The Bottom Line

Cooking Co-Op makes natural foods, as opposed to processed foods, affordably available to the average person. Case in point. Remember a few weeks ago, I picked up a fast food fried chicken dinner for my 6 foot tall 14 year old son- $14.48. Well, this week I fixed him oven fried chicken and he said thank you! So the 3 of us had oven fried chicken, Trader Joe's yummy vegetable fried rice and a salad for the same cost. Cheaper and better quality- and we have some left overs. Win, win, win! The ball is in your court.

School Cafeteria Food- Worse Than I Thought

I spoke with a veteran school cafeteria employee. What Jamie Oliver described at the school cafeteria in Huntington, WVA is also true right here in Richmond! The school board made the decision to switch suppliers to save money- new supplier brings in even more processed food. She shared how they serve lots of pizza, chicken nuggets, fried foods, breaded foods. When I asked about salads, the teachers get most of the salads- not a lot of demand from the kids for salads. She said some of the hotdogs look green and she would not touch them! Friday is her favorite day as there are fewer items to prepare. I asked her wouldn't it make more sense to put higher quality in the food and have less choice? Remember GM went bankrupt having too many models. But then there is bureaucracy. We can put a man on the moon but we can't figure out healthier meals in the school? When I grew up, there was no choice- what you see is what you get. When you go to someone's home for dinner, you eat what is served. The importance of cooking co-op is to help you avoid the fast food lane- our kids already get too much processed food at school! Driving schools often show gruesome crashes to encourage safety. Parents and children alike need to see gruesome clogged arteries and other health problems that have resulted from poor eating habits. So check out the home page of my web site and come to my talks on "Food Revolution- Cooking Co-Op Style." We can do better!

The Gift

Monday, April 12th marked my 30th year of marriage. What a trip and what a blessing! So as I thought of what gift I could give my husband and having blogged about a food revolution(change), I gave him a membership to a 10 week program run by a Health Institute here in Richmond. He has been an avid runner since college. This health institute will work with him in helping him live an even healthier lifestyle concerning food and excercise. I sure hope so because I would like for him to be around another 30 years. So my co-op cooking will need to adapt to a new program- not a problem. I lost 10 lbs. on a nationally recognized weight-loss plan and used co-op cooking to help. Becky Tirabassi in her Change Your Life newsletter talks about the need to have..." courage to change the areas of our lives that are stagnant." And if we..."need something to excite us...start doing something that is healthy." Spring is here, flowers and plants are growing, not stagnating. Start a new journey with me. I will be teaching classes in May and June here in the Richmond area- more to follow.

Don't Stop Believing...Hold On To That Feeling...

I grew up in Chapel Hill, NC - home of the North Carolina Tarheels - March Madness and college basketball are big events! And last nights championship game was spectacular with Duke narrowly defeating the underdog Butler. Both teams exhibited what hours and hours of detailed practice can produce. But how many of those players would have spent the same hours of practice without being part of a team and having a coach that pre-planned the practice time often minute by minute? Samuel Johnson in the 1700's talked about private duties( activities done without anybody watching- duties such as cooking). The reason I am encouraging you to try something new to get dinner on the table is because I have found that unless I am on a cooking team, holding me accountable to dinner delivery, I don't shop and plan my meals. True confession- this week as I took a week off my cooking co-op routine I ended up buying fried chicken, biscuits and french fries for my begging 14 year old, 6 ft. basketball player to the tune of $14.48 - that was an air ball! Take a risk and try something new- the adventure of working together as a family and with friends to put a special ,healthier and more affordable dinner on the table. You've got to believe you can be #1- envision the feeling of a less stressful mealtime!

Food Revolution- Cooking Co-Op Style

In my DVD, I call for a food revolution. Then Oprah on her Food 101 show calls for a food revolution. And now we have a reality show on Friday nights, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution."The British chef goes to Huntington, W.Va to encourage people to choose fresh produce over processed foods. It is astounding to see school children eat pizza for breakfast, chicken nuggets for lunch and when asked what they had for dinner- chicken fingers! No wonder the Center for Disease Control named Huntinton, W.Va our country's unhealthiest city. And what is needed is a system where we band together to cook affordable, healthier meals. By cooking in quantity one night a week, you can shop more efficiently, enjoy the fruits of yours and others creativity, save 1 1/2 -2 hours a week(to exercise), all with a social twist getting to spend a little more time with neighbors, co-workers and friends. All that is needed is for this revolutionary way of enjoying dinner to become as fashionable as eating out. How much $$$, calories, fuel could be saved? Here in Richmond, Patrick Henry said, "... give me liberty, or give me death." Come on America- let's show the Brits a cooking co-op tea party!

Oprah and Food 101

Oprah repeated her Food 101 this week in which Michael Polland shares his food rules(google: Michael Pollan's 'Food Rules': Tips for Eating Healthily and see the video). In fact Oprah said,"... we need a food revolution." And we were given great information on food nutrition. But the show did not answer 2 big problems. How do we find the time to plan, shop, cook and clean up every night of the week? And how about the expense of eating meat, fruits and vegetables? The answer to time, expense and food revolution is cooking co-op! Get with fellow co-oppers who want to cook more nutritious meals. Then google:Canyon Ranch recipes etc. and get started. In several of my cooking co-ops we had one meatless dinner every week. During the Depression, pot luck dinners were started as an answer to the problems of that day. During these challenging times, let's start a wave of cooking co-op and improve our lives with better nutrition and more table talk with family and friends at a fraction of the cost of fast food and eating out!

"The Weight of the World"

In the February issue of Reader's Digest, this article , from the World Health Organization reports that more people worldwide now die from being overweight and obese than from being underweight. The country most aware of the dangers of obesity? Not U.S- it's Finland! Reread my blog on Aug. 3rd- Good Morning Richmond. In the 1970's, Finland had the most # of deaths from heart disease but a public health campaign of doctors, grocery stores etc. encouraged whole towns to change their eating, excercise and smoking habits. Towns actually competed for prizes based on how many people stopped smoking or lowered their cholesterol and/or weight. Finland cut heart disease deaths in the work force by 80% over the last 30 years and added almost 10 years of life-expectancy. What if we had community-based incentives to get back to the family dinner table- because through cooking co-op you can save calories, costs, and stress. Have you noticed your food costs creeping up? Many today are changing their spending habits. Go one step further- give cooking co-op a chance.