Restaurants Can Offer Healthy Choices

Restaurants Can Offer Better Choices
Yesterday, I decided to check out a restaurant that advertises, "Greek, American & Mediterranean Cuisine" offering Diabetic and Low Carb Choices. The owner is excited about her new adventure in healthy choices. The waitress spent some time at our table explaining how people are asking for "sweet potatoes" instead of white potatoes. When I gave her my card with the blog site and book title, she called the chef and said that the owner would be happy to talk to me, but she wasn’t in at the time. I am hopeful and offered to spend time with these people to start a revolution in culinary arts which may be the beginning of a turn around in our eating habits.
The chef is 23 and that is good because he is still open-minded about accepting advice and has the desire to be a part of this new and exciting way to prepare food and offer healthy choices. I explained that we were willing to help in any way we can and that I would recommend any restaurant to start by getting away from fried foods, mashed potatoes w/gravy and corn. The change will not come easy, but this restaurant has the ingredients necessary to make that leap. The location is great and the parking is more than ample. The restaurant size is workable and spacious, but not too large. They already are offering sugar-free desserts and the Greek dishes we ordered were very low in fat and sodium.
My dream is to find restaurants offering healthy choices and changing preparation to include steaming, poaching, broiling and crock-pot cooking. Like the revolution that eliminated smoking from restaurants, this will not be easy. People will claim that it won’t sell. They will claim loss of customers and people’s right to eat bad food. People eat Chinese food, Greek food, French, English, Italian and American food, so why can’t they eat "Healthy Food?" This was no accident, just the first of many attempts to satisfy the market for healthy foods. These changes are an answer to "leaning toward the dream." The U.S. has just dropped from 25th to 29th in ranking the longevity of Americans as compared to the other industrialized nations of the world.
Changing your eating habits involves changing your cravings for sugar, fried foods, pizza, beer, alcohol, French fries, candy, cake, bread and fatty red meat, amongst others. Restaurants are addicted to the fast food preparation of greasy fried foods. Time costs when you are paying employees by the hour and people anxiously await the arrival of their food. Satisfied customers are those who stay long enough to finish the meal and pay the check. The expensive stainless steel kitchen is designed for efficiency, not necessarily for healthy cooking. I worked in restaurants for almost six years and so I know the intricacy of the environment that makes money for the owner and jobs for the workers.

The revolution in cooking healthy foods will not be as easy. It was easier to develop a chain of "fat" food restaurants. It will take courage and creative minds and people who believe in what they are doing. Our waitress appeared to be that kind of person. She was excited about the prospects of being a part of a new breed of restaurants and she indicated that her owner was too. I look forward to helping people find just such a restaurant and then watching the change and seeing the results. Columbus searched for a new route and found a new continent. Can we get started, even if we don’t know the end result? Adventure is not limited to travel and every new idea is challenged. We will be slow getting started, but once we are on our way, the going will get easier and the results will become evident. Investments are made in an attempt to be successful in whatever you choose to do. This is an ongoing saga and will be driven by the desire of people to live longer, healthier and happier lives.
The World Health Organization ranks the U.S. as 37th amongst the industrialized nations of the world. Disease is running rampant and obesity and diabetes are destroying young and old alike. We are suffering from an epidemic of illness related to the foods we eat and the source of drinking water. Will our government respond to this problem or wait for the crisis to grow?
You can start by insisting that eating out is not eating junk food and destroying your immune system with sugar and your arteries with fried foods. You can choose sweet potatoes over mashed white potatoes and green peas or beans over corn. You can ask for fresh lemons and water as a beverage. Choose broiled fish over fried fish and grilled chicken with dark green salads that include endive, dandelion leaves, baby spinach and radicchio. You can start to change your lipid profile by changing your eating habits and using fewer prescription drugs.

It is time to play the role model for your children and to stop junk food at the check out counter. Ice cream, candy, tobacco and alcohol should not be linked to celebration and fun activities. Children will eat healthy food if we offer those options, instead of candy bars, potato chips, pizza and Buffalo Wings.

Buffalo would be well-served if we became the restaurant capital of the world by serving healthy food, instead of clogging arteries and becoming the by-pass surgery capital of the world.