A celebrated journalist and contributor to such magazines as Cooking Light and Gourmet, O’Neil recently launched what has since become a handbook for women across America wanting to adopt healthy lifestyles (not diets!): the best-selling book The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous, with co-author Densie Webb, Ph. D., R.D. (published by Simon & Schuster Atria Books, June 2004). In February 2005, The Dish received the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for being the “Best Health and Nutrition Cookbook” worldwide.

Before reaching national fame as a best-selling author, O’Neil received nationwide acclaim as a television personality. During her tenure with CNN, O’Neil served as executive producer and senior correspondent for CNN’s award-winning On the Menu, which was consistently one of the network’s highest-rated weekend programs during its 16-year run. As anchor and senior correspondent for CNN Travel Now, she hosted programs on location from the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Saigon. Most recently, O’Neil took her following to PBS where she co-hosted the nationally televised series Cook-Off America with Chef Marcel Desaulniers, which aired in 2003 and 2004. O’Neil is currently recognized as “The Lady of the Refrigerator” on Alton Brown’s Good Eats, seen on the Food Network. And online she was chosen by AOL as a Diet Coach, featuring material from The Dish.

A respected authority in her field, O’Neil has collaborated with such national food brands as Quaker, Tropicana, Centrum, Dannon, Nabisco, and the Milk Moustache Campaign. For three years, she served as the national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association/Con Agra Foods Foundation Home Food Safety Campaign. Additionally, she is a popular resource for national media and often quoted on diet and nutrition issues in publications such as USA Today, Newsweek, Marie Claire, Better Homes & Garden, Self, Shape, Glamour, and InStyle magazines.

O’Neil has been recognized with many honors throughout her career including an award for the “Best TV Food Journalist” in 1999 at the World Cookbook Fair in Versailles, France; accolades for journalistic excellence from the National Restaurant Association, the American Heart Association, and the American Dietetic Association; nominations for two Cable ACE awards; and the TARA Award for “TV Personality Woman of Achievement” from the Atlanta Women in Radio and Television. In 1995, O’Neil won two James Beard Awards, which spotlight the best in television food journalism. Three years later she was inducted into the James Beard “Who’s Who in Food and Beverage.”

O’Neil earned a master’s degree in nutrition and communication from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree in foods and nutrition from Florida State University. Read Less ^