As a kid, I used to get “sick food” from my Mom whenever I’d catch the flu.  Inevitably that would mean soup, saltines and her love. As an adult, no one likes getting sick, especially since mommy can’t be around, but I at least still have some yummy “sick food” choices. When my brain feels soupy from me catching the latest flu bug circulating the office, I let it get soaked up by Celebrity Foods’ Home-style Chicken Noodle Soup.

Celebrity Foods Home-style Chicken Noodle Soup tastes like it was made from the heart. Its thick noodles, diced chicken, shoestring carrots, and bits of celery make up a hearty bite too.

Some things change, as you get older….

Cooking Instructions

Break the ingredients in the bag apart by hitting the bag on the side of a counter. Cut the bag lengthwise and crosswise. Empty the contents of the bag into a pot or double boiler. If a double boiler is not used, the soup must be stirred more often to avoid scorching it.

Add 2 quarts of hot water per bag of soup unless the bag specifies otherwise. Heat the soup to 180F, stirring frequently. Once the soup reaches 180F, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and hold it there for 45 minutes with the lid on. Continue stirring the soup occasionally to thoroughly blend the ingredients. Maintain a 140 to 160F temperature at all times. 

It always seems that beginning around New Year, discussion here at Celebrity Foods seems to turn toward fitness goals.  I'm sure the same discussion goes on at your job. Most indices determine one’s healthy weight in relation to one’s height. Does that me that fitness goals are specific to one’s height as well?  Recently, with our height in mind, the crew and I talked about what foods were in our diet and how much we exercised. Diet or exercise, we wondered, which should get more focus in achieving one’s ideal body weight?  I found my answers online of course, in Forbes Magazine’s latest issue. I thought I should share my take on this with you. It turns out that my co-workers and I should share the same fitness goals in spite of our differences in height.

Diet

We often eat for enjoyment, but we obviously eat to survive as well.  In order to maximize our health there are certain nutrients we need for our internal organs and bones to stay healthy and strong. Some fat should be included in our diet, just the good stuff though, like omega -3-fatty acids, which help reduce strain on the heart, blood clots, and heart beat irregularities. This good fat can be found in fish oil from common fish like my favorite, Celebrity Foods Alaskan Salmon Fillets. If you drink coffee or tea, drink just as much water. Water helps process or metabolize stored fat, contains natural antioxidants, and our bodies need it to resupply the percentage of water our bodies are made up of.

If it’s energy you need more of, switch from candy and coffee to vegetables. That candy bar snack doesn’t taste good because it has good fat in it. That’s the sugar content talkin. That quick jolt in the afternoon that soda gives you which makes you crash a few hours later. Many better choices, like asparagus, contain the natural energy boost – Vitamin C.  Carrots might help you stare at the computer screen better too, providing the vision health booster, Vitamin A. Crave longevity over a taste quick fix. You’re still hungry when you’re not getting enough nutrients in your body.

When it comes to maintaining strong healthy muscles, eating meat in moderation gives you the protein needed for that. Eating meat in moderation also helps prevent fatigue. My favorite protein is my habitual Friday night treat, Celebrity Foods’ protein and iron rich Porterhouse Steak, with its mouth-watering flavor (okay, that was a shameless plug).

Exercise

Work at Celebrity Foods definitely feels like exercise sometimes, hustling and bustling from one office to the next, but I’m just as busy when I sleep. Getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night is exercise for my body. It rejuvenates as I sleep, processing nutrients. While I’m awake though, I plan to go to the gym and meet with a fitness expert on creating a 3-4 day workout schedule. While my legs and feet are getting the workout when I’m hustling and bustling from one office to the next, the rest of me is not.

Forbes.com mentions in their latest issue that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta states that “60% of the U.S. population aged 20 and older is obese.”  The “SuperSize Me” movie may not be that far off or funny…and although each person is truly unique when it comes to figuring out one’s ideal body weight, staying at that healthy weight seems to be the same process for all of us.

Know of any tasty and healthy alternatives to fatty foods? Want to start a jogging or work out group? Reply to this post with your ideas and suggestions. They are welcome and encouraged.

“Baking may be regarded as a science, but it’s the chemistry between the ingredients and the cook that gives desserts life. Baking is done out of love, to share with family and friends, to see them smile.”

-         Anna Olson

Chef and hostess of the all-dessert show Sugar on Food Network Canada.

The Celebrity Foods website has gotten a makeover! New additions to the site include a recipe ingredients database and food resource material. Check it out at:

http://www.celebrityfoods.com/

At the 2006 Pomona Home Show, Celebrity Foods will greet thousands of homeowners looking for ways to improve their homes, gardens, and lives. As always, Celebrity Foods will be serving up samples of their high quality tasty food. With giveaways, live music, and a great weather forecast, the show should be a lot of fun. Don’t miss out on this once a year experience – stop by the Celebrity Foods booth at the 2006 Pomona Home Show and try a bite of their lean Barbeque Beef Brisket or their New York Cheesecake. There’s something here for the whole family to enjoy.

A True Story From The Field

As I reflect upon my childhood, it dawns on me that I was destined to work with Celebrity Foods.  I'm sure as Celebrity Foods Alumni, you feel the same way too. While I sell things like Celebrity Foods delicious New York Steak on a daily basis now, my earlier steak experiences were quite different.

When I was a kid, my best friend Gary and I would go exploring for cows and bulls to scare on the fields of Spangler Farm. The fields had a stream flowing through it, hills to roll down, and plenty of dirt to play in too. The fields also had a big bull roaming on them. One day Gary and I thought it would be funny to hide behind some bushes near the bull and wait ’til he wasn’t looking to scare him with our waving arms - stake him out.  Well, the future Celebrity Foods steak had another idea. When we weren’t looking, the bull walked up behind us and started acting like he was going to charge at us. Gary and I ran all the way to the fence at the end of the farm, without looking back, and jumped over the fence before taking a breath. The future Celebrity Foods’ steak had staked US out.

Without having to sneak up on it, I just enjoy eating my steak now while not giving it a chance to stake me out. If you have any stories about being chased by your future meal, please reply to this post.

The Fourth Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary defines well-being as “the state of being healthy, happy, or prosperous.” Although we can’t pick healthy, happy, and prosperous from a tree, I think, you as Celebrity Foods' former employees and as human beings, the fast track to well-being is simple. You just have to want it.

Let’s start with being healthy. I truly believe our activities and eating habits determine how healthy we are. As a Celebrity Foods’ employee, I see my co-workers take these two factors into consideration when designing programs for our customers. However, all too often we forget that their needs are our needs too. We must remember to engage in daily activity which may be as simple as walking across the parking lot to our cars every evening after work. If that’s all the exercise we get for the day then we should also try to stretch our legs and arms a couple times while at our desks. When it comes to our eating habits, we should keep in mind the food pyramid we learned in school, then add in special brain food like my favorite, chai tea. It’s all about the balancing act, what we want to do and what we want from our bodies. A healthy body also maintains a healthy mind.

Happiness is in the middle. While we’re trying to reach a goal, personal or professional, we hear a lot of suggestions from friends, family and co-workers. If we take all those suggestions, in addition to our own thoughts, into consideration, we have plenty of information to reach our goal. We just have to compromise to come up with a real solution to our goal that makes us happy and then we’re half way to well-being.

Our shoulders are the middle bridge connecting our arms and spine. It’s been said by many that we hold our stress in our shoulders. I say just roll that stress off. And then stretch those shoulders by raising your arms up to the sky to welcome not just relaxation in your shoulders but a new perspective on things. Adjust to stay on the road.

Prosperity completes well-being. Everyone defines and measures success differently with the same main goal in common. My friend Brett defines success as having the ability to laugh all day long. Today, as a Celebrity Foods employee, I will measure success by the number of minutes I have left in my day for mindless television shows. I want to fill my days and nights with more productive time. Each of us takes some time to think about success. That’s what it’s all about.

Healthy, happy, and prosperous, I am, at the moment, in the state of well-being, sitting in the Celebrity Foods’ Alumni blog tree.