Leave it to Alison

Leave it to Alison
Your Culinary Healthstyle Specialist 

What will I do for you as your culinary healthstyle specialist?

I want to show you that eating right is one of the most important things you can do for yourself as well as one of the most pleasurable! 

I am here to help you eat your way to a more healthy life.  Making changes are hard, but I believe that when the change involves well-prepared food, nothing could be more enjoyable.  Whether I am preparing meals for you, teaching you how to cook healthy cuisine, or equipping your kitchen with all the essentials, you can leave it to me to turn your lifestyle into a healthstyle.    

What types of food will make up your healthstyle menu?

I am a strong promoter of freshly prepared plant based foods (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds).   Their benefits are invaluable to your health.  Overwhelming amounts of evidence has established that  "deviating from a primarily plant based diet is a major factor in the development of heart disease, cancer, strokes, arthritis and many other chronic degenerative diseases."  Plant based foods are protective against these diseases, so it is my goal to provide you with meals, cooking lessons and kitchens that revolve around these healing foods.  

The Mediterranean diet allows me to build menus that focus on nutrient rich, plant based foods.  I encourage making food choices that are in agreement with this diet because it hails as one of the world's most healthy cuisines.  The Mediterranean diet is beneficial because it

• centers on an abundance of plants foods
• uses olive oil as its principal source of fat
• uses foods that are minimally processed 
• calls for a low to moderate consumption of dairy (mainly yogurt and cheese)
• calls for a regular consumption of fish
• calls for a moderate amount of poultry and eggs
• calls for an infrequent and small amount of red meat  

These are reasonable guidelines that don't ask you to make crazy changes in your life.  All you have to do is monitor certain areas and I am here to help you do just that! 

I also take a Mediterranean approach to ensure that your meals overflow with flavor.  Healthy foods are typically thought of as boring and unappetizing.  However, when I prepare them or teach you how to prepare them with a Mediterranean flare their simplicity and wholesomeness transforms into luxurious and aromatic masterpieces!   

Recently featured in Seen Magazine in the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette:

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 and in Housetrends Magazine   Custom Cooking 101:

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