Boomer Babes are Booming

July 7th I had the honor and pleasure to speak to the Boomer Babes and it turned into a great discussion. As always, Dr Youmans house was the perfect place to host a party. Not knowing the group all that well, I wasn't sure how they would perceive my talk about eating healthy. Of course I want to promote my restaurant but more importantly, I want people to understand why I developed the concept. Eating healthy is on the verge of exploding, but its just not there yet nor has it become convenient. Our president wants to tax soda to make money of course but also discourage consumption. KFC is serving baked and grilled chicken and the produce section in the grocery stores have an organic section that is slowly growing larger and larger.

One of the points that I tried to get across is that our "Comfort Foods" maybe the start of our demise. Another is that just because you think you are eating well, you may have to think again. With over 700 approved food additives who knows exactly what we are consuming in our body??? Eating organic eliminates the surprise of what's inside, but if we don't create a healthy diet for ourselves, then we aren't maximize our health benefits. Portion sizes, ingredients and cooking techniques are all very critical to losing weight and feeling great. Along with that, our immune system starts working sooo much better that its fighting off problems we didn't even know we had.

Lastly, we had a couple questions that I wanted to clarify the answers on. First off, why does organic milk have a longer shelf life than conventional milk while organic produce has a shorter shelf life than conventional?

A: Unless one milk and not the other is "UHT" Ultra Heat Tempered, which would affect the integrity of the milk, but extend the shelf life, the expiration date on BOTH is 11 days after production (milking). So they both have the same shelf life.

Next, when shopping at the grocery store for fish and seafood, how do you know which one is the "cleanest" or "best" choice. Black Cod and Salmon are the only two species of fish that you could ever potentially see an "Organic" label on. That doesn't make it all organic, but those are the only two that have gone through the certification process.

So here's my advice:

• Always look for wild caught fish from cold waters
• Avoid Farm Raised because of the high amounts of antibiotics and unnatural feed
• During the summer months, stay away from stream fish like trout, the water is warmer and there is usually less water in the rivers so they become more stagnant, harboring more bacteria
• Its true that some fish are higher in Omega Fats than others, but what ever you choose, is still better than eating a cheese burger, so don't think too hard over it
• If you want to add more Omega's to ANY meal, add 1 teaspoon of UDO's 3 6 9 Oil for every 50 lbs of your body weight. This product is found in a cooler by itself at Whole Foods market

Contact me any time for Recipes, Cooking Demo's and Catering email me at chefghione@ghionedining.com

Ghione's Organic "Go Fresh Kitchen" will be open at the latest July 21. I hope to see everyone there! keep up to date at www.ghiones.com

Eat Well - Live Better!!