As bikini season rapidly approaches, many are trying to squeeze in an extra workout and cut unwanted calories. While some resort to crash-dieting and over-exercising, others take the healthy route of educating themselves on nutrition and the ways of healthy eating.

And what better place to learn about healthy eating than at De Anza College, where you can also use Gigi Acker’s Nutrition 10 class to boost your GPA?

Acker has taught nutrition at De Anza for approximately two years, and has taught a world hunger class at San Jose State. She received her bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences at Auburn University in Alabama, and then continued her education, earning her master’s in Public Health Nutrition from the University of Minnesota.

She has been teaching for 13 years in between gardening, hiking in the mountains, mountain biking and consulting. She gives seminars and cooking classes to private companies such as Yahoo!, The Gap, 3M and American Express.

While her job is to inform students how to treat and nourish their bodies, Acker enjoys the occasional indulgence. “I love dark chocolate and ice cream, but I don’t eat fried food,” she said.

“Young people have a certain type of adventurousness, and I like their energy. I love the excitement of learning something new. I like the interaction. I’m teaching them, but they are also teaching me.”

Acker’s nutrition courses teaches students how to take care of their bodies, what nutrients are and how they can nourish themselves correctly. Acker says she wants students to learn there are easy ways to do this.

Taking care of your body is not hard and impossible, she said, and students do not have to cut out a favorite, weekly cupcake.

“Eating is important, healthy eating is doable. Nutrition can be interesting, and there isn’t only one way to eat healthy,” she said.

In addition to teaching how to eat better and how certain foods can help our environment, she takes students on a field trip to the local Whole Foods grocery store, where they apply what they learned in the classroom. Students also have an opportunity to critique a restaurant.

Students don’t need to deprive themselves in order to be healthy. “A hamburger once in a while is fine. Enjoyment is good. There is no such thing as good and bad foods,” she said.