Have you seen the YouTube videos called FAIL! Initially they
highlighted failures in sports but the genre has expanded to most areas
of life. If I were to create a series it would highlight failures in the
kitchen, or better yet, at the dinner table. Only, if you're the one
who's researched the ideal healthy recipe, shopped for fresh, organic,
non-GMO, free of BGH, local, seasonal ingredients and cooked them
yourself, it's not all that funny when the reviews are anything less
than stellar.
There are 3 primary reasons home cooking fails to please its audience. When you understand these reasons and know how to turn them around, you just might have to compete for the Top Chef designation in your home.
1) When most people set out to eat healthier they go to some crazy extreme and eliminate all the familiar flavors. They immediately add in a bunch of new foods like quinoa and parsnips, micro-greens and chia seeds and understandably there's a bit of a shock effect. Clearly, this won't last.
2) People need to know that when they break away from fast food or even "healthy" packaged processed food they're competing with the food giants. These are the corporations who make billions of dollars a year selling food that's so tasty you just have to have more. The reason they know you will want more and more and more is because they've done their research. They've combined precise levels of the ingredients you love most in winning combinations so that not only your taste buds are blissed out, the pleasure centers in your brain are feeling it too.
When people cook at home, especially if they're trying to eat healthier, they completely eliminate these ingredients, or reduce them so drastically there's so little flavor impact in the meal, someone leaps to the conclusion, I just can't cook. When in truth, anyone can cook, and if you aren't literally afraid of certain ingredients, you can taste as you go and make alterations that will please your taste buds, your pleasure centers and your heart better than all the corporate research in the world ever can!
3) Eating healthier isn't supposed to be a fad. Its meant to be a life style choice, meaning it needs to be sustainable. Adding more have-to's to your massive list won't last. Adding more want-to's will last. What most people are really craving is more time to connect with their loved ones. This is where all the pieces come together.
No one, especially someone just starting out in the kitchen, should cook alone. Cooking is meant to be done together. When you consider the fact that if you don't know how to cook you will most definitely become dependent on food that is now clearly linked to every disease that systematically destroys quality of life, you'll realize learning to cook shouldn't even be an option. So forget trying to be the Iron Chef and cook together.
For more than 10 years I've cooked with children and teen-agers. Cooking with grade-school kids I learned they can make most anything any celebrity chef can make with just a little coaching. Cooking with teens I learned they're far more likely to eat something, even vegetables, when they know what's in it. Parents consistently shared with me how proud their children were to contribute to the family in this way.
Cooking from scratch, using fresh, whole ingredients is a valuable life skill everyone needs to master if they want to continue enjoying their body for the rest of their lives. It truly doesn't have to be complicated to be good. It just needs to be real. In fact, the most pleasing recipes rely on a handful of high quality ingredients in just the right combination. Yes, they use butter, cream, sugar and salt but you choose the quality. You adjust the flavors. You don't add in preservatives, or pseudo flavorings. There are no mystery ingredients. You decide what goes into your body.
Best of all, as your body adjusts to food that's genuinely nourishing, cravings and binging naturally give way to authentic vitality. Gradually backing off of unnecessary amounts of fat, sugar and salt, you continue to upgrade. Cooking together, you create a life style that's enjoyable and what's enjoyable is sustainable.
There are 3 primary reasons home cooking fails to please its audience. When you understand these reasons and know how to turn them around, you just might have to compete for the Top Chef designation in your home.
1) When most people set out to eat healthier they go to some crazy extreme and eliminate all the familiar flavors. They immediately add in a bunch of new foods like quinoa and parsnips, micro-greens and chia seeds and understandably there's a bit of a shock effect. Clearly, this won't last.
2) People need to know that when they break away from fast food or even "healthy" packaged processed food they're competing with the food giants. These are the corporations who make billions of dollars a year selling food that's so tasty you just have to have more. The reason they know you will want more and more and more is because they've done their research. They've combined precise levels of the ingredients you love most in winning combinations so that not only your taste buds are blissed out, the pleasure centers in your brain are feeling it too.
When people cook at home, especially if they're trying to eat healthier, they completely eliminate these ingredients, or reduce them so drastically there's so little flavor impact in the meal, someone leaps to the conclusion, I just can't cook. When in truth, anyone can cook, and if you aren't literally afraid of certain ingredients, you can taste as you go and make alterations that will please your taste buds, your pleasure centers and your heart better than all the corporate research in the world ever can!
3) Eating healthier isn't supposed to be a fad. Its meant to be a life style choice, meaning it needs to be sustainable. Adding more have-to's to your massive list won't last. Adding more want-to's will last. What most people are really craving is more time to connect with their loved ones. This is where all the pieces come together.
No one, especially someone just starting out in the kitchen, should cook alone. Cooking is meant to be done together. When you consider the fact that if you don't know how to cook you will most definitely become dependent on food that is now clearly linked to every disease that systematically destroys quality of life, you'll realize learning to cook shouldn't even be an option. So forget trying to be the Iron Chef and cook together.
For more than 10 years I've cooked with children and teen-agers. Cooking with grade-school kids I learned they can make most anything any celebrity chef can make with just a little coaching. Cooking with teens I learned they're far more likely to eat something, even vegetables, when they know what's in it. Parents consistently shared with me how proud their children were to contribute to the family in this way.
Cooking from scratch, using fresh, whole ingredients is a valuable life skill everyone needs to master if they want to continue enjoying their body for the rest of their lives. It truly doesn't have to be complicated to be good. It just needs to be real. In fact, the most pleasing recipes rely on a handful of high quality ingredients in just the right combination. Yes, they use butter, cream, sugar and salt but you choose the quality. You adjust the flavors. You don't add in preservatives, or pseudo flavorings. There are no mystery ingredients. You decide what goes into your body.
Best of all, as your body adjusts to food that's genuinely nourishing, cravings and binging naturally give way to authentic vitality. Gradually backing off of unnecessary amounts of fat, sugar and salt, you continue to upgrade. Cooking together, you create a life style that's enjoyable and what's enjoyable is sustainable.
Here's how to get started. Invite some friends for dinner this
weekend. Instead of doing it all yourself, ask them to arrive early.
Have everyone help prepare the meal. Children can set the table, create a
menu, and even help in the kitchen (with supervision). A few extra
minutes now translates into a much higher quality of life forever.
For tried-and-true recipe ideas and even more inspiration, visit: http://www.wowlookwhoscooking.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barbara_Zagata
For tried-and-true recipe ideas and even more inspiration, visit: http://www.wowlookwhoscooking.com
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