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http://www.3fatchicks.com/deli-meats-is-there-a-nutritional-difference-between-fresh-cut-and-pre-packaged/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/ask-a-health-expert/is-deli-meat-actually-bad-for-you/article9559850/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/ask-a-health-expert/is-deli-meat-actually-bad-for-you/article9559850/
The restaurant business is one of the most competitive fields you can enter. There are constantly new restaurants opening up throughout the city. This puts loads of pressure on a restaurant to perform perfectly, if somebody doesn’t like the food they’re served they have countless other places to go. When I started working as a pantry chef I was completely unprepared. I figured it couldn’t be that stressful, and all these chefs are just playing it up. Approximately 3 weeks after I started, we were expecting a $25,000 night. That night showed me all I ever needed to know. When you have over 40 things to make, the smallest thing will push you over the edge. We have immense pressure from our superiors to be absolutely perfect. In my station alone we have 24 things to know by heart. We need to know what order to put the ingredients in, and exactly how many ounces per item per size (sub, small or large). On a not-too-busy night we get something called flavour profiling. This is where the general manager will tell us a dish to make, purely to see how we do it. Everything we do is under close inspection, the main focus is portions. I make it sound like a horrible place to work, though to me it’s quite the opposite. There’s nothing better than hearing “Beautiful plating on that cheesecake”, or receiving compliments from a customer on the food you made. I love making food, and my absolute favourite dish to prepare is the goat cheese garlic. This is an appetizer containing melted goat cheese with caramelized brown sugar on top, and caramelized garlic. It gets some focaccia bread toasted, spread with a special herb-oil then sprinkled with parmesan cheese. On the side we have arugula in a house-made lemon chardonnay dressing. Lastly we put two ramekins of cranberry-corn relish, and fig jam. Every night, at the end of the night we throw out the excess food we prepared. Sauces, cut veggies, meat etc. all have a few days before being thrown out, and therefore are most of the time used up instead of thrown away. However, mashed potatoes, rice, quinoa, bacon, sausages, pancakes, french toast and cooked vegetables are all thrown out in excess amounts every single night. If there was a banquet on that night, there’s a bunch more food that gets thrown away. I can say that the food is completely fine, it just isn’t good enough to serve to paying customers. There are plenty of things we could do with that food, many homeless people wander around Milestones, however we throw out the food because it wouldn’t look good to our customers to have homeless people outside the kitchen. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, more than $31 billion worth of food is thrown out yearly in Canada alone (2014 study). Looking at how much a single restaurant throws out nightly, I can say this fact doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. I believe we could put that food to good use in some way. If the food bank had a way to collect leftovers from restaurants and store them that would be a great way to reduce thrown out food. Close to half of all food produced throughout the world is wasted, either in transport, manufacturing or in a restaurant/house itself. Households throw out loads of food each year too, approximately 215 kilograms per year per household. Why is it that we as Canadians always look for a way to solve problems for other places in the world, while ignoring our own?
Educating children on good nutrition can have a large impact on their view of food as well as their health. In this generation, a lot of younger children are now raised on “sugary” and “junk” or fast foods. This is a predominantly because it’s more convenient and most kids believe it is more fun, which leads them to believe it tastes better. In my opinion, if parents add healthier foods into their children’s diet from a young age it can help influence their children to choose healthier foods rather than junk food as they are more familiar. Most kids see healthy food as “unenjoyable” or “gross” and perceive junk food as “fun” and “yummy”. There are many ways that parents can influence their kids to be “food smart kids”. Some simple, common ways are to ensure healthy food is accessible for kids to grab as a snack, praise the healthier decisions they make without “nagging” them about the unhealthy, try avoiding labeling foods as “good” or “bad” (kids are naturally temped towards “bad” food) and loads more. Healthy eating when children are young and developing is extremely important. Unhealthy habits as a kids can cause children to develop serious health problems while they are growing up. Having bad eating habits can lead to such things as obesity, chronic illnesses, mental health issues, and many more serve and serious problems. A parent’s eating habits can also affect their children, as kids majority view their parents as their nutrition role model. Approximately 70 percent of kids are reported to take after their mom or dad body size. Some parents might find it hard to teach their kids about nutrition as it can be seen as “boring” and “not fun”. However there are tons of online websites that have games, coloring pictures and quizzes for kids to learn from. Sometimes it may be hard to keep on tract with good eating habits as all parents are extremely busy, and it isn’t bad to “treat” kids with unhealthy food. But it should only be a “treat” and not something that is constantly reoccurring. My personal opinion is that parents should “treat” their kids and themselves, as you do want to try new things (that may not be healthy) but it is a new experience and everyone should “live a little and let go” but in a small amount. There is no right or wrong way to parenting as most of people like to live by, as long as you’re trying your best for children. However you always have to remember that whatever you do impacts them, which can be a little stressful and scary as long as you’re doing your best that’s all that will truly matter. Parents impact their children in so many different ways, don’t you want to impact them in a positive way? Hi guys! Long thyme no see (Haha- get it? Time is ‘Thyme’. Cause it’s a food blog, and you put thyme on food... oh, forget it.) Since it’s getting close to Christmas, my friends and I decided to share our holiday family traditions, and I was particularly proud of mine. When I was little, my parents and I had a special holiday tradition where we would go to Romano’s Macaroni Grill on New Year’s Eve. My seven year old self loved it- cheese ravioli, pizza, spaghetti, and the good old American favorite (and the restaurant’s namesake) macaroni and cheese. The spaghetti was my personal favorite, as well was the free bread accompanied by balsamic olive oil vinaigrette. Even when all the bread was eaten, there was often still dipping oil left. As most of you know, I LOATHE letting good food go to waste, so one New Year’s, I decided to pour the extra oil onto my plain spaghetti noodles. And it was DELICIOUS. My taste buds just exploded with all kinds of flavors. To this day, that is the only stuff I will ever put on my spaghetti (at least at home). Now you can enjoy this delicious sauce with your fave pasta at home. If you don’t have the time to boil the water and strain the pasta, here’s an easier (and slightly faster) way ()(watch the video below). Happy Holidays! P.S. I’ve noticed more and more people are choosing the gluten-free diet, either because of allergies, doctor recommendations, or just because it’s popular and they want to seem cool. To accommodate those who can’t/won’t eat gluten, you can make this sauce with gluten free or vegetable pasta. Follow Steph on her blog! Great Eats! Balsamic Olive Oil Spaghetti Sauce Serves 2 prep time: 10 minutes
Mince garlic and chop herbs. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. Stir in garlic, parsley and thyme. Divide mixture between each serving of pasta and toss lightly until coated. Sprinkle on parmesan cheese. Enjoy with desired toppings. The current day so many people have a struggle balancing their daily meals with protein, starch, and vegetables especially when it involves feeding your family. Some people believe that little no to vegetables in a diet for most of their meals are perfectly fine and that as long as they have their protein they will stay strong and healthy. But when you have a lack of vegetables in your diet your body misses out on a lot of common minerals and dietary fibers found in vegetables. Vegetables help limit the amount of other food you eat throughout your day by filling you up and not effecting your body in a negative way, when you don’t eat vegetables you might still be hungry after a meal or you might just have more to eat which can cause unnecessary weight gain when eating too much meat or starch. Here are a few possible ways you could add vegetables into your daily life. The recommended servings for a teen are 7 - 8 servings of vegetables a day and for an adult it’s 7 – 8 for females and 8 – 10 for males.
Honey Rosemary Carrots Oven Roasted Asparagus Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli How many times have you heard someone (and by someone, I mean your mom) tell you, “Eat your breakfast, it’s good for you!” Probably more times than you’ve actually listened…especially when you’re a high school student who just don’t have the energy to think about breakfast. Well, consider this: perhaps your lack of energy and motivation has something to do with how you’re eating? That is not a new thought, but a thought often forgotten nonetheless. As a grade 12 trying really hard to balance all aspects of student life without having a mental breakdown, I understand how tempting it is to just eat a slice of leftover cake and call it breakfast. For others, trading breakfast in exchange for 10 extra minutes of sleeping time is as easy a decision as (insert simile). Or, for people like myself who just have no appetite in the morning, it may even be physically uncomfortable to consume food at a time when your body and metabolism hasn’t kicked in yet. Whatever your excuse may be, we can at least all agree that it’s so much easier to neglect breakfast than to partake in all its nutritious benefits. Nevertheless, after looking into some legitimate scientifically-proven facts, and gathering some first-hand experience, I can truly say that I have been converted to a breakfast believer; and will likely stay faithful for the rest of my days. Everybody likes brunch. Whether it’s a warm plate of fresh eggs or some buttered toast or even a big, fluffy pancake, there’s a breakfast food out there for everyone. Therefore, there really is no need to convince anyone to upgrade his or her breakfast. We are all quite capable of whipping up a nutritious meal ourselves. It is finding the time and effort to commit to breakfast that many need to work on. Personally, I don’t particularly restrict what I eat for breakfast, although I do briefly keep track of what goes in my mouth. I always have eggs for breakfast, because they are a great source of protein and can satisfy my hunger. If we have some leftover chicken or other meats in the fridge, I just heat them up and add them to my breakfast. Most of us don’t have time to grill chicken breast in the morning, so prepping meat dishes the night before saves a lot of time. I also don’t worry about carbs in the morning, since I know that whatever I consume will be burned up by the end of the day. It is definitely better to eat a lot in the morning and cut down on dinner (though I don’t really) than to do the opposite. If we don’t start off with a satisfying meal, we tend to snack on various foods throughout the day, which ends up amounting to a higher intake of calories than if we’d just ate an extra toast for breakfast. Anyways, to balance out all the protein and carbs and even fat, I make sure to eat a variety of fruits. Whether it’s kiwis, bananas, apples, or honeydew, I’m sure everyone has at least one type of fruit lying around the house. It is important to eat a variety of vitamins and minerals that help out with various body functions. I don’t keep track of what kind of vitamins and minerals I eat (there is just no time for that and, to be honest, it is quite unnecessary) but I do try to eat fruits and veggies from various families…or, just foods with different colour and texture, to simplify things. During the summertime, I particularly enjoy a large glass of fruit and veggie smoothie. I usually just chuck in whatever fruits I have in the fridge, but my go-to flavour and energy-enhancing foods are oranges, apples, pineapples, kiwis, grapes, and berries. I usually eat whatever is in season, because not only are they cheaper and more delicious, the changing of seasons offers me a new assortment of foods. Throw in some kale or spinach, (I usually get the pre-washed and dried ones from Costco) and you can check off the second largest food group from your breakfast pyramid! In case you don’t remember, this is the food pyramid: Moving on, to satisfy the dairy category, I usually just drink some milk or eat some yogurt. Easily done. That pretty much sums up what I eat for breakfast, although it does vary; especially when my mom buys pastries the day before. These mornings are the best, and I let myself look forward to a Tim Horton’s bagel or a blueberry scone, which makes waking up a bit easier. A lot of health-conscious people eat oatmeal or Greek yogurt for breakfast (or maybe it’s just for the sake of taking a good picture) but I’ve never made it a habit of eating either. Although it is certainly beneficial (and I will reiterate why) to eat healthy, whole foods for breakfast, it is more realistic to stick to a go-to diet of milk and cereal than to not eat anything at all. Just be aware that there are numerous breakfast options out there, and it is really fun to try out various foods and see what suits you best. You might still think that there is too much fuss in making breakfast. However, the consequences of not eating breakfast are too real in today’s fast-paced society. “According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report, research suggests that children and adolescents who don’t eat a regular breakfast are at an increased risk of overweight and obesity. This can lead to an increased risk of, among other ailments, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, both of which are among the leading causes of death in Americans today.” Instead of worrying about your future health, let’s take a look at the benefits of breakfast:
For more specific and direct health benefits of breakfast, visit these two easy-to-read sites. http://www.webmd.com/diet/many-benefits-breakfast?page=1 http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/090111p44.shtml And here is a link to allrecipes, a website containing a wide variety of breakfast recipes, each recreated numerous times to affirm their consistency and personally rated by people who do try them so they can vouch for the deliciousness of each recipe. http://allrecipes.com/recipes/78/breakfast-and-brunch/ And finally, if you struggled with focusing on this extremely long post, and wanted to get straight to the main point, here is a short video clip that basically sums up everything I discussed above. Finally, what and when you eat is ultimately up to you. No one can force you to do something you don’t want to do. Hard as it may be, change is something everyone experiences in life. However, it is those who initiate the change that usually reap the most benefits… even just making the decision to eat one good breakfast a day a week is better than ignoring all the things you’ve learned! What do you eat breakfast for?
Sugar is one of the most controversial issues when it comes to health. Sugar can be natural coming straight from nature like in fruits so how could it be bad for you? That is very wrong probably coming from someone uneducated about sugar. Large intakes of sugar lead to a boatload of diseases like high cholesterol levels, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. With all this knowledge you would think natural sugar is the major controversy however that is only half the story. These artificial sweeteners and sugar replacements play the same roll in your body as regular sugar would. They boost sugar levels sending the same signals to the body and brain. In fact, they turn off your body’s appetite-control, not letting you know when you’re full so you just keep eating and eating (source). Large corporations disguise sugar with sugar “substitutes” so people will see a large complex word like High-Fructose Corn Syrup or aspartame and not make the connection of having something unhealthy like sugar in it. Industries will make new artificial sweeteners as fast as you can find out about what the previous ones are to trick consumers into buying their product. Studies have shown that these artificial sweeteners can actually be worse than regular sugar causing obesity, brain tumors, bladder cancer, and many other health hazards (source). The artificial sweeteners and sugary foods are not just targeted at the buyers however children too. You may think well how could they be targeting the children if the parents are the ones buying the food? Large corporations don’t just focus on making a sale they are looking for lifetime customers. Sugar is not just any other food; it is a drug, a highly addictive drug. They do this by using TV commercials, internet ads, and games for marketing to lure in children on a path of childhood obesity to continue on for the rest of their lives (Example). In this example we see how Twinkies (a very unhealthy sugary snack) uses Shrek a beloved cartoon character loved by children to get children to eat their product. After reading all this information will you still eat sugar?
Rosa’s Fresh Pizza | 25 South 11th Street | Philadelphia, PA 19107 What started out as a small pizza shop, has now transformed into a shop where less fortunate ones can go to, to feel full from pizza and kindness. Pay it forward pizza at Rosa’s all began with one customer, one dollar, and a post-it note. In an interview, owner Mason Wartman talks about how this all started. “The first day of the pay-it-forward program kinda started when a gentleman walked in and asked if a homeless person ever came in short, and he offered to pre-purchase a slice of pizza for the next homeless person. So, he gave me a dollar, I ran out, got post-it notes, put one up on a wall behind the register, told more people about it, eventually a couple days later a homeless person came in, he had like 65 cents on him, and we told him to just keep the change, it was already paid for. He redeemed one of the pre-purchased slices, so now we’ve given away almost 10,000 slices of pizza.” Philadelphia is the poorest largest city and the city with the worst deep poverty rate, with approximately 185,000 people surviving on incomes that are less than the federal poverty line. Owner Mason Wartman tells of a story where a regular homeless customer disappeared for a while. Wartman was wondering to himself if he was doing well and days later, the homeless customer showed up and turns out he had got himself a job and he wanted to pay-it-forward just like how others had done for him. Wartman also said, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that customers who benefit from the pay-it-forward system had told him that the pizza helps them avoid committing small crimes in order to get money for food. “I knew it saved people money,” Mr. Wartman said. “I hadn't considered that it stopped people from committing crime.” According to Upworthy, Rosa’s is doing much more than just feeding customers.
This inspiring story just really shows how food is much more than just…food. It can connect people within communities together in so many different ways and also help others get back on their feet with just one little act of kindness.
Sources: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/portfolio/2015/01/17/Portfolio-Philadelphia-pizza-shop-clients-pay-it-forward-buy-slices-for-homeless/stories/201501170028 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, By Daniel Kelly, January 17, 2015 http://www.upworthy.com/a-customer-walked-into-his-pizza-shop-and-changed-philadelphia-with-1-and-a-single-post-it-note Upworthy, By Maz Ali, March 04, 2015 http://www.upworthy.com/remember-that-pizzeria-that-was-feeding-the-homeless-see-what-happened-when-you-shared-their-story Upworthy, By Maz Ali, July 12, 2015 |
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