Katie Cavuto: One of my first food memories was growing up and my grandfather having the most amazing garden. At the time being so young I had no appreciation for the fact that it was organic, or local, or seasonal, or any of those things. Now looking back I remember the first time I had one of my grandfather's tomatoes and how drastically different it was from any of the tomatoes my mom had brought home from the grocery store. I remember it being almost a spiritual experience, the fact that I was so young and that's such a clear childhood memory that I have. I guess as I have gotten older and being a dietitian and learning so much about cultural health impacts, it has become very obvious to me that there are a lot of issues going on with the current food industry--the increase in disease, the increase in obesity and the increase in food allergies. It seems almost insane if people are not going to relay all of these issues to our food services. I think a lot of my passion comes from the fact that we need to get back to more of a whole foods movement because the state of the current food industry is scary to say the least. If I can do my part to teach people about eating organic and the benefits of buying local--which obviously has a nutrition impact as well as an environmental impact--then that is one step I am taking to solve this global food issue that we have.

K.C.: Out side of the Rachel Ray challenges which were absolutely so much fun--I really enjoy working with children and I think that working with children is really important because we need to instill this love for healthy foods and healthy eating into kids at a really young age so that it becomes a part of their lasting lifestyle. Having the opportunity to do to yucko-yumo challenge was so fun. I feel that I can relate to children really well, I can hold their attention and make a kind of boring subject fun for them and really bring food and nutrition to life in a way that will make them want to run home and share with mom and dad. I am really passionate about working with kids and it was such an amazing opportunity to have that platform as well as having the opportunity to be on Rachel Ray. It was just so much fun, I don't know if everybody had the opportunity to watch the actual airing of the Rachel Ray Show, but you should definitely take some time to do so because it was just a really amazing experience and fun to see my charisma, passion, fun and my spunky personality just jump through the camera into the audience and into homes. So take some time to check out the actual Rachel Ray airing which was on Thursday. Also some of the food challenges were definitely a highlight and meeting all of the people including the finalists--we all really become a family, you spend a lot of time together, you get to know each other really quickly and I feel fortunate to have had the time to spend in the kitchen with these people. Being a personal chef, I am in the kitchen alone most of the time so most of my inspiration is coming from outside sources. So spending time in the kitchen with such phenomenal people was so inspiring to me and just knowing that I made friendships that will last a lifetime. Had I never done this show, some of these people would have never come into my life and I feel very fortunate to have met all of them.

Q: What advice would you give to future contestants on the show?

K.C.: In hindsight the advice that I have kind of given myself is to try not to take it so seriously. When you are in the midst of the competition it can be really overwhelming and obviously each one of us that were there where there because we wanted our own show on the Food Network. We are all very driven people, very successful people or we would not have been in that opportunity in the first place. I think when you are so absorbed in a situation, it is very difficult not to let the criticism get to you, not to take it personally and in hindsight I wish I would have remained confident in what I know I am capable of doing and what I do on an everyday basis. I feel like my confidence and passion really showed on this weeks episode and that is where I struggled from week to week up until then. I was really taking all of the criticism personally and allowing it to be defeating in a way. That is something I just think if I did it all over again, I would be able to have a little bit more perspective. But unfortunately when you are going through it, you don't have those luxuries.

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