Cooking for Health and Wellness

According to a recent survey, the average US household spends almost half of its food budget on meals that are eaten away from home – a very worrying statistic when you think about the lack of control you have over the quality of the ingredients used when an unknown person prepares meals for you. Having worked in many restaurants over the years I know firsthand the sort of things that most of them do, primarily to save money of course, and never with the health of the consumer in mind!

That statistic doesn’t even include all of the packaged, commercially prepared, boxed and frozen ingredients and ready meals that seem to form the backbone of what most people eat. I am regularly shocked when I see inside other people’s pantries; shelves upon shelves of processed ‘food’ loaded with sugars, preservatives, artificial flavorings and chemicals with names you can’t even pronounce. What’s really sad is that some of these people actually believe that eating this stuff constitutes a healthy diet.

The truth is that the quality of the food you eat every day is probably the most important thing that you can do for both your long and short term health, and contrary to what many people believe, it really does matter whether you eat whole, unprocessed foods or foods laden with chemicals. A calorie from an unnatural source is not able to be utilized in the same way as a calorie from real, whole, fresh foods – the kind our grandmothers used to make. I know that many of us feel we don’t have either the time or the skills to be able to cook like this, but it really is a lot easier than it seems.  As both a chef and a nutritionist I have the perfect background to be able to show people how easy and fun it really is to cook delicious health supporting meals from scratch.

In all of my food preparation classes I teach techniques that are founded on a solid understanding of good nutrition, so that healthy cooking and healthy eating start to become second nature to you. You will learn the skills that you need to be able to walk into your own kitchen and prepare a deli­cious, highly nutritious meal in about 30 minutes using a combination of pantry staples and fresh ingredients, many times without recipes.

Every class is themed, and utilizes a wide variety of seasonal, organically grown, whole foods (locally sourced when possible) to create dishes which not only look and taste great, but will actively provide your body with the raw materials it needs to function optimally.

At each class, you will learn:

• the importance of high quality ingredients both to the flavors of the food and to your health
• kitchen skills and time management strategies
• how recipes are most often just guidelines, and how and when you can be inventive and creative
• the importance of presentation
• local sources of healthy ingredients
• the essentials of a healthy pantry
• how you can literally look younger, feel better and have more energy by eating the right foods, prepared in the right way

All classes are 3 hours, including tastings, and are a great way for anyone interested in healthy food to meet other like-minded people in a fun, casual environment. Generally, each class is priced at around $60, depending on the theme, and private and Corporate classes are also available on request.

For more details about upcoming classes please check back on this website, or contact Flourish.