Many great cooks claim they learned everything from mama, back in the old country or down on the farm, but SMART Body’s nutritionist extraordinaire Rosa Donohue actually developed her interest in nutrition while learning to cook for her mother.

Born and raised in Lima, Peru, Rosa admits: “I grew up with good food, but not knowing which aspects of it made for good nutrition.”

After moving to the U.S. in the 1970s, she married and started a family. “One day, my mother called saying she was coming to visit. She had been very ill and could hardly walk,” remembers Rosa. However, rather than becoming an invalid, her mother rebounded. “When we spoke she told me, ‘I went to this doctor who started me on this special diet. Now I can get up and walk and even do exercises. I will visit you only if I can continue on this diet.’ The last I remembered, she had to be carried everywhere.”

When she learned her mother was on a vegetarian diet, however, Rosa was shocked. “I said, I’m sorry, but you can’t eat this way if you visit me. I can’t have you sick in my house.” Outrage turned to curiosity and once Donohue started investigating, her attitude changed. “When I looked into it, I realized this diet made sense. Then I started taking classes in chemistry, biochemistry, anatomy and other science courses in order to understand the connection between food and well being.”

After completing an undergraduate degree in liberal arts, Rosa earned a Masters from Columbia University in Nutrition and Public Health, and became a registered dietitian. “That’s how I got into the field formally.”

Family Style Dining

A unique background fed Rosa’s fondness for a variety of international cuisines, a love she shares with her students, whose favorite recipes include Caribbean Chicken, Sushi Rolls, Veggie Quiches, Red Snapper en Papillote, Apple Brownies and Spinach Lasagna.

“My family is Peruvian and Chinese, two cultures known for their cuisine. I grew up with food being the center of many events, both happy and sad.”

This love of communal meals also followed her to SMART, when she began developing menus and teaching cooking classes in the late 1990s. Although she still oversees most of the menus, Rosa and her husband have retired to Vermont, so many of SMART Body’s cooking classes are taught by Lena Darrell, a registered dietitian who came on board in 2006. “Lena is also completing her training in culinary arts so we will soon have a professional chef on board,” Rosa adds.

“When Lena or I teach a cooking class, even if it’s a simple demo in a small kitchen or basement, at the end, everybody sits down and shares a meal,” she says. “I think that part is important. To enjoy the food we prepare. I also think that by doing this the ladies of SMART – whether they realize it or not – learn and remember more about the different foods and the different ways of preparing them.”

What’s Cooking?

Developing healthy menus for HIV-positive women can take careful planning and the demands have changed through the years. Before, with physical wasting a frequent concern, helping women maintain or even gain weight was a priority.

Now women with HIV, particularly those on multiple medications, have an increased risk of developing high cholesterol levels, diabetes, high blood pressure and stress on their liver and kidney. Many of these women face the same challenge as the rest of America: too much weight. So Rosa emphasizes meals heavy on fruits, vegetables and whole grains, though her menu isn’t strictly vegetarian. “Yes, there’s a lot of emphasis on plant foods, but a quality protein is always included.”

She takes pride in expanding the culinary horizons of her students. “Now they’re comfortable with a variety of seasonings—garlic, ginger, turmeric, dill, cilantro, thyme and not just salt and pepper,” she says, adding: “They’ll eat leeks, eggplant, kale, barley, seaweed, quinoa, bulgur, even tofu, shiitaki mushrooms, and other new food items,” which she considers a major accomplishment.

“A few years ago, many of the ladies weren’t familiar with tofu or soymilk, even though many were lactose intolerant,” Rosa says. “Now, almost all will consume some soy product on a regular basis because they’ve learned interesting ways to prepare it. They’ve learned that though tofu has no flavor of its own, you can make it delicious,” she says.

Rosa also emphasizes that SMART Body’s pantry food package has been a wonderful way to encourage them to prepare the dishes at home because each package contains some of the main ingredients needed to follow the recipe prepared in class.