All You Can Feed On

A Taste of Hanover

Help Personal Chef To Go celebrate a decade of “A Taste of Hanover!” at Bass Pro Shops on Wednesday, April 30th starting at 5:00PM.

 In 9 years, Hanover Arc and Hanover Community Support Services have raised over $150.000 to help Hanover County residents with disabilities. As a result of this essential support, children and adults with disabilities and their families received scholarships for camp and educational programs, respite care, financial assistance to live independently and the gift of independence with adaptive equipment.

Personal Chef To Go will be a vendor at this important fundraising event and showcasing samples of our specialties.  Judges will taste and vote for their favorite food and beverages. Winners receive a banner to display at their business. 

In addition to tastings of food and beverages, there will be a “Mystery Gift” and Silent Auction to add to the fun-filled evening.

We join Hanover Arc and Hanover Community Support Services in valuing support, and hope that you'll see the benefits of this event – not only for those these organizations serve, but also for Hanover’s community at large.

10 Tips To Trimming Winter Bulge

 

Do you have a spare tire, love handles, muffin-top, or a belly bulge left over from the  Winter? Or maybe it’s been accumulating for more than a few seasons? Did you have your cake, drinks, and cookies–and eat them too? Don’t fret. Here are a ten simple tricks that can help you make this a lighter and healthier Spring:

1. Drink plenty of water throughout the day to beat dehydration. Alcohol consumption, fatty foods, and insufficient water are some of the main reasons people feel “hung over” and heavy from the holidays. Every cell in your body needs adequate water to function properly so try to drink at least 2 Litres a day to flush fat and toxins out.

2. Take a high-quality B-complex and vitamin C supplement, both of which are depleted by alcohol consumption and stress-and chances are you had both during the holidays and many days since.

3. Eat fruit in the morning on an empty stomach. Fruit is the best food to keep the lymphatic system cleansed and moving properly. The lymphatic system is what I call “the body’s version of a street-cleaner”–it sweeps up toxins, fat, and the by-products of bodily processes to lessen pain, inflammation, cellulite, and toxic overload in the body. Just don’t overdo.

4. Eat a large green salad for lunch and dinner. And if you just can’t stand another salad, wrap it up! Put lettuce, sprouts, avocado, tomato, and cucumber (or some combination of these) in a wrap. Add a dash of sea salt and freshly cracked peppercorns and you have a delicious meal in a hurry.

5. Eat a small healthy snack every two hours to stabilize blood sugar. Wild blood sugar fluctuations can deplete your energy, cause weight gain, intensify food cravings, and depress your immune system, making you more vulnerable to those cold and flu bugs found in droves in the winter months. My preferred option is raw, unsalted almonds–they’re loaded with calcium and blood-stabilizing fiber and protein. Eat 10-12 as a snack between meals.

6. Avoid eating sweets, synthetic sweeteners or foods sweetened with them. Instead, eat fruit and sweeten herbal teas with a few drops of stevia–an herb that contains steviosides, substances that are naturally 1000 times sweeter than sugar, without the nasty effects on your blood sugar levels.

7. Be sure to fit some exercise into your day. A minimum of twenty minutes of vigorous activity will get your circulation going, improve lymph flow, increase energy, and help your body burn any bulges you may be carrying. If it’s too cold outside, try jumping on a mini-trampoline. It’s one of the best forms of exercise for getting your lymph to eliminate fatty deposits and cellulite in your body.

8. Avoid margarine and foods made with hydrogenated and trans fats. These toxic foods make your body’s detox organs like the liver sluggish. They also require huge amounts of energy to digest. They also lead to weight gain and are linked to a host of other health problems.

9. Avoid foods that contain synthetic colors, preservatives, and other additives. As I tell clients, “if you can’t read it, don’t eat it.” By avoiding them throughout the day, you are giving your liver a break so it can devote its energy to burning fat.

10. Add beans to your diet in soups, salads, stews, chili, or other foods. The humble legumes are the most overlooked healthy foods, yet they are packed with protein, fiber, and complex carbs (the good ones) that cleanse your bowels, stabilize blood sugar, and keep you feeling full for hours. Can’t stand the aftermath of eating beans-simply take a digestive enzyme that includes cellulase with meals that contain beans. Cellulase helps improve the digestion of beans.

With the help of a few health tricks, you can start Spring as a healthier, more energetic, and lighter version of you!

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8 Great Reasons For Family Dinner Time

As a new Stepmom to a 5 year old, one of the things I believe in whole-heartedly is Family Dinner Time. We may not have the fanciest dinners each night, and at times, we wind up munching on plain 'ole pasta with marinara sauce plus a steamed vegetable. Setting the table can also be also a mish mosh of "you get the plates", "and hey, I need a cup", or "you with the face. how 'bout a fork", but, regardless of the meal or the structure of how the table comes together - WE come together.

In researching for this article, I was amazed to find that many families don’t eat dinner together – or any meal for that matter. Soccer practices, dance rehearsals, playdates, and other scheduling conflicts make family mealtime seem like a thing of the past. Suddenly, we're feeding our kids breakfast bars during the morning commute, sneaking 100-calorie packs at our desks, and grabbing dinner at the drive-thru window.

Despite the feeling that there's no time for such luxuries, 59% of families report eating dinner together at least five times a week -- an increase from only 47% in 1998, according to the Importance of Family Dinner IV, a report from the The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University revealed what a big difference family meals make in your children’s lives.

Supper can be a stress reliever

Believe it or not, if you have a demanding job, finding time to eat with your family may actually leave you feeling less stressed.

In 2008, researchers at Brigham Young University conducted a study of IBM workers and found that sitting down to a family meal helped working moms reduce the tension and strain from long hours at the office. (Interestingly, the effect wasn't as pronounced among dads.) Alas, the study didn't take into account the stress of rushing to get out of the office, picking up the kids, and getting a meal on the table.

It's the perfect setting for new foods

A family meal is the perfect opportunity for parents to expose children to different foods and expand their tastes.

In a 2003 study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, children were offered some pieces of sweet red pepper and asked to rate how much they liked it. Then, each day for the next eight school days, they were invited to eat as much of the pepper as they wanted. On the final day, the kids were again asked to rate how much they liked it.

By the end of the experiment, the children rated the pepper more highly and were eating more of it -- even more so than another group of children who were offered a reward for eating the pepper. These results suggest that a little more exposure and a little less "You can leave the table once you finish your broccoli!" will teach kids to enjoy new foods, even if they don't like them at first.

Kids might learn to love their veggies

A 2000 survey found that the 9- to 14-year-olds who ate dinner with their families most frequently ate more fruits and vegetables and less soda and fried foods. Their diets also had higher amounts of many key nutrients, like calcium, iron, and fiber.

Family dinners allow for both "discussions of nutrition [and] provision of healthful foods," says Matthew W. Gillman, M.D., the survey's lead researcher and the director of the Obesity Prevention Program at the Harvard Medical School.

Healthy meals mean healthy kids

Studies have shown that kids who eat with their families frequently are less likely to get depressed, consider suicide, and develop an eating disorder. They are also more likely to delay sex and to report that their parents are proud of them. When a child is feeling down or depressed, family dinner can act as an intervention.

This is especially true of eating disorders, says Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health, who has studied the impact of family meal patterns on adolescents. "If a child eats with his or her parents on a regular basis, problems will be identified earlier on," she says.

Family dinners help kids "just say no"

Eating family dinners at least five times a week drastically lowers a teen's chance of smoking, drinking, and using drugs. Teens who have fewer than three family dinners a week are 3.5 times more likely to have abused prescription drugs and to have used illegal drugs other than marijuana, three times more likely to have used marijuana, more than 2.5 times more likely to have smoked cigarettes, and 1.5 times more likely to have tried alcohol, according to the CASA report.

"While substance abuse can strike any family, regardless of ethnicity, affluence, age, or gender, the parental engagement fostered at the dinner table can be a simple, effective tool to help prevent [it]," says Elizabeth Planet, one of the report's researchers, and the center's vice president and director of special projects.

It’s not neccesarily the food that’s served during dinner but rather the conversation. Three in four teens reported that they talk about what’s going on in their lives during dinner. The teens interviewed agreed that when they talk to their parents about their daily events, they’re less likely to smoke, drink and use marijuana.

Better food, better report card

Of teens who eat with their family fewer than three times a week, 20% get C's or lower on their report cards, according to the CASA report. Only 9% of teens who eat frequently with their families do this poorly in school.

Family meals give children an opportunity to have conversations with adults, as well as to pick up on how adults are using words with each other, which may explain why family dinnertime is also thought to build a child's vocabulary.

Family Ties

Dinner is a family ritual that kids look forward to. It gives parents the opportunity to model good behavior and encourage their kids in their daily tasks. It also helps create strong bonds within in the family. Teens that frequently eat family dinners are almost three times as likely to say they have an excellent relationship with their mom and three times likelier to say they have an excellent relationship with their dad. One study also found that teen girls who eat family meals regularly had better body images.

Family Day

In 2001 CASA (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse) created Family Day—A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children. It’s celebrated on the fourth Monday in September and serves as a reminder to the importance of family dinners.

Family Dinners On The Go

It's heartening to see that people are rediscovering the age-old joys of at home meals shared with family and friends, even amid busy lives and schedules. Go ahead and invite your family and friends over for dinner. From our wonderful Family Favorites selections,  to our delicious Dinner Only selections or our Couples On The Go of spectacular chef-prepared individual entrees, Personal Chef To Go will help you prepare a meal that will ignite all taste buds and make your family dinner time nourishing, relaxed and memorable in spite of your busy schedules. 

What about you? Do you insist on family meals times, or do the logistics of modern life just not allow it?

Weekend Challenge: Unshackle Yourself From Your Cell Phone

Are you similar to many other people and a little too attached to your cellphone? Does it seem only appropriate that when your cellphone rings you should answer it the vast majority of the time regardless of who you are with or what you are doing? Are there Twitter or Facebook alerts popping up every three seconds? Is there really anything wrong with multitasking and taking the occasional call during dinner, or checking e-mail while you are in a meeting?

Well, here's another challenge for you. Just  follow these 5 tips to unshackle yourself from your phone  for the weekend and see how much more you accomplish. 

Believe it or not, your cellphone is possibly causing you more harm than good. The majority of us probably need to take a look and change how we manage our cellphone use. Honestly, how many people can you see right now? How many are nursing their iPhone like it's a newborn?

1. Turn off the ringer from time to time.
   As scary as that may sound, there are just sometimes you shouldn't be interrupted. Reserve blocks of times to devote your complete attention to things you need to get done, your kids, your spouse, your driving! Turn your ringer off during holidays and other family or alone time so you can really engage and enjoy those experiences.


2. Turn off your notification light.
   Make a leap of faith and realize everything will not explode just because you don't instantly know when an e-mail or text message comes in. Yes, this may take some getting used to, but, it really is liberating and allows you to decide the best time to read e-mails and texts instead of always checking your phone every time you notice the notification light flashing.


3. Use your cell phone; don't let it use you.
   It's great that you can do just about everything on your cellphone, but when you pick it up to use it, decide what you are going to do, use it, and get out. If you are going to return e-mails, then don't end up surfing around the internet. Have a plan every time you pick up your cell phone and stick to it.


4. Screen your calls and e-mails.
   Prioritize paying attention to who you are with or what you are currently doing. Take a look at who is trying to contact you and decide if you really need to respond right away. No one really knows whether or not you are available so you can decide to not answer your cell phone unless it really is necessary.


5. Reserve blocks of time to check your messages and respond.
   Take periods of time to check and return all your messages. Perhaps you have a block of time you take every morning, afternoon, and evening. This way your messages don't accumulate and you can be fairly confident you are not going to miss anything really time sensitive because you are checking your messages regularly. If you are a heavy user, you may need to have more check-ins throughout the day. Figure out what works best for you, but the key is to not consistently and continually check messages throughout the day.

Manage Your Cellphone and Everything Will Improve
If you are interested in really getting the most out of all your experiences, increasing your productivity and being less stressed and overwhelmed, start paying attention to how you are using your cellphone. You will be amazed at the positive impact that managing your cellphone in the right way will have on everything you do.

Share how your weekend challenge went by commenting below. We'd love to hear from you!

12 Ways To Assist Japan

Thousands of people are now confirmed dead after Thursday's devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan. Police expect the death toll to rapidly climb as bodies wash up on the shore.

It's sobering to think that Japanese children are getting tested for radiation as I write this post. When compassionate people hear about horrific events such as the earthquake/tsunami in Japan, they want to know what they can do to help.

As shocked bystanders across the globe and in neighboring countries, many of us feel helpless with the sight of the photographs and want to do what we can to help. Particularly poignant and moving for me was this piece on World News with Diane Sawyer. The images in comparison are startling.