Eating Has to Be Realistic, Stree Free, and Easy

Dear Reader,

Before I discuss where I am now..I would like to talk about some of my past work experiences. When I was in graduate school I worked at a Doctor Supervised Wellness Center. I was the nutritionist there counseling people on how to eat correctly. In addition, I provided healthy recipes and actually brought in my own recipe creations to my clients. I wanted people to know that healthy eating can have a lot of flavor and taste even better than tradition unhealthy recipes. I helped people see food in a different way. I didn't want my clients to obsess about food. I wanted meal planning to be fun, enjoyable, and stress-free. If I could take a traditional recipe and make a few tweaks to make it healthier and still put a smile on a person's face then I know I did my job. But remember I also spoke about moderation with food. Bottom line is that we are all human and we like our special treats, desserts, drinks, and decadent foods. So I always said if you are on a healthy meal routine most of the time, there is nothing wrong with a treat hear and there. At the end of the day eating for people has to be realistic, stress free, and easy.

After I worked at the wellness center, I took a job working at a sensory company. I worked as a sensory analyst and project manager. I helped to test different types of food products. This job gave me great experience working on reports, keeping deadlines, talking with clients, working on a team and independently, and learning the many parts of product development. Even though I love cooking, learning about the food industry and how to effectively test products has become a big help in my cooking. I was given the tools how to taste a food product properly and what sensory signals I should look for when a product either has passed or failed a test. In addition, another part of my job was learning about consumers and their needs and wants when it comes to food. Working with groups of consumers and talking about food gave me the information I need to create recipes. I know what families would prefer to eat that fit a certain budget and most importantly it has to be easy and time efficient.

Both of these job experiences have given me tools on how to effectively cook and create recipes. Food has to be budget friendly, easy, creative, and most importantly attractive. I love nutritional cooking, but the challenge is to make my cooking appealing to all.

Along with these past two jobs, I had also finished my MS program and thesis in December 2008. If you are interested in my thesis I can always write a separate blog about my topic. The theme of my thesis was creating a snack that aimed to heal Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I used partially hydrolyzed guar gum (this is a soluble fiber) in my muffin.