Nourish Your Body and Mind: Embrace Cooking for Health and Joy in Midlife

Are you ready to transform your relationship with food and truly nourish your body? Join host Heather Carey, a passionate nutritionist and chef, as she dives deep into the art of cooking and its profound impact on our health and well-being. In this enlightening episode of Real Food Stories, Heather emphasizes that cooking is not merely a chore, but a vital skill that can enhance our lives, especially during challenging times such as menopause and midlife transitions.

Through her personal food journey, Heather shares invaluable insights on how our emotional connections with food shape our eating habits and beliefs. She discusses the importance of awareness in our food choices and how to cultivate a mindful eating practice that empowers women to embrace their unique nutritional needs. With practical tips and expert nutrition advice, Heather reveals how to elevate your culinary skills, making healthy eating not just a goal, but a delightful experience.

Discover the secrets behind flavor enhancement as Heather explores the roles of salt, fat, sweetness, and acidity in creating delicious meals from seasonal and local ingredients. Cooking for health doesn’t have to be bland or boring—Heather encourages listeners to unleash their creativity in the kitchen and enjoy the process of preparing nourishing meals that celebrate food and culture.

This episode is packed with healthy eating tips designed to help you navigate food fads and myths, especially those surrounding weight loss and menopause health. Heather’s friendly and empathetic approach will resonate with women seeking midlife body positivity and a sustainable healthy lifestyle. Whether you’re looking to improve your heart health, explore the Mediterranean diet, or simply enhance your cooking techniques, this episode offers something for everyone.

As a culinary nutritionist, Heather invites you to join her cooking classes, where you can further develop your skills and learn how to nourish your body through the joy of cooking. Let’s break free from the confusion surrounding food and embrace a journey of culinary wellness together. Tune in and discover how to make every meal an opportunity to nourish your body, empower your health, and celebrate your personal food story.

Don’t miss out on this enlightening conversation that will inspire you to take charge of your nutrition and make healthy lifestyle choices that resonate with your values and beliefs. Together, let’s redefine what it means to eat well and live fully!

Let’s Be Friends
Hang out with Heather on IG @greenpalettekitchen or on FB HERE.

Let’s Talk!
Whether you are looking for 1-1 nutrition coaching or kitchen coaching let’s have a chat. Click HERE to reach out to Heather.

Did You Love This Episode?
“I love Heather and the Real Food Stories Podcast!” If this is you, please do not hesitate to leave a five-star review on Apple or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Transcript:

Speaker #0
Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back. And if you are just tuning in with me for the very first time, it’s so nice to meet you. And I’m really glad you’re here with me today. I am your host, Heather Carey, nutritionist, chef, mom, and a woman who has been around the block with food. I want to open up about real food in relation to health, weight, and our bodies so you can make peace with what you eat. Hey there, everybody. I’m putting my culinary hat back on today because I know that I have been digging deep into a lot of areas that may not appear to have anything to do with food, but in reality they do. Nonetheless, there are times that I have talked about some pretty heavy topics. Menopause, trauma, grief have been among a few of them. And the reason I feel these are important is that in my experience, All of these life experiences get bundled up into a fair amount of emotional eating. Awareness was the first, most important step for me. Once you see something, see the relationship to something, like food equaling love or comfort, you cannot unsee it. You may return to it, but you know it’s there. And the awareness is what can help you make the very first step. Gaining the education and awareness of some of these areas of our lives can hopefully help you too. I will definitely continue to talk about the important topics, concerns, and the things that keep women in midlife up at night. But today I want to get back to my roots and get onto something that’s a little more fun for me at least. And for me, talking about food, tasting food, and all things. seasonal and local is just pure joy. After all, I’m a nutritionist with a background in clinical nutrition. But well before that, before I was in academia getting my master’s degree, I had gone to cooking school and I went to a school that specialized in health supportive cooking. I know this may sound entirely boring to you. like home economics in middle school, but I assure you it was not. Because at this school, I not only learned about the direct relationship to food and healing, but I also learned the secrets to making healthy food taste amazing. And let’s face it, half the reason that people fall back on junk food, fast food, and processed food is that food manufacturers know how to jack up the flavor of these foods to make them taste almost addictive. They blast these foods with lab-created flavors to hijack your taste buds. So when it comes to eating plain old vegetables or fruit, why would your kids or you want to eat those other than you were told you had to because they are, quote, good for you? Anyway, I will never regret going to cooking school. And in fact, I personally think everyone should get some kind of a cooking school type. education, because it’s one of the most important skills you can learn as a human being. Not only how to cook, but to make your food taste really good. So good that you want to keep making it again and again. And I know there’s a lot of you that don’t feel particularly comfortable in the kitchen. I totally understand because cooking is a skill like anything else. And cooking takes a lot of practice. It’s no different than learning how to play the piano or ride a bike, especially as an adult. You must show up most days of the week, leave your fear at the door, ask your curiosity to join you, be open to making mistakes, and just simply cook. Cooking is so important for all of us. Our health, our cost of living, it’s cheaper to cook at home. our social lives, time we spend with our family, and not to mention the mental or emotional aspect of cooking. I personally find cooking to be the ultimate form of self-care because to know how to prepare yourself a healthy meal that tastes delicious is incredibly nurturing. As a culinary nutritionist, the part I love about cooking is showing my clients and my family and friends what healthy… actually tastes like. Because would you rather have me give you a recipe for chicken noodle soup and tell you that it is full of fiber and phytonutrients, or would you rather sit in my kitchen with me, smell the chicken simmering on the stove, hear the bubbles bubbling in the pot, see something come out of the oven, and then taste what we’ve been talking about? So I thought today would be a great idea just to talk about all. things, food, and some of the secrets to making food taste amazing, even if you are new to cooking or you are more experienced but want some tips, because who doesn’t want tips for their food? Now, obviously, we are on a podcast, so you’re only listening in, but that’s not going to stop us. First, I want to mention that if after we have our food talk today, you want to learn more and get into the kitchen and get yourself some more education and skill building to really take your healthy cooking next level, then we should definitely talk. I teach cooking classes either online or to a select few in person. Online lets me reach you anywhere in the world. And I assure you, cooking in real time online does not sacrifice anything, nor does it sacrifice the experience. I have a state-of-the-art teaching kitchen with cameras and I’m on video so you can see everything that I do and you are on your end in real time with me. It’s actually more beneficial to you because you’re using your own equipment, your tools, your kitchen. It’s the place where you will be cooking anyway. Now I have a couple of signature cooking classes that you might enjoy or we can personalize your very own class. If you happen to be local to me, I do see a few people a year in my kitchen. And if after listening today, you’re interested in upping your cooking game and your healthy food, definitely reach out to me. Links are always in my show notes. It’s easy to reach me. Whenever I am cooking, anything for that matter, I am always looking out for taste. What does my food taste like? What do I want it to taste like? And if something feels off about it, what does it need? It’s a nurturing process. I truly believe that when you are cooking, if you’re rushed or stressed and you don’t infuse your food with good positive energy, your food will just not taste right. You need to love what you are cooking and you need to go into it calm and relaxed. And you need to understand the purpose. The purpose of cooking for yourself is to nourish yourself. It’s also to satisfy your hunger so you feel good afterwards. And more importantly, it is to cook what you are in the mood for or you are craving, keeping a level of healthy in mind. Because we’re not forgetting that healthy food can taste amazing. Healthy food can become something you actually crave. First and foremost, Getting mindful, using your intuition, and practicing becomes essential. There’s no rushing here. For me, cooking is a way to slow down and get back in touch with our senses. But let’s get on to some secrets of making our food taste amazing. And I think once you have these secrets and you can master these, you will definitely learn how to slow down yourself in the kitchen. Now, in my world, there are four components of flavor that all hold equal priority, and that is because they are so influential to our cooking. These flavors can make or break a meal or a dish, and once you get the hang of how they work, you will be amazed at how you can influence your food and just write things in the world, and then in turn, relax around cooking. So let’s get to it. The first and most important influencer in the world of food is salt. You know this. If you have ever tried a dish that is salt-free, you will know how incredibly bland it can taste. But I know more people who say they never add salt to their food for health reasons. That is a no. Listen, here is the lowdown with salt. Processed foods and takeout are drowning in salt. like unimaginable amounts of salt. And yes, there is an established relationship between salt and high blood pressure, but I can promise you with all of my being that if you cook at home and make your own food, you will never, ever, ever Use that amount of salt in your cooking ever. Take a pot of white bean and escarole soup, for example. I mean a whole pot that serves a generous six to eight portions. You will likely use a tenth of the amount of salt compared to what is in one can of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup. I’m not kidding. If you have a can of soup in your household, go to it right now and take a look. look at The ingredients look at the serving sizes because most Campbell’s soup cans are for two servings, which is ridiculous. Can you imagine only eating a half a can of soup? That’s like a half a cup. Anyway, there’s about a teaspoon of salt in one can of most soups. There’s about a teaspoon of salt in most pots of soup that you cook at home. You will never use that much salt in your home cooked food it would taste awful. It would taste way too salty. One of the main reasons they put so much salt into canned foods is to preserve what’s in the can. They also do it to get you a little more drawn into that kind of a flavor. So use a little salt when you cook. And here’s why. Salt is one of the most desired tastes for humans. Most people, when talking about cravings, say they either crave sweet foods or salty foods. It’s either salty or crunchy, or I want something sweet like ice cream. Salt draws out and highlights the best flavors of your food and gives food a really good mouthfeel. In the correct amounts, salt just makes food taste better. Salt is also like the opposite of bitter in a sense that if you have foods that are more bitter tasting, like Brussels sprouts, for example. A sprinkle of salt helps to calm down the bitterness. Salt can also enhance sweet foods, which is why a little dash of salt is usually added to baked goods. I have a few salt preferences, and it’s really not complicated at all. I always like to keep things simple. Salt is a huge food market grab, but really you only need two types of salt, and they’re not expensive. Don’t get fooled by gimmicks like pink Himalayan salt. Pink salt has a nice minerally flavor to it, so to sea salt. But you’re not getting that much benefit from those minerals because remember, you’re not using that much salt in your cooking. So don’t waste your money on those. The salts I use and like to cook with are a simple coarse kosher salt. I think you can guess by now that I use salt so often in my cooking that I keep a dish of salt on my stovetop just to grab. quickly. I prefer the coarseness of this salt for cooking everyday savory dishes. For baking, and when I’m just using a little dash of salt, I always recommend a finer grain salt. Again, go for sea salt and pink salt if you like the taste, because it has a more mineral taste to it. And you can definitely use those, but it’s not any more healthier for you. You’re not going to get any really more benefit out of it, except for spending. way too much money. Okay, next up in my secrets is using fat. Fat is the same as salt. Now let me take you back for a minute to 1983 when fat-free snack well cookies came onto the market or somewhere around then, somewhere in the 80s. There was a fat scare back then because it was thought that fat, all fat, was harmful to your heart. And of course, the food marketers jumped on an opportunity. Fat-free became the catchphrase for healthy. But a world without fat is literally a world without flavor. Not to mention that fat is an essential nutrient when it comes to our health. Don’t fear fat if you’re stuck back in the mindset of the 80s. Certain fats are really healthy for you, and fat has huge flavor benefits. Fat is like the ringleader of the food world. The fats you use in cooking help to carry flavor and are responsible for making your food taste great. So if you’re considering something like water sautéing, do you remember that one? Listen, you don’t sauté in water. You steam in water. So we do not sauté in water. If you are cooking, please add a little oil to the pan and sauté your vegetables. And while you’re at it, add a sprinkle of salt. The two of those together will make all the difference in the world to plain old kale or whatever vegetable you’re cooking. The fats that I regularly use are extra virgin olive oil. This is my absolute go-to standard oil. Extra virgin olive oil is so well studied and tested that you can have full faith that this is one of the healthiest fats around. Olive oil is a staple in Mediterranean cooking. I use it in sautés. I roast vegetables with it. I make soups with it, salad dressings, and I’ll even use it in baking sometimes. Now, Be sure to use extra virgin, not light olive oil or just olive oil, both of which have been filtered and lack all of the really good nutrients. I also like to use organic canola oil if I need a neutral oil. And I also use sesame oil when making Asian dishes. They’re all good for you and really healthy. And if you’re saying to yourself, well, wait, I saw something about seed oils being harmful on the internet. Just please ignore that because here’s the short of it. Oils like corn and soybean oil are highly processed, and those oils are found in all the junk food and highly processed foods. I’m going to have a longer answer to seed oils. I’m going to write a blog post about it, and I’m going to link it in these show notes that you can read more about it. But please do not fear the oils that I talked about. Extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, sesame oil, totally healthy and fine oils for you. And they also make your food taste amazing. Okay, let’s move on to one of my personal favorites, and that is all things sweet. Sweet flavors help round out the flavors in your food. The next time you have a pot of soup, such as a butternut squash soup, you of course course are going to give it a taste before serving. And you’re going to ask yourself, what does it need? Does it need something? We don’t typically think of adding anything sweet to our savory food, just like we don’t really consider adding salt to our sweet baked goods. But as far as flavor, this could be the difference between something tasting good and something tasting great. Now, the goal here is not to have our food taste sweet. The purpose of adding a dash of sweetness to food is to round out the flavors. Sweet is like softening the hard edges. Our butternut squash soup may taste a little bitter. It just might taste a little off. To lift that flavor, I would add a dash, and I mean a dash of pure maple syrup. Again, I don’t want the soup to taste sweet. It just picks up. the flavor of the butternut squash. So let’s talk about sugar for a second, because I know that there’s going to be some listeners who think, wait, you’re adding sugar to your food. That’s bad. The reality is that in the processed food world, sugar is literally in everything we eat. Do you remember those Snackwell cookies that were fat-free? Well, those were full of sugar, because when you eliminate fat, you need to add in sugar. Now, food manufacturers know this. They know how addictive sugar can be, and sugar is in literally everything. Let me give you an example. A small vanilla yogurt, a six-ounce container of vanilla yogurt, has about seven teaspoons of sugar in it. Imagine taking a teaspoon and dipping it into your sugar bowl seven times. and adding that to a cup of yogurt. You would never do that, but you would buy it from the store and eat it without thought. So again, this is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about adding a dash of sweetness to what you are cooking because sweet flavors simply help round out some foods and dishes. Now, the sweet flavors that I like to use are a grade B maple syrup, which is the darkest maple you can get. Or local honey. Now, I love local honey. I’m a little biased. I’m a beekeeper. And I simply want to know what I’m getting. There’s a lot of honeys out on the market that are very unregulated. So if you can get local, definitely do that. Not only are both of these sweeteners unrefined, they do contain some microminerals, sort of like that salt example. You’re not going to use enough to really get the benefit of some of these minerals. But nonetheless, they add a richness that really adds a lot of depth of flavor to our food. My last flavor enhancer secret is using sour or acidic foods. Now, honestly, I love all of these flavor secrets. I use them all the time. But honestly, if I had to pick one way to flavor my food, and please don’t make me pick just one, but if I did, I would probably want to use something acidic. Acidic foods are like the road to brightening your food. Think of anything sour, such as vinegar or citrus. Acids lift the flavor of food and energize your taste buds. If a dish or a pot of soup tastes flat or bland, play around with the salt, of course, but definitely do not forget a dash of vinegar or lemon juice. I do this all the time. And it’s not an ingredient that you will see in recipes. Most recipes don’t tell you at the end, if it tastes a little flat, add a little dash of lemon juice. I’m giving you the secret today. This can turn your entire dish around. Now, what acid you choose also counts. So if I’m making a hearty turkey chili, for example, or a beef stew, I would use something strong, like a balsamic vinegar. If I was making that white bean and escarole soup I talked about earlier. I would probably add in a dash of sherry vinegar, something a little more mild, maybe a squeeze of lemon juice if it’s in the summer. And again, same as the sweeteners, acids do not dominate the flavor. You don’t want them overpowering your dish. They only enhance the dish. So don’t overpower your dish with too much. Use them sparingly, but definitely use them. So my you go-tos for anything acidic are lemon juice, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, sherry vinegar, rice vinegar if I’m making an Asian dish. Tomatoes are very acidic. I add those into soups quite a bit. These flavors can make all the difference in the world to anything that you make. So there you have it. This was some quick and dirty tips about how to flavor your food, make your food taste great so you want to get into your kitchen and cook. healthy food that you actually love. I’m going to do you a solid right now and put this list into the show notes. So all you have to do is click and it’s yours to put up on your refrigerator so you don’t forget these tips. And again, if this show today is getting you excited to cook, if you’re interested in cooking, let’s have a conversation. I’m teaching cooking classes all summer long, and summer is such a great time to experiment with local and seasonal vegetables and all sorts of flavors. Everything’s in season right now. So let’s do it. Reach out to me by email. The link is in the show notes to find out more. And as always, if you loved this podcast, please consider gifting me with a five-star review. It is so helpful for me to get… the word out on real eating, our real bodies, and real food stories. Thank you so much and have a great week. Bye for now.