A Multifaceted Swede in Philadelphia
A Multifaceted Swede in Philadelphia Amy von Sydow Green
Amy von Sydow Green is a registered dietitian / nutritionist , cookbook writer and recipe developer . She lives and works in Philadelphia but is originally from Gothenburg , Sweden , where she got her medical degree from Gothenburg University . Amy has extensive experience in the field of obesity research and weight loss counseling and a great interest in healthy cooking .
Growing up in a family where cooking and baking was a central part of socializing and a treasured way of spending time together , Amy ’ s interest in cooking and nutrition was awakened at an early age , and deepened further when she became an elite gymnast in her teens . During the final stages of her Swedish medical degree , Amy conducted a project , interviewing youths who had undergone obesity surgery to lose weight . This was something she found fascinating and continued to work with together with obesity and weight loss researchers at the University of Pennsylvania when she moved from Sweden to Philadelphia with her American husband .
Today Amy is the nutritionist at Penn Metabolic Medicine , helping people with obesity by coaching and teaching them how to make healthy nutritional choices . In addition to this , she has written two best-selling cookbooks together with her sister , both published in Sweden , and is currently working on a third that will be available in 2017 . She is also a restaurant consultant and works together with restaurants to develop healthy menus . One of the restaurants she has collaborated with will open in New York City after the summer and will have a menu focused on healthy ingredients that are specifically beneficial for brain function .
Amy still has close ties with Sweden and she does believe that there are some significant differences between Sweden and the US as far as food culture and nutrition go . One of the most distinguishable examples is breakfast habits – in Sweden it is uncommon to have anything sweet for breakfast while it is almost part of the norm in the US . Fast food is also more accessible in the
US , and it is cheaper and more common to eat out than in Sweden . Amy says that the differing ways of consuming food can be one of the biggest challenges in her work . People can have a completely foreign view on nutrition and eating . For example , some of her patients have never cooked food themselves and might need instructions just on how to make pasta which sometimes can be difficult to identify with .
At the same time , her work can also be incredibly rewarding . She has thoroughly enjoyed the extensive but exciting process of creating two Swedish cookbooks with her sister and describes all the positive feedback the books have been getting from people using them as very fulfilling . She does miss Sweden at times , especially family and friends , but always spends six weeks of the summer at the little island of Marstrand outside of Gothenburg .
- I really love getting a dose of Sweden in the summer , she says . If I didn ’ t get that , I ’ d miss Sweden much more . Spending time with family and friends , barbequing , having fika , drinking coffee and just relaxing , that ’ s what the Swedish summer is all about .
Follow @ amysilveria on Instagram where she posts inspiring food pictures and healthy recipes !
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