Low Carb to Low Carbon-Catering to Your Health

Vegetarian, gluten-free, low-carb, high-protein and pleas to “keep it light.”

Do these sound like special diet requests from health-conscious restaurant patrons? Well, you got the patron part right. But these are increasingly common comments from clients who work with professional caterers to plan a party or meals for business meetings.

Lance Hagen, sous chef for A Legendary Event, one of Atlanta’s most popular and busiest catering companies, says, “We certainly don’t see a lot of call for classic French dining these days. Our customers want menus designed around healthier world cuisines such as Asian and Mediterranean.”

And forget the "rubber chicken circuit" of disappointing banquet meals. From corporate events to weddings, caterers are expected to deliver restaurant-quality meals, from a really good restaurant.

For instance, chicken entrees on A Legendary Event’s catering menus change with the season, such as spring's pan-seared organic herb marinated chicken breast with fava beans, roasted yellow peppers and a rainbow of mixed microgreens.

Hagen says, “We like to showcase produce from Southern regional farms. I like to say it’s our own private little California.”

Even desserts are getting a healthy makeover.

Next to the chocolate fountains and cheesecake bites; lighter versions of sweet treats are being added to please health-conscious palates. Legendary’s pastry chef, Brittany Wright, created a lower-calorie panna cotta by using more gelatin in the recipe, and serves it with fresh berries and a sliver of dark chocolate to match the glamour of richer desserts.

Serve something green
Today’s definition of what’s "healthy" increasingly includes what’s healthy for the planet, too.

When Laura Turner Seydel and the staff of the Captain Planet Foundation plan events to support their work educating people about ways to protect the environment, caterers have to make the “going green” cut, too.

At a recent party held at Seydel’s home in Atlanta, the dining room table was set with elegant bites of goat cheese lollipops, deviled eggs with smoked salmon, crab mini quiche and organic butternut squash empanadas.

Caterer Frank Bragg of Radial Cafe even made sure the display included sustainable principles: “We used a stack of cardboard egg cartons topped with glass to present the devilled eggs. It’s a touch of whimsy, but it’s also a way to reuse and repurpose the egg cartons.”

Bragg, whose company motto is “Small Carbon Footprint, Big Local Flavor,” has been on the forefront of “green catering” since he began his company in 1999.

He says happily organic and other sustainable ingredients are easier to find today, “but you still have to plan ahead. I have one Georgia honey producer who reminded me that her product was available only seasonally, so I have to buy when it’s available and stock up. It’s a challenge, but it’s worth it when you find such a beautiful product.”

The challenge to please clients no matter what they want and no matter what the circumstance is nothing new in the catering business.

Tony Conway, owner and founder of A Legendary Event, says he’s always had to work with Mother Nature: “She’s one of our favorite guests. Snow, rain, wind, heat or cold, she’s always right there with us as we prep, pack, load and unload.”

Now with the increased visibility for organic, just picked, locally grown and farm-fresh foods on catering menus, Mother Nature is guaranteed an invitation to even more parties, but now she's welcome to join the table.


Find this article at:
http://www.ajc.com/health/atlanta-loses-weight/catering-to-your-health-906059.html
www.alengendaryevent.com
www.radial.us

Lost and Found: Losing Weight and Terrific Finds

The battle of the bulge just might be won through small victories-- one portion, one pound and one pair of shoes at a time! While the major health benefits of achieving a healthy weight include reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and osteoarthritis; relatively minor and unexpected changes may provide the day to day motivation needed to maintain weight loss. Dieters sharing thoughts on the Calorie Count pages of About.com listed “Being able to walk in heels a lot longer and a lot easier” and “I can now wear regular-width shoes” among the happy side effects found after losing weight.
Dietitian Marsha Hudnall, of Green Mountain at Fox Run, a women’s wellness retreat in Ludlow, Vermont says, “The rewards go beyond the numbers on the scale. Women tell us they sleep more soundly, have more energy and feel better when they begin to eat more healthfully and learn how to be physically active again.” Hudnall spoke in Atlanta recently at the American Dietetic Association’s annual symposium for registered dietitians who work in the field of weight management.
2011 James Beard Award nominated Atlanta chef Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene spoke to the dietitians about the importance of teaching clients simple ways to add healthy flavor to foods by demonstrating an easy recipe for citrus vinaigrette, “I use fresh lemon in everything. It’s a gift along with fresh parsley and cracked black pepper.” This got me thinking about more examples of “lost and found”- such as losing the habit of adding too much salt or sugar to foods and finding flavors in healthy ingredients. Hopkins deftly cut up a whole organic chicken and tossed the carcass in a pot of water with bits of carrots, celery and onion to quickly create the beginnings of a chicken stock; another healthy kitchen staple, “Chill the stock and the fat rises to the surface. Then skim it off and you’ve got a fat free stock to add flavor to cooked vegetables or grains or make a soup.” But, Hopkins did present a plea to the dietitians on behalf of bacon and his southern food heritage, “I never want to feel that I’m denied. If you take away bacon you take my grandfather away from me.” Not to worry Chef Hopkins or other bacon lovers.
State of the art nutrition guidance from weight management experts includes advice to be mindful when eating by savoring the flavors you love. Another example of ‘lost and found’; lose the notion that eating healthy excludes all forms of fat, sugar and salt and find ways to add a just a bit of sweet, salty and rich ingredients to liven up recipes. For instance, a pinch of salt is only an eighth of a teaspoon. One more tip from Hopkins, “I use Kosher and sea salt exclusively in the kitchen. Season a little at the beginning not just at the end and you won’t need as much.”
While television weight loss competition programs such as “The Biggest Loser” focus on the numbers on a scale as the single sign contestants are heading toward healthier bodies, success can be measured in many other ways.

Lost Weight and Found Surprising Benefits

-I've noticed that as my fingers shrink the diamond in my engagement ring is getting larger!
-My shoes don't wear out as fast (except my gym shoes!)
-Getting in and out of small car easier. I feel much more agile.
- Discovering that I like veggies!
-I am able to jump around and dance and be goofy with my kids.
-I've been told I look anywhere from 10-20 yrs younger than I did when I was heavier.
-So much more energy!
(Compiled from comments posted on About.com Calorie Count page)

Spring Into Action

Green is the color of the month with ‘the wearing of the green’ for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Atlanta lawns sprouting soft new grass and Spring Break signaling the start of bathing suit season which encourages body conscious diners to add more greens to the menu. Famously clad in green, Peter Pan’s in town this month too flying high over the production of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan at Pemberton Place in downtown Atlanta. Add to that the focus on adding a variety of colorful foods to your diet for National Nutrition Month this March and I’ve got lots of inspiration to go green in today’s column on healthy eating. Even my kitchen’s painted two kinds of green: Acadia Green and Cedar Green by Benjamin Moore.
Anyone who’s ever flipped through a color wheel when choosing the right shade to paint a wall knows that there’s more than one tint and the same goes for the many shades of green in the food world and the nutrition each hue holds within. From dark green kale to golden green avocado to light green celery, Dr. David Heber, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles reveals a rainbow of health benefits in his book, What Color is Your Diet? He singles out the green family of fruits and vegetables as important in two primary areas; promoting healthy vision and reducing cancer risk. No, this does not include green beer unless you’ve colored it green with wheat grass juice.
How Green is Your Menu?
My pre-show dinner with friends at Glenn’s Kitchen before we dashed across Centennial Olympic Park to see Peter Pan was a study in healthy green choices. You can start with fried green tomatoes, move on to The Kitchen Sink Salad which tosses in chopped greens, celery, cucumbers, artichoke hearts and green peppers or enjoy the Farmer’s Market Pasta with spinach and artichoke hearts. There’s even a green theme on the cocktail menu. The Glenntini is made with cucumber-infused vodka, fresh mint and lime juice.
Your Plate Should Wear More Green
The many shades of green nutrition:
Fruit: avocado, apples, grapes, honeydew, kiwi and lime
Vegetables: artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, green beans, green peppers and leafy greens such as arugula, water cress, spinach, kale, collards and fresh mint or basil leaves.

Yellowy Green.
These foods are rich sources of plant nutrients called carotenoids including the compounds lutein and zeaxanthin, which contribute to eye health and reduce the risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Examples: spinach and other greens, green peas and avocados.
Dark Green.
These foods contain the healthy compounds sulforaphane, isothiocyanate, and indoles, which Heber says break down cancer-causing chemicals. Examples: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, Bok Choy and kale.
Light Green.
These foods contain flavonoids that protect cell membranes. Examples: spring onions, celery, pears, endive, and chives.


When green’s not a good thing.
Never eat potatoes that are green below the skin. This green color indicates the presence of a bitter tasting toxin called solanine which is toxic even in small amounts and can cause nausea and headaches. Solanine, which is naturally in potatoes as the plant’s defense against insects, increases in concentration when potatoes are stored in warm temperatures or exposed to light.

Step this way: Sleek and Sassy

Oh my! This is the perfect shoe for staying on your diet in style. Christian Louboutin's "Measuring Tape" sandal is fabulous!! But, at $795 I think I'll have to skip dining out and grocery shopping for a few weeks. So they DO help you cut calories!!
Maybe I can attach a couple of fabric store tape measures to a pair of black sandals and create my own "dieter's delight" whimsical shoe. It's the official shoe of "The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous!" www.carolynoneil.com

Baby You Can Drive My Car....to the healthiest menus

For National Nutrition Month..........
I wish there was a GPS system for navigating food choices. Let’s say your meal plan for the day directed you to consume 2000 calories nicely mapped out to include breakfast, lunch, dinner and a couple of snacks. But, then you decided to veer off course and grab a couple of mid-morning donuts and a cappuccino. The GPS voice would loudly announce, “Recalculating! Recalculating!” All of a sudden, your edible journey is re-routed to skip the afternoon snack and dessert at dinnertime might disappear, too. This kind of a GPS system- I’ll call it Good Plate Sense – might also reward you for taking a sensible short cut when available such as skipping the cheese slices on your burger at lunch which shaves off about 100 calories. “Recalculating! When you arrive at the dinner destination, you can add a glass of wine.”
Write it if you bite it.
Keeping track of food intake including what you eat, drink and how much of each can be a hassle. But, research shows that spending a little time on self-monitoring adds up to significant gains in weight control success according to a review of 15 studies on dietary self-monitoring in weight loss research programs. The results published in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association found associations in all of the studies between recording what you eat and weight loss. Some weight loss subjects used paper diet diaries to write down their food intake and some used electronic PDA diaries or internet based diaries; but the review found no difference in the amount of weight lost between groups. They did find that the dieters with the PDA diaries were more likely to keep up with daily food intake recordings, but it didn’t affect the weight loss overall. That’s good to know if don’t have a fancy PDA and have to write down what you eat on the back of an envelope or the restaurant receipt.

Are we there yet?
Keeping track of what you eat helps you know when to say ‘when’. Even if it’s not printed on the menu, most chain restaurants share nutrition information on their websites which you can access from a smart phone when dining out. For instance, if you know your daily calorie cap is 2000, then it’s easy pretty easy to figure out that ordering the full rack of baby back ribs at Outback Steakhouse which contains a little over 1,500 calories doesn’t leave you much room for other meals that day! Outback’s Interactive Nutritional Menu Tool on the company’s website helps you steer toward leaner choices such as the 9 ounce steak with a side of green beans for less than 500 calories. Brian Castrucci, Director of Maternal and Child Health within the Georgia Department of Community Health says the nutrition information on the menus at IHOP affected what and how much he ordered, “I saved 50 calories by choosing ham instead of bacon and 500 calories by saying no to a stack of three more pancakes. I never would have thought it would impact my eating habits, until I saw it impact my eating habits.” A recent study by the New York City Department of Health showed that 15% of fast-food patrons in the city who use nutrition information posted in restaurants eat an average of 106 fewer calories than those who ignore the calorie content. I believe access to nutrition information helps us plan our journey just as a car’s GPS system tells us how many miles to go before we get to our final destination.

Fast Foods: The Best and the Worst: MyFoxATLANTA.com

Kids' Menus and Kid-Sized Plates

Deep fried chicken fingers, burgers and mac ‘n cheese are the usual food finds on children’s menus. But, a nationwide focus on obesity is prompting more chefs and restaurant owners to add healthier choices to kids’ menus. They are hungry for ideas.
At a recent Southeast Regional Conference of the American Culinary Federation held in Atlanta, I presented the basics on childhood nutrition and meal planning along with some comments on menu choices around the city. For instance, at Marlow’s Tavern families can start with a platter of raw vegetables and humus and parents can order their brood mini-burgers or kid-sized versions of entrees such as grilled salmon with a side of fresh fruit. Instead of sodas, ask for a blend of sparkling water with 100% fruit juice. Low fat or non fat milk is always a great choice too!
More restaurants are willing to serve smaller portions that fit smaller appetites; and that’s for all age groups! Another good trend for good nutrition, eateries are offering whole grain pastas and pizza crusts. California Pizza Kitchen has recently added a multi-grain penne pasta to their menu. Wherever you dine with the kids, watch out for the 3 “B”s: the bread, butter and beverages you consume before you get your meal can pile on 100’s of extra calories.

What Kids Need Children are not just small adults when it comes to nutrition. For instance, under age two, they still need the essential fatty acids in whole milk to ensure proper brain development.
After that the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend skim, 1 % or 2 % milk to get kids the calcium they need for strong bones without the added fat and calories they don’t need. More restaurants today offer low fat milk and skim. Growing kids need a variety of nutrients so it’s important that their daily calorie quota comes from a variety of sources.
Here’s the daily meal plan recommended for an active child: Active is considered 30-60 minutes of physical activity a day
1600 calories
Grain Group- 5 ounces (1ounce= slice of bread, ½ cup rice or 1 small roll)
Vegetable Group- 2 cups
Fruit Group – 1 ½ cups
Milk Group - 2 cups (1 cup = 1 cup milk, 2 pieces of string cheese or 1 cup yogurt)
Meat and Beans Group – 5 ounces (1 ounce = slice of cheese, ¼ cup beans or 1 ounce meat)

Small Measures How small is small enough when choosing restaurant portions for kids? Buying the small order of fries for the small fry in the family may actually be too large if you’re trying to follow the latest advice on childhood nutrition. A typical small sized order of fast food French fries contains about 230 calories and includes around 30 fries. If you’re counting these potatoes as a vegetable for your child; just 10 fries are considered a serving. Eating more protein than they need is common for American kids, too. Dr. Margaret Condrasky, professor of food science and nutrition at Clemson University, informed chefs attending the culinary meeting, “Adult males need only about 60 grams of protein per day. So children need far less. That’s why a proper portion for children can be two or three ounces of meat.” Condrasky added that kid-friendly foods such as peanut butter on whole wheat bread, macaroni and cheese as well as Mexican beans and rice offer vegetable sources of good quality protein for children, too.

The secret to seeking the best children’s menus at restaurants wherever you dine today may be to find the staff most willing to split adult sized entrees for the family to share or to serve just part of an entrée or pasta dish to a child and box up the rest in a take out container to enjoy at another meal.

Nutrition on Tap

A recent lunch at Local Three Kitchen & Bar got me thinking about the popularity of craft beer. This farm-to-table focused Atlanta restaurant boasts a beverage list with nearly a dozen craft beers on tap and two pages of bottled beers representing an impressive bevy of breweries from locally crafted to internationally known. Printed next to the name and origin of each lager, pilsner and ale is the percent alcohol by volume (ABV) contained within such as a Blanche de Bruxelles from Belgium with a demure 4.5% and to a Unibroue La Terrible from Quebec with a hefty 10.5%. (For comparison, wines range between 12 percent and 14 percent ABV.) In any potent potable as the percent alcohol content goes up so does the number of calories, so this got me wondering more about beer’s nutrition profile. Long associated with an unhealthy paunch –the beer belly - it turns out just the opposite can be true. Registered dietitian Andrea N. Giancoli who professes, “I love my lagers” says “Beer contains more water than wine so it’s more hydrating and fills you up so helps curb your intake. Dark beers are especially satisfying because they’re richer tasting.” Giancoli shares nutrition facts on beer’s health benefits in the Winter 2011 issue of the American Dietetic Association’s member publication, ADA Times. She says, “When it comes down to it, we’re a nation of beer drinkers so dietitians should know more about this popular beverage so they can better advise Americans.”

Heart Health and Beyond
Red wine often gets all the glory as a heart-healthy drink, but it’s the ethanol in all alcoholic beverages, including beer and spirits, that’s associated with a lower incidence of heart disease, gallstones, risk of type 2 diabetes and improved brain function in older adults. The recently released US Department of Agriculture’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans include a recommendation for moderate alcohol consumption: one drink per day for women, two drinks per day for men.
What’s a drink? Wine- 5 ounces, Beer-12 ounces, Spirits- 1.5 ounces.

With beer as your drink of choice, you’re downing more than ethanol for your health. “Beer specifically has been associated with additional health outcomes, including lowering the risk of kidney stones in men compared to other alcoholic beverages, possibly due to its high water content and diuretic effect,” Giancoli notes, “Compounds in hops may also slow the release of calcium from bone that is implicated in kidney stones. Additionally, beer drinkers seem to have a more protective effect towards greater bone mineral density due to the high content of the mineral silicone in beer.”

During an interview in Atlanta this week, when I told him of beer’s nutritional pluses, Kevin Concannan, who is the USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (as well as a beer drinker) replied, “This is the best news I’ve heard in years.”

A Toast to Beer’s Many Boasts - Source of B vitamins including vitamin B12: One 12-ounce regular beer provides 3 percent of the recommended daily amount of B12 for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database
- Fluid fiber: While the USDA Nutrient Database currently lists beer’s fiber content as zero, Giancoli says recent research conducted by brewing chemists shows lager contains up to 2 grams of soluble fiber per liter, while dark beers can contain up to 3.5 grams.
- Protein in small amounts: One 12-ounce regular beer contains 1.64g protein
Source: USDA Nutrient Database

Co-owner of Local Three, Ryan Turner, who promotes artisan food and craft beer pairings on the restaurant’s menus reveals, “I didn't know about the protein, but I was aware of the nutrients and fiber. I need to justify my own consumption somehow with my doctor, so this is great to know.”