruise Lines, The Doral Saturnia Spa, Bitter End Resorts and the Williams Island Spa.

In 2001, Lisa launched Tropical Diet© — a spa cuisine and certification program that trained dozens of food, hotel, spa, fitness and hotel employees in the Caribbean. She also worked with chefs to develop the Ritz Kidz Healthy Cuisine program for The Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Lisa has collaborated with culinary experts on her last four books: Performance Nutrition for Football (Momentum Media, 2010), The Reunion Diet (Sunrise River Press, 2010), The Vegetarian Sports Nutrition Guide (John Wiley and Sons, 2000) and The Tropical Diet (Food Fitness International, Inc., 2004).

Public Sector

Lisa has worked with over 15 hospitals and medical center food service departments. She also spent nearly a decade working with law enforcement as a consultant dietitian for the Federal Correctional System, where she worked on menus and training inmates on food and sanitation issues.

Culinary Credentials

Lisa completed the Chef Certificate Program at Miami Culinary Institute of Miami Dade College, where she served as Chair of the Institute’s Advisory Board Committee. Lisa completed the Culinary Medicine Program at Goldring Center, Tulane Medical School in June 2018, and her chef internship at Culinary Vegetable Institute/Chef’s Garden.

She is also a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, is Chef Alliance Director and Board Member of Slow Food Miami and serves on the Miami Dade ACF Board.

Decades of Sports Nutritionist Experience

Known as The Running Nutritionist®, Lisa is an award-winning culinary nutrition expert with a focus on health and sports performance.

She has built a global Integrative Culinary Sports Nutrition & Performance practice, consulting Olympian, professional, college, and teenage athletes. Lisa was the US Sailing Olympic and Paralympics Team Nutritionist for the ’08 Beijing Olympics and Nutrition Expert for the Zumba® Plate program.

She is a:

  • Licensed Nutritionist

  • Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics

  • Board-Certified Professional Counselor

  • Certified USAT & USATF Coach

  • Certified Reiki Practitioner

  • Certified Horticulturist

  • Certified Chef

  • Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist

  • Strong by Zumba® & ZIN® Licensed Instructor

  • Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics

Lisa’s extensive credentials as a culinary educator include:

  • Director of the Graduate Program in Nutrition for Health & Human Performance at the University of Miami

  • Johnson & Wales University Culinary Nutrition Instructor, 2008-2009

  • Miami Culinary Institute, Instructor, Enthusiast Series Program, 2012

  • Consultant for food service and student-athlete programs — Chartwells at Barry & Nova Universities

  • Director of a new graduate degree program in Nutrition for Health and Human Performance at the Department of Kinesiology & Sports Sciences

  • Real Food Academy, Instructor, After School Kids Cooking Classes, ages 3-8, 2017

Media

As a former nutrition editor for SOBeFit Magazine, she wrote the Fit Gourmet and Drink It Up columns, offering nutritional restaurant reviews and reconstructing traditional recipes to meet healthier guidelines for fitness-minded men and women.

Even earlier in her career, as the producer and host of her own cooking and nutrition program, Food Fitness, Lisa appeared in more than 80,000 households in South Florida. In the early 1980s, she also hosted the Hot-105 radio talk show, Hot Bodies, where she addressed food, fitness and health issues.

She served as a National Media Spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association (ADA) from 2003 to 2008. Also appearing in dozens of TV, radio, print and media tours, she has represented companies and trade groups such as:

  • Quaker Oats

  • Tropicana

  • Laughing Cow/BabyBel

  • McCormick’s Seasonings

  • SOYJOY

  • Campbell’s Soups

  • Fage Yogurt

  • Frito Lay

  • Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC)

  • Canned Food Alliance

  • Cherry Institute

  • Eggland’s Best

  • Gourmet Garden Seasoning

  • US Cranberries

  • USA Rice Federation

  • Weight Watchers

  • Wishbone

  • Guiltless Gourmet, Inc.

  • Hormel

  • M&M/Mars

  • Mrs. T’s Pierogies

  • Paramount Farms

  • PowerBar

  • Procter & Gamble

  • SlowMag

  • Sorrento Cheese

  • Tea Council USA

  • Trop 50

Lisa also appears in numerous publications monthly and has been featured on hundreds of international and national outlets.

CREDENTIALS

  • Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist (LD/N)

  • Licensed/Board-Certified Professional Counselor (LMHC)

  • Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist (CCMS)

  • Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD)

  • Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics (FAND)

  • (RD) Registered Dietitian — CDR, American Dietetic Association, 1985-

  • (CSSD) Board Certified in Sports Dietetics — CDR, American Dietetic Association, 2006-

  • Licensed Mental Health Counselor, State of Florida, 1988-

  • Board Certified in Professional Counseling (APA)

  • Diplomat of the American Psychotherapy Association (APA)

  • Certified ISAK-Certified Anthropometrist (ISAK)

  • Certified USAT&F and USA Triathlon Coach

  • Certified U.S. Swimming Level 1 & 2 Masters Coach

  • FNGLA-Certified Horticulture Professional (FCHP)

  • ServSafe®-Certified Food Production Manager

  • Certified Chef, Miami Culinary Institute

  • Certified Bartender — 40-hour course

  • Certified Reiki Practitioner                      

  • FSMA Produce Safety Certified, Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO)

  • Strong by Zumba® & ZIN® Licensed Instructor

CULINARY MEMBERSHIPS

  • American Culinary Federation (ACF) — National Conference Speaker, Las Vegas ’22, New Orleans, ’18, ’19; numerous Webinars

  • Les Dames d’Escoffier, South Florida

  • International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) (’18 IACP Judge — Cookbook Awards)

  • United States Personal Chef Association (USPCA)

  • Food & Culinary Professionals (FCP) of Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics (AND)

  • Slow Food Miami Chef Alliance Director

CULINARY EDUCATION

  • Miami Culinary Institute, Miami Dade College, Chef Certificate, ’17

  • Culinary Medicine (CCMS) Program, Goldring Center Tulane Medical School, ’18

  • Culinary Genomics, Nutrigenomics, Genomic Kitchen, ’18

  • Natural Gourmet Institute: Ayurveda Intensive Training, Root to Tip: Whole Vegetable Cooking, Vegan Umami: Deli Edition, Vegan Desserts Intensive Training ’18-’19

  • Rosendale Collective Modernist Plating Technique, ‘24

CULINARY/FOOD SERVICE

  • Zumba 6 Week Transformation Program, Chef Nutritionist

  • CHI Energy Bites, Product Launch, ’20

  • Chef Instructor, Rich Rosendale Collective, Rosendale Collective LLC Rosendale, Collective Culinary Lab and Roots 657, ’21

  • Chef Ambassador, Fullei Fresh Hydroponic Sprout Farm, Miami March ’20-’22

  • Culinary Vegetable Institute (CVI)/Chef’s Garden, Intern, Chef Jamie Simpson, July ’18

  • Caribbean Institute of Nutrition & Dietetics, Barbados, June ’19; Vegan Culinary Demo, June ’19

  • Lychee Summer Celebration, Schnebly’s Winery, Sports Nutrition Culinary Demo, June ’19

  • Chic Bahamas Weddings, Consultant Chef/Menu/Recipe Development, May ’19-

  • Drum Corps International, Pacific Crest Team, California — Chef Nutritionist Advisor, May ’19-

  • The Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts — Performance Nutrition menu, recipes and education for performing arts, March ’19-

  • Kendall Academy Preschool, Vero Beach, Florida — Menu development, kitchen design, staff training and parent education, March ’19-

  • Compass Group, Chartwells at Barry & Nova University, food service in-service classes, ’12-’14

  • ServSafe Education: Soul Kitchen, Miami Beach, Florida, ’17-’18

  • Empowered Youth, Culinary Nutrition Classes, ServSafe, Summer ’16

  • Johnson & Wales University, Instructor, Culinary Nutrition, Personal Nutrition Courses

  • Culinary Class Instructor, Miami Culinary Institute, Miami Dade College “Enthusiast Series”

  • Real Food Academy, Kids Cooking School Instructor, St. Thomas Episcopal, 3- to 8-year-olds

  • Yogurbella Frozen Yogurt, product analysis, Franchisees Training, ’10-’11

  • Consultant, Chartwells, Compass Group, Nova University, ’16-

  • Culinary Nutritionist/Media Spokesperson: Uncle Ben’s Beginners Program Kid’s Cooking Contest, ’14

  • Co-Founder/Partner-CTHRUNutrition Mobile App, ’14-’16         

  • Sir Pizza Restaurants — Culinary Consultant, Recipe analysis/modification ’11-’14

  • Deli Lane Fit Life Culinary Consultant, Menu — Recipe/menu development/analysis, ’13

  • Sandals Resorts, Culinary Nutritionist — Menu development, recipe analysis, staff training, ’01-

  • The Ritz-Carlton, Key Biscayne, Consulting Nutritionist/Menu Development — Ritz Kidz Program, ’01

STAGIAIRE EXPERIENCE

  • Chef Mark Reinfeld, Vegan Fusion, March ’18

  • Chef Richard Ingraham, Slow Food Miami Fundraiser at Miami Book Fair, ’17

  • Gloria & Emilio Estefan Feeding Homeless Luncheon, ’17

  • Chef Paulette Blisky, “Electric” Chef, Coconut Grove Arts Festival, ’18

  • Rich Rosendale Workshop, Miami, ’18

FARM EXPERIENCE

  • Sunshine Organic Farms, Homestead, Florida — Weeding, Planting, Harvesting, Farmers Market, ’17-

  • Harvest Farm Tour Invitation Immersions — California Almonds, American Pistachio Association, Idaho Potato Commission, Iowa Soy, Corn & Cattle Farmers (Monsanto), Uncle Ben’s Rice Harvest and Plant Tour, Alliance for Potato Research and Education (APRE) Monsanto L.E.A.D. (Leaders Engaged in Advancing the Dialogue) Agriculture Innovation Immersion and Field Day Experience, Southern Peanut Growers

  • Food 3000: Invitation-Only Scientific Food Culinary Immersions — Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, France, Vancouver, Montreal, Spain, Prague, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Peru, Boulder (’19)

COMPETITIONS & AWARDS

  • ’19 President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition’s Community Leadership Award

  • ’19 Growfest Cooking Challenge, Redland Fruit and Spice Park, Homestead, Florida

  • ’18 ACF Miami Chapter Appreciation Award                                       

  • ’18 Scholarship Southern Peanut Growers., Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR)

  • ’17 Homina PAN US Arepa Recipe Competition Finalist

  • ’17 National Excellence in Practice Award, DIFM, Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics