🥑 Do you ever feel your body craving something deeper than calories — real nourishment?
🥑 Have you noticed how certain meals leave you calm and clear, while others drain your energy?
🥑 Are you curious about how food can become a daily act of healing rather than another task to manage?
If you nodded yes, you’re not alone. Food isn’t just fuel — it’s medicine. And when prepared with rhythm and awareness, it can recalibrate the body in profound ways. This isn’t your typical nutrition talk. Together, we’ll explore:
· How the foods you eat communicate directly with your hormones, mood, and microbiome,
· Why digestion begins long before the first bite, and
· How to transform everyday meals into moments of healing and connection.At White Oak Medicine, we believe the kitchen is one of the body’s most sacred healing spaces. When we learn to cook with rhythm — to listen, taste, and create with intention — the table becomes an altar for balance and renewal.
Taught by Carolyn Jackson, RD of Manna Cabanna, this class brings together science, soul, and the simple truth that the healing power of food begins right where you already are — in your own kitchen.
Culinary Medicine
The Healing Power of Food
Featuring guest speaker Carolyn Jackson a registered dietitian and founder of Manna Cabanna
At White Oak Medicine, we believe true health care means understanding your whole self—not just treating symptoms. Our Health Education Series is a free, ongoing community offering designed to explore topics that support nervous system regulation, emotional wellness, and root-cause healing.
These classes are practical, approachable, and rooted in our whole-person philosophy of care. Whether you’re curious about holistic practices, looking for new tools, or just wanting to reconnect with yourself—this space is for you.
Each class is led by Veronica, FNP, PMHNP, or a featured presenter selected for their expertise and alignment with our whole-person approach. These classes bring a range of voices and perspectives to whole-person healing—part education, part experience, and always grounded in the idea that your body knows how to heal with the right support.
Classes are free and open to the public.
You don’t have to be a White Oak member to attend, and are encouraged to bring a friend.
What if your meals weren’t just what you eat… but part of how you heal?
We’ve been taught to separate nutrition from medicine — to see food as fuel, not therapy.
We count calories, chase diets, and still wonder why we feel tired, inflamed, or out of rhythm.
But what if the answer isn’t another plan, but a return to the wisdom already growing in our gardens and simmering in our kitchens?
The truth is: the body listens to every bite. When we eat with awareness, digestion becomes dialogue — and food becomes medicine.
In this story-rich, sensory class, registered dietitian and Manna Cabanna founder Carolyn Jackson will share:
🥕 How food communicates with your hormones, gut, and mood
🥕 Why blood sugar balance and digestion are the foundation of emotional regulation
🥕 The science behind anti-inflammatory and hormone-supportive meals
🥕 How to transform cooking into a daily rhythm of care, not a chore
🥕 The energetic imprint of nourishment — how what you eat shapes how you feel
🥕 Simple, accessible ways to make your kitchen a healing space for the whole family
This class blends science, story, and spirit — showing how the healing power of food begins not in a clinic, but at the table where you already are.
Date: Tuesday December 2, 2025
Time: 6:00-7:30 PM
Location: White Oak Medicine
155 W. Mills St. Ste. 103 Columbus, NC 28722
with Virtual Attendance Available
Limited In-Person Spots Available – Reserve Yours Now!
Taught by: Carolyn Jackson, RD
Registered Dietitian · Educator · Culinary Healer
Carolyn Jackson is a registered dietitian and lifelong advocate for the healing power of real food. Known to many in the community as the founder of Manna Cabanna, she helped bring locally grown produce and farm-to-table connection to life in the Carolina foothills long before “culinary medicine” became a buzzword.
Now dividing her time between Western North Carolina and Florida, Carolyn blends clinical nutrition training with a deeply intuitive understanding of food as medicine. Her work weaves together science, story, and sensory experience—helping people rediscover the joy and rhythm of nourishment.
Whether teaching a class, crafting a meal, or walking a farmer’s market, Carolyn’s message is simple and enduring: healing begins with what we grow, cook, and share.
About Your Host: Veronica Johnson, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC
Allopathically Trained · Holistically Driven
Veronica Johnson is a dually licensed Family and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner dedicated to helping people break free from a system that prioritizes profit over true healing—and guiding them back to their own innate wisdom through holistic, root-cause care.
At White Oak Medicine, Veronica integrates functional and holistic approaches to offer a grounded path toward healing—one that centers nutrition, nervous system regulation, emotional well-being, and the power of informed choice. Her care model is relational, non-rushed, and rooted in the belief that healing happens when we feel safe, seen, and supported.
Whether through Direct Primary Care or Functional Wellness, Veronica helps people move beyond symptom management and toward true sovereignty—where nature, intuition, and body-based knowing become primary tools for lifelong well-being.
This work is about reclaiming your connection to yourself, nature, and the rhythms that make healing possible—not just for a moment, but for a lifetime.
Connect with Veronica: [email protected]
Follow on Instagram: @whiteoakmedicine
Facebook: facebook.com/whiteoakmedicine/
