Chef, TV personality, and entrepreneur Rachael Ray celebrated her 40th birthday this month. Earlier this summer, she spilled to Health.com about her not-so-perfect diet, why she never hits the gym, and how she wants to help the next generation eat lighter.
1. Your newest book Yum-o! The Family Cookbook encourages families to cook together. What’s your favorite recipe in it?
Buffalo Chicken Chili. It tastes the same as something that’s bad for you, but it’s not. It’s got lean protein and lots of veggies that taste just like wings and blue cheese dip and all that bad for you stuff, but it’s absolutely delicious. You can make it with ground turkey, ground chicken, whatever’s cheapest that week.
2. How do you get kids interested in cooking?
Get the kids involved with the whole process. If they’re involved with learning where the food comes from, in shopping for the food, and you get them into the kitchen, it just happens naturally. They just want to be part of the meal. They want to eat it because they have this pride factor because they’ve been involved in the preparation of it.
3. What’s your personal eating philosophy?
It’s a volume thing for me—I like to eat a lot of food. The only way to do that and not become huge and grossly unhealthy is to mix in vegetables and lean protein. Plus I don’t eat processed food. I think processed foods pollute people, bloat them up, and make them hugely unhealthy. I just didn’t grow up with it, and you don’t miss what you don’t have. (Read more of Rachael’s eating strategies here.)
4. Pop quiz: What’s in your fridge right now?
In the fridge, there are lots of mustards and condiments: You can make a lot of different sauces with your kitchen door. In the vegetable drawer, I always have root vegetables (carrots, celery, onions) and fresh herbs. I buy them in big sacks so they’re always on hand. In the freezer: Nuts, flour, bread crumbs, dark chocolate that my husband likes. I don’t eat sweets. I’m a salty girl—I always pick salt over sweet.
5. What’s your biggest health challenge?
I never go to a gym. It’s terrible. I keep buying the card; it just mocks me when I open my wallet. I gotta get to a gym. I’m turning 40 this year and I gotta start taking it more seriously.
6. What’s your idea of the perfect day?
My family, my dog, good food, good wine, a late afternoon nap, and some great music and movies to enjoy. I’m a very homebody kind of person.
(PHOTO: RACHAELRAYMAG.COM)
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Comments (6)
Rachael,
Forget the gym. You obviously have your reasons for not going.
Hmmmm, how about the fact that you are famous, you have had your face plastered all over the gossip rags, you weight is over 100 lbs and you are probably not a size zero.
Maybe being the focus of attention while wearing minimal clothing and engaging in activities that you obviously don’t enjoy is sufficient reason for your not putting your gym membership to good use.
Hire a trainer or get a workout buddy.
Workout at your home
Make the exercise center around something you enjoy – sport, games, walking the dog, etc…
Make it painful to skip a workout – put your money where your mouth is – There is a story of a fella so determined to lose weight that he instructed a lawyer to send a cheque (a large & painful amount) to the American Nazi Party if he didn’t achieve his weight loss goals. Needless to say, he achieved his goal.
No, you don’t need to be that extreme, but sometimes the fear of loss, pain, embarrassment is enough of a motivator to get you to do what you know that you should be doing
DR
Why,when you take a package of chicken out of the fridge, do you NOT wash it? I was taught to always wash chicken, which is full of germs, and to not share the prep area with any other item.
hi rachel, your 30 minute is great . can u possible ive some more healthy heart recipes. thank u.
i have been trying for the longest time to get tickets for your show, why is it so difficult? i adore the simplicity of her show and believe that she encourages the average person to turn their lives around before its too late. she is like a sister, best friend, and close next door neighbor. the youth of today are not being taught how to eat well, and they will suffer very much in the future. keep up the good work.
What’s this? Rachael does not eat processed foods? That’s funny…. then why does she have so many recipes involving , for example… hot dogs. Not to mention salami, and bacon. Not to mention cooking the bacon in olive oil (as if bacon isn’t fatty enough.) So what gives Rachael?
Also, if Rachael really doesn’t eat processed foods then why has she sold herself to promote Burger King, Nabisco, and Dunkin’ Donuts? I’m surprised that the interviewer here didn’t ask any follow up on such a bizarre statement.