“Be mindful but not militant.”
Leslie Myers has been working in the restaurant hospitality industry since she was 15. She has worked in almost every area of the food world — from recipe development to restaurant owner. In 2009, after selling her restaurant and deciding to not open another, she started to explore a healthy lifestyle using her chef skills to develop healthy, “real world” culinary classes, recipes and eating plans. This inspired her to devote the rest of her career to education and production of healthy, whole food cuisine.
This devotion led Leslie to the VEBA Resource Center where she serves as resident Foodie and founding culinary instructor. She brings her passion for cooking and eating healthy food to VEBA Members through her weekly cooking classes where she helps Members understand the importance of a healthy diet.
Leslie believes that diet is a large part of the equation in optimizing long-term health but also realizes that eating properly isn’t intuitive. Through her cooking classes — whether online or in-person — she teaches Members how to make cooking simple, fun and flavorful using easy-to-make recipes with ingredients that can be purchased almost anywhere. She not only teaches Members how to eat healthy but also the “whys” and “whats” of food.
Leslie is an eight-time Hawaii Ironman triathlon qualifier and has won multiple Ironman Triathlons in her age group. A self-proclaimed “qualitarian” of food and graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, Leslie advises people on “mindful not “militant” approaches to their diets. When she is not cooking and racing triathlons, she can be found out and about in North County or at Dog Beach with her husband, Geoff and her dog, Tango.