Fresh Food vs. Pre-Packaged food

I started this blog in hopes you all would give me feed back and ask questions. This forum is open for any topics you might be interested in related to certain dishes that you want to know how make, different techniques, recipes and anything dealing with cooking.

When I started the blog I also had a vision to try to get people to eat healthier. I thought about how I was eating and I realized that when I cook at home, from scratch it’s a lot healthier for me and my wife…most of the time it’s simply because I know what is going into my food. The microwave is a great appliance, but I’ve found that having a microwave can hurt you as well…this convenience has a tendency to give us the excuse to zap some prepare/frozen/packaged food and call it a meal. After I got married, my wife and I had an apartment with no microwave in it. We didn’t miss it because we cooked almost every day. Leftover food we heated with the oven or stove, and had grown accustomed to the “slow way” of heating our food. By the way…the funny thing is we realized that when you heat food on the stove or the oven, the food stays hot longer than if you zap it in the microwave. One day my brother pointed out that it was odd that we didn’t have a microwave…and the following Christmas he bought us one that had a toaster also. Don’t get me wrong I was very grateful for it, but it got us out the habit of cooking. If you really think about it, having a microwave makes you lazier. Nowadays you can pretty much prepare all of your food via microwave…instead of cooking fresh, you might pop in a frozen dinner or some already prepared food…you know “Just Add Water!”

I think we can all agree that freshly cooked meals are best…both on taste and nutrition. Pre-packed meals have a lot of extra things added to it so it will last longer like additives, preservatives and a lot of other things you can’t pronounce. Most of these food items have a lot of sodium in them which is not good for you. Too much sodium we all know can lead to high blood pressure. On April 19, 2010, The Washington Post reported that the FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons. The article states that, “Most salt eaten by Americans -- 77 percent -- comes from processed foods, making it difficult for consumers to limit salt to healthy levels, experts say. We can't just rely on the individual to do something," said Cheryl Anderson, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who served on the Institute of Medicine committee. "Food manufacturers have to reduce the amount of sodium in foods.” Check the article out here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041905049.html.

They believe it will save billions of dollars in healthcare just by reducing sodium intake. Isn’t that amazing…we can take charge of how much we consume if we good at home with fresh food!

Then there are other things that we just don’t even understand what it is. How many of you know what MSG is? Monosodium glutamate-- it’s another food additive that we can barely pronounce that’s no good for us. It simply enhances the flavor of the food, but for some people there are side effects! Have you ever gone out to eat had a wonderful meal that you wanted to duplicate? When you tried, more than likely you couldn’t get it just right. That’s because of chemicals in the food that they added...yes, restaurants have a lot of pre-made foods that they use so even though they call it “home cooking” it really isn’t. One ingredient that many restaurants use to make a sauce is stock (beef, veal, chicken, etc.). Some restaurants make there own and some use a “base”. Many chicken, beef or even vegetable “bases” use MSG. It’s basically a paste of flavoring. That’s just one of the reason you can’t reproduce some of these dishes. Do we really need MSG to enhance the flavor of the food? I think NOT!!

I learned this from my father: it’s cheaper to eat right now, compared to what it will cost you in the long run. With that statement all he was saying is that it might cost more to eat healthier now, but how much will it cost you in the future if you continue to eat the way you do? Medical treatment and prescription drugs are what he was referring to regarding cost in the long run. I just had an epiphany…if we love someone we should help them out with their eating habits, but we need to do it in a loving way so it doesn’t hurt their feelings. My dad told me I need to get my eating right awhile back but I didn’t listen. Now I have high blood pressure. It could have been prevented when he told me to eat right years ago when I was living Houston. We all need to develop good eating habits now so we can pass them on to our children.

Don’t get me wrong, a nice piece of cake doesn’t hurt every once in a while, but what you do (activity) after you eat the cake does. That’s the next piece of the puzzle…If you don’t workout or have some kind of activity to burn some of the calories off, then at least cut back on your meal calories. Then you wouldn’t have so many calories going in your body. I learned this from my trainer. He’s the best in Austin and he told me that he can eat whatever he wants because he works hard enough too. I’m just paraphrasing. He’s right he does work hard. I have seen him do the same workout the younger football players do, but better. These athletes are coming out of college and have played four years in college (besides their earlier years) and I’ve seen him lift more weights with more ease than people who are years younger than him. He eats right, but he also eats food he that he wouldn’t generally let you eat if he trained you! If you asked him why you couldn’t eat the food he eats, he’ll state that “it’s simply that you’re not at that point yet”…the reality of it is, if we were we wouldn’t need him…and that’s so true. His diet requires you to cook fresh food or have it prepared in advance so you can heat it up. But it’s still fresh…nothing boxed up or freeze dried. If you ever want to meet A.B. (aka Anthony Brown) let me know. Kerry Knox of Physiques Unlimited is also an awesome trainer. They have similar styles and I have worked with both of them and gotten awesome results…and have seen some remarkable transformations! It is all about their eating habits and exercise regimen. Kerry cooks his food from scratch. He is also in excellent physical condition! For you, microwave-lovers, he uses a microwave to heat up the food he has already made from scratch…

If you would take the time to learn how to cook or even get a personal chef to cook for you, your meals will be healthier. If you are lacking on time or motivation, you can get a personal chef to come in and make enough meals to last you and your family a week or two…I personally would suggest a week to make sure your meals are fresh. Some meals can be frozen also for later consumption. If you hire someone to make your meals on a daily basis (a personal chef) or decide to cook for yourself, that’s good. You’ll find that it’s really not that inconvenient to eat healthier.

We’re striving for a healthier lifestyle. I hope you’ll join me!

From Chef Randal THIS is how you can add a touch of gourmet to your everyday!