As a mother of three achieving teenagers, I have put into place a strategy that may give them a leg up in the coming years. This plan of mine isn't done just because I am a chef, but I have seen that there is a informational gap forming on many levels and types of education that our children are not receiving. I have seen this more readily now that I am a culinary educator of other's parents children.
It is no longer a pervasive standard of parental expectation that children are expected to participate in completing chores, household repairs, and cooking duties. This has established bad habits that won't be easily broken. I seldom here of the Saturday mornings filled with cleaning the house, Spring cleaning, yard work, or any other type of productive duties that a family should be doing together. It is our duty to send out into the world at large young adults who have the skills to survive. I never wanted to live in situations where my kids would drop off their laundry at my house for me to do, or having one that come and eat or pickup dinner from my house because you didn't learn these skills before moving out. And I don't want to have my adult kids return home to live rent free in my basement because they can't maintain themselves in the real world.
Do I expect any of the my kids at home to become a chef or work in my industry? No way. However, I want to see my kids having the ability to cook at home, not being dependent upon corporations to feed themselves, understand how to manage a successful household, paying bills, and raising their own children in a healthy environment. We often set our kids up for defeat, poor health, shorter life spans, and a inability to function. Those of us that do not develop our children's potentials are not the only ones that will suffer in the long-term. Our grand kids and our daughter or son-in-laws often have difficulties with a parent or mate that is ill equip to deal with the day to day of adulthood.
I am the perfect parent? Do I only eat a restrictive diet? Do I know everything about everything? NOT TRUE. But I believe that when you don't share your knowledge on any subject with your children, in a age appropriate manner, it is a cold meal of injustice you are serving up. We parents have been given a charge, these aren't just kids we are raising, but in fact, they are the next wave of leadership we are growing. We are charged with the duty of their safety, education, development, and identity, we have a huge responsibility. Almost everything that our kids grow up to be is in fact our fault, good or bad. Some people never grow up, they just become old children and others become anxiety ridden over achievers who never get the hang of intimate relationships. Yes we must take the blame as well as the credit.
School isn't were kids learn about adulthood, that happens in the home. Teachers can teach algebra or science, but it's isn't their job to raise your kids. Manners, respect, honor, and loyalty must be taught in abundance along with hard skills of paying bills, being a reliable employee, and being a fully actualized adult prepared to take a significant role in a family or their own.
Cooking your meals has many benefits. It is cheaper than restaurant food and it gives you control of what goes in your food. The savings and the versatility that cooking at home can bring is beneficial to your bottom line and your waistline. Fast food and processed foods are designed to be made as cheaply as possible while being highly addictive and while our younger folks cannot see any reason not to eat that way. Those of us who are a bit further down the road have begun to feel the effects of a American diet rich in empty calories and large amounts of fat. Diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and a host of other aliments attributed to this eating style. Since the days of Jane Fonda workout, we have become more unhealthy while spending more and more money on diets, supplements, yoga pants, and health club membership that you don't use.
Not teaching your children some survival skills is not a good option. I know that you can do it faster and better, but they need to practice, so they will be able to do and teach it to their offspring. And do I need to mention the habit fosters a greater sense of responsibility? Creating a mess and not cleaning it up is telling them that they don't need to take ownership of what they have done and it also says 'don't worry, Mom will fix everything', While they are little it should be that way, but as they age, year after year, it becomes a very bad idea. Stop coddling yours so much that they have a stunted emotional growth.
Healthy eating starts with healthy cooking, eating at a regular schedule, and understanding the basics of nutrition. Do everything you can to equip them for the future instead of spoiling them in the presence. I see teenagers every day that have no idea why they think they don't like to eat this or that. My program is an exposure program in which they cook new dishes and eat food they may not have ever heard of before, giving a lot better toolbox of personal experience.
I have heard my students say things like 'I didn't know mashed potatoes didn't come in a box", "I always thought I didn't like coleslaw", "Chef, I really really liked the green beans." all of which I count as a victory!
I do know that giving something away that you don't posses isn't easy or nearly impossible but I want you encourage every parent, even the ones that don't know a lot about cooking. Grab the bull by the horns, and learn with your kids if necessary, and learn better habits. Live a healthier life while giving one to your next generation.
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Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Friday, November 4, 2016
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Gluten-Free Pain In the Gut
If you are not already aware, there is a lot of buzz over the term Gluten-Free. As with many culinary or food fads, most people that are jumping on this bandwagon, often times do not understand what they are actively participating.
Just for your information, gluten is a protein that develops when wheat flour gets wet. Gluten can also be developed in a few other instances, but the vast majority of items that contain gluten, contain wheat flour. Wheat-germ, barley, and other foods that are manufactured with wheat, or in places where flour is also present, can contain gluten. Those of us who are gluten-sensitive or gluten intolerant, the consumption of this protein can create a large allergic reaction that can be very unpleasant all the way up to life-threatening.
I have fibromyalgia. When we began attempting to test for the source of my medical problems, the first test that my PCP ran was a food and respiratory blood allergy panel. I have known since high school that I have respiratory allergies, about 12 of them, so Spring usually finds me taking lots of antihistamines. Last year, before the Spring weather arrived, I had two emergency room trips for unusual swelling of my hands, feet, and facial features. I woke one morning and looked in the mirror and I resembled someone who had been in a prize fight the night before.
My doctors changed my medicines for my hypertensive condition, hoping that it had caused my symptoms. Then another trip to the hospital was required, and we changed to a third medication. At that point my PCP, ordered the blood panel. I had previously been diagnosed with my respiratory allergies by way of a pin prick test sub-dermal test, which at the time was the most accurate test available, but at no time did anyone test me for food allergies.
The results came back with interesting results, moderate reactions to shrimp and sesame, but the big surprise was that I had a large reaction to gluten. It wasn't life threatening, but it was something that was causing great distressed my system. So the next step was to test me for Celiac disease, a complete intolerance to the consumption of gluten. I do not have that condition, which is a immune disease, my testing revealed that of the 18 known symptoms that make up a fibromyalgia diagnosis, I had a large number of them. Not consuming gluten helps to lessen the severity of some of my symptoms but keeping away from this food product isn't easy.
The American diet is largely made up of lots of wheat products, especially fast foods, so eating from the vast array of restaurants available can be tricky when you can't eat wheat. No fried items because most have a flour batter, no sandwiches, no burgers, some instant oatmeal contain wheat flour as a binder, no baked goods primarily, nothing on a bun, many breakfast cereals have gluten, lots of sauces and soups are thickened with flour, see the problem?
As a chef, I have always cooked the majority of the foods eaten in my house, but on those occasions when ordering out is considered, I often am out of options. Since the testing, I watch what I eat so I can be more comfortable, but even being careful isn't always enough. I ate some McDonald's fries with my daughter and had a negative reaction, I am sure it had nothing to do with the 19 ingredient formula they use to make the fries.
Fibromyalgia is hard to diagnosis and the chronic pain associated with the condition can often be misunderstood by doctors. I was, at several different points in my life, given diagnosis that only spoke to one symptom or another, for example, I was told that I have irritable bowl syndrome, which could not be treated in 1990's, but it was only a part of what was going on. Gynecological pain, knee pain, headaches, swelling hands and feet, sciatica, dizziness, memory issues, muscle aches, and a few more, all were treated as a separate issue that would come and go from time to time. I knew it was bigger that this day's issues or the next. I suspected that there had to be a connection to all that I experiencing.
Day by day, I have to deal with this and be mindful of everything I eat and drink. I have had dreams of good toast and jam, a smothered pork chop in gravy, or my favorite type of cookie that has no gluten free alternative. There is a sea change happening on our grocery store shelves and more and more items have options for us who suffer. That's great but even that has a down side. In order to make thing gluten-free, a substitution of the wheat flour for others such as a rice flour is required, naturally. These flours do not act in the same way that wheat flour does, and additives are included to give a natural stretch when bread is rising, for example. They also are not produced as readily as other types of flour, so the associated costs are much higher. The same loaf of sandwich bread that can range from $0.99 to $1.79, for example, can cost you up to 6 or 7 times the price of the original. This is not only a pain in the gut, medically, but also it can hit your pocket very hard. I am glad to find some substitutions that do a great job both in taste and availability, while some alternatives are expensive and horrible tasting. I'd rather not eat a sandwich, as much as I miss them, than to eat one on horrible bread that tastes like an old kitchen spounge.
If you too are a sufferer that has to avoid gluten, like me, and has found a great substitute for wheat flour, please let me, and other readers know, as I haven't found one my self yet.
Just for your information, gluten is a protein that develops when wheat flour gets wet. Gluten can also be developed in a few other instances, but the vast majority of items that contain gluten, contain wheat flour. Wheat-germ, barley, and other foods that are manufactured with wheat, or in places where flour is also present, can contain gluten. Those of us who are gluten-sensitive or gluten intolerant, the consumption of this protein can create a large allergic reaction that can be very unpleasant all the way up to life-threatening.
I have fibromyalgia. When we began attempting to test for the source of my medical problems, the first test that my PCP ran was a food and respiratory blood allergy panel. I have known since high school that I have respiratory allergies, about 12 of them, so Spring usually finds me taking lots of antihistamines. Last year, before the Spring weather arrived, I had two emergency room trips for unusual swelling of my hands, feet, and facial features. I woke one morning and looked in the mirror and I resembled someone who had been in a prize fight the night before.
My doctors changed my medicines for my hypertensive condition, hoping that it had caused my symptoms. Then another trip to the hospital was required, and we changed to a third medication. At that point my PCP, ordered the blood panel. I had previously been diagnosed with my respiratory allergies by way of a pin prick test sub-dermal test, which at the time was the most accurate test available, but at no time did anyone test me for food allergies.
The results came back with interesting results, moderate reactions to shrimp and sesame, but the big surprise was that I had a large reaction to gluten. It wasn't life threatening, but it was something that was causing great distressed my system. So the next step was to test me for Celiac disease, a complete intolerance to the consumption of gluten. I do not have that condition, which is a immune disease, my testing revealed that of the 18 known symptoms that make up a fibromyalgia diagnosis, I had a large number of them. Not consuming gluten helps to lessen the severity of some of my symptoms but keeping away from this food product isn't easy.
The American diet is largely made up of lots of wheat products, especially fast foods, so eating from the vast array of restaurants available can be tricky when you can't eat wheat. No fried items because most have a flour batter, no sandwiches, no burgers, some instant oatmeal contain wheat flour as a binder, no baked goods primarily, nothing on a bun, many breakfast cereals have gluten, lots of sauces and soups are thickened with flour, see the problem?
As a chef, I have always cooked the majority of the foods eaten in my house, but on those occasions when ordering out is considered, I often am out of options. Since the testing, I watch what I eat so I can be more comfortable, but even being careful isn't always enough. I ate some McDonald's fries with my daughter and had a negative reaction, I am sure it had nothing to do with the 19 ingredient formula they use to make the fries.
Fibromyalgia is hard to diagnosis and the chronic pain associated with the condition can often be misunderstood by doctors. I was, at several different points in my life, given diagnosis that only spoke to one symptom or another, for example, I was told that I have irritable bowl syndrome, which could not be treated in 1990's, but it was only a part of what was going on. Gynecological pain, knee pain, headaches, swelling hands and feet, sciatica, dizziness, memory issues, muscle aches, and a few more, all were treated as a separate issue that would come and go from time to time. I knew it was bigger that this day's issues or the next. I suspected that there had to be a connection to all that I experiencing.
Day by day, I have to deal with this and be mindful of everything I eat and drink. I have had dreams of good toast and jam, a smothered pork chop in gravy, or my favorite type of cookie that has no gluten free alternative. There is a sea change happening on our grocery store shelves and more and more items have options for us who suffer. That's great but even that has a down side. In order to make thing gluten-free, a substitution of the wheat flour for others such as a rice flour is required, naturally. These flours do not act in the same way that wheat flour does, and additives are included to give a natural stretch when bread is rising, for example. They also are not produced as readily as other types of flour, so the associated costs are much higher. The same loaf of sandwich bread that can range from $0.99 to $1.79, for example, can cost you up to 6 or 7 times the price of the original. This is not only a pain in the gut, medically, but also it can hit your pocket very hard. I am glad to find some substitutions that do a great job both in taste and availability, while some alternatives are expensive and horrible tasting. I'd rather not eat a sandwich, as much as I miss them, than to eat one on horrible bread that tastes like an old kitchen spounge.
If you too are a sufferer that has to avoid gluten, like me, and has found a great substitute for wheat flour, please let me, and other readers know, as I haven't found one my self yet.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Fake Foods and Fraud
If you were a teenager in one of my culinary arts classes, you may well already be tired hearing my rants, for a lack of better wording, about corporate food offerings. I say often, when you are relying upon a corporation to feed you, you are already in trouble. A corporation, ultimately, has only one goal, to make profit. When your family farmed, their one and only goal, was to nourish people. We have traditions of offering guest something to eat or drink for the same reason. A gift of food implies that you care if the receiver lives a healthy long life.
I am willing to come and bare the bad news about these edible non-foods on our health and longevity. My teens have been known to say "Chef, you make me want to stop eating everything". In fact, that is not my goal. I want them to do a couple of things, make intelligent choices about what they eat, I want them to question how and what they eat, and hopefully they will make nutrition decisions based on facts and not on marketing.
These kids have a steady diet of Kruncy Kurls, Hot Pockets, Hot n Flaming Everything, Pop Tarts, McDonald, Wendy's , and Burger King. There are more greasy spoon restaurants in their neighborhood than grocery stores. They never read a nutrition label or even question what they are eating. Is this butter or margarine? Is these long long named ingredients chemicals or food? Just because it can be eaten, should it be eaten? What is natural and what is not?
To this, I bring up a legal case currently in the headlines. A cheese company is under indictment for selling wood shavings as parmesan cheese. This fraud was perpetrated over many years by a particular company. Naturally, this brings up many questions. Who knew about this? Why didn't anyone report it? How did the consumers not know what they were eating? And I wanted to know how the legal suit is progressing. The totality is that one individual is charged with a misdemeanor crime under one count of crime. This is not something I can understand fully. Why is this a misdemeanor and not a felony? What is there only one name on the indictment? And why hasn't the company been charged with each and every count of sales that were contaminated and sold to consumers?
The other article in recent news are the results of a study that found industrial chemicals in the bodies of fast food consumers. All the preservative and chemical additives are taking a toll on our health and, I believe, is costing us financially by causing disease and needing additional medical expense. Last year was the first time on record that American's spent more money in restaurants than at grocery stores. We are trading nutrition for convenience and suffering a high cost. If you can't read everything on the label, why are you eating it?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/the-parmesan-cheese-you-sprinkle-on-your-penne-could-be-wood
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-13/fast-food-eaters-have-more-industrial-chemicals-in-their-bodies
I am willing to come and bare the bad news about these edible non-foods on our health and longevity. My teens have been known to say "Chef, you make me want to stop eating everything". In fact, that is not my goal. I want them to do a couple of things, make intelligent choices about what they eat, I want them to question how and what they eat, and hopefully they will make nutrition decisions based on facts and not on marketing.
These kids have a steady diet of Kruncy Kurls, Hot Pockets, Hot n Flaming Everything, Pop Tarts, McDonald, Wendy's , and Burger King. There are more greasy spoon restaurants in their neighborhood than grocery stores. They never read a nutrition label or even question what they are eating. Is this butter or margarine? Is these long long named ingredients chemicals or food? Just because it can be eaten, should it be eaten? What is natural and what is not?
To this, I bring up a legal case currently in the headlines. A cheese company is under indictment for selling wood shavings as parmesan cheese. This fraud was perpetrated over many years by a particular company. Naturally, this brings up many questions. Who knew about this? Why didn't anyone report it? How did the consumers not know what they were eating? And I wanted to know how the legal suit is progressing. The totality is that one individual is charged with a misdemeanor crime under one count of crime. This is not something I can understand fully. Why is this a misdemeanor and not a felony? What is there only one name on the indictment? And why hasn't the company been charged with each and every count of sales that were contaminated and sold to consumers?
The other article in recent news are the results of a study that found industrial chemicals in the bodies of fast food consumers. All the preservative and chemical additives are taking a toll on our health and, I believe, is costing us financially by causing disease and needing additional medical expense. Last year was the first time on record that American's spent more money in restaurants than at grocery stores. We are trading nutrition for convenience and suffering a high cost. If you can't read everything on the label, why are you eating it?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/the-parmesan-cheese-you-sprinkle-on-your-penne-could-be-wood
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-13/fast-food-eaters-have-more-industrial-chemicals-in-their-bodies
Friday, April 1, 2016
Vegan Ben & Jerry's??
Yes, yes, yes.... You did read that correctly. Ben & Jerry's has announced a new product line to tempt even the most strict dietary eaters. The new line will feature non-dairy frozen treats in similar flavors to mimic the very popular ice creams already offered by the company.
Personally, I am a bit excited about this announcement and can't wait to get my hands on a carton. For many years, I have struggled with the consumption of ice cream and other dairy products. I now know that my reaction to eating these products is connected to my fibromyalgia. I have been considering going vegan or vegetarian, at least for a short period of time, to help regulate my health and perhaps lose some weight. With that in mind this new product line would be a welcomed treat. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glamour/is-ben--jerrys-new-vegan_b_9190144.html
My illness' effects are huge in my digestion, slow bowl movement to not at all, urgent diarrhea, gas, bloating, and heart burn. My other symptoms are painful and irritating but this set of problems is the worst for me. As a chef, I work with food, especially pastry, and how I am forced to be a picky dinner to control my symptoms. I have become one of the customers I usually didn't like, asking a million questions about how the meal is prepped and being careful to explain that I can eat this or that. I am not eating out as much as I want to because avoiding dairy and gluten can be very hard when trying to eat out in Chicago.
This news about a non-dairy frozen treat is about as exciting as a the day I found Snyder's Gluten-Free pretzels!!!! Being gluten-free means a lack of a lot of the crunchy things I love to eat and has resulted in me having dreams of eating toast and jam. But lately, the medication has gotten me to a point where cereal and milk is okay so I have been diving into bowls of Cheerios and Chex with bananas. I have been able to enjoy that since about the 3rd grade without symptoms.
So it's "hats off" to Ben & Jerry's for putting in some work to be able to please the audience of consumers that have stood by and watched others enjoy items that we were not supposed to consume. I often ate ice cream anyway.... I just didn't in public. LOL.
Personally, I am a bit excited about this announcement and can't wait to get my hands on a carton. For many years, I have struggled with the consumption of ice cream and other dairy products. I now know that my reaction to eating these products is connected to my fibromyalgia. I have been considering going vegan or vegetarian, at least for a short period of time, to help regulate my health and perhaps lose some weight. With that in mind this new product line would be a welcomed treat. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glamour/is-ben--jerrys-new-vegan_b_9190144.html
My illness' effects are huge in my digestion, slow bowl movement to not at all, urgent diarrhea, gas, bloating, and heart burn. My other symptoms are painful and irritating but this set of problems is the worst for me. As a chef, I work with food, especially pastry, and how I am forced to be a picky dinner to control my symptoms. I have become one of the customers I usually didn't like, asking a million questions about how the meal is prepped and being careful to explain that I can eat this or that. I am not eating out as much as I want to because avoiding dairy and gluten can be very hard when trying to eat out in Chicago.
This news about a non-dairy frozen treat is about as exciting as a the day I found Snyder's Gluten-Free pretzels!!!! Being gluten-free means a lack of a lot of the crunchy things I love to eat and has resulted in me having dreams of eating toast and jam. But lately, the medication has gotten me to a point where cereal and milk is okay so I have been diving into bowls of Cheerios and Chex with bananas. I have been able to enjoy that since about the 3rd grade without symptoms.
So it's "hats off" to Ben & Jerry's for putting in some work to be able to please the audience of consumers that have stood by and watched others enjoy items that we were not supposed to consume. I often ate ice cream anyway.... I just didn't in public. LOL.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Robotic innovations
Lots of robots have been, and will continue to be developed, for the purpose of making cakes, icing them, and some simple decorations. You have probably bought one of these cakes and taken it home from a local grocer. While there isn't anything wrong with these types of products, on the whole, they are not made with any human hands or artistry,
I was once a bakery department manager for a large local grocer, and my experience working there gave me fresh eyes for the manufacturing of these take-n-go cakes. These products are mass produced with a lot of preservatives and cheap ingredients. When I was working in the bakery department, we used frozen cakes from a factory and icings that came in a bucket. While these products can be called 'cake' by definition, they are very different that any cake made at any bakery any place else. In fact, I will claim that the box of cake mix is down the baking aisle is better.
The icing is called buttercream but has no butter involved, just butter flavoring, another chemical. This icing has 1 lb of fat to every 7 lbs of powdered sugar, real buttercream has a ratio of 2 lb of fat for every 4 lbs of sugar. The commercial icing is basicly wet sugar. The difference in taste and mouth feel is very large and often times it has customers saying that they don't like buttercream. I have often done tastings prior to ordering my cakes and even those who make the claim about their dislike to buttercream are often very surprised when they taste mine.
Another icing used at many retail bakeries are called whip cream but it is usually a product called "bettercream". This product is very much like cool whip from the frozen aisle. This, just like the last item, this product has none of the ingredients they are replacing, no cream involved. Both "bettercream" and Cool Whip are non-dairy products made from chemicals and preservatives.
The frozen cake layers bought from factories are using as many preservatives and chemicals they can shove into the mix as they can in order to prolong shelf life and make the highest profit possible. If I am not mistaken, the sell-by date is about a year long frozen, and during my time in grocery stores, I have never seen any of these cakes 'go bad' unless they were damaged or the freezer was broken.
Automation and innovation is inventing new ways to work and turn profits. The problem with this, in my realm of cakes, comes in with a lack of love, creativity, artistry, customization, and a reliance upon chemicals instead of real food.
Real foods are essential for the proper operation of the body, even if most people don't want to account for the calories that pastry supplies. Dessert isn't a bad word when speaking of nutrition, it is however, bad when you forgo eating them in moderation. A good meal should be highlighted by a perfect sweet finish, be it cake, custard, or fresh fruit.
Manufactured food, preserve laden, chemical combinations that are readily available in stores is not the way to eat. Our bodies, oftentimes, don't even recognize them as food. Our digestion is taking hits all day. We are stuffing all sorts of chemicals into our daily intake without any sign of ceasing. Live long enough and you too will see the news reports that explain why the list of ingredients, that we sold to you as food, is banned due to the risk of another disease or aliment. Big pharma and food additive companies produce formulas and use mass media and sales staff to push the new hot product only to be sued years later by consumers due to the harm it cause.
I'm not against all shortcuts found in the neighborhood grocery store, but I am not in favor of reliance upon the corporate overlords for ingestion of foods. The goal of any corporation is, first and foremost, profit. The thinking at a corporation is if it won't cause harm and be profitable then it is okay to sell. The goal of doctors, nutritionist, and chefs must be a positive viewpoint about the value of the item, what the consumer will gain from eating this item. I want to know how important is this to consume. Price shouldn't be the only measurement used to judge a food. The question shouldn't be why is this food expensive, but it should be why is this other item so cheap?
Chefs need to be health conscious and have a environmental outlook for their craft. Industrialized foods were an effective tool for preserving and transporting food during WWII, but once the war ended the machines didn't stop running. The love and care taken by mothers and grandmothers to produce and preserve jellies and jams, for example, was replaced by the unstoppable soulless steel.
Of course, it is more expensive to order a handcrafted item compared to factory made. Yes, it can be created by machines in the shortest times possible but the losses that are created can't be worth the effort.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Environmental Chef
Every body, and every chef, relies upon quality ingredients to make a meal go from hum drum to zing pop. Without honorable farming practices, from soup to nuts, the chef cannot do what we do best.Organic, non GMO, pasteurized, and fortified, all influence what our plates contain. Should chefs have a voice in the movement away from Monsanto tainted food, processed and persevered, items with more chemicals than food? Yes. 2015 was the first year on record that Americans spent more money on restaurants then at the grocery store. One can extrapolate that chefs are having a greater and grater impact on the health of the American citizen. Will it be left up to the corporations or to the craftsmanship of skilled chefs?
How we grow and treat food, or manufacture it, should be very important to everyone, but especially to us chefs. Life happens, change is the only constant, but preservation of the food sources we rely upon, not only for our trade, but for our very lives, must be a concern.
There is a farm to table movement in the culinary scene. I am not directly apart of that movement per se, as pastry doesn't rely as heavily upon farmed items as does the savory chef. However, as a fibromyaliga patient, I am rewriting my common eating practice to be gluten-free because the ingestion of gluten reeks havoc on my system.
Gardening, farm to table, diets, vegetarian and vegan, no matter your eating style how your food is treated before you purchase it is a huge consideration to be mindful of when purchasing. Environmentalist point to climate changes that are signaling some drastic shifts to our planetary harvest of edible products. We need to listen and learn before it is too late. We must take some responsibility for feeding ourselves. We have hired corporations to provide our nutritional needs by way of prepacked and process foods. We are confusing good for you and good tasting, they are not mutually exclusive. Many things that are good for us nutrition-wise can be very good tasting as well, however, if you are accustom to eating process food almost exclusively then your have trained your tasting ability to like those types of things, and therefore, being unaccustomed to the flavors of this items.
macrobiotics
Lots of kids in this new generation are trained to eat so many processed food items, microwave entrees, microwave popcorn, chips, dips, salsa, and super sticky sweet pastries that are just spun sugars. Sugar is a very addictive item with levels of dependencies very similar to heroine addiction. Frequently this diet is tied to the income of the parents. The lower the annual income of the household has a direct connection to the types of foods consumed. Often the families chose food stuffs with the primary focus on getting the cheapest and the most abundant items. While this type of consideration can be understood, it is the worst reaction or action that the shopper can do. I once was listening to a radio show and the host hit the nail on the head. He stated many things about budgeting, the most import of them was 'It is most important to understand when to spend and where to save. You should save on items that depreciate over time, like a car or clothing, but you should never buy food totally based on saving money. You should spend on food with the mindset of health benefit. The quality food stuffs you buy today will help to prevent you from being sick tomorrow and spending a high percentage of your money on medical bills.' I totally agree.
The environmental impacts of toxic waste, oil spills, water contamination, polluted air, are easy to understand in terms of their effects upon food resources. The global warming issues of storm changes, floods, drought, shifts in tides, changes in streams and rivers, will devastate our farming lands and methods. These issues are looming on the horizon but the current threats to our food supply are in the methodology of how we currently grow our food. The debates are all over the place, and the two loudest sides of the discussion are the organic food movement against the Goliath chemical companies, like Monsanto, who produce pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics for livestock. Add to that the factory farming practices that have changed how our dairy, eggs, and meat production/slaughter. The corporations like Monsanto, have always contended that the use of their products has increased yields and improved quality, and they maybe right, however, anyone that has ever had a garden of their own can tell you, the taste, variety, quality, of their harvest far exceeds anything offered in the grocery store.
Many chefs have established relationships with local farmers and livestock growers. This way the chef has the opportunity to understand, share, and ask for items that they would love to buy. Farm to table is more than a catchphrase, it is becoming a movement. Factory farming kills any uniqueness in preference of the most shelf stable and consistent items. We have breed, cross pollinated, and forced ripened foods to the point that they have the highest profit margins and ability to transport these items long distances. I find it to be much like corporate cooking. The corporate chef is often forced to produce the highest amount of items as quickly and consistently as possible which erodes the creative artistic aspects of the chef. Cookie cutter concepts in grocery stores, kitchens, and manufacturing, stomp out the uniqueness that happens when a chef is able to use their imagination. Can a chef create and repeat highly crafted items? Of course, we can, but when the total issue is all about designing in the most cost effective methods, the major ways to achieve this is with lesser quality items, machines, and factory items instead of handmade items. Kill the chef?
Revolutions have been fought over food issues over and over again. "Let them eat cake!" When the body of citizens examine their nutrition substandard, it becomes a big part of how they view their poverty or wealth. Can you afford to eat or feed your family? Can you afford to have quality foods on your table? Are you needlessly suffering from malnutrition and diseases? And what are you able to about it?
Monday, February 29, 2016
A Sweet Finish
Ending your dining experience on a high note is the best way and us pastry chefs strive hard to make that happen. Therefore, I never understood some that are willing to create a five star meal and end it with a Walmart cake. I have worked for a couple of major grocery store chains, and I can tell you from first hand experience, that those cakes are chocked full of preservatives and the icing is just wet sugar. I am convinced that the sale of this type of product has gotten a lot of consumers believing that they don't like buttercream, when in fact, most of them have not tasted real buttercream.
Even for those among us that don't much care for sweets, having a wonderful ending to highlight a memorable dinning experience is vital. I'd rather not have a dessert if the dessert can't hold a candle to the meal. For me, it is the equivalent of wearing a designer dress with Payless shoes. I am not advocating for any significant change to your everyday meal time routine, but when you are celebrating the happiest of days in your life, don't skimp.
Most of my pastry clients do not hesitate to order a custom cake for a kid's birthday but don't treasure the special moments for the adults that make living memorable. Eat dessert everyday? Probably not. But when something special is on the horizon, do yourself the honor of something extra special.
Is it important to eat a dessert made from quality ingredients? Of course it is, but many have a attitude that says 'its dessert and it isn't healthy so why worry about it'? But healthy eating is about all the foods consumed, not just the meals and snacks, but ALL of the food calories and nutrition. Making cakes and desserts from real food, quality chocolate, the best butters and flour, makes for the most delicious products and much easier on your digestion and overall health.
Even for those among us that don't much care for sweets, having a wonderful ending to highlight a memorable dinning experience is vital. I'd rather not have a dessert if the dessert can't hold a candle to the meal. For me, it is the equivalent of wearing a designer dress with Payless shoes. I am not advocating for any significant change to your everyday meal time routine, but when you are celebrating the happiest of days in your life, don't skimp.
Most of my pastry clients do not hesitate to order a custom cake for a kid's birthday but don't treasure the special moments for the adults that make living memorable. Eat dessert everyday? Probably not. But when something special is on the horizon, do yourself the honor of something extra special.
Is it important to eat a dessert made from quality ingredients? Of course it is, but many have a attitude that says 'its dessert and it isn't healthy so why worry about it'? But healthy eating is about all the foods consumed, not just the meals and snacks, but ALL of the food calories and nutrition. Making cakes and desserts from real food, quality chocolate, the best butters and flour, makes for the most delicious products and much easier on your digestion and overall health.
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Oh Honey... Oh No Buzz
There are many ways to add sweetness into your recipes, some are great in some recipes and horrible in others, depending upon the composition of all the ingredients combined. But are they equally bad to your health? All sweeteners add calories while giving small amounts of nutrition to almost none at all. Lately, lots of attention in the healthy food movements have been changing to 'better' sources of sweetness. Sometimes these adjustments can be made without much adjustment to the recipe formula, other times it isn't good at all.
Honey has always been a bit expensive, compared to say cane sugar, but many believe that the nutrition of honey, and its associated pollen, to be wonderful. However, the golden syrup we all know and love, may not in fact be honey. As the definition of honey isn't clearly defined, manufacturers can legally sell you what amounts to yellow corn syrup and still be able to have the label read "pure honey". And don't think that a 'organic' labeling is a guarantee as there aren't any laws that define what this should, and should not, be.
For those of us who bake, knowing which sweetener to use when is vital. The artificial sweeteners often sell the idea of using them in your baking as a better alternative for the diabetic consumers. The naturalist speak on behalf of use of items such as agave nectar, whey low, natural maple syrup, molasses, stevia, lo han, brown rice syrup, coconut palm syrup, and date sugar. Each one has differing chemical components and therefore you must do your homework if you are going to use any of these as a substitute in your favorite recipe.
http://world-of-honey.com/honey-products/organic-honey/
It is a shame that it is estimated that a huge percentage of the honey on the American market has never been anywhere near a bee, ever. Deceptive practices, undefined idea of what honey actually is, and unenforceable rules about organic labeling, have all lead to this hoodwinking of the consumer. One would assume, by way of the pricing of most jars of honey, that the prices were a indication of it being the authentic item, but oh no it isn't. I am not much of a conspiracy theorist and I am sure someone has pointed this in that direction. In my opinion, this just reeks of bad business if not flat out fraud.
Honey has always been a bit expensive, compared to say cane sugar, but many believe that the nutrition of honey, and its associated pollen, to be wonderful. However, the golden syrup we all know and love, may not in fact be honey. As the definition of honey isn't clearly defined, manufacturers can legally sell you what amounts to yellow corn syrup and still be able to have the label read "pure honey". And don't think that a 'organic' labeling is a guarantee as there aren't any laws that define what this should, and should not, be.
For those of us who bake, knowing which sweetener to use when is vital. The artificial sweeteners often sell the idea of using them in your baking as a better alternative for the diabetic consumers. The naturalist speak on behalf of use of items such as agave nectar, whey low, natural maple syrup, molasses, stevia, lo han, brown rice syrup, coconut palm syrup, and date sugar. Each one has differing chemical components and therefore you must do your homework if you are going to use any of these as a substitute in your favorite recipe.
http://world-of-honey.com/honey-products/organic-honey/
It is a shame that it is estimated that a huge percentage of the honey on the American market has never been anywhere near a bee, ever. Deceptive practices, undefined idea of what honey actually is, and unenforceable rules about organic labeling, have all lead to this hoodwinking of the consumer. One would assume, by way of the pricing of most jars of honey, that the prices were a indication of it being the authentic item, but oh no it isn't. I am not much of a conspiracy theorist and I am sure someone has pointed this in that direction. In my opinion, this just reeks of bad business if not flat out fraud.
Friday, February 26, 2016
I don't IHop
Okay, I have had to go gluten-free in order to reduce my allergic reactions. This is connected to my fibromyalgia and the consumption of gluten makes my symptoms much worse. I am not happy about this for several reasons, gluten-free can be rather expensive, sometimes finding gluten-free items isn't always easy, but it is getting better, and my favorite thing to not be happy about is the taste of many offerings in this category. YUCKY.
I have been dreaming of eating toast with jam, or my favorite crackers, but the gluten-free bread that I have tried are not pleasing and 5 times the price of the regular bread. I keep thinking about bread making, cupcakes, and other such things that I enjoy in the original recipes. I have successfully converted several cookie recipes to gluten-free and I have tired a few times to make gluten-free bread and cornbread but haven't liked any of them yet.
I was recently pissed off when I had lunch at the local IHOP because this major chain has no gluten-free option on their menu. I am not understanding why not, as many of the smaller breakfast places have included my specialized foods already. This is a national chain of restaurants and I am sure introduction of this line of products can be done rather easily and without a lot of issues. I am also sure that I have not been the only one to have asked for this option in the last few years.
While I didn't mind eating steak and eggs, I was looking forward to a short stack only to be disappointed. Just this week, I ventured to a nice breakfast joint not far from the house, and there it was, a gluten-free option for pancakes and waffles. I ordered a gluten-free waffle topped with mango and quickly inhaled my meal with glee and didn't mind the extra $2 charged for the waffle.
There are so many things that I now have to be careful of eating in order to lesson my inflammation, hives, stomach aches, headaches, and muscle aches. I am not, not that I ever was, a big consumer of street foods and drive-ins, but now being forced to completely go without forever more, has me not so happy. My biggest heartache is that I can't eat burgers. A burger isn't a burger unless you have a nice bun. I don't like to pick my burger apart to avoid eating the bun. It isn't pleasurable and messy. Booooooo!
So IHOP corporate, please understand our gluten-free necessity. I shouldn't have to avoid your outlets because there is very little I can eat there and I don't want to sit across the table from someone only to watch them eat what I can't while my plate is empty, sipping on tea.
Thank you
I have been dreaming of eating toast with jam, or my favorite crackers, but the gluten-free bread that I have tried are not pleasing and 5 times the price of the regular bread. I keep thinking about bread making, cupcakes, and other such things that I enjoy in the original recipes. I have successfully converted several cookie recipes to gluten-free and I have tired a few times to make gluten-free bread and cornbread but haven't liked any of them yet.
I was recently pissed off when I had lunch at the local IHOP because this major chain has no gluten-free option on their menu. I am not understanding why not, as many of the smaller breakfast places have included my specialized foods already. This is a national chain of restaurants and I am sure introduction of this line of products can be done rather easily and without a lot of issues. I am also sure that I have not been the only one to have asked for this option in the last few years.
While I didn't mind eating steak and eggs, I was looking forward to a short stack only to be disappointed. Just this week, I ventured to a nice breakfast joint not far from the house, and there it was, a gluten-free option for pancakes and waffles. I ordered a gluten-free waffle topped with mango and quickly inhaled my meal with glee and didn't mind the extra $2 charged for the waffle.
There are so many things that I now have to be careful of eating in order to lesson my inflammation, hives, stomach aches, headaches, and muscle aches. I am not, not that I ever was, a big consumer of street foods and drive-ins, but now being forced to completely go without forever more, has me not so happy. My biggest heartache is that I can't eat burgers. A burger isn't a burger unless you have a nice bun. I don't like to pick my burger apart to avoid eating the bun. It isn't pleasurable and messy. Booooooo!
So IHOP corporate, please understand our gluten-free necessity. I shouldn't have to avoid your outlets because there is very little I can eat there and I don't want to sit across the table from someone only to watch them eat what I can't while my plate is empty, sipping on tea.
Thank you
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Food Deserts
In recent years, the term 'food desert' has come into our consciousness. For those of you who have not heard of this concept, it was brought to light after a academic study was conducted that looked into a possible connection between unhealthy eating habits and poverty. It was discovered that, in some of the poor inner-city neighborhoods in America, a consumer would have to travel 5-10 miles, or more, from home to find a fresh carrot, for example. At the same time, middle-class residents and higher, has many more options and considerable shorter distances to travel for the same carrot.
Lower economic status brings with it a reduction in household amenities, such as limited refrigeration, and a greater chance that you will have to rely upon public transportation. Having to travel on to purchase groceries out side of your local area can be extra taxing on any consumer but needing to do that on a city bus can make someone give in and just buy what is nearby.
What does this mean? If you are a member of our society that have less economic strength and/or are receiving nutritional supplements, such as WIC or Link, you are far less able to purchase quality food products and whatever you purchase may have to drug home on the bus. This is a real problem health-wise and may have contributed to the high rates of obesity and other related health issues.
For some in this city, buying cheaper food products is the first reaction to a lower food budget but doing so can cause diseases down the line and essentially be extremely expensive and life shortening.
In Illinois, the maximum amount a household can be given through food subsidy is $3 per person per meal. Compare this to a trip through a drive-in, people are spending about $8 for a lunch or $5 for a specialty coffee drink. This can be helpful to a family but it isn't a whole lot and therefore I have never understood some who would begrudge a family who qualifies for assistance.
Living in a food desert can also mean you are living below the poverty line and in a higher crime area. It is a struggle but having a set mind to eat better can be accomplished. If you make efforts to not purchase pre-packaged and processed foods, your over all health will be much better. Even on a limited budget, I can't find a good reason to ever eat a hunny bun and a soda for breakfast. Buying fresh foods only can create a bit more work in the kitchen but it can be planned out properly and the extra effort pays off in greater health. Of all the things you can skim on, food should not be one. Buy less expensive clothes, for example, because its better to be healthy than sick and well dressed.
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/24/1396100/-Think-Whole-Foods-is-a-ripoff-It-s-worse-than-you-thought?detail=emailclassic
Monday, February 22, 2016
Fibromyalgia and diet
Well, my fibromyalgia anyway. As fibromyalgia is a combined group of neurological responses, not everyone has the exact same experience. There are 18 conditions that in combination confirm a diagnosis of the syndrome, a patient must have a majority of them in order to be classified under this disorder.
Where does diet play a role in this disease? Like so many other disorders, what you eat can be helpful or harmful. One of the effects of my disease is irritable bowel syndrome. I have been dealing with this aspect for about 20 years now. When this first was diagnosed, there was no treatment, and understanding what causes it is still not know but now there's medications to help regulate the movement and actions of the stomach and bowels. A blood panel revealed that along with the respiratory allergies that I have been dealing with since high school there's several food allergies including gluten sensitivity.
I am still learning all about what I am experiencing with my condition after spending a little over a year working with doctors to get at the root of what was going on. The full diagnosis is fibromyalgia, and a chronic knee pain syndrome.
It's a little more than 3 months since the fibromyalgia and knee pain syndrome diagnosis and I am struggling with getting to some sort of comfortable stasis. I changed my diet almost a year ago, gave up gluten, began to intake more veggie packed smoothies, and got regimented on the pill taking. I even had to change my career focus because being a professional production pastry chef is just too hard on me physically. I have always wanted to mentor and teach the next generation of cooks, but I believed it would have been under different circumstances.
I love what I do and I believe that I do it well. I am refusing to be undone by my aliments. I am too young to give up yet. Teaching, while often far more mentally taxing, is less physically demanding. Having trained all these years, I am reluctant to stop working, so I just re-purposed my skills.
These days I dream of eating toast and jam. The reason being is that I would rather do without than eat awful gluten-free bread at 6 times the price of regular. I have been very careful of my intake and modified my amount of activity. I need to add a good exercise routine soon. I have created a couple of great gluten-free desserts and plan on working on a few more. My stomach is at greater ease without gluten but I find it hard to avoid it if I find myself hungry away from home.
As the demand increases for gluten-free options the grocery selections are growing, but this is both good and bad. There are lots of people that are eating a gluten free diet that are not required to do so. It has become somewhat of a fad diet. I, on the other hand, don't have a choice.
I will continue to post on this subject from time to time.
I love what I do and I believe that I do it well. I am refusing to be undone by my aliments. I am too young to give up yet. Teaching, while often far more mentally taxing, is less physically demanding. Having trained all these years, I am reluctant to stop working, so I just re-purposed my skills.
These days I dream of eating toast and jam. The reason being is that I would rather do without than eat awful gluten-free bread at 6 times the price of regular. I have been very careful of my intake and modified my amount of activity. I need to add a good exercise routine soon. I have created a couple of great gluten-free desserts and plan on working on a few more. My stomach is at greater ease without gluten but I find it hard to avoid it if I find myself hungry away from home.
As the demand increases for gluten-free options the grocery selections are growing, but this is both good and bad. There are lots of people that are eating a gluten free diet that are not required to do so. It has become somewhat of a fad diet. I, on the other hand, don't have a choice.
I will continue to post on this subject from time to time.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Food Delivery Services
In our modernized age, everything from clothes to tech can all be had online, so is the way with groceries. Peapod, Instacart, Door to Door organics, Home Chef, Amazon, Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and many more all have the ability to get food to your door from your online requests.
Here in Chicago, the most commonly seen delivery truck in these parts is the big lime green trucks of Peapod. I have had them deliver to me for about 3 years now, on and off, and I have always had a good experience.
Peapod was established in 1989 in Evanston Illinois, making it the oldest company of its kind. Since then, their reach has expanded to other cities such as Boston, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. The service is available by zip code and they have a very large pool of available items including their own product label of goods. They sell, in addition to food, flowers, alcohol, cleaning products and paper goods.
Customers can place orders online or via their app. Then their order is hand picked and packaged for delivery. Delivery options can be chosen by the customer by time and date, and as early as the next morning they can have things at their door to restock their kitchen. My favorite part of ordering from Peapod is that they had pick fresh produce that is perfectly fresh and high quality. Our family is in love with their seasonal fruit packs, these boxes of assorted fruit come carefully packed, and I have never had a bad apple in the bunch. There are two sizes of these items and my kids always get excited when it comes like it a wrapped box under the Christmas tree.
The big green delivery truck is refrigerated and the frozen items are kept with the aid of ice packs. You can set your customer options to include text messaging to notify you that you are the next delivery on the route. The very friendly delivery staff unloads and brings in your order to your kitchen or wherever it is needed. If there is ever a problem with an item, invoice, or delivery, the customer service department is top notch at handling the issue quickly.
While there have been other companies to enter this type of service arena, I have not used them. There are now services that I consider more like a chef services, where customers can order a meal set-up. These come to your door as a meal. The food and the recipe information are ordered so that the customer can create a gourmet meal at home. I like this concept as it teaches the customer new culinary skills, allow them to get all the items required, even the harder to locate items, perfect for a nice dinner at home without take-out pizza or the delivery fee and limitations.
If you have a chance, you may want to check out these options in your near future.
Here in Chicago, the most commonly seen delivery truck in these parts is the big lime green trucks of Peapod. I have had them deliver to me for about 3 years now, on and off, and I have always had a good experience.
Peapod was established in 1989 in Evanston Illinois, making it the oldest company of its kind. Since then, their reach has expanded to other cities such as Boston, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. The service is available by zip code and they have a very large pool of available items including their own product label of goods. They sell, in addition to food, flowers, alcohol, cleaning products and paper goods.
Customers can place orders online or via their app. Then their order is hand picked and packaged for delivery. Delivery options can be chosen by the customer by time and date, and as early as the next morning they can have things at their door to restock their kitchen. My favorite part of ordering from Peapod is that they had pick fresh produce that is perfectly fresh and high quality. Our family is in love with their seasonal fruit packs, these boxes of assorted fruit come carefully packed, and I have never had a bad apple in the bunch. There are two sizes of these items and my kids always get excited when it comes like it a wrapped box under the Christmas tree.
The big green delivery truck is refrigerated and the frozen items are kept with the aid of ice packs. You can set your customer options to include text messaging to notify you that you are the next delivery on the route. The very friendly delivery staff unloads and brings in your order to your kitchen or wherever it is needed. If there is ever a problem with an item, invoice, or delivery, the customer service department is top notch at handling the issue quickly.
While there have been other companies to enter this type of service arena, I have not used them. There are now services that I consider more like a chef services, where customers can order a meal set-up. These come to your door as a meal. The food and the recipe information are ordered so that the customer can create a gourmet meal at home. I like this concept as it teaches the customer new culinary skills, allow them to get all the items required, even the harder to locate items, perfect for a nice dinner at home without take-out pizza or the delivery fee and limitations.
If you have a chance, you may want to check out these options in your near future.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Whole Foods, good?
Here in Chicago, we have about 20 Whole Foods outlets. They have expanded their reach and audience rather rapidly over the last few years and are currently building a new one in the infamous Englewood neighborhood. So the question comes to mind, is this a good thing?
The Englewood neighborhood has been historically black and under-served for generations. The area is infamous for having some of the poorest residents of Chicago and a legacy of violence. These recent years, the city has been dedicated to improving the infrastructure in this area. There was a extremely dilapidated shopping district at the heart of the area which has been demolished and is being replaced. Abandoned properties have been knocked down after sitting idle for years and the available public housing has been revamped and repurposed. Kennedy King College, a long standing city college, has built a new campus in the neighborhood which was well over due.
Right near one of the busiest intersections of this area, Whole Foods is rapidly building a shopping center and their store is slatted to be the anchor. This outlet is across the street from the new college campus. Many residents are curious to find out if this will a profitable venture. I would agree that the area needs a grocery store of better quality than the other available offerings nearby, made up of mostly liquor stores with some groceries and a few low cost store chains. But is this the right move for the area?
Englewood is one of a few food deserts present in Chicago, and it has been that way for a while now. Residents have had to go outside of the neighborhood to buy groceries of quality for as least as I have been a resident, I am 45 and lived here all my life. The difficulty of living in a food dessert is two fold, the residents that can travel outside the neighborhood quickly, mostly by car, are spending their economic power in another neighborhood which keeps the other area vital and their area continues to degrade. Secondly, the residents that can't travel by car regularly to do their shopping are left with little option that to buy substandard food offerings which will degrade their health and leaves little economic improvement in their own area.
It is wonderful that there is an effort to make a course correction in this matter. However, Whole Foods has been among the priciest offerings available in this city, and the organic and other high priced food offerings are not familiar to the population of the area. I support the revamping efforts to bring that location back to being a vital and strong location. What no one knows yet, is if this will be successful. Many people are questioning if this is a signal that the city is not just improving the area that has been in such need or are we seeing the first signs of gentrification? Will the current residents embrace and be able to afford to support the store? Or is the store building there ahead of a change in the racial and economic shift in the residents? In Chicago, when a neighborhood makes changes like these, it usually means that the minority residents who have lived in that section for generations, will be pushed out and replaced with non-minority residents with much higher incomes.
The stroller crowd has been rapidly moving into a area of Chicago that is known as Boy's Town, it was a heaven of activity and housing for our LGBT people. With that shift in population, the area is being forced to close some long standing business and the lots of its residents can no longer afford the increasing property values since the area became popular and desirable.
Will the same shift happen in Englewood? Or will Whole Foods fail to improve the health and options of the residents? If the neighborhood is gentrified, where will poorest of the residents be push into next? If Whole Foods fails, will any other chain store be willing to build in the area and keep from having yet another closed store sit idle? I think, everyone wants the area to be improved, but how do you do this successfully??
The Englewood neighborhood has been historically black and under-served for generations. The area is infamous for having some of the poorest residents of Chicago and a legacy of violence. These recent years, the city has been dedicated to improving the infrastructure in this area. There was a extremely dilapidated shopping district at the heart of the area which has been demolished and is being replaced. Abandoned properties have been knocked down after sitting idle for years and the available public housing has been revamped and repurposed. Kennedy King College, a long standing city college, has built a new campus in the neighborhood which was well over due.
Right near one of the busiest intersections of this area, Whole Foods is rapidly building a shopping center and their store is slatted to be the anchor. This outlet is across the street from the new college campus. Many residents are curious to find out if this will a profitable venture. I would agree that the area needs a grocery store of better quality than the other available offerings nearby, made up of mostly liquor stores with some groceries and a few low cost store chains. But is this the right move for the area?
Englewood is one of a few food deserts present in Chicago, and it has been that way for a while now. Residents have had to go outside of the neighborhood to buy groceries of quality for as least as I have been a resident, I am 45 and lived here all my life. The difficulty of living in a food dessert is two fold, the residents that can travel outside the neighborhood quickly, mostly by car, are spending their economic power in another neighborhood which keeps the other area vital and their area continues to degrade. Secondly, the residents that can't travel by car regularly to do their shopping are left with little option that to buy substandard food offerings which will degrade their health and leaves little economic improvement in their own area.
It is wonderful that there is an effort to make a course correction in this matter. However, Whole Foods has been among the priciest offerings available in this city, and the organic and other high priced food offerings are not familiar to the population of the area. I support the revamping efforts to bring that location back to being a vital and strong location. What no one knows yet, is if this will be successful. Many people are questioning if this is a signal that the city is not just improving the area that has been in such need or are we seeing the first signs of gentrification? Will the current residents embrace and be able to afford to support the store? Or is the store building there ahead of a change in the racial and economic shift in the residents? In Chicago, when a neighborhood makes changes like these, it usually means that the minority residents who have lived in that section for generations, will be pushed out and replaced with non-minority residents with much higher incomes.
The stroller crowd has been rapidly moving into a area of Chicago that is known as Boy's Town, it was a heaven of activity and housing for our LGBT people. With that shift in population, the area is being forced to close some long standing business and the lots of its residents can no longer afford the increasing property values since the area became popular and desirable.
Will the same shift happen in Englewood? Or will Whole Foods fail to improve the health and options of the residents? If the neighborhood is gentrified, where will poorest of the residents be push into next? If Whole Foods fails, will any other chain store be willing to build in the area and keep from having yet another closed store sit idle? I think, everyone wants the area to be improved, but how do you do this successfully??
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Food v "Food", Part 1
One of the major themes in my teaching to our young folks is that I constantly challenge their idea as to what is food and what is "food". I began this after watching them eat all sorts of garbage, listening to them talk about what they like to eat, and then seeing the deficits of understanding about nutrition. When you talk to kids that cannot identify that margarine is not butter, don't eat vegetables, drown their food in hot sauce, and never ever ask what is in this food... there is trouble brewing. A very large portion of the population that I teach just eat what they like and they never give a second thought to what they are consuming, while childhood obesity rates raise.
I teach them how to read a nutrition label, show them that vegetables aren't scary and can be very tasty depending on how it is prepared. I challenge their tastes by making them at minimum sample the dishes we prepare, make them look at what they are eating and why. It isn't easy work especially since the come to my class believing all that we are going to do is cook. If it were up to them, they would work in my class as if it was a cooking club, but its not, it's a culinary class. If it were up to them, we would only cook those things in which they are already eating regularly. The difference between a cooking class and a culinary class is very similar to the difference between food and "food".
I am fully aware that lots of food choices that are made in the households, in which my kids live, are done so with economy and convenience in mind. We Americans have totally bought into the idea that food must be cooked quickly and if you are in a lower economic rung the cheaper products tend to win the race to the shopping cart. Lots of our citizens are quick to spend a lot of money on clothes but not a lot on food. This is backward thinking, as clothes wear out quickly and go out of style, but your health is critical. I too have to consider my economy when purchasing, I buy some convenience foods, very few, mainly because I am not home for dinner 3 to 4 nights a week so the cooking duties fall upon my kids at least a couple nights a week. However, understanding what you are exposing your health to buy the constant consumption of these are risks most of us cannot afford. All of my children cook, nothing too fancy, for my middle school and high school kids, but my college kid does quite well, as she has had much more training.
Kids don't think about health and nutrition often as they have those perfect metabolisms and digestion that keeps up with the junk they consume. I often ask them what if the aging process begins to break down your body at a young age because of what they eat?
The populations that I teach are made up of inner city minority kids who's families are dealing with members that are impacted by cancer, hypertension, diabetes, glaucoma, drug abuse, immobility, and early death. What they are more concerned with are the drug overdoses and deaths from gun violence that they face daily. I have talked to my kids and heard about the reasons they skipped attending class due to being in the hospital visiting their siblings and loved ones. They tell me of how many funerals they have had to attend and when asked questions about life longevity they tell me that they are not concerned with living to 100 because they are expecting to die before they are 30. It's easy to not think about your health when you don't think you will survive very long, so why not eat and do whatever you enjoy today because tomorrow may never come.
So, there I go into the breach attempting to change their view of not only what is food and what really isn't food but also trying to change their world view through cooking and teaching. I speak to them about their life goals and dreams as well as their diet. I convey to them the impacts of poor diet don't just show up on the inside, but these things affect their appearance and their future. Basic nutritional information and health are done every week along with recipe comprehension. I am a firm believer that it isn't their fault that they don't know these things. I am a firm believer that you cannot give someone else something that you don't have. A great number of their parents either don't have time to teach them these things or don't know enough about the subject to teach them to their children. The notion of eating whatever is cheap and accessible is costly to your health. Anytime that you can go to the store and buy a 2-liter of soda pop for 99 cents but the same amount of juice or water is 4 to 5 times the price.... something is off.
I tell everyone if you cannot read all of the ingredients on the label then you might not want to eat that product. Whenever you leave control of your health and nutrition up to a corporation, you are already in trouble. The one and only purpose of a corporation is to make money. They make decisions not based upon what is best for the consumer, they make decisions based upon profit. If a natural item cost five cents per unit and a artificial substitute costs 3 cents per unit, the corporation will used the chemical substitute to gain a bigger profit margin.
.
These artificial things do not create the same reactions in the body as real food does, and if you are around enough, you will see how the FDA and researchers will prove them to be harmful in the long run and it's use will then be stopped. But what about all the people that consumed these chemicals for years and are possibly suffering the after effects? Wouldn't be easier to select the natural food options and not suffer any side effects? I want to see my kids live long long lives full of joy and not short lives filled with discomfort and disease.
Any food that has multiple multi-syllables chemical names and are high-up on the ingredient list should make you take pause. If you don't know what it is, then maybe you shouldn't be eating it. Can you find those items in your kitchen? Why are they in your food? Corporations make it difficult to make good choices. Their marketing campaigns, packaging, confusing labeling, hidden sugars, cheap ingredients, market saturation, are pervasive and target your kids.
A large percentage of your average citizens do not fully understand how to read nutrition labels. The first thing that everyone should know is that the list of ingredients is listed in order of amount from the highest quantity to the least. In other words, if you are reading the label and the first ingredient listed is sugar then you know right away that is isn't a healthy item to eat. Secondly, look at the serving size on the package. This is one way the corporation tries to fool the consumer into believing that the item isn't too bad for you. A small package of potato chips is commonly consumed by one person, but the manufacturer may use the serving size as 4, for example, that way, if you aren't paying close attention you can believe that the bag is only 100 calories when it actually is 400 calories, deceiving. I also encourage folks to Google the chemical names listed to see their purpose, possible health issues, and perhaps why they are used. Knowledge is power.
Last year was the first year in American history that consumers spent more money in restaurants than in grocery stores. That is huge news to both the culinary industry, retail food store, and the medical community. Our families are not growing, harvesting, cooking, hunting, or controlling the most important aspect of their health, food!
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Finding Your Roots
If any of you actually know me in person, you may already know that I have somewhat of an obsession about genealogy. Tracing my origins back through time, generation after generation, isn't an easy task, and often the discoveries made lead to more questions than answers.
When I entered culinary training, a good amount of the work would follow along either a technique, building skills, or it would be a grouping of dishes from one country and then another. I was surprised to learn that several of the dishes I grew up eating were cultural invites into other worlds that my family were not apart of to my knowledge. I remember learning that the oxtails my Grandmother cooked were not like the ones other blacks cooked that had come to Chicago from the Southern states, but much more in the style of Italian migrants, for example. We ate smoked sausages with sauerkraut, and I haven't found much in the way of German ancestry. As neighbors tend to do, Grandmother shared recipes with neighbors and friends.
Sharing food culture with others and the history of foods, their origins, and development, became a fascination for me. I once took a class at Roosevelt University all about the history of food. In that exploration, we ventured back in time to the cavemen days, and viewed history and archaeology of food, how food procurement is at the very beginnings of civilization itself. Farming changed us from strictly hunter-gatherers of nomadic origins to settlers and villagers. Yogurt changed trade routes and therefore economy. I will share more of this in later posts.
Even before Henry Louis Gates Jr. began televising episodes of his award winning show, I had a curiosity for this type of exploration. My companion podcast is a type of this kind of exploration as they are conversations with people about their relationships with food and by extension culture.
Chefs, foodies, critics, writers, culinarians, educators, artist, and any sort of people who eat have some type of connection with food. I am loving talking with my guests about the subject. Just in the first few broadcast, we have seen how the conversations have taken us into conversations about social unrest, cultural and religious rebirths, and dietary changes for religious and health reasons. These are all just breadcrumbs along the pathways of creation and generational growth.
I have a small collection of older cookbooks because I like to compare what was popular 20,40,60 years ago to what is consumed now. The techniques used, the flavor pallet, the available food stuffs, and the changes in the social norms of dinning etiquette and social graces, all change and as they change so does the preferred foods. The modern mothers of today, often can't imagine hosting a dinner party that consist of 9 or 10 courses of foods, let alone design, produce, and prepare such an culinary experience but it isn't so unusual for the cultured society women of the turn of the century.
No matter the era of your birth, your place in society, your ethic makeup, for country of origin, your immigrated home, your racial background, your chosen profession, your political background, or any other thing in which we classify ourselves, we all eat and we all have a love/hate/health relationship with food.
If you are interested in taking part in our weekly discussions, please leave me a comment with your contact information, and I will love to schedule a broadcast to explore your food history.
Listen in to our discussions both live and archived: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/giantforkandspoon
If you like us, please Follow! I will be soon making this available on iTunes and other search engines such as IHeart Radio in short order.
When I entered culinary training, a good amount of the work would follow along either a technique, building skills, or it would be a grouping of dishes from one country and then another. I was surprised to learn that several of the dishes I grew up eating were cultural invites into other worlds that my family were not apart of to my knowledge. I remember learning that the oxtails my Grandmother cooked were not like the ones other blacks cooked that had come to Chicago from the Southern states, but much more in the style of Italian migrants, for example. We ate smoked sausages with sauerkraut, and I haven't found much in the way of German ancestry. As neighbors tend to do, Grandmother shared recipes with neighbors and friends.
Sharing food culture with others and the history of foods, their origins, and development, became a fascination for me. I once took a class at Roosevelt University all about the history of food. In that exploration, we ventured back in time to the cavemen days, and viewed history and archaeology of food, how food procurement is at the very beginnings of civilization itself. Farming changed us from strictly hunter-gatherers of nomadic origins to settlers and villagers. Yogurt changed trade routes and therefore economy. I will share more of this in later posts.
Even before Henry Louis Gates Jr. began televising episodes of his award winning show, I had a curiosity for this type of exploration. My companion podcast is a type of this kind of exploration as they are conversations with people about their relationships with food and by extension culture.
Chefs, foodies, critics, writers, culinarians, educators, artist, and any sort of people who eat have some type of connection with food. I am loving talking with my guests about the subject. Just in the first few broadcast, we have seen how the conversations have taken us into conversations about social unrest, cultural and religious rebirths, and dietary changes for religious and health reasons. These are all just breadcrumbs along the pathways of creation and generational growth.
I have a small collection of older cookbooks because I like to compare what was popular 20,40,60 years ago to what is consumed now. The techniques used, the flavor pallet, the available food stuffs, and the changes in the social norms of dinning etiquette and social graces, all change and as they change so does the preferred foods. The modern mothers of today, often can't imagine hosting a dinner party that consist of 9 or 10 courses of foods, let alone design, produce, and prepare such an culinary experience but it isn't so unusual for the cultured society women of the turn of the century.
No matter the era of your birth, your place in society, your ethic makeup, for country of origin, your immigrated home, your racial background, your chosen profession, your political background, or any other thing in which we classify ourselves, we all eat and we all have a love/hate/health relationship with food.
If you are interested in taking part in our weekly discussions, please leave me a comment with your contact information, and I will love to schedule a broadcast to explore your food history.
Listen in to our discussions both live and archived: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/giantforkandspoon
If you like us, please Follow! I will be soon making this available on iTunes and other search engines such as IHeart Radio in short order.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Nourishment
There's a national attitude about food that is not in our collective best interest, only seeing food as pleasurable. It is so apparent when you talk to kids about nutrition or health. Children are only interested in what they enjoy so if it tastes good they are content.
Some of us do as we are expected to do, become an adult and put away childish things. The majority of Americans are not maturing as expected and continue to eat like they did in high school, which wasn't very good for them even then, creating a greater risk their own health. More often than not, it takes a doctor to inform said adults that a reevaluation of their consumption is required. Diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, gout, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol levels, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, acid reflux, and a whole host of discomforts are directly related to our dietary consumption.
Please understand that I am not a person that jumps on the diet bandwagon at the start of every new year and as a pastry chef some feel like I am not qualified to preach about health. Wrong. I am not a advocate for rigid dietary restrictions because of the psychological effects of such limitations. Telling a human not to eat their favorite things only makes them crave them even more. I advocate balance and a focus on healthier choices. Everyone needs room in the diet for treats and snacking. We are social animals and celebrating always involves eating. There is nothing wrong with eating dessert, it is however, how often it is consumed and which dessert is chosen that makes all the difference.
Health comes from balance, balanced diet, balanced emotions and stress, balanced work and life harmony. Eat to live instead of live to eat. Food is the first line of defense against disease and discomforts. Too many people are addict to some very destructive eating habits, are living in a food dessert, haven't faced the reality of what junk food does to the body when you consistently consumed, and often times live in bodies that are not working well because it isn't being maintained properly.
Last year was the first time in U.S. history that it's citizens spent more money in restaurants and eating out than they did in grocery store purchases. The 'give it to me quick' mentality is taking it toll on the health of our nation. Lots of the food regulations and feeding programs that we have grown up with and are most familiar with, were developed after a large amount recruits enlisted for WWI were so underfeed and malnourished that they were practically or completely unfit for combat. The U.S. government understood if the nation is not nourished properly that it would not be able to defend the country from foes. Tag along to that, it stands to reason that school age children can not make the most of their educational opportunities if they are not well feed. Mandatory regulations of school lunches, for example, is a result of the governmental effort to assure that our citizens are not burdened by a lack of nutrition.
Furthermore, the changes experienced in the American workforce has put pressure on the households to eat differently than their predecessors. Less that two generations ago, 90% of meals consumed in American were prepared at home, which included boxed lunches. These days convenience foods reign supreme in the food marketing wars. Get it quick, microwave it, take and bake it, and buy it precooked, all are outselling fresh produce and meats. The heavy demands on workers to increase work out-puts have pushed the average 8 hour work day on to the back burner it seems as often longer hours and taking work home is more and more common leaving whomever in the household that is responsible for meal production with less and less time to plan and produce what the family is consuming.
The biggest danger in this tend is simple, whenever you become reliant upon a soulless corporation to do things for you that are critical to your overall health, you are in trouble. Why is a pint of orange juice 3 times the price of a cola? Corporations really only have one goal, to make money! Cheaper, faster, longer storage life, and readily available is how a corporation makes its goals. Food additives and preservatives most often do not help your health, they only help the corporation to make money. I have seen in my lifetime alone, several sugar substitutes, food color, and other chemicals available for the consumer to purchase have been removed from the marketplace after finding out that they cause a cancer or a serious risk to public health, but how many years and how often have the public been eating them before they have been outlawed?
Just some thoughts to consider as you prepare your next grocery list....
Some of us do as we are expected to do, become an adult and put away childish things. The majority of Americans are not maturing as expected and continue to eat like they did in high school, which wasn't very good for them even then, creating a greater risk their own health. More often than not, it takes a doctor to inform said adults that a reevaluation of their consumption is required. Diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, gout, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol levels, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, acid reflux, and a whole host of discomforts are directly related to our dietary consumption.
Please understand that I am not a person that jumps on the diet bandwagon at the start of every new year and as a pastry chef some feel like I am not qualified to preach about health. Wrong. I am not a advocate for rigid dietary restrictions because of the psychological effects of such limitations. Telling a human not to eat their favorite things only makes them crave them even more. I advocate balance and a focus on healthier choices. Everyone needs room in the diet for treats and snacking. We are social animals and celebrating always involves eating. There is nothing wrong with eating dessert, it is however, how often it is consumed and which dessert is chosen that makes all the difference.
Health comes from balance, balanced diet, balanced emotions and stress, balanced work and life harmony. Eat to live instead of live to eat. Food is the first line of defense against disease and discomforts. Too many people are addict to some very destructive eating habits, are living in a food dessert, haven't faced the reality of what junk food does to the body when you consistently consumed, and often times live in bodies that are not working well because it isn't being maintained properly.
Last year was the first time in U.S. history that it's citizens spent more money in restaurants and eating out than they did in grocery store purchases. The 'give it to me quick' mentality is taking it toll on the health of our nation. Lots of the food regulations and feeding programs that we have grown up with and are most familiar with, were developed after a large amount recruits enlisted for WWI were so underfeed and malnourished that they were practically or completely unfit for combat. The U.S. government understood if the nation is not nourished properly that it would not be able to defend the country from foes. Tag along to that, it stands to reason that school age children can not make the most of their educational opportunities if they are not well feed. Mandatory regulations of school lunches, for example, is a result of the governmental effort to assure that our citizens are not burdened by a lack of nutrition.
Furthermore, the changes experienced in the American workforce has put pressure on the households to eat differently than their predecessors. Less that two generations ago, 90% of meals consumed in American were prepared at home, which included boxed lunches. These days convenience foods reign supreme in the food marketing wars. Get it quick, microwave it, take and bake it, and buy it precooked, all are outselling fresh produce and meats. The heavy demands on workers to increase work out-puts have pushed the average 8 hour work day on to the back burner it seems as often longer hours and taking work home is more and more common leaving whomever in the household that is responsible for meal production with less and less time to plan and produce what the family is consuming.
The biggest danger in this tend is simple, whenever you become reliant upon a soulless corporation to do things for you that are critical to your overall health, you are in trouble. Why is a pint of orange juice 3 times the price of a cola? Corporations really only have one goal, to make money! Cheaper, faster, longer storage life, and readily available is how a corporation makes its goals. Food additives and preservatives most often do not help your health, they only help the corporation to make money. I have seen in my lifetime alone, several sugar substitutes, food color, and other chemicals available for the consumer to purchase have been removed from the marketplace after finding out that they cause a cancer or a serious risk to public health, but how many years and how often have the public been eating them before they have been outlawed?
Just some thoughts to consider as you prepare your next grocery list....
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Smoothie Fast Complete... sort of.
So earlier I wrote a post about embarking on the 10-Day Smoothie fast, it was successful. And I am still consuming a smoothie a day, and throughout the day, in order to keep my system optimal. As I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and some food allergies, I have had to make dietary and life altering changes in order to keep on the good side of feeling good.
I did the fast, as subscribed in the book, incorporating lots of green healthy kale, spinach, apples, flax seed, spring greens, berries, and mangoes. This allowed my taste buds to adjust to a lower intake of sugars and salt, while upping my nutrition throughout the day. As a chef, our breed often doesn't eat well, you would think that they opposite was the case, but as we work all day, long hours, often forgoing our brakes, we don't take care of our own nutritional needs. We see and handle food all day long and it can kill your appetite and at the end of a long shift of 12 hours or more, we usually just grab something quick and simple to consume leaving us with deficits and skipped meals.
With that in mind, I am striving hard to always make a blender full of nutrition to take with me during the day and/or be at the ready in the fridge when I need it when I am at home. It is helping me regulate my bowels which has been an issue for me for many years, but increased in the last two to three years. I feel more energetic during the day and I am not reaching for the candy or chips nearly as often.
Just like with small children, we must train out pallets to better habits of consumption. When the traditional habits are not leading to a healthy outcome, then we must do better and create change. Food is medicine and should be the first time we changes instead of asking the doctor for a new pill for this or that. All of the medications that the doctor can subscribe have side-effects that will cause another problem that will need addressing. The average American is taking more than 12 medications a day in order to function. This is not a positive trend nor a healthy one. The pharmaceutical companies are getting rich feeding us chemicals to correct maladies and discomforts. We are becoming zombies dependent upon corporations to feed us and make us remedies for our bad eating habits.
Not everything that is good tasting is in fact good for you. Simple changes and little effort can make huge differences in our quality of life.
I did the fast, as subscribed in the book, incorporating lots of green healthy kale, spinach, apples, flax seed, spring greens, berries, and mangoes. This allowed my taste buds to adjust to a lower intake of sugars and salt, while upping my nutrition throughout the day. As a chef, our breed often doesn't eat well, you would think that they opposite was the case, but as we work all day, long hours, often forgoing our brakes, we don't take care of our own nutritional needs. We see and handle food all day long and it can kill your appetite and at the end of a long shift of 12 hours or more, we usually just grab something quick and simple to consume leaving us with deficits and skipped meals.
With that in mind, I am striving hard to always make a blender full of nutrition to take with me during the day and/or be at the ready in the fridge when I need it when I am at home. It is helping me regulate my bowels which has been an issue for me for many years, but increased in the last two to three years. I feel more energetic during the day and I am not reaching for the candy or chips nearly as often.
Just like with small children, we must train out pallets to better habits of consumption. When the traditional habits are not leading to a healthy outcome, then we must do better and create change. Food is medicine and should be the first time we changes instead of asking the doctor for a new pill for this or that. All of the medications that the doctor can subscribe have side-effects that will cause another problem that will need addressing. The average American is taking more than 12 medications a day in order to function. This is not a positive trend nor a healthy one. The pharmaceutical companies are getting rich feeding us chemicals to correct maladies and discomforts. We are becoming zombies dependent upon corporations to feed us and make us remedies for our bad eating habits.
Not everything that is good tasting is in fact good for you. Simple changes and little effort can make huge differences in our quality of life.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Conversations About Food - Podcasts
As a companion piece to this blog, I have launched a podcast of the same name. There I will explore the roots of, the relationship of, and the changes of people's relationship with food. Everyone has a history of eating, cooking, loving, and hating some foods. There are all sorts of traditions, religious restrictions, feasts days, fasting days, dieting, likes and dislikes surrounding folks intimate connections with eating and cooking. It's aim will be to talk to professional chefs, homemakers, athletes, musicians, the whole gambit of professions and phases of life.
I will update this list as I post the broadcasts. Please subscribe and tune-in regularly: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/giantforkandspoon
Ep#1: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/giantforkandspoon/2016/01/18/conversation-with-chef-yehoshuah-yehudah
I will update this list as I post the broadcasts. Please subscribe and tune-in regularly: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/giantforkandspoon
Ep#1: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/giantforkandspoon/2016/01/18/conversation-with-chef-yehoshuah-yehudah
Thursday, January 7, 2016
New Diet Advice
It's January and, as usual, the news is filled with reports about diet and exercise. GMA reports include celebrity diet information and almost every news and talk outlet are pulling out doctors, personal trainers, nutritionist, and the like to create segments all of the folks who are still holding steady to their "getting healthy" New Years resolutions are seeking. All the guilt from feasting in November and December, tends to result in high sales of exercise equipment, tons of new gym memberships, exercise apps, and train-at-home programs, and lots of new work out clothes and athletic shoes.
ABC is launching a new television series "My Diet is Better than Yours" in which competitors each take up a diet program with the help of a nutritionist and exercise pros compete on which diet can get in shape better than the rest. The biggest difference than I can see from other health related reality shows is that the competitors are not moved to a compound or camp, separating them from their normal environments. I will reserve my opinions on this show until I have had the opportunity to view it.
Every few years, the US government issues important new information about our diets. Today we are reviewing the new reporting that was published. It should come as no surprise that the sage advice to increase our intake of fruits and vegetables remain in the report. However, I am somewhat concerned by the blurb that states the proposed guidelines about red meat intake was lessened after the meat producers lobbyist successfully petitioned. What good is the report, or more importantly the research, if the suggested intake amounts of any food be changed due to political influence?
American's are still consume too much sugar and salt. The salt intake overage is not coming from adding salt to your plate but rather from the process foods regularly consumed. Therefore, one can extrapolate that unless you are preparing your meals at home, a consumer has little control over their salt intake. Better food selection is the key to a healthier life. The sugar issue is similar in that a lot of Americans intake too much and items like soda pop and juice with high fructose corn syrup resulting in extra calories consumed. Both of these items can result in disease especially obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.
We are all sewed up in the New Year New You fad type of thinking and jump on the latest hot diet. The Paleo, Atkins, Grapefruit diet, Soup Diet, and Jenny Craig all are selling memberships and books that both shame you and convince you to buy their wares knowing 80% of people that do this will not be making this effort a year, month or even a week from now.
Fad like these are not harmless to your health and longevity. You are not just buying a trendy outfit that would result in social embarrassment when looking back on pictures years later. These fads and type of thinking is mentally and physically dangerous. Most fad diets actually result in rebounding back to your previous weight and then often tacking on additional pounds. Feasting then starvation, up and down, based on social pressures isn't the way to go. Only a healthy view of food daily and viewing food as more medicine than pleasure, seeking a balance year round, will keep your body looking and working properly.
I'm sure I am not the first person to speak on this in your life but perhaps one more conversation will be the shift you need. I am not perfectly healthy and I am SO not shaming anyone. However, I have a different relationship with food as a chef and as someone who has been many food shifts from vegetarian to eating meat to studying food production to now teaching nutrition and culinary to kids.
No science is perfect because science works to understand things and often what answers we find today can be found to be flawed tomorrow. It's the exploration and constantly seeking answers that allows us to move forward and to make adjustments.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/01/07/462160303/new-dietary-guidelines-crack-down-on-sugar-but-red-meat-gets-a-pass
http://abc7chicago.com/food/new-dietary-guidelines-cut-added-sugars-lean-meat-ok/1149667/
ABC is launching a new television series "My Diet is Better than Yours" in which competitors each take up a diet program with the help of a nutritionist and exercise pros compete on which diet can get in shape better than the rest. The biggest difference than I can see from other health related reality shows is that the competitors are not moved to a compound or camp, separating them from their normal environments. I will reserve my opinions on this show until I have had the opportunity to view it.
Every few years, the US government issues important new information about our diets. Today we are reviewing the new reporting that was published. It should come as no surprise that the sage advice to increase our intake of fruits and vegetables remain in the report. However, I am somewhat concerned by the blurb that states the proposed guidelines about red meat intake was lessened after the meat producers lobbyist successfully petitioned. What good is the report, or more importantly the research, if the suggested intake amounts of any food be changed due to political influence?
American's are still consume too much sugar and salt. The salt intake overage is not coming from adding salt to your plate but rather from the process foods regularly consumed. Therefore, one can extrapolate that unless you are preparing your meals at home, a consumer has little control over their salt intake. Better food selection is the key to a healthier life. The sugar issue is similar in that a lot of Americans intake too much and items like soda pop and juice with high fructose corn syrup resulting in extra calories consumed. Both of these items can result in disease especially obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.
We are all sewed up in the New Year New You fad type of thinking and jump on the latest hot diet. The Paleo, Atkins, Grapefruit diet, Soup Diet, and Jenny Craig all are selling memberships and books that both shame you and convince you to buy their wares knowing 80% of people that do this will not be making this effort a year, month or even a week from now.
Fad like these are not harmless to your health and longevity. You are not just buying a trendy outfit that would result in social embarrassment when looking back on pictures years later. These fads and type of thinking is mentally and physically dangerous. Most fad diets actually result in rebounding back to your previous weight and then often tacking on additional pounds. Feasting then starvation, up and down, based on social pressures isn't the way to go. Only a healthy view of food daily and viewing food as more medicine than pleasure, seeking a balance year round, will keep your body looking and working properly.
I'm sure I am not the first person to speak on this in your life but perhaps one more conversation will be the shift you need. I am not perfectly healthy and I am SO not shaming anyone. However, I have a different relationship with food as a chef and as someone who has been many food shifts from vegetarian to eating meat to studying food production to now teaching nutrition and culinary to kids.
No science is perfect because science works to understand things and often what answers we find today can be found to be flawed tomorrow. It's the exploration and constantly seeking answers that allows us to move forward and to make adjustments.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/01/07/462160303/new-dietary-guidelines-crack-down-on-sugar-but-red-meat-gets-a-pass
http://abc7chicago.com/food/new-dietary-guidelines-cut-added-sugars-lean-meat-ok/1149667/
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Food as Medicine
Today is day two of my 10 Green Smoothie Cleanse. I am undertaking this effort with my eldest child who is a studying to be a nutritionist at UIC. I will be making several changes to my diet due to the fact that the last year, or more, was spent with multiple doctor visits and testing. I was consistently complaining about discomfort and all the effort resulted in a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, a chronic knee pain syndrome, and some food allergies. At 45 years old, I am undergoing some large changes in my lifestyle. I had already transitioned from a full-time production chef to a part-time culinary educator as my health was negatively impacting my career. The chef life requires long hours of physically demanding work, even us pastry chefs are standing for 90% of the time, and we never work a 8 hour shift, 9 to 5pm, its is most of the time 10-18 hours a day.
My relationship with food is going to change once again. As a small child I lived in a vegetarian household, then when I was a bit older that changed to the typical American diet, then when I entered culinary school naturally the food education involved resulted in some healthier changes for me, and now that I am dealing with disease I am making another adjustment. The topic of food as medicine, and when our society changed food thinking from medicine to solely pleasure, in our society came up in my conversation with my biological father. The interview needs to be rerecorded as the technology failed, so stay tuned. He was a vegetarian but now eats a macrobiotic style of diet.
The consumption of food can have multiple effects upon your entire health and longevity. Prior to WWII, a large segment of our populous knew many remedies for common aliments, some effective and some not, but the concept of relying upon natural remedies was the standard. The medical community was responsible for the decrease of this type of thinking by researching the items for effectiveness and dismissing the ones that could not be proven. However, it is my opinion, that many of the 'medicine' that were sold and recommended, at the turn of the century and later, were not effective but profitable. Also, the business of pharmacology isn't always the best remedy but it is the most advertised. Therefore, the American population was taught to only seek pills to cure every ill.
If an American is told that they are having some hypertensive issues, for example, the first thing that their doctor and the patient runs to for correction is a medication instead of a diet adjustment. This type of thinking keeps patients both relaying on pills and still consuming a diet that isn't beneficial, still consuming some things that are degrading their health but fighting the effects by taking more and more medication. This is a negative sum path. Why are we still eating hot sauce when you are getting headaches because your pressure is too high?
There is no getting out of the need for food, and who would want to? However, thinking or food as only a pleasure, leaves so much of the truth unexplored. Food is a civilizing force, a social communicator, a nutrition effort, a required activity, and has molded our cultures and the touch of history can be found on every plate around the world. Food tourism has always been around but is now is branded and packaged for consumption. I find it horrible that Americans go to over countries and seek out and eat McDonald's and KFC. Learning about other food traditions, trying new foods, and expanding your food vocabulary is the best way to begin to understand the people who habitat the country visited. When you begin to understand some one's food then you begin to understand them.
Food allergies, medical issues of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, gout, rickets, scurvy, migraines, high cholesterol, are all health issues that can be eliminated and/or controlled by dietary changes. This thinking is not a fallacy of the alternative medicine tree hugging folks it is rational thinking and comprehensive life effecting issues.
Okay rant over for now....
Every day is Worth Celebrating!
My relationship with food is going to change once again. As a small child I lived in a vegetarian household, then when I was a bit older that changed to the typical American diet, then when I entered culinary school naturally the food education involved resulted in some healthier changes for me, and now that I am dealing with disease I am making another adjustment. The topic of food as medicine, and when our society changed food thinking from medicine to solely pleasure, in our society came up in my conversation with my biological father. The interview needs to be rerecorded as the technology failed, so stay tuned. He was a vegetarian but now eats a macrobiotic style of diet.
The consumption of food can have multiple effects upon your entire health and longevity. Prior to WWII, a large segment of our populous knew many remedies for common aliments, some effective and some not, but the concept of relying upon natural remedies was the standard. The medical community was responsible for the decrease of this type of thinking by researching the items for effectiveness and dismissing the ones that could not be proven. However, it is my opinion, that many of the 'medicine' that were sold and recommended, at the turn of the century and later, were not effective but profitable. Also, the business of pharmacology isn't always the best remedy but it is the most advertised. Therefore, the American population was taught to only seek pills to cure every ill.
If an American is told that they are having some hypertensive issues, for example, the first thing that their doctor and the patient runs to for correction is a medication instead of a diet adjustment. This type of thinking keeps patients both relaying on pills and still consuming a diet that isn't beneficial, still consuming some things that are degrading their health but fighting the effects by taking more and more medication. This is a negative sum path. Why are we still eating hot sauce when you are getting headaches because your pressure is too high?
There is no getting out of the need for food, and who would want to? However, thinking or food as only a pleasure, leaves so much of the truth unexplored. Food is a civilizing force, a social communicator, a nutrition effort, a required activity, and has molded our cultures and the touch of history can be found on every plate around the world. Food tourism has always been around but is now is branded and packaged for consumption. I find it horrible that Americans go to over countries and seek out and eat McDonald's and KFC. Learning about other food traditions, trying new foods, and expanding your food vocabulary is the best way to begin to understand the people who habitat the country visited. When you begin to understand some one's food then you begin to understand them.
Food allergies, medical issues of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, gout, rickets, scurvy, migraines, high cholesterol, are all health issues that can be eliminated and/or controlled by dietary changes. This thinking is not a fallacy of the alternative medicine tree hugging folks it is rational thinking and comprehensive life effecting issues.
Okay rant over for now....
Every day is Worth Celebrating!
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