Fittest Loser changes pastry chef's career
How does a food professional, such as myself, find themselves out of shape and overweight?
After all, we're in the culinary business and it's our game to delve into the science and secrets of food. In my case, those 25 extra pounds and woefully unfit body became the elephant in the Push Fitness exercise room.
I can tell you from my experiences at the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, New York, that a chef with an ample amount of girth seldom rings the fitness alarm bells. Food focus centers upon the taste factor and visual stimulation for the diner.
While new age culinary wisdom highlights the pedigree of food, how that menu item hits your waistline often remains on the back burner of most kitchens.
As a pastry chef and food columnist, I directed most of my efforts toward educating and entertaining our readers on the challenges of home baking.
Make no mistake; great baking tasks your food skill set, intoxicates your senses and instills a sense of culinary adventure when the successful recipe comes to life in your kitchen. The challenge can become quite addicting.
Most Americans assume that pastry chefs come equipped with an insatiable sweet tooth. If not, why travel down that professional pathway?
You may be surprised to learn that my taste buds lean toward the dark side of cocoa and savory notes of desserts. Put in menu format, I'm more of a less-sweet kind of gal, who enjoys the zesty flavors of fresh fruit.
With all that, there's been a sense of cognitive dissonance happening in my world as a pastry chef.
How do I deliver great tasting desserts that also meet good nutritional guidelines? Can people really have their favorite cake and not gain weight too? These questions take my test kitchen to a place much more involved than the standard teachings of food arts and sciences.
Stepping into the Push Fitness studio and committing to their weight-loss food plan, offered me a front-row seat to a fascinating experience into changing food habits.
I left the pastry chef and food columnist hat at home and entered this competition as a novice culinary student. The only exception was to redesign my morning protein shake to fit Push Fitness nutritional guidelines.
Otherwise, I closed my test kitchen doors and focused upon a food plan that did not include dark chocolate, desserts or added sugars; not to neglect mentioning the wild world of bread carbohydrates. The question on my mind, and that of Push Fitness trainer Josh Steckler, was “Could I stick with this radical change of eating habits?”
After 10 weeks of this fitness challenge, I can say this pastry chef has not once strayed into the sweet side of the kitchen.
Motivation to stay on the path came from the mindset not to set myself back at “Go” and collect a whirlwind of self-inflicted remorse. And, I don't believe in going backward, ever.
My husband remains shocked that I've kept my distance from dark chocolate. For me, the big surprise came with experiencing that the sense of fullness comes naturally, with the right combination of protein and fats. I am mentally, physically and emotionally feeling better, and that fuels my resolution to stick with the food plan.
In answer to my first question, many food professionals (and I include myself in this group) fail to respect the extraordinary power that food wields in our lives. It holds both the ability to heal and hurt, depending upon the perspective and skill of the handler. Chefs like to play with fire and we often get burned.
My personal eating habits have dramatically changed and the question for me now is: “How has this experience altered my professional perceptions of life as a pastry chef?”
Stay tuned for the answer.