Five Element Nutrition
Lean into the Healing Power of Food, Nature & Ancient Wisdom.
A 3-Month Live Immersion that runs every Spring and Fall.
Are you ready to deepen your relationship with nourishment—beyond calories and macros—and remember food as medicine?
Immersive, 3-month journey 🌀
We invite you to explore the time-honored wisdom of the Five Elements through the lens of Chinese medicine, energetic nutrition, and seasonal living.
Together, we’ll reconnect to our body's innate rhythms, explore therapeutic cooking, and learn to nourish the mind, body, and spirit in harmony with nature.
This course is for you if you…
Are a healer, bodyworker, coach, cook, or curious soul seeking a deeper understanding of food as medicine
Want to explore the energetics of nutrition in a way that aligns with nature and inner wisdom
Are done with rigid diets and ready to nourish yourself (and your people) in a sustainable, spirit-rooted way
Work in health care, Chinese medicine, nutrition, or wellness and want to integrate Five Element theory into your practice
Love cooking or feeding others and want to bring intentional, healing energy to your meals
✨ What You’ll Learn
Here’s what’s included:
Module 1:
Foundational Principles of Five Element Nutrition
Module 2:
Traditions of Food & Healing
Module 3:
Chinese Nutrition Theory & Energetics of Food
Module 4:
Food Groups & Functional Properties
Module 5:
Balance through the Seasons
Module 6:
Building a Healing Kitchen
Module 7:
Cooking Methods for Optimal Nourishment
Module 8:
5 Element Cooking Classes
Module 9:
Women's Health
Module 10:
Emotional and Mental Health
Module 11:
Common Health Conditions
Module 12:
Creating Sustainable Changes
This is not a rigid set of rules. It’s a return to relationship—with food, the seasons, your body, and the cycles of life.
What's Included
12 Weekly Learning Modules: theory + real-life practice
Live Weekly Q&As with Mindi, Ellen, and guest teachers (recordings provided)
Cooking Tutorials + Demos: accessible, inspiring, and deeply nourishing
1 Year Access to all course materials
Lifetime Membership in our private student community
Bonus Masterclasses on retreat cooking, Qi Gong, women’s health, emotional healing, and more
Downloadable PDFs + Resource Lists for ongoing reference
Eligibility for CPD credits (for Australia/NZ acupuncture professionals)
$1,299 - $1,599
*This course is hosted by the Qi Food Therapy Institute located in Australia. While they do not have payment tiers like all of our Medicine People courses, they do offer generous partial scholarships and also payment plans. See below to learn more.
Five Element Nutrition
🧡 Meet Your Guides
🧡 Mindi K. Counts
Mindi K. Counts, MA, LAc., is a wilderness and rites of passage guide, Five-Element acupuncturist, Somatic practitioner, and East-West folk herbalist. Founder of the Inner Ocean Center for Healing, Mindi is a keynote speaker, retreat leader and teacher. She is the author of Everyday Chinese Medicine, Tending Your Roots, and a contributing author to The Trauma Toolkit and Singing Our Heart’s Song.
She is the founder of the international nonprofits Medicine People & the Inner Ocean Empowerment Project, providing holistic healthcare and education to women and children through volunteer service missions to underserved populations around the world and in the U.S. She was featured in Dr. Oz’s The Good Life magazine for her work in Indian slum communities, Burmese refugee birth clinics and earthquake-ravaged areas of Nepal.
Mindi is a graduate of Naropa University’s Contemplative Psychology program and holds a Masters degree in Classical Five Element Acupuncture from the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture. She lives with her family and rescued pit bulls in the foothills of Colorado.
🧡 Ellen Goldsmith
Ellen Goldsmith, MSOM, LAc, DipCH, is an educator, speaker, as well as a board certified and licensed acupuncturist and herbalist practicing Chinese medicine and nutritional therapy. She is author of "Nutritional Healing with Chinese Medicine: +175 Seasonal Recipes for Optimal Health," a book for practitioners, nutritionists and anyone interested in bringing the healing power of food into their everyday lives.
In practice, her integrative body centered and intuitive approach is grounded in decades of study and experience which are key to collaborating and working with people to help them restore health. She is known for her enduring confidence that each person has the power within to resolve challenges, grow and heal. She is a long time practitioner of meditation, Qi Gong and body centered therapies.
She speaks frequently on the value of understanding food as medicine from a Chinese medicine point of view and integrating a whole body approach to health and healing at conferences and schools in the USA and offers online classes through her website pearlnaturalhealth.com.
Ellen is a graduate of National University of Natural Medicine’s College of Classical Chinese Medicine and has a Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine> She is on faculty in the Classical Chinese Medicine program at the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon and with the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine in San Diego teaching integrative medicine fellows. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Bonus Masterclasses 🔥
Plus an extraordinary lineup of guest teachers from around the world in nutrition, Chinese medicine, energy healing, functional food, and spirit-based practice including Zoey Xinyi Gong, Naomi Jansson, Holly Davis, and many, many more!
🎁 Additional Resources:
Guide to Acupoints for Menstrual Health
Blood-Nourishing Ebook
Discounts on herbs, e-books, and more
Special Training on Retreat Cooking with the 5 Elements (for chefs + facilitators)
Masterclasses on Quantum Biology, Spirit of the Yi, and Qi Gong for Nourishment
TESTIMONIALS
What people are saying...
"Excellent course for anyone interested in food, nutrition, cooking, and health."
“The course is very professionally curated and delivered, all presenters are experts in their fields and very generous with sharing their knowledge and very engaging in both recorded and live sessions. There is so much content and information and variety of delivery methods. It is really worth the investment, and exceeds the quality and content of many online university courses I have attended. I have loved every minute of this course!”
- Kelley G., Australia
"This course totally transformed my relationship with food."
"The faculty of teachers are impressive and I am so inspired by them.
I suffered from chronic inflammation and body pain, with the help of these course I have been able to recognize my unique body needs, identify and eliminate unfavorable foods and heal my long term inflammation and gut issues. It has been a blessing! My intuition towards my body has never been more keen.
It is a life transforming course and I think everyone from all backgrounds, healthcare or not, can benefit from taking this course, because food is life!
- Shama K., Nepal
"This course is so comprehensive!"
"The teachers are diverse. Their knowledge and perspectives are so refreshing and enriching. More richness of information than I expected and a great refresher for TCM foundations. I am definitely applying the learnings little by little everyday."
-JL, Phillipines
Come home to nourishment.
Join us for this transformational journey into Five Element Nutrition
Where food is medicine, the kitchen is sacred, and healing begins with the Earth beneath our feet.
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the 5 Element Nutrition course similar to Ayurveda & the elements?
Yes and no, the content and teachings in this course are based on the 5 Elements of Chinese/East Asian Medicine and not Indian Ayurvedic philosophy.
There are some overlaps in concepts and of course reference to elements in the natural world in and around us, but this is not an Ayurvedic nutrition course.
How long is the course?
A 3-month online semester
Approximately 80 hours of content, classes, a weekly live Q&A session (with replays), homework (including reading & practice/cooking time)
Do I have to buy textbooks?
We have a recommended reading list for the 5 Element Nutrition course, and some books that we will be referencing from during the course, but these are not mandatory. All students will be provided with a booklist before semester starts.
All classes/video lectures have accompanying PDF slides and study material for students to download inside the learning portal.
Are the 5 Element Nutrition modules live or pre-recorded?
We have a mix of weekly live sessions with our core teachers and pre-recorded lectures, masterclasses & cooking demos with our guest teachers.
How much time do I need to allocate to study & is there homework?
Over the 3 months we have a mix of live and pre-recorded content, we foresee about 3-5 hours of study per week, more if you want to do more reading & cooking practice in the kitchen.
Students are encouraged to follow at this pace however you have 1 year access to the course to work through at your own pace, and review the material.
There will be homework, in terms of recommended reading, short quizzes & cooking practice. This is optional as there are no formal assessments in this course. However if you wish to attain accreditation/continuing education credits or points with your registered educational organizations then assessments will be required.
What time/dates are the live calls?
A full schedule of live Q&A calls will be provided to students pre-semester. Our core teachers are based on 2/3pm PT (Pacific time in the USA) and 7/8am AEST (Australian Eastern Standard time) and calls will tend to be on Thursday afternoon USA time, which is late night in Europe and early Friday morning in Asia & Australia.
Times will vary during the semester because of daylight savings changes in April and October internationally.
All live calls will be recorded for students to watch at their convenience, so you can join us from anywhere in the world.
Will it be an issue if I can’t attend the live classes, or can I rely on the replays instead?
It's no problem at all. All classes and live Q&As are recorded and available as video replays, so you can watch them at your convenience. Additionally, students can ask questions within each module through the learning portal, and we’ll address them during the weekly live Q&A, even if you can’t attend the Zoom call.
We encourage students to join a few live Q&As when possible—it’s always lovely to see you there! We also have a 5 Element Nutrition Facebook community to connect and engage with fellow students.
Is this course about Chinese cuisine and food?
No, we will be teaching the principles & foundations of topics such as 5 Element nutrition, flavours, cooking energetics, functional food or herbal pairing, which can be applied to any food culture, cuisine & dietary preferences. We have students from many countries in the course.
Is this a course on TCM dietary philosophy?
Yes and no. The foundations of 5 Element Nutrition can be applied to any food culture and all dietary preferences. It is NOT a course that promotes a “one size fits all,” nutrition therapy. We recognize that each of us is unique and will therefore have unique dietary needs. You can join us if you are a meat eater, vegetarian, vegan or anything in between.
Is this a vegan or vegetarian course?
No, we do not follow nor prescribe any dietary theories. Anyone can apply the principles of 5 Element Nutrition to any personal preferences and ingredient selection. 5 Element Nutrition and Chinese Medicine are not traditionally vegan dietary practices, however if you are plant-based there will be plenty of options for you to apply the wisdom in your kitchen & lifestyle. Anyone can take this course and enjoy the theory & practical applications. It is great for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, paleo and everything in between.
Do I have to know how to cook?
No, you don't have to be a cook or chef, but you can be too, this course isn’t going to teach you how to cook nor knife skills, but it will teach you the principles in food and ingredient selection to create balanced meals, seasonal support for your health and longevity.
Do I have to pay all at once or do you offer payment plans?
Yes, we have payment plans for the 5 Element Nutrition course. You can pay in 3 monthly installments, please select the payment plan option and once you complete registration there will be an automatic debit from your nominated credit card or Paypal account over the 3 months.
2025 Course Dates:
🌱 2025 Spring Course Runs:
March 1 - June 1, 2025
🍁 2025 Fall Course Runs:
September 1 – December 5, 2025
Live calls take place Thursdays at 2pm PT / Fridays 7am AEST
(All sessions are recorded + accessible 24/7)
Use code: MINDI to save 10%
Copyright 2025 | Medicine People