GIVE THANKS FOR EVERYTHING BUT CALORIES

Author: Chef Florvil King Valdez   |   0 Comments   |   Categories: General Posts • Healthier Eating   |   Tags: • • • • • • •

It’s Thanksgiving once again, my favorite holiday! The start of the season is always welcoming to cheer, friends and family, shopping, giving thanks, and CALORIES? 

Every year we all know that when the holidays come, never too far behind is the gathering of friends and family. Whenever there are friends and family during these cold wintry days, what better than warm, comforting, and hearty foods to bring us all together. We always talk about either getting ready for those few pounds we knowingly and willingly gain for the holidays or create a plan to avoid them altogether. 

Well this holiday season, you don’t need to shy away from those nostalgic recipes and comforting dishes that we all love. I’ll be providing a countdown to Thanksgiving along with healthy recipes for side dishes, appetizers, turkey tips, and desserts for the next ten days.

I’m going to take those classic and traditional Thanksgiving dishes and provide a healthy alternative for you to serve next Thursday. I promise to WOW your friends and family with how similar your dishes will be to its classic cousin and how tasty HEALTHY really can be. The recipes that I’ll be posting will be ones that I have adapted into my own holiday repertoire. They will be from various celebrity chefs, food magazines, Whole Foods Market (of course ;-p) and from my own recipe collection. 

Let’s enjoy this Thanksgiving by being surrounded by our loved ones and not by worrying how many pounds we are going to gain. The day after Thanksgiving is not BLACK FRIDAY because the color is slimming! Let’s get through this holiday the healthy way. 

If you have any requests for a healthy alternative recipe or for a dish you want me to highlight that you were too afraid to tackle, just ask! Leave a comment for me here on my blog or email me at servemenowcatering@yahoo.com. You can also LIKE me on Facebook under Facebook.com/servemenow. Follow me on twitter at @servemenow! Happy holidays! 

Eat And Lose Weight! I Promise!

Author: Chef Florvil King Valdez   |   0 Comments   |   Categories: Healthier Eating   |   Tags: • • • • • • •

A friend is in a weight-loss challenge at work similar to the “Biggest Loser.” He asked me what is the best way to suppress those unwanted mini cravings between meals.

In reality, having cravings are our body’s way of notifying us that our body needs more energy[calories] to keep going. This is where hunger and appetite differ. Hunger is the NEED to eat and an appetite is the WANT to eat. We are the only one in control of our cravings and we need to figure out whether we are hungry or have an appetite. So realistically, we need to take our mini-in-between-meal-cravings as a sign of hunger and that our body needs a little more energy to move on.

We need food[calories] in order to properly function every single day. When I say function, I mean walking, thinking, tweeting, facebook-ing, exercising, digesting, metabolizing, shopping, sleeping, texting…basically everything that our body does while we are awake or asleep!

An apple, bananas with fresh peanut butter, ‘power’ bar, green veg & fruit smoothie, or yogurt and granola, whatever small snack you want to have, make it as fat-free as possible. Remember, it’s just to get you by until your next full meal! But, I HAVE A BETTER SOLUTION! If you up your fiber with green-leafy vegetables with all your three meals in the day, I promise you no mid-meal cravings.

It’s as simple as this: take your (preferably circular) plate, draw 3 imaginary slices of pizza. Make one slice about 60% of the circle, and divide the other half into 2 slices. (20%/20%.) Now take your 2-20% slices and fill it with a protein and a grain.Then, take your 60% slice and fill with a mixture of leafy-greens and other vegetables. Make a delicious, colorful salad with kale, chard, tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, and broccoli. The more raw it is, the better for your body[digestion]!

When you transform your meal to have at least 60%, raw andleafy vegetables, you will increase your body’s intake of fiber and nutrients, as well as decrease your mid-meal cravings.  Likewise, increasing your fiber and nutrients will aid in your healthy metabolizing, digesting, and eventually, weight-loss!