The 2025 Immersion schedule is in the planning stages.
Stay tuned for the schedule and destinations.
Are you interested in moving toward a whole-food, plant-based vegan lifestyle but unsure about the pragmatic steps? Our 3½ day immersions offer a relaxed environment to soak up evidence-based nutrition and lifestyle information from trained practitioners and enjoy healthy meals and their recipes. The immersions are small and engaging, with approximately seven to fourteen people depending on the mix of singles and couples.
Learn more in this introductory video:
Day 1
Arrive in the afternoon for a 15 minute private consultation with the two facilitators.
Relax in or around the venue or in the locale (snacks available).
Evening orientation, dinner, and film.
Days 2 and 3
Start your morning early with facilitated yoga, stretching, or other activities, along with light self-serve food and drink.
Breakfast, mid-day lunch, and evening dinner.
Facilitators will prepare the meals, demonstrating and sharing recipes and discussing nutrition.
Guest visitors will join us for talks via web conference
There will be a few hours off mid-afternoon for optional activities like hiking or just taking a break or napping.
Evenings may include no-added-fat fruit ‘nice cream’, music, viewing of films about healthy plant-based eating, and discussion.
Day 4
Checkout in the morning with self-serve hot and cold breakfast.
Private consultation with the facilitators.
Typical immersion schedule
The Facilitators
Each of your facilitators is an expert in whole-food plant-based vegan preparation and nutrition. They have various certifications; each of them is a PCRM Food for Life instructor and a Cook in the Kitchen in the monthly internet cooking show So Many Cooks in the Kitchen. Here’s a bit about them:
Dilip Barman, MS, ScM, has been involved with plant-based lifestyle for decades. He is President of the Triangle Vegetarian Society in North Carolina where he hosts the country’s largest vegetarian (all vegan) Thanksgiving. Dilip is Executive Producer of the film Code Blue that shows how lifestyle choices can profoundly affect health. Dilip is on advisory boards of the Plant-Based Network, Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute, and Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge; a Vegan Information Point and Speaker Bureau member of the American Vegan Society; North American representative of the International Vegetarian Union; and an Affiliate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. He has given cooking demonstrations and talks in a number of countries and states. His recipes have appeared in a variety of local and international news programs, books, magazines, newspapers, and online. Dilip teaches at a number of local schools, including as Nutrition Education Director of an elementary and middle school where he has created a Healthy Snack Program to provide nutrition education and, several times a week, healthy plant-based food for children. You can find Dilip at dilip.info.
Carolyn May Strickland, LCSW is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, ACE certified fitness instructor, graduate of Cornell Center for Nutrition Studies, and graduate of Rouxbe/Forks Over Knives plant-based cooking school. She has advanced training in Health and Wellness Coaching through WellCoaches. She is a board member of the Move Montgomery Health and Wellness Task Force and board president of EATSouth urban teaching farm. Carolyn and her husband, Bryan, a primary care physician, have been plant-based since 2009. They have a YouTube channel called Stricklands & Friends: A Seasonal WFPB Cookbook. You can find some of her original recipes featured in Glen Merzer’s book Food is Climate. Carolyn and Bryan started a monthly plant-based potluck, VegOut, in 2013 and a monthly cooking and nutrition class, Meatless Monday Montgomery, at the Montgomery Whole Foods (2018-2022). Carolyn enjoys teaching health and nutrition classes in her community at the YMCA, in churches, for local community organizations and businesses, and for private groups.
Cody Stubbe, MSN, RN, is a co-leader of the Nurses Nutrition Network, Co-Director of So Many Cooks in the Kitchen and So Many Kids in the Kitchen, and founder of Wholistic Dish, LLC which provides resources for evidence-based, healthy, vegan, whole food plant-based eating. She is a nursing instructor in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, sharing her passion for nutrition research. She is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the Nebraska Organization of Nursing Leadership. As a registered nurse for over 20 years, Cody has witnessed first-hand how poor nutrition can have a devastating impact on people’shealth. She has experience taking care of a wide range of patients, and has a deep understanding of disease processes. She teaches nursing students, nurses, hospital administrators, and the general public in-person and virtual cooking and nutrition classes, and presents at nursing and lifestyle medicine conferences. She is co-author of a chapter in a forthcoming book on nursing education - Lifestyle Nursing Principles and Practice. Food is Climate features several of her and her children’s recipes. You can find Cody at wholisticdish.com.
Example Dishes
Dilip’s Hearty Lentil Soup, Black Eyed Peas
Dilip’s Black Beans with Mango Puree over Brown Rice, Guacamole and Sungold Tomatoes
Dilip’s Barley, Pea, and Lentil Soup with Green Tomato, Grilled Artichoke Hearts, and Frisee with Tomato
Carolyn’s Pancakes
Carolyn’s Grilled Tofu with Chimichurri
Carolyn’s Stir Fried Cauliflower Rice with Air Fried Veggie Roll
Cody’s Blueberry Orange Waffles
Cody’s Tofu Scramble on a bed of Quinoa
Cody’s Stir Fry Peanut Thai Bowl
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Your facilitators are well-versed in preparing, demonstrating, and discussing the nutritional qualities of a wide variety of vegan whole-food plant-based foods. Everything will be fully plant-based, vegan. Dishes will vary but breakfasts may include an oatmeal bar with organic fruit, scrambled tofu, homemade granola, freshly made creamy soy yogurt (we’ll show you how and send you home with starter if you want!), or fruits. Lunches may include tortilla wraps, massaged kale and cranberry salad, panzanella bread salad, celery soup, cold gazpacho, chickpea salad, or sushi rolls. Dinners may include manicotti, fajitas, chunky vegetable-seitan stew, stuffed peppers, 3-bean filo bake, various salads including an heirloom from Dilip’s family in India with ground/roasted cumin, or quesadillas. Desserts and snacks may include creamy fruit parfait, watermelon ice, carrot cake, black bean brownies, chocolate hummus; nachos, almost no fat potato chips, popcorn, or fresh fig spread with sweet or hot pepper.
-
You will fill out a questionnaire which will ask, among other things, about any food allergies. We will work with any allergies that you have. For example, if you are gluten intolerant, we may make some items with gluten but will always have a gluten-free alternative. If your allergy is such that you can’t be near certain foods or can’t have cookware that has been in touch with those foods, please let us know to see if we can accommodate you. We will be using pans, blenders, and pressure cookers that have never been in contact with non-vegan ingredients. However we will use the venue’s serving ware.
-
You should always work with your primary healthcare provider to address your specific healthcare needs. Although we have food and nutrition certifications, none of us is a medical doctor. For immersions with Carolyn, her husband, who may also be attending, is a doctor but may not be licensed in the venue’s state. There will be an intake and an outtake where the facilitators will listen to your health concerns and goals with a focus on desires for dietary change. We will give general advice based on evidence.
-
Need-based scholarships are available. We set the price competitively and believe that we are offering excellent value. However, we don’t want to turn people away who may have circumstances that prevent them from affording the program. Please contact us if you would like to discuss the possibility of a partial scholarship.
-
We will have paid staff at the event helping with cleanup, getting folks checked in, helping if you have any shipping needs, etc. We love volunteers but want you to soak up the material. If opportunities arise where we could use a quick hand, we’ll ask!
-
Other than an early-bird discount for some immersions, we do not offer any discounts.
-
Registration is not refundable. However, if you need to cancel, we can open up your registration and, if we fill it, refund your registration less a $100 administrative fee.
-
Payment in full is due upon registration but please do contact us if there are any financial difficulties.
-
Please bring your curiosity and questions! We look forward to meeting our participants. If you wish, you can bring some leftover containers in case there is extra food that you want to carry home with you. We will demonstrate how to make a creamy, almost-no-fat unsweetened vegan yogurt and if you want to take a little bit home with you as starter to make your own, you may want to bring a little container. We will try to have some food containers as well. Each venue will have towels, linens, etc. We’ll have some quality vegan toiletries in case you forget or want to try ours. We recommend a bathing suit, comfortable walking/hiking shoes, a notebook, and pencil or pen. Each venue has a self-service washing machine and dryer and we will have laundry detergent that you are welcome to use., Each venue will have internet connectivity which we will use to video conference guest speakers and share online resources. We believe that one aspect of healthy living is to have ‘disconnected’ time. We won’t ask you to ‘go offline’ but we also won’t encourage online activities. You will want to bring your phone to stay in touch, but we will not be relying on your having any other electronic devices.
-
Please contact us if you have specific requirements but we encourage you to rely on us for serving you food. No foods with animal products will be allowed on premises. Participants may be changing their food habits and we don’t want to have foods present that could jeopardize their progress.
-
Transportation arrangements vary based on the immersion location. While we’ve often recommended securing your own ground transportation, we’re happy to assist if possible. Parking is usually available at the venues we choose. If you won’t have a car, please let us know. Some immersions may include offsite excursions, but carpooling is typically an option to minimize the need for everyone to drive. Public transportation combined with a taxi or ride-sharing service is also a practical and viable alternative if you prefer not to bring a car. We want you to relax, learn, and have fun, and not worry about getting around.
-
If you want to ship materials to or from the venue, please contact us as we can help (e.g., favorite pillows, small exercise weights you use, literature or appliances/pans purchased at the immersion).
-
We will provide accessibility details for each location when they are established. Please contact us with any specific needs you have.
-
Registration includes specifying your emergency contact details. We also provide you with the venue address and facilitator contact information.
-
We rely on the tremendous body of peer-reviewed evidence that demonstrates health-promoting and restoring benefits of whole-food fully plant-based eating with limited fat. Excellent resources include websites such as pcrm.org, nutritionfacts.org, andforksoverknives.com. Each of the facilitators is a Cook in the Kitchen and puts on monthly food and nutrition shows. We are part of a team with extensive monthly recipes available at somanycooks.com. We recommend many other recipe sites and authors as well, such as Brenda Davis, Neal Barnard, Julieanna Hever, fatfreevegan.com, and ivu.org. We heartily recommend the many resources and programs at rochesterlifestylemedicine.org.
-
The resources listed in the previous question above are accessible and valuable to both lay audiences as well as healthcare providers. Conferences that may appeal especially to healthcare providers include Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine ICNM Conference, Plant-based Prevention Of Disease P-POD Conference, and Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute (RLMI) offers programs and resources for healthcare providers seen HERE
-
Sorry, that is not likely to be possible. We recommend that you find alternative accommodation for extra days before or after the immersion. But do check with us to see if we can make it work!
-
We will ask about your typical bedtime and any preferred napping. One of the facilitators will typically offer a stretch or yoga session with simple breakfast items like fruit and hot drinks as early as 6:30 or 7:00 AM, and will start the day otherwise with preparing breakfast as we launch into food and nutrition discussion at 9:00 AM. Our day will typically end with dinner winding down by 7:00 PM or so. We expect to offer an evening walk and then a topical film viewing and discussion wrapping up roughly around 9:00 or 10:00 PM with participants welcome to retire earlier if they so desire. One of the facilitators will be available to relax with any interested participants until around midnight or a bit later. We will take each immersion group’s collective schedule into account in planning. We encourage proper rest and will do our best to accommodate each participant’s preferred sleeping pattern.
-
Dilip has over 1000 of his recipes on his blog dilipdinner.blogspot.com. Pictures of some of his dinner plates are available at photos.dilip.info/Food/SamplePlates. Cody is frequently a guest on a variety of cooking and nutrition shows. Carolyn has a YouTube channel called Stricklands Friends, a Seasonal WFPB Cookbook at bit.ly/StricklandAndFriendsYouTube. She is also a guest on a variety of programs. All of them are regulars with somanycooks.com. Their monthly videos are viewable and recipes are downloadable.
-
Facebook
Cody: @wholisticdish
Carolyn: @MeatlessMondayMontgomery, @VegOutMontgomery
All: @somanycooksYouTube:
Carolyn: bit.ly/StricklandAndFriendsYouTubeAll: bit.ly/SMCKyouTube
Twitter:
Dilip: @dbarman Instagram: Carolyn: @TofuChic
Cody: @wholisticdish
Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @roclifemed -
Please send any questions to Dilip Barman at dilip@dilip.info