Another celebrity chef is in the news talking about school food.  Rachael Ray, the host of 30 Minute Meals, was in Washington recently lobbying lawmakers on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.  This act determines how much money school districts are given for meals and how much control the government has over food outside of school cafeterias, like those vending machines stocked full of sugary drinks and processed snacks. 

New York junior senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand and Rachael Ray are both passionate about increasing the amount of money the schools are reimbursed per meal.  They are also proposing a ban on trans fats in school cafeterias. 

This article in the New York Times reports that Rachael Ray, who grew up in Senator Gillibrand’s former Congressional district in northeast New York State “has made school nutrition something of a personal crusade. She has helped the New York City school system develop a healthier menu, creating a chicken taco dish for cafeterias using a whole wheat flatbread, roasted chicken and a ratatouille-style stew.   Her latest coup was persuading the city’s schools to use whole wheat pasta in macaroni and cheese.”

It’s great when celebrities use their fame and speak out about issues they care about.  We say, “Hooray Rachael Ray” for bringing more attention to the Child Nutrition Act and how it affects the health and well-being of our children. 

Is your school district doing anything to change school lunches on a local level?  We want to hear about it!

2005 Integrative Nutrition Graduate Christian Fischer, corporate executive chef of Lackmann Culinary Services, has won the Top Chef honor of 2009 named by the Chef2Chef.net Culinary Community.  Other top chefs include Food Network favorites Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver, Ming Tsai, and Wolfgang Puck.

By winning the Top Chef award, Chef Fischer proves that great taste is not sacrificed when eating a nutritious well balanced meal.  Lackmann encourages their “guests to make healthy choices from every food group, find a balance between physical activity and food, and get the most nutrition out of their meals. [They] also create meals with every dietary need in mind; …Kosher, Halal, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, low sugar, organic, fat free and peanut free.”

Lackmann also offers the Eat Right Live Well program that encourages guests to make small changes for lasting results.  They implement healthy eating in all aspects of their operations, for example, their Under3 Program, offers grab and go meals, snacks and desserts under 300 calories for under $3.

Congratulations to Chef Fischer for winning Top Chef Honors and to Lackmann Culinary Services for producing high quality-and nutritious meals for their guests.

How do you incorporate healthy and delicious cooking in your life?  Do you have a favorite recipe you feel is Top Chef worthy?  Share it!

The 82nd Annual Oscar nominations were announced and Food, Inc. is nominated in the documentary (feature) category.  This film has received much critical acclaim and attention since its release in June last year, including a feature on the Oprah show  where she called it “thought provoking” and “eye opening”. 

Food, Inc. brings to light glaring issues of sustainability, food production, and workers rights.  The more people that view the movie the more likely these issues will be brought to the top of both personal and political agendas.  The fact that the Academy Awards has chosen to recognize Food, Inc. is monumental as it will bring even more national attention to this must see film and the concerns it addresses.

Have you ever thought that who you are today in your career, relationships and life might be linked to what your parents were going through when you were conceived?

Look at your life now. Is money always tight? Do you have loving relationships? Are your relationships tumultuous? Do you love to learn? Perhaps if you have concerns around money your parents were undergoing financial problems when they conceived you. Were they newly married and just starting their lives together? Perhaps the love they had for each other shows up in your romantic relationships. Do you have not one, but two or more degrees? Do you love to read or take classes? Maybe your mom or dad were in school when they conceived you, or were planning to go back to school.

This might be a difficult exercise for some of you, but I encourage you to take the time to do some research. If your parents are still around ask them. If you’re not able to ask your parents directly, maybe you have an older sibling or other relatives who might know.

How do these stories inform who you are today? What insights are you able to form, based on this part of your personal history? If you feel comfortable, share with us. If not, jot these insights down and keep for yourself. This is a great exercise to help you connect with your parents as well as to think about why you are the way you are.

Eating disorders are a big concern in America. They can come in the form of starvation or, doing the exact opposite, binging.

When we habitually overeat, a high proportion of our available energy is always directed towards digestion. If we eat when we are not hungry, we compromise our digestion of the food. If you tend to overeat why is that? Are you worried that you’re going to starve? Are you bored or sad?

Other people do the exact opposite and try to go hungry all day, ignoring the body’s cravings for food. Most people do this as an attempt to lose weight. These people often eat very little all day and when they get home they discover they are ravenous. This way of eating often creates a backlash at night and people overeat heavy foods at dinner, until they feel stuffed and uncomfortable. 

By either starving or over-feeding your body you are not listening to what your body really needs and it is important to address the underlying reasons for choosing to have this relationship with food.

Tennis star Monica Seles talks about her struggle with food and binge eating in her newest book Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self. She talks about the pressure to lose weight and how she overcame the food fight. Check out her New York Times interview.

Has your relationship with food changed over the years? How?

A few months ago we reported that The White House was talking about growing an organic garden to raise awareness around nutrition and sustainability. In the April issue of Oprah magazine, Michele Obama says they are definitely going to take this project on.

"We want to use it as a point of education, to talk about health and how delicious it is to eat fresh food, and how you can take that food and make it part of a healthy diet,” says the First Lady. This is great news. Not only will this be an opportunity for people to learn about the benefits of eating fresh, whole foods but in this economic climate people will save money by growing their own food.

Do any of you plan to start your own garden this spring/summer? Please share any tips with those who have never nurtured a garden.

Donna Karan is more than a fashion icon. Karan and another designer launched the Urban Zen Foundation  in 2006 to raise awareness and inspire change in the area of well-being and to empower children and preserve cultures.

After she lost her husband to cancer she realized there was something missing in mainstream medicine. She wanted to create a community that brought together like-minded people who want to make a difference. Recently, she hosted a Well-Being Forum that brought together 2,000 integrative and conventional medicine leaders, healthcare practitioners and influencers to brainstorm practical solutions to challenges that are facing patients and their loved ones. People in the integrative wellness field know that something is not working in the medical system, so Urban Zen Foundation’s mission is to figure out what will work.

Karan and Integrative Nutrition share a very similar dream that one day every hospital and doctor’s office across the world will have holistic wellness professionals. More hospitals are realizing the desire for alternative medicine and incorporating it into their healing procedures. Right now Beth Israel Medical Center in New York has a pilot program to introduce integrative medical practices and study their impact on patients and caregivers.

Change is happening all around and you can be a part of this powerful movement.

Most people are fascinated by celebrities. Who are they dating? What are they wearing? Where are they vacationing?  And the big question, how do they keep up those movie star figures? While many of them have to stick to a strict diet and intense exercise routine to conform to Hollywood’s ideal, others just try to follow a sensible meal plan like eating mostly fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Recently Kate Winslet and Alanis Morissette revealed their weight control tactics. Winslet, star of “Revolutionary Road” and “The Reader”, doesn’t want to be Hollywood skinny, but prefers to just feel comfortable in her body and that means she doesn’t binge on chocolate. She also confesses to not working out hours at a time because she doesn’t have the time, but instead puts aside 20 minutes every day to do a workout DVD. Morissette also follows a sensible diet and eats mostly fruits, vegetables and whole grains and exercises regularly.

The good news is it doesn’t take a calorie-restricted diet and exercising five hours a day to look and feel your best, even for the big screen. You can create a sensible eating plan that works for you. Maintaining your weight is really quite simple if you stick to a diet that consists of mostly fruits, vegetables and whole grains. When you complement this healthy eating plan with movement, you can achieve optimal health.

If you are interested in learning how to create a customized eating plan for yourself or others, check out our program. Classes start January 17.

Granddaughter of author, Ernest Hemingway, actress with over 30 films under her belt, more than a handful of television appearances and mother of two, Mariel Hemingway has had a full life.

For the past 20 years she’s also been pursuing her passion for yoga and health and is now a voice for the holistic movement. Through her books, Healthy Living from the Inside Out: Every Woman’s Guide to Real Beauty, Renewed Energy, and a Radiant Life and Finding My Balance: A Memoir with Yoga, and her blog,  she journals about her experience to find health and happiness.

Like Mariel, many of us go through some sort of spiritual journey to find health and balance at some point in our lives. We recognize that certain relationships, jobs or diet plans do not support us in the way they once did. While we would like to snap our fingers and be happy—finding health and happiness takes some trial and error.

Recognize where you are in life. How are your relationships? How is your spiritual practice? Are you happy with your health? Wherever you are enjoy the process of finding balance, whether that is through picking up a yoga or meditation practice, eating different foods or exploring different relationships. Find what works for you.

Guess what’s the next hot activity for kids? Cooking.

Many studies have found that the more kids are involved in meal preparation, the more willing they will be to try new dishes. The marketplace has seen a surge of children’s cookbooks and even video games to accommodate this new trend. These teaching tools go beyond learning how to bake cookies, but offer up recipes for main courses and side dishes, like roast chicken and brisket. They also speak to the family bonding experience of parents cooking with their kids.

The new cookbooks include: “Paula Deen’s My First Cookbook” and “The Second International Cookbook for Kids,” by Matthew Locricchio. Video games from Nintendo include “Personal Trainer: Cooking,” featuring cooking techniques and more than 240 dishes from countries around the world.

With rising rates of obesity and diabetes in children, it’s no surprise that we are seeing a push to get kids active in the kitchen. Cooking is not only fun, but creates healthy habits at an early age.

The next time you’re at the bookstore scan the cookbook section for books with colorful pictures and steps you know your kids can help out with, like washing vegetables or rolling out dough. Happy cooking!