How to Get the Most From Your Food (VIDEOS)
What if you could have the best of both worlds: healthy ingredients that taste good, too? That is what unique certification system SPE hopes to bring to restaurants and foodies everywhere. Watch Dr. Pam Peeke talk with SPE Culinary Nutritionist Andrea Canada about the mission behind SPE Certified meals and how you can get the most out of your food:
Dr. Pam Peeke (left) and SPE’s Andrea Canada (right). Photo courtesy of SPE.
WATCH: More video interviews with Dr. Pam Peeke!
The inspiration behind the SPE Certified system was born from the Latin phrase, Sanitas Per Escam, which literally means “Health through Food.”
“What we are trying to do is create meals that are nutritious, well-balanced, sustainably sourced and very, very delicious,” Canada said. “We want to give people more of what they need and less of what they don’t need.”
But since its founding in 2001, SPE has come to mean much more – a holistic approach that incorporates three pillars behind healthy and sustainable food:
- Sourcing: Selecting ingredients seasonally, locally and sustainably, with a focus on their nutritional characteristics.
- Preparing: Using specific cooking techniques that preserve the integrity and nutritional qualities of the ingredients.
- Enhancing: Optimizing nutritional density by the synergy of specific ingredient combinations.
Canada and her SPE team have incorporated several of their tried-and-true recipes into The Hunger Fix: The Three-Stage Detox and Recovery Plan for Overeating and Food Addiction, a new book from Dr. Pam Peeke that takes a look at the science behind food addiction and offers food addicts practical tips, educational nutrition advice and recipes to help transform their bodies.
Don’t just take our word for it: try this SPE Certified stone fruit crumble recipe that is healthy and nutritious. The proof is in the pudding…or rather the crumble!
Additionally, New Yorkers can test the food themselves at Rouge Tomate, a restaurant on the Upper East Side, which became the first restaurant group to offer a fully compliant SPE menu. Executive Chef Jeremy Bearman and Executive Pastry Chef James Distefano works directly with culinary nutritionist, Kristy Lambrou, R.D., to provide a combination of fine dining and nutritious food at their restaurant.
Related: 3 Ways to Kick Your Sugar Addiction
Watch Bearman and Lambrou talk with genConnect about how they work together to implement SPE Certified meals at NYC restaurant Rouge Tomate:
Executive Chef Jeremy Bearman
“You have this integration of nutritional principles with gastronomic principles of cooking and the two of them meld very well together and complement each other in many different ways,” Bearman says of the collaboration between himself and Lambrou.
Lambrou and Bearman both agree that choosing fresh ingredients is half of the battle of creating a nutritious dish. “One thing we focus on is the quality of calories that we are providing on the plate,” Lambrou said. “By default we end up serving dishes that are lower in calories than other restaurants because of the ingredients we use.”
Related: Chef Michel Nischan Says ‘Local Agriculture Creates a Dialogue’
Culinary Nutritionist Kristy Lambrou, RD
“We see more and more, especially in urban environments that eating out is actually a way of life,” Lambrou said. “We see a lot of people here eating out on a regular basis and it’s great to know there’s a place you can go where you can trust what is being given to you on every level.”
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