Healthy food...Really???
Everyone always asks me two questions about my business: Why Healthy Food? and Why Shoebox? So, today I am going to address the first question: Why Healthy food?
It's actually quite simple. I grew up in a not healthy family. Yes, I have played sports since I was about 4 years old...that doesn't mean I was healthy. Since I can remember I have been a large person my whole life. My immediate family has always been large, well until I was 12 and my dad lost weight do to health issues..but my grandma, mom and brother...plus cousins, etc..were all heavy.
Throughout my life I have struggled with being overweight, which also has lead to depression. Growing up rewards for accomplishing good things or celebrating life events have always been surrounded by food. I will be the first to tell you that this is how most families do it. I don't see anything wrong with that when good choices are encouraged. I remember that Thursdays were always Pizza Night in our house...typically, it was always Jet's. Now I am not knocking pizza, because I love pizza. Then there was the trips to McDonald's; I remember numerous times consuming two (yes, 2) Big Macs, a medium fry and a medium diet coke. Both my parents worked and I understand it was easier to stop and grab pizza or McD's.
However, I carried this pattern over into my adult life..first when I was away at MSU. No dinner in the dorms on Sunday...so for lunch order a Jet Pack and it will carry you through to Monday. Large Pizza, Bread, and Soda. Most of the time I drank soda and not water. Then I moved to California for while and it was often easier after 12 hours of work to grab fast food then cook. Yet, whenever I was stressed cooking was always my relaxation. Then I moved home and then to Ohio and back to Michigan again, where the pattern just kept going.
Then I decided to go to Culinary School. I learned how to cook all sorts of cuisines and I learned about nutrition. Yet I still ate a ton of fast food because it was easy. At my heaviest I was somewhere over 400 pounds...I stopped weighing myself after I hit 397. Then in 2010 I decided enough was enough, I was on meds for depression and I hated how big I had gotten. I was wearing a men's 5xl t-shirt and I am only 5'3"...EEK!!! So, I stopped drinking soda, started watching what I was eating and started working out. After about a year and a half, I got down to 230 pounds....then I fell in love and as the saying goes got happy and fat. So I was back up to 305 on our wedding day. I started watching what I ate again and working out and only got down to 288. Then I decided to follow in my brother's foot steps and look into bariatric surgery.
In April 2015, I had the Sleeve Gastrectomy...the doctor removed approximately 90% of my stomach. Since then I have dropped to 203 and I still have a ways to go before I hit my goal weight of 180. This process of surgery and food intake modification is not easy.
So what does all this have to do with my personal chef business...It's quite simple actually...I want to make healthy food easy and accessible for today's busy families. I want adults and kids to know that healthy food can taste good, and that if you tap into your resources it can be just as easy as fast food. I love hearing from clients that say...my son/daughter loved the taco salad or was willing to try that chicken dish even though it wasn't fried and they enjoyed it. That is why I am focused on Healthy Cooking.
