Cooking With Chefs
Episode 6
Before you begin…
Please complete our midway survey
Episode 6 Checklist
Click to jump to a section below or scroll down
Balancing Your Beverages
Most people limit their soda amounts, knowing that they are best in moderation or avoided. But what about all the other beverages we see at the store? Are they giving us the nutrients they claim? Do they help make us healthier?
What's the big deal?
Our focus in this program is to teach you ways to eat well for maximum energy, health, satisfaction, and happiness.
There are no "bad" foods, everything works best in moderation. When it comes to sweet drinks, it can be challenging to moderate. Not to mention that companies are clever with their marketing tricks, making us think that some sweetened drinks provide nutrition value. We want to help you become aware of the choices you make each day and see beyond the marketing! Staying hydrated with water and unsweetened drinks each day and reducing high sugar drinks will make you feel your best. When you balance your day with a variety of foods, you are giving your future self a gift of better health and happiness as well.
Fruits and vegetables with fiber have a low Glycemic Index (GI) so they keep our blood glucose (sugar) levels stable and balance our energy. Processed sugar causes rapid spikes and crashes, leaving us feeling tired and irritable.
Fruit versus fruit juice
Fruit is an important part of our health and gives us essential vitamins and minerals. When you eat an orange, you get vitamin C, calcium, potassium, folate, and fiber. The 3 grams of fiber is good for balancing your energy and focus and is great for your digestive system.
Each glass of orange juice is about 6 oranges. You might think, "PERFECT! More of the good stuff!" The downside is that when you juice an orange, you lose that important fiber that helps balance your blood sugar (and energy and happiness). This leaves you with a sugar rush and a faster energy crash. Plus, eating fruit is filling, where fruit juices quickly leave our stomach and are digested quickly, so we don't get that same feeling of satisfaction. As much as possible, choose fruit with it's amazing fiber over fruit juices.
Rethink Your Drink Demo
When we read a label, we don't always get a good idea of what we are actually consuming. Let's take a look at sugar in common drinks to see what the label really means.
Here you can see the equivalent dry sugar contained in each beverage choice
What you need:
Small plastic bags or small containers, anything will work
Soil (included in your bag)
Teaspoon (given to you earlier in program)
Labels from your favorite beverages, choose 3-5 ideally
Read your beverage labels and convert the grams of sugar into teaspoons (be sure to check the serving amounts in the bottle). 4 grams of sugar is 1 teaspoon. So divide the grams of sugar in your beverage by 4 (# grams sugar/4 equals your teaspoons). Label your plastic bag or container and fill with the calculated number of teaspoons of soil. Once you are done, put them in order from low to high amounts of sugar. Any surprises? Once you are done, use the soil to plant some fresh herbs!
Teaspoons of Sugar in Popular Drinks
Rethink Your Drinks Video
Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Key skills: Use what you love in this easy to prepare powerful blend of flavors and nutrients
Fruit Smoothie Video
Green with Envy Smoothie
Key skills: A fun new way to get more greens into your meals
Green with Envy Smoothie Video
Infused Spa Water
Key skills: Add eye catching flavor to unsweetened drinks using fresh and healthy flavors
Infused Spa Water Video
Assignments for Episode 6
The focus of this week's episode was to take an open eye view at what is in our drinks and how it can affect our body, encouraging you to rethink your drink and becoming a wise consumer.
1.
Snap some photos!
Time in the kitchen is about de-stressing, having fun, challenging yourself, and nourishing your mind, body, and soul. Our hope is that you find great pride in your efforts after each lesson. We also want you to learn and grow! Take a photo of your recipes and share them with the group. After each episode, you'll be talking with your group about what went well and where you were challenged.
Feeling a little extra?
Upload your pictures to Instagram and tag @sdchefsdecuisine
or email them to cwc@sdchefs.org
2.
Chef's reflections
Chefs take notes! Each experience in the kitchen will provide you with wins and some fails. Writing down what you liked and where you can improve will expand your chef skills and guide you toward your own culinary creations. Start a chef's journal, you'll continue to use it years from now.
Discussion Topics
If you counted how many glasses of unsweetened drinks you have a day, what would that number be? How about sweetened?
Are there opportunities for you to improve your nutrition by reducing the amount of sweetened drinks you have in a week?
For some people, reducing sweet drinks is hard because they like the taste better. If this is you, how can you improve the taste of unsweetened drinks so that you get more of them each day?
What surprised you the most with the Rethink Your Drink Demo?
Share your favorite unsweetened drinks with the group. Maybe there are options you haven't tried yet!
Have you ever made smoothies? What was new for you in these recipes?
3.
Share your Weekly “Wow!”
Here’s your chance to tell us about something that struck you in the video. Maybe it was something the chef said or an idea for how you can improve the look, or the texture or the taste of your dish. Write down your response in your Workbook and feel free to share with us by emailing cwc@sdchefs.org
Episode 6 Handout & Recipes
We’ve created a printable Handbook for each episode of Cooking With Chefs which includes all the recipes!
You can find this Handbook in your ingredients package or download and print it from here.
Great Job Chef!
This concludes Episode 6 of Cooking with Chefs.
Check back with our Program Homepage on May 10th for our next episode!