Creating a bridge between you and the food that nourishes you.
Approaching Nutrition Goals
With significant culinary and nutrition counseling experience, I can help you create and reach your personal health goals. We’ll work together to find the best ways that are personalized for YOU – no cookie cutter approach! And we’ll take this journey in bite-sized chunks, so that you’re not overwhelmed.
Keep up with the best ways of staying healthy without becoming overwhelmed! Hiring a certified dietition like Cindy can take bite sized chunks of one of the fastest growing and cutting-edge nutrition solutions.
Eating well with health challenges
Making the right dietary choices has been shown to reduce the risk of developing or reversing many of the most common health issues facing us today in Hawaii.
Cindy Hartman
The Dietitian behind Food For Heart
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist since 2007
Licensed Dietitian (Hawaii license # 243-LD)
Certified LEAP Therapist since 2009
Ornish-certified Nutrition Element Specialist
Clinical, out-patient, long-term care, and teaching experience
Cindy Hartman’s passion for nutrition was ignited when taking a nutrition class in nursing school. There she learned that dietary and lifestyle changes could greatly reduce the risk of developing a chronic disease, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or cancer.
Cindy’s move towards positive nutrition
Cindy decided to leave nursing school because, as she puts it, "I didn't want to be part of a band-aid approach to health care, one that focuses primarily on medication and surgery, not prevention." When Medicare approved reimbursable out-patient consults with a dietitian for people diagnosed with diabetes, Cindy returned to college at the University of Hawaii - Manoa to study nutrition and become a registered dietitian. Her degree is in Food Science and Human Nutrition.
Mixing and mashing food and nutrition
Cindy has lived in Hawaii for over 25 years. She started Food for Heart: an on-site, vegetarian catering business for workshops and retreats in Hawaii. She was a Nutrition Education Coordinator at the San Antonio Food Bankand served on the American Heart Association’s Speakers Bureau while living there; taught Culinary Nutrition to culinary arts students at St. Louis Community College; consulted for assisted living, long-term, and memory care facilities; and taught the Nutrition Element component in the Ornish Lifestyle Medicine Program at Hilo Medical Center, where she also worked as a clinician.
Testimonials
I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with Cindy for over ten years and through her dietary guidance and dedication she's made a positive impact on the quality of my life. She's a knowledgeable counselor who is passionate about her craft and truly lives what she teaches and guides others to do, yet doesn't force a specific regimen but allows you to form her knowledge into a plan that works for you personally.
Debbie Atwood; Former Client
Cindy catered for our monthly dolphin retreats in Hawaii for ten years. She was the ultimate gourmet chef and met every specific dietary need of our participants. Cindy is one of those people who goes way beyond expectations, and we highly recommend her important work.
Doug Hackett and Trish Regan; Owners Dolphin\Spirit of Hawaii
I'm so honored to let everyone know about Cindy Hartman and what a wonderful and caring Dietitian she is! I was diagnosed as a pre-diabetic five years ago. The doctor seemed shocked I wanted to "fight this" and win! Several doctors just say start on medication, do blood sticks. NOPE! He referred me to Cindy to begin my battle. Cindy was extremely understanding and is also a person that helps you fight the battle and wants you to win! She is extremely easy to talk to and a delight to know. I felt like a true friend when I left my appointment. She gave me a great plan to follow and took away a lot of fear. I am still "winning" after five years by counting carbs and exercising (I lack on that part a bit). I would highly recommend Cindy to take care of all your needs, she truly cares and in this world, to me, that's hard to find and of utmost importance. I trust her with my life! Thank you Cindy for helping me”!!
Kimberly Tremmel
Nutrition Services
Nutrition for body and soul
Personalized Medical Nutrition Therapy, with an emphasis on Integrative and Functional Nutrition
Medicare and Medicaid insurance currently accepted. Private pay accepted.
“Change is the name of the dance.” (Aurora Terrenus) Change doesn’t come overnight; did you learn to dance after just one class? Nope, neither did I. Change requires desire, effort, and time. After an initial 60 to 90 minute consult, I strongly encourage you to meet with me for additional sessions; that number depends on your goals and your body’s response to the changes you make. I’m flexible with scheduling and happy to accommodate your availability (evening and weekend appointments are also available).
Interested in hiring an expert speaker on the topics of food and nutrition? Cindy has been in the business of food and nutrition for four decades. Her experience includes retail management in the natural foods industry (in Hawaii and Illinois), entrepreneurship (as a chef/owner of a catering company in Hawaii), teaching at the Community College level, and clinical dietetics experience (critical and long-term care). Cindy was on the American Heart Association’s Speakers Bureau while working at the San Antonio Food Bank. Presentation will be tailor-made for your event.
Looking to up your game in the kitchen with all the best health-promoting foods? Healthy meals, prepared with love and quality ingredients, really do taste better, and they reduce your risk of developing chronic diseases. Cindy has a diverse culinary background, from cooking on barges to catering private dinners for professional athletes and Academy Award winners. She owned a vegetarian + local fish catering company for 20 years in Hawaii, where she specialized in on-site food preparation for workshops and retreats. She has also taught Nutrition for Culinary Professionals to culinary arts students at the Community College level. Cindy will tailor your menu to your food preferences, your health issues, your cooking ability, and your budget; she can also work with you, your kitchen staff or your personal chef to ‘healthify’ your favorite recipes.
Tailored Supermarket Tours
Do you know where the action steps for becoming healthier start? In the grocery store! Cindy will teach you how to navigate the grocery store and read food labels with your nutrition goals and health issues in mind.
Your Diabetes and You
Maneuvering the medical system with Diabetes
A step in the right direction for American medecine
On January 1, 2002, Medicare extended coverage to beneficiaries diagnosed with diabetes; previously, only chronic kidney disease was a reimbursable diagnosis for patients seeking Medical Nutrition Therapy with a dietitian. This approval indicated to Cindy that a baby step forward had been made by the Western medical model, a step that recognized the importance of nutrition in preventing disease. This was the catalyst for Cindy’s return to college to study nutrition and become a dietitian.
Getting care with the American Healthcare System
Medicare will cover three hours of out-patient consultation with a dietitian during the first year of being referred by your physician; two hours per year are covered by Medicare after that. Cindy’s nutrition mission is to arm you with the knowledge of how to keep your body healthy and your diabetes under control.
Fighting Heart Disease With an Ornish-certified Nutrition Element Specialist
Fighting Heart Disease With an Ornish-certified Nutrition Element Specialist
Walking through Ornish with Cindy
The Ornish program, developed by Dr Dean Ornish, is an acute cardiac rehab program composed of four Elements: Physical Activity, Nutrition, Stress Management, and Group Support. This program has been shown to reverse heart disease, as well as Stage 1 prostate cancer. Cindy Hartman is an Ornish-certified Nutrition Element Specialist and has guided hundreds of participants successfully through the Nutrition component of this program.
Where an Ornish program can take you
If you're a graduate of the Ornish program, I can support your continued success. I have also worked extensively with patients in traditional cardiac rehab programs and can teach you how to prepare and choose foods when dining out, so that you're around when your grandchildren have kids of their own.
Cindy Hartman, Owner, Food For Heart
Coping with Inflammation using LEAP
Coping with Inflammation using LEAP
Is your food making you sick?
Inflammation has been implicated in the development of chronic diseases, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. It’s important to know that generic recommendations for an anti-inflammatory diet can actually CAUSE inflammation, as diet-related inflammation is specific to each one of us. Cindy has been a Certified LEAP Therapist for over 10 years. She has treated patients that suffer from a multitude of inflammatory, diet-related health issues (such as irritable bowel syndrome, migraine headaches, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia) caused by food and food chemicals. She implements the patented Mediator Release blood test (MRT) to identify what is specifically causing YOUR symptoms, then creates an eating plan to provide lasting relief for your diet-related health issues.
Lifestyle Eating And Performance (LEAP)
LEAP is a dietary protocol based on the results of a specific blood test that can predict at 94% accuracy any given person’s food sensitivities. The blood test is called the Mediator Response Test (MRT). MRT identifies which foods or food chemicals are inflammatory for YOU. Every person’s body is different, so don’t be fooled by other people’s standards of healthy food. Even foods like broccoli, oranges, and ginger can cause inflammation.
Commonly treated conditions with LEAP
- Migraine headaches,
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Lupus
- Psoriasis
- Fibromyalgia
- Attention deficit
- Hyperactivity
- Obesity
How you and Cindy can plan for success
Using your personalized MRT results, Cindy can work with you to design a personalized food program. determining what foods and/or food chemicals are causing your symptoms.
Overcoming Inflammation
If you’re experiencing inflammation or other disease state related issues, it is very likely you will respond favorably to LEAP with a chance to completely eliminate symptoms.
Some try to cover these symptoms up, but this is never going to be a lasting treatment to any condition. On the other hand, LEAP treats the underlying cause of those symptoms.
The role that Food Allergies and hypersensitivities play
Food allergies involve your immune system and can be life-threatening, such as a peanut or shell-fish allergy. Food intolerances however, involve your digestive system, not your immune system, and can include gluten- and lactose-intolerance. It can take up to four days to develop symptoms, so these may initially be difficult to identify. With the experience of facilitating gluten-free support groups for many years, Cyndy can get you set up for recovery. She specializes in gluten intolerance, including celiac disease.
Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy
With Cindy, you will be focusing on a version of LEAP that is considered Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy (IFMNT - formerly Complementary and Alternative Medicine). This cutting edge nutrition program is still developing certifications which Cindy is actively pursuing. This lifelong learning method is one of the many things that makes Cindy love being a dietitian!
Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy (IFMNT)
Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy (IFMNT)
Cindy Hartman's work with LEAP has been long inspired by IFMNT. This field was formerly known as CAM or Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Cindy is currently enrolled in a three-year program that will result in an IFMNT certification. My knowledge is limited in this field but growing every day! That's one of many things I LOVE about being a dietitian, the life-long learning.
