Janine LaForte, RD
Consulting Dietitian
Meet Janine
Hi! I'm Janine LaForte
A Registered Dietitian, culinary nutrition expert, a passionate home cook...and the founder of Real Life Nutrition.
For 26 years, I've been helping people make sense of nutrition. Today, I bring that expertise into the kitchen through cooking classes, nutrition education, recipe development, workplace wellness, and community programs.
I believe the best nutrition advice isn't about telling people what they should and shouldn't do. It's about giving them the knowledge, skills and confidence to make healthy eating work in their own lives.
"A good meal not only nourishes the body, but brings people together."
I grew up in a family of seven (with 4 brothers!) Yes...it was noisy, and busy, and it definitely got chaotic sometimes. But there was also a lot of adventure, laughter and fun!
Food and family meals were always a priority. Some of my best and earliest memories are from around the dinner table, and not just during special occasions. This was a standard, daily practice in my home.
My mom was an amazing home cook who was resourceful and always knew how to pull a meal together. We were always well fed, even when money was tight. I learned from her that a good meal, not only nourishes the body, but brings people together. And she taught me how to cook from a young age.
When I became a mom, she became my inspiration as I learned to feed my own family.
Today, I am a mom of three and family meals are a priority in our home. They don't happen all of the time or perfectly every night, and that's exactly the point. Real life is messy and meals don't have to be perfect to matter.
Real Life Nutrition's mission is to inspire individuals to cook and enjoy more meals at home by simplifying healthy eating because nutrition begins in the kitchen.
From Nutrition to the Kitchen
I've been a Registered Dietitian for 26 years and for almost a decade of my career I managed nutrition programming across more than 1,100 child care facilities. That experience taught me something important: there is no one-size-fits-all approach to eating well.
Families, communities, workplaces, budgets, cultures, schedules, cooking skills and access to food all look different for different people. Good nutrition advice needs to fit in YOUR real life.
That's the foundation of Real Life Nutrition.
We bring together nutrition expertise, passion for cooking, and years of experience developing programs that help people turn nutrition knowledge into practical skills they can use every day.
What we believe
Healthy eating doesn't have to be complicated.
We believe in balance, variety and flexibility, NOT food rules, guilt or perfection.
All foods can fit. Some days we cook from scratch and eat plenty of protein and vegetables. Other days we're grabbing takeout, eating leftovers, or calling cereal dinner. That's real life.
What matters is the bigger picture, and having the skills and confidence to make healthy choices that work for you.
Cooking is at the heart of everything we do
Cooking and food skills are essential to feed ourselves well and nutrition education is more powerful when people can put it into practice.
Instead of simply talking about what to eat, I love helping people learn how to shop, prep, cook, adapt recipes, use what they have, and feel more confident in the kitchen.
I'm a passionate home cook. Cooking is my creative outlet. I love simple, delicious meals just as much as I love trying a new recipe, experimenting with flavours, or learning something new in the kitchen.
That's why so much of my work happens around food.
Whether I'm teaching a cooking class, developing recipes, working with a community, creating a workplace wellness program, or partnering with a brand or organization, my goal is the same:
Make healthy eating practical, approachable and accessible in real life.
More than just nutrition advice
There's no shortage of nutrition information out there.
What people often need is help figuring out what to do with it.
What do I actually cook?
How do I make this affordable?
How do I feed my family when I'm exhausted?
How do I use what's already in my fridge?
How do I feel more confident in the kitchen?
That's where Real Life Nutrition comes in.
Real Life Nutrition is about meeting people where they are
and making healthy eating practical, flexible and doable
because knowing what to eat is only part of the equation.
Knowing how to make it happen, makes all the difference.
_edited.jpg)