"What's good to eat?" It turns out the answer to this age-old question is simpler than you think.
is the Director of Nutrition at the ĢƵ, where she teaches classes.
Chef Celine received her B.S. in Film/Cinema/Video Studies in 1997 and graduated with an M.S. in Nutrition & Integrated Health in 2018. She has prior experience as a private chef and in special events, catering, kitchen production and operations and management. Her work and insights have appeared in Bon Appétit, Brit + Co, HuffPost and more. On a personal level, her include food writing, food systems and sustainability, wine and fermentation, and personal and public health.
Recently, Chef Celine hosted a demonstration and discussion about what it means to be health-promoting in the modern food world.
Health-Promoting Food
In her demo, Chef Celine showed students at the ĢƵ how to incorporate wholesome ingredients into their diets, finding the “marriage” between food and health. She emphasized that food can be two things at once:
- Health-supportive: Helping to create and maintain good health in the present
- Health-promoting: Helping to continue good health in the future
Chef Celine believes everyone should have access to a healthy diet, and she encourages us to focus on three things:
- Look for recipes that are affordable and easy to prepare.
- Identify a diet that is sustainable in the long term and suited to your lifestyle, schedule and personal needs. (This, she acknowledges, may require trial and error.)
- Mind your body's changes — both good and bad — and use what you notice as the guidepost for finding the diet that suits you best.
The Mediterranean Diet
In the demo, Chef Celine explained the and how its traditional eating patterns promote better health and are scientifically proven to lower risk of various diseases. As a “plant-forward” diet, it also increases the likelihood of healthy aging.
Chef Celine is an advocate of introducing culinary students to a range of healthy dietary patterns and food choices. The Mediterranean diet teaches moderation and celebration of a variety of healthy foods.
Whole Grains for Whole Health
Chef Celine made tabbouleh in her demo and emphasized the importance of incorporating a into a “whole health" diet.
She discussed “carb fear” — the intentional elimination of carbs from the diet — and explained that whole grains should, in most cases, be consumed three servings per day. (The size of a fist is roughly one cup of grains, and one cup is equal to two two servings.)
So, what’s good to eat? The answer is a balanced, health-promoting diet, which may look slightly different for everyone.
