Hande KOTANOĞLU

(HACISALİHOĞLU)

I completed my primary, secondary and high school education in Trabzon. For me, since childhood, it has been a philosophy of life to eat right and healthy, and provide it with delicious, different foods and menus that we will enjoy. Growing up by consuming natural foods and being in a family where healthy food is cooked has helped me to choose this profession. In line with my interests, I started my education in 2008 at Yeditepe University, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics which is my only choice for academic education.

In 2013, I graduated from Department of Nutrition and Dietetics (English) at Yeditepe University by presenting my thesis on “The Relationship Between Consumption of Meat and Cancer”. During this period, I participated in many certificate programs.

In addition to my university internships, in the last year of my education (2012) at the Cerrahpaşa Hospital, I did an internship for a year under the mentorship of deceased Prof.Dr. Ahmet Aydın who is the writer of ‘Taş Devri Diyeti’(Stone Age Diet). This voluntary internship, which I see as the foundation and kind of beginning of my professional career, has benefited me greatly by strengthening my researcher and questioning aspects.

The dietary habits  of different countries and cultures are my special interests. For this purpose, as I continued my academic studies at Yeditepe University, I  traveled to different countries. I had the chance to visit many countries from India to Italy, from Thailand to Sri Lanka, from France to the Dominican Republic, to observe the dietary habits of people from different cultures and to taste the local dishes of different cultures.

In September 2013, I started my professional career at Istanbul Başkent University Hospital. While working, I realized that in addition to diet therapy to patients/clients, the science of Phytotherapy (Medicinal Plant Science) would be very useful and that’s how I started the Phytotherapy Master’s degree at the Faculty of Pharmacy.

Between 2015 and 2018, I continued my career in a private Acupuncture center.

In April 2019, a new nutrition and diet center was established under the brand name “F49 Nutrition”.