Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/2211/-1/126/
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Eating My Words by Daniel Orr
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A weekly Column by Chef Daniel Orr
Daniel Orr is Executive Chef at Kitchen Stadium, Santorini Restaurant, Famiglia and the Tapas Lounge and Rum bar at CuisinArt Resort and Spa and is working on “A Chef’s Diet” Cookbook and Cooking in Paradise.
GETTING STARTED
Getting started is the hardest part of living a healthy lifestyle – breaking patterns built over a lifetime isn’t easy. (Many of us need help in this journey, and it’s important to choose a “support group” you know you can count on to be truly supportive.) The first step to achieving a healthy lifestyle is to commit yourself to finding your healthy body weight, making proper dietary choices, exercising daily, and setting a goal for a healthy, long life. Once you decide to do this for yourself, you can really get going, but until you want it bad enough it just won’t stick.
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Chef Daniel Orr
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There is nothing worse than being overweight and having trouble with things that once were easy. For me it was having trouble bending down to tie my shoes. It was ridiculous. To be honest, vanity played a big role in my decision to get back on the road to health. I didn’t like the way I looked in pictures and I felt uncomfortable at social events. I hated seeing people I hadn’t seen for a while because I knew what they were thinking. I didn’t even look like the guy on the cover of my cookbook.
Of course there are many other reasons to live a healthier life.
Diet-related diseases and food allergies can have an enormous impact on the quality and length of our lives. Not all these problems are solely diet-related, but studies have shown that you are what you eat, and that controlling your diet gives you some measure of control over your health. Prevention can be as simple as changing what you eat and going for a walk. It can be learning that there is more to eating than just filling up. There’s plenty of stuff that tastes great and isn’t fried or overly processed with chemicals, preservatives and colorings. Prevention also means making exercise something your life revolves around, not a hassle that you have to deal with because you are fat. Make exercise a definite date with yourself, and because you respect yourself, never break it without good reason. The hardest part about exercise is walking through the gym door. Once you’ve gotten that far the rest is easy.
The first step in changing your eating habits is educating yourself. Your body requires both macronutrients – proteins, carbohydrates and good fats, and micronutrients – vitamins and minerals. This means a diet that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat and fish, and avoids large amounts of carbohydrates, fried foods, sweets, soda, and processed, crunchy snack foods. Deciding you would like to eat better is a start; actually start eating better and you’re on the road to better health. Fruits and vegetables that are full of fiber and phytonutrients really can help stave off ill health. Simply changing your diet can make the difference between feeling tired and feeling good. Food is what makes you over- or underweight, well-fueled or nutrient-deficient – and only you decide what you put in your mouth.
Remind yourself often that you are what you eat. Feed your body the stuff that will make it run like the ultimate power machine that it really is. I know it sounds simple, but it is one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. You’ll find that once you get started there is no turning back – your old lifestyle will no longer make sense. I will also tell you that once you make the change you’ll be asking yourself, “Why did I wait so long to get started?”
I’d love to hear from you. I am collecting recipes and stories for future articles and books and would love to include your favorite family recipes and food memories from the kitchen, the garden or the sea. You can reach me at
dorr@cuisinart.comor stop me on the road if you see the CuisinArt Chef Mobile.