America's Basic Food Model Broken: Chef Says Nutrients Per Dollar Makes More Sense Than Super-Sizing

This month Chef Shedric announced the release of his book, The MicroNutrient Solution that outlines lifestyle changes and better shopping strategies to improve health and reach an ideal weight. He argues that a system-wide focus on food nutrient quality is feasible and would have a power impact on America's health. A preview copy is available for download at http://www.heathfulchef.com. End Quote

A new focus on food quality in terms of nutrient density will do more to improve our health than any food taxes - assuming they could even be passed!

Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA (1888PressRelease) April 01, 2013 - The MicroNutrient Solution, a brand new book by master chef Shedric Wallace is unique approach to eating for weight loss and optimum health. The author adamantly argues that conventional diets don't work. It goes as far as saying that most traditional diets do more harm than good. This thoughtful entry into the area of health and nutrition raised a few questions that deserve answers.

1. Why is a Chef writing a nutrition book?

Chef Wallace is not your ordinary chef. First of all, he graduated at the top of his class from the world famous Culinary Institute of America. He earned the distinction of being chosen one of "Wine and Food Magazine's Top Ten Student Chef" upon graduation. He went on to oversee the culinary research development departments of some of the big names in food service including The Olive Garden and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. He and his team of chefs and food scientists created the products that have fed millions of American's. He recounts his experience:

"I had no idea when I took on the challenge to improve the quality and taste the food served by international brands, how much insight I would gain about what draws the typical American toward certain taste profile."

"Millions of dollars spent on research, focus groups, and tasting panels gave me a rare look into what drives us to eat on a physical and emotional level. "

"My job was to make food irresistible so that people would eat more and want to come back often. Over time a got very good at this"

After experiencing personal health challenges and watching family members battle obesity, Chef Shedric became a certified nutrition and wellness counselor; turning his attention to using food to make people healthier.

"The MicroNutrient Solution actually started as a cookbook that I intended to use in my cooking classes," said the chef. "I would get bombarded after the classes with people who wanted basic answers to questions about how to eat healthy. No matter how late I stayed after the classes, I could never get to all the questions."

"Six months into writing the opening sections to my cookbook, I realized that the outline for The MicroNutrient Solution had been created and that it was needed more than recipes and pretty food pictures."

2. Where do you put a book like this that teaches weight loss but denounces dieting?

Although The MicroNutrient Solution offers a comprehensive twelve week plan for losing weight and transforming the reader's health, the author cringes when he hear people use the word diet to describe his trademarked Sustainable Nutrition Action Plan (SNAP).

"I tried dieting ten years and simply gave up," said Shedric. "It was by the grace of God that I discovered the success secrets that allowed me to lose 80 pounds without dieting"

"As a chef and someone who passionately loves food I was not willing to sacrifice taste or give the food that I loved - I just couldn't. The techniques that I share in my book allowed me to find that perfect balance as a professional foodie"

"I would best describe the book as a positive health journey or a "Lifestyle Make Over"

3. What makes The MicroNutritient Solution's weight loss approach difference?

The final chapters in the MicroNutrient Solution comprise a twelve-week action plan complete with charts, workbook style checklists, and online coaching.

"Since those attending my classes and seeking nutrition counseling are often busy people, I knew that the information and plan had to be simple. There is a ton of information on the internet and in nutrition text books. The problem is it's not easily understood or simple to follow," said Chef Shedric.

The MicroNutrient Solution has no meal plans, no obsessive weigh-ins, and no restricted food categories. It focuses solely on developing good basic eating habits.

4. Why haven't we heard more about Micronutrients?

At the core of this book is what the author calls the "MicroNutrient Theory of Health". This theory promotes the idea that eating more micronutrient-dense whole foods and fewer overly processed foods will bring about healing for internal metabolic problems and results in improved health and weight loss.

Although the concept makes sense, the question remains; why have people not heard more about micronutrients?

Chef Shedric's response is, "We are starting to hear much more about the importance of a micronutrient rich diet. The problem is that the scientific research is lagging behind real world results. For reasons that I mention in the book there has not been enough investment in the right research. The simple answer is because you can't patent or trademark blue berries, so why finance the research to prove their health benefit? This holds true with micronutrient dense foods in general.

There appears to be a fundamental shift in thinking that sets The MicroNutrient Solution apart from previous nutritional philosophies. Until now, most previous efforts to encourage healthful eating seemed more focused on food quantity over food quality. This is to say that there has been a constant focus on eating less and not enough focus on eating right.

The overwhelming number of "diet books" telling people to dramatically restrict their food intake in order to lose weight is one example of this obsession with food quantity over food quality. As a nation we have been successful at building a massive industrialized food supply chain that is extraordinarily efficient and effective at providing a large number of calories at a very low price per serving. The problem is that we have not stopped to ask ourselves if this is the best model to support long-term societal goals like public health. Our current cheap, low-quality, high-calorie food system is contributing to an enormously costly health crisis.

Super-sizing and value packaging has taught consumers to measure the value of food based on volume and calories per dollar. This thinking must change. In order to reshape the system, we will have to start by recalibrating how we value our food. We must move from calories or volume per dollar thinking to nutrient density per dollar thinking.

Imagine how differently your shopping cart would look if you walked into your local grocery store with one hundred dollars determined to get the maximum amount of nutrients for every dime spent. The processed snacks on sale this week might not seem like such a bargain when you consider they are primarily refined flour, refined corn, refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, soy oil, fillers, stabilizers, and preservatives with few nutrients.

When nutrient density becomes our main measure of foods' value we will make much different decisions in grocery stores and restaurants. This fundamental shift is a key principle of The MicroNutrient Solution. Within our modern food system, a new focus on food quality in terms of nutrient density will do more to address our individual and collective health challenges than any tax that can be imposed on food marketers. This is assuming such taxes could ever be passed in the first place.

About the Author, Chef Shedric Wallace, and the Book, The Micronutrient Solution:
Chef Shedric is former Vice President of Culinary Research and Development for The Olive Garden Restaurants and former Culinary Development Director for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. He spent most of his professional career studying what drives us to eat the way we eat. Now he is applying what he learned from years of sophisticated consumer research to a higher calling. Shedric is transforming lives by sharing the secrets to eating our way to great health and weight loss - rather than starving ourselves.

"As a professional researcher, I could not understand why I could not permanently lose weight myself, in spite of intense exercise and ridged dieting. Once I discovered the importance of eating an abundance of micronutrients daily, I spent the next two years validating the scientific principles behind The Micronutrient Solution"

In less than two years he read 50 books on diet, health, and nutrition and earned a certification as a nutrition consultant. His research led him to the conclusion that most of what we have been taught about dieting is simply wrong.

Shedric studied food science at California Polytechnic University, where he earned a Bachelor's in Science. He is also a graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. In addition, he holds a certification as a nutrition and wellness consultant.

Shedric honed his culinary skills at five star properties like the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington DC, a favorite of the world's politically elite, literally across the street from the White House and the Loews Santa Monica Beach Resort in Santa Monica California.

###

Visit The Healthful Chef Website

space