Carolyn O'Neil, MS, RD, has more than 20 years of study and television reporting on food, nutrition, and cuisine and has provided consumers with helpful information and insights on all aspects of healthy living. She is a registered dietitian with a master's degree in nutrition and communication from Boston University and an undergraduate degree in foods and nutrition from Florida State University.
O'Neil works independently as a writer, speaker, media consultant, spokesperson, and television professional specializing in food, nutrition, and cuisine. She writes a weekly column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Healthy Eating Out" and is an AOL Diet Coach with online diet and nutrition workshops. O'Neil can also be seen as a recurring nutrition expert character, "Lady of the Refrigerator," on Alton Brown's Food Network series Good Eats.
O'Neil founded and developed CNN’s food and nutrition beat and served as executive producer and senior correspondent for CNN's award-winning "On The Menu" programming. In 1995, O'Neil won two James Beard Awards, which spotlight the best in television food journalism, and in 1998 was inducted into the James Beard Who's Who in Food and Beverage.
- Other awards include accolades for journalistic excellence from the American Heart Association, the American Dietetic Association, and the National Restaurant Association.
- In 1999, she was named Best TV Food Journalist during the World Cookbook Fair in Versailles, France.
- O'Neil hosted the nationally televised PBS series Cook Off America with co-host Chef Marcel Desaulniers.
- Her book, The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous!, with co-author Denise Webb, PhD, RD, was published by Simon & Schuster Atria Books in June 2004.