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Who is my instructor?

I am Estefania Herrera (she/they) a Latina Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDNs) with a Masters in Nutrition Sciences. Born and raised in Mexico, immigrated to U.S to Las Vegas Nevada in 2012, and moved to Oregon about 2 years ago. I am married to a fellow Registered Dietitian & musician, we recently had our first baby. Currently, I am pursuing a Ph.D in Public Health focused on Community Health. My main expertise is Cultural Responsive Care Nutrition, thus I like to approach nutrition from a trauma-informed and social justice lens with some sparkles of mindfulness. 

Course Disclaimer:

Early in my career as a student I was tempted to view nutrition courses as "fix me courses" where the information was used to fix myself. If you find yourself tempted to see this class as an opportunity to judge all the parts of you that are not "good enough", or fix all the parts you do not like about yourself, or obsess to look a different way. I want to highlight that you are already so worthy and perfect. Your worth is not dependent on how you look, on how well you apply the concepts we learn in class, or how healthy you eat. FN 110 is not meant to fix you or your eating habits, instead this course creates spaces for us to evaluate and discover different parts of ourselves, while exposing ourselves to tools that can assist us in becoming our better version. 

My Health & Nutrition philosophy: 

My professional opinion is build on two premises: healthy people and healthy systems. We cannot have one without the other. For this course we will explore a lot of nutrition information in conjunction with learning how to navigate health beliefs, health behaviors, and health systems. 

My teaching philosophy:

To create opportunities for you to grow as individuals, professionals and citizens of the world. Our time together is designed to challenge our current mindset, and evaluate our own limiting beliefs that impair growth. Our space is expected to stimulate an inclusive and creative learning environment by accounting for the different learning styles and advocating collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. 

Curriculum Summer 2025

1. Nutrition & You (e.g., food identity, complexities of food)
2. A Healthy Meal Pattern (e.g., dysfunctional eating patterns & tools to build healthy eating patterns)
3. Digestion, Absorption, and Transfer of Nutrients (e.g., gut health & GI conditions)
4. Carbohydrates (& diabetes management)
5. Lipids (& heart health)
6. Protein (e.g., muscle building, & kidney health) 
7. Vitamins & minerals (e.g., supplements, bone health, & hydration)
8. Energy balance, Weight and Disordered Eating (e.g., disordered eating, weight management, fad diets)
9. Nutrition & Exercise (e.g., types of fuel for types of exercise, pre-workout and post workout recommendations, and supplements regulation)
10. Packaged & processed foods (e.g., food systems, food justice, & health policies)

What to expect?

• All FN 110 courses have the same curriculum, therefore, expect to learn the basics of nutrition. 
• Expect interactive activities, for instance, we will learn how to read food labels from your own food pantry, workout during the exercise week, explore some cooking basics and perhaps even do a recipe. 
• Expect mindful practices and resources to be embedded into the curriculum. 
• Expect conversations about food systems & food justice.
• I am trying something new - Podcast Style Lectures, expect to listen to your weekly podcast episode in Spotify or other streaming places.  

It is truly an honor to gift you my little or much knowledge I have about food to better your life. 

I am very excited to meet and share time together!  

Estefania 

This course is cross-listed as FN 110 CRN 30667, 31752, 32291, 32534 this means that students can register either and the class itself will be the same.