Chef Douglas Rodriquez
Hip4Kids Chef - November, 2013
Meet yet another great Hip4Kids chef‌ Douglas Rodriguez is known as the Godfather of Nuevo Latino Cuisine and this man has done it all. He has a number of award-winning restaurants along with best-selling cookbooks and a host of television appearances. Just visit his website (listed above) and discover a world-renouned chef and a man that understands the mission of Hip4Kids!
“I should be the poster child for Hip4Kids. I grew up in New York and I was obese from age seven through all my life. Obesity causes diabetes along with many other health complications. I would like to help prevent obesity (at any age) and inspire kids to enjoy a healthy and happy life.” …Chef Douglas Rodriguez
Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough‌Oprah Winfrey
Happy Thanksgiving!
I have always linked my founding of Hip4Kids to memories of days in the park in the 1960’s when there was always a “happening” or an after-school arts and music experience. It was mainly art driven which I always loved, and since then I have drawn, painted and cooked my way from Los Angeles to Paris, to New York, and a dozen other destinations.
These “happenings” always had a physical fitness component, and that part was a little less organized and a little less refined than the arts segment. Translation… thirty-plus kids running around like their “hair on fire”. We were almost always outside and far away from coffee tables, vases and lamps to the approval of Moms’ everywhere. A little while back, Hip4Kids was working with Health Corps, founded by Dr. Oz and directed by my friend Michelle Bouchard. One of their event planners, Rob, took notice of a side project I had thought-up which was Chia Cookies. We were handing out our healthy cookie alternatives to kids that attended Hip4Kids events as rewards for participating in the academic segments. We were doing all kinds of work with The First Lady of The State of New York (Michelle PaigePaterson) in connection with Healthy Steps to Albany. It was 2008 and Hip4Kids had been
working in underserved neighborhoods for about eight years. We had high hopes knowing our online curriculum was being featured in every participating school district involved in “Healthy Steps” and we knew its effectiveness given the fact that we were receiving requests from Guam and Hawaii for permission to use it in various afterschool programs and in girl’s schools. At this time, I had been creating hundreds of food items made with functional and organic ingredients that could supplant or stand-in for everyday items that were unhealthy choices. The foods looked the same as their mainstream counterparts, and tasted even better with a functionality based on highly nutritious items like chia, quinoa, and acai berries. Since then I have developed so many different products, I have just about lost count. There are recipes for non-dairy milkshake drinks that need no refrigeration, jams, jellies, breads, pastry, pizza
products, and frozen foods based on local vegetables and “convenience” meals. What really caught on early were the cookies. I had come up with The Chocolate HIP Cookie and the first 5000 in a packaged format. I even went to a Dr.Oz event called “Saints & Spinners” in Grand Central Terminal. After that, The New York Road Runners (who we did a bunch of work with also) caught on to our cookies being filled with Chia. It really piqued the interest of a number of runners as Chia is generally referred to as “The Running Food.” At one point we appeared on Rachael Ray and started our own online bake sale at hipsnacks.com. If Paul Newman could put together a salad dressing to fund “The Hole in the Wall Gang,” a bunch of chefs could certainly put together a host of healthy alternative food products.
We would change eating habits for the better and help tackle the childhood obesity and diabetes epidemic, and we would have a way to provide our eight models of community programs and webbased curriculum! Most recently, to our extreme honor, Whole Foods Market began offering Chocolate HIP Cookies. The bake sale continues and we now have a full line of Chia Vegan, Chia Gluten Free, and original formula Chia cookies. Hip Snacks are still handmade at The Mid-Hudson Valley Workshop for the Disabled and are now available for sale at what is hands down, the best market of its kind in the country! We hope to create funding through this to publish Project Apple, and to make it available to every teacher in the country alongside “Art is Hip4Kids�with our friend and world-renowned artist Henry A.J. Ramos. We plan to keep our afterschool programs alive and well while re-starting
“Hip4Kids in Motion” which was greatly delayed due to “Sandy”. If you find yourself in New York City, think Whole Foods Market. Pop in for some Hip Snacks and help us keep our after school programs alive. Enjoy the Experience and Feed Your Zen! …Chef Christopher Daly
The Cookie…
It’s still the Healthiest Gourmet Cookie in America! Chef Daly’s secret ingredient is known as Chia, and if you start with his cookie, you can easily forget the ice-cream, potato chips or whatever. Chia was discovered by the early Aztec and Mayan cultures, and the Chia seeds are packed with fiber, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants. The seeds have a gelling action that keeps you feeling full for hours. Because hunger is an enemy of real weight loss, Chia helps eliminate the hunger. For more information, and how to order – www.hip4kids.org
Obesity in America… Are we really Winning? …By Bob Bickell
I heard it on the radio. The commentator said that the sale of fruit is at an all-time high, and it is just another sign that we are winning the war against obesity. I also heard that people who drink coffee on a daily basis have a 50% chance to avoid cancer. I also read that coffee was actually bad for you. There is so much written and said about healthy (or unhealthy) food and beverages, and it has gotten more confusing than it needs to be. I don’t need a study to tell me that we have a problem with obesity. I can see it for myself. I can also see the empty gyms, ball fields, and tennis courts. The adults have given-up, and the kids are inside with Facebook and Twitter. It’s not a pretty picture, and all of the above makes Hip4Kids even more important!
Kill your Cravings for Sweets Once and for All!
By Julie Upton
Too much sugar in your diet is harmful for your health. Period. Excess added sugars promote overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, some types of dementia, frail bones, bad eyesight and much more. Here is how to beat your cravings for sweets‌
1. Nix all sources of liquid sugars in your diet. Since sodas and other sweetened beverages provide about half of all the added sugar in the typical American diet, they’re the first to jettison. They don’t contribute to fullness so you won’t miss them. 2. Avoid using sugar substitutes. Sugar substitutes are more intensely sweet than cane sugar, and once you get accustomed to their level of sweetness, it takes more natural sweeteners to be sweet-satisfied. They may also affect the natural hunger hormones as well, making it harder to control your appetite. 3. Become a Sugar Sleuth. Read the Nutrition Facts and ingredient list for everything you eat and drink. If “sugars” on the label are more than 8 grams, go directly to the ingredient list and skip it if you see a form of added sugars in the ingredient list. If there is no sugar in the ingredient list, it means that the food or beverage contains natural sugars; we don’t worry about them because they’re not “metabolically equivalent” to added sugars.
Common cues that equal added sugar in ingredient lists include sucrose, dextrose, sorbitol, mannitol, honey, agave, dextrin, maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup and any other syrup. For the most part, if there is an “-ose,” or “-ols” it means it’s a sugar. 4. Start Each Day Sugar-Free. Starting your day off right is one of the best ways to stay on track. For me, a sugar-free breakfast would be eggs & veggies or egg white omelets. Research shows that eating eggs for breakfast won’t cause the same blood sugar and insulin response as a carbohydrate-rich breakfast. I also opt for plain oatmeal with Greek yogurt or peanut butter; fresh fruit; dried fruit and nuts; baked potatoes with low-fat cottage cheese or cottage cheese with cherry tomatoes. 5. Learn to Love Natural Sugars. Don’t think about what you can’t have; focus on what you can eat and drink. Try dried fruit, fresh fruit, roasted veggies, and caramelized onions. There are many foods that provide natural sweetness—they’ve just been pushed aside by the more intensely sweet crystal whites.
6. Live Sugar-Free for 2 Weeks! After 14 days sugar-free, your desire for sweets should be vastly reduced. If you want to reintroduce small amounts of added sweeteners, start by incorporating them into meals, as sugars eaten with other foods are less harmful than when they’re eaten alone. Try to keep your sugar intake to the American Heart Association’s limits for added sugars: 100 calories (6 tsps.) for women and 150 calories (9 tsps.) for men.
Julie Upton is a nutrition spokesperson, writer, author, sister, daughter, registered dietitian, athlete, muscle confusion advocate and pro sports fanatic. Visit her website at www.appforhealth.com
Chef Sal Montezinos
75 & Counting‌
I am a chef. It is my passion and I love what I do. I am not a doctor, a dietician, a nutritionist, or a scientist. I believe that life is all about love, passion and health. I am blessed to have an abundance of all three, and I have discovered a healthy new awakening in myself through exercise and healthy food. My choice is what is known as raw alkaline fitness foods, and I feel younger and healthier than I did so many years ago. I am not suggesting that you do what I do, but I am suggesting that you eat healthy foods, and you exercise on an everyday basis. And remember the love, the passion, and the health. If you have those three ingredients, you are on your way to a very happy life! ‌Chef Sal
M R I E INDS B H T L E Y FU HEIR TUMM T G N I D IES E E F
G d nutrition is fundamental. Organic Valley Stringles® and milk are full of pasture-raised dairy goodness from our family farms. Give them all the good stuff they need — and none of the bad stuff they don’t — to be full and energized, readied to learn all the lessons of the day.
Organic Valley supports Joe Gurrera and Citarella in their effort to support autism research.
Joel Harper is a celebrity trainer with clients ranging from Dr. Oz to Olympic Medalists…
“If you want to find a path with no obstacles, it probably won't lead you anywhere” Joel Harper says “Exercise is Hip4Kids!
Help Support HIP4KIDS!
For fourteen years Hip4Kids has been delivering Healthy Cooking Demos, Health Fairs and Educational Programming to children across the country in an effort to combat Childhood Obesity and Type II Diabetes. With our separate after-school formats and free online curriculum, we have delivered educational services to a more than 200,000 children, parents and teachers. Hip4Kids is recognized by The Internal Revenue Service as a 501 c (3) Educational Company and is recognized by The New York State Attorney General as A Charitable Organization Your tax-deductible gift is applied directly to employing our student teachers and conducting our Healthy Living & Healthy Cooking Workshops and programs for underserved populations everywhere such as
our current Middle School Programming for New York City Public Schools. With your tax-deductible gift you too can be Hip4Kids! Help Us Make a Difference in Education Today.
Hit www.Hip4Kids.org …… “Ways to Help”
Our definition of Peace……