Heart Healthy Cooking

KELLY PRICE

Heart Healthy Cooking | Saint Thomas Cooking School, Kitty Fawaz, healthy cooking, nutrition, healthful eating, diet

Kitty Fawaz, RN and Chef Julian Osmond, Executive Chef at Saint Thomas Hospital lead a cooking class.

If we are what we eat, then your cardiologist wants to see almonds and blueberries in his waiting room when you show up for an appointment.
 
He’ll be pleased with wild Alaskan salmon on his examining table.
 
The doctor knows that if you are eating natural foods rather than the over-processed, over-fat and over-industrialized foods so prevalent in our stores and restaurants, the odds are that your cardiac health will improve along with your diet.

Upcoming Cooking Classes

February 2, 2010 — Saint Thomas Hospital
"Cajun Cooking"
Barbecued Shrimp
Chicken and Roast Beef Muffulettas
Red Beans and Rice
Chicken Gumbo

March 2, 2010 — Henry County Medical School
"St. Patrick's Day"
Irish Stew
Green Garden Salad with Green Goddess Dressing Cheese and Chive Drop Scones Mint Fudge Tart

April 6, 2010 — Saint Thomas Hospital
"Mediterranean Buffet"
Faux Champagne
Moroccan Chicken
Mediterranean Lemon Couscous
Yogurt and Cucumber Salad
Macerated Apricots and Nuts

May 4, 2010 — Saint Thomas Hospital
"Picnic Favorites"
Oven Fried Chicken
Potato Salad
Roasted Fresh Vegetable Salad
Spicy Fruit Cup

 
More and more, evidence shows the vital connection between what we put into our bodies and our overall health.
 
If your resolutions for the New Year included incorporating new lessons about the connection between food and health, there are an increasing number of opportunities in the area to keep you on track and help you eat mindfully in the coming decade.
 
One good option is the Heart Healthy Cooking School presented by Saint Thomas Heart, a series of free heart healthy cooking demonstrations — and tastings — designed to provide the class with valuable information on how to choose ingredients and recipes that are good for the heart and how to incorporate these items into a lifetime diet.
 
Registered Dietician Kitty Fawaz, LDN, and Executive Chef Julian Osmond lead the classes, held at Saint Thomas Hospital and various Middle Tennessee locations.
 
This year’s classes also feature Saint Thomas Heart cardiologists discussing the importance of healthy eating to improve overall cardiac health.
 
Since beginning in 1996, the Saint Thomas Heart Healthy Cooking School has shown Middle Tennesseans new ways to prepare easy and heart-healthy meals.
 
“Our schools are designed to help people make healthy choices while cooking. We believe a proper diet will not only make you feel better, but help you live longer,” said Fawaz.
 
Begun as part of a cardiac rehabilitation program that included diabetes education, stress management strategies, and nutrition counseling, the free cooking classes have become a popular … and very well attended … event.
 
“It’s fun and educational,” Fawaz says, about the demonstration classes, which include a tasting sample of the day’s lesson. Classes are held once a month on the Saint Thomas campus during the school year, September to May. Additionally, six times a year the classes are taken on the road to neighboring communities in southern Kentucky, Mt. Juliet and Franklin — “Wherever we feel there is a need,” Fawaz says.
 
“We occasionally have some of our cardiologists stop in when we are having the classes to participate as ‘celebrity chefs,’ contributing comments and even stirring the pot a little,” she added.
 
Although the classes are free to the community, Fawaz does ask that guests call for reservations (800-588-3270) to ensure she and Chef Osmond prepare enough for everyone to sample the menu items. Most classes have 65-70 attendees.
 
Another Middle Tennessean looking at what we do to our food and what it does for us is private chef and cookbook author, Jamie Watson, who recently talked to the health sciences students at Belmont about alarming trends that are turning food into an industry disconnected from good nutrition.
 
Classically trained at the French Culinary Institute in New York, Watson has strong views on healthful eating and how to make what’s good for you taste good.
 
He is quick to recommend In Defense of Food, written last year by one of the nation’s most trusted resources for food related issues, Michael Pollan.
 
In the book, Pollan advises avoiding any food products that contain ingredients a third grader couldn’t pronounce or that a great grandmother wouldn’t have recognized as food. He puts his advice on healthy eating into a seven-word food plan admonition:
 
“Eat food. Mostly plants. Not so much.”
 
Not a bad prescription to take to heart. 

WHITE CHICKEN CHILI

  • 1-1/2 cups chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 pound cooked chicken tenders, coarsely chopped
  • 2 (19-ounce) cans great northern white beans, divided
  • 2 (16-ounce) cans fat-free, sodium reduced chicken broth
  • 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder (adjust to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Spray cooking spray in a large Dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery, red pepper, garlic; sauté 5 minutes.

Add chicken, 1-1/2 cups beans, broth, and next 5 ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Mash remaining beans. Add mashed beans to chicken mixture. Simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until mixture is thick, stirring frequently.

Yield: 10 (1-cup) servings

Nutritional Analysis per serving:
Calories: 217
Carbohydrate: 25.1 g.
Protein: 19.6 g.
Fat: 4.6 g.
Cholesterol: 33 mg.
Sodium 405 mg.
Fiber: 3.5 g.
% Calories from Fat: 19 percent