Free Healthy Eating Seminar in Manurewa & Otara

Want to know how to prepare a healthy family meal for less than $20? How about learning new smart cooking methods and meals that can be prepared within half an hour?

Then head to the Manurewa Leisure Centre on 29 October at 10.30am or Otara Library at 1.30pm for chef Garth Hokianga's free Eat to Live seminar.

The seminars are part of Manukau City Council's healthy lifestyles programme for residents, held across the city throughout October. Leisure Manager Brett Jude says that the seminars are designed to help people manage their busy lifestyles.

Garth says that if you live to eat then maybe it's time you learnt to eat to live too. "The recipe for healthy cooking is simple - high protein and low carbohydrate. But that doesn't mean you have to embark on a draconian deprivation regime. Eating to live means changing your eating habits, not for week, or for a month, but for life and that makes it all about balance, moderation and common sense.

"What you purchase at the supermarket obviously goes into your home and eventually into your stomach, so shop smart. Healthy eating begins with the right ingredients."

Garth's seminar will include easy healthy life style tips such as working more fresh vegetables into your cooking, learning to snack smart, replace oil with healthy alternatives, ways to prepare food to minimise fat intake, and replacing the fat in your baking by using low fat sour cream or applesauce.

Garth Hokianga is a chef, food photographer and published author, with a cooking career that spans five-star restaurants, police crime scenes, royal kitchens, international expos, super yachts and paddocks without power or running water. His trademark combination of healthy, delicious food has made him a highly sought after personal chef, who has cooked for such luminaries as Dustin Hoffman and the Sultan of Brunei.

Garth's style is one of balanced simplicity, as he sees the art of modern meal preparation becoming more refined. "Today, taste is only one element; the food you eat should also be nutritionally sound," he says.

"Cooking with fat is just a cheap trick. There's no skill involved in putting a cup of butter on something because, yes, fat tastes great and it does fill you up, but it's not what you need or probably want. On the other hand, I don't believe in rabbit food. I've always maintained that you can have satisfying tastes that give you energy and make you feel good. It's all a matter of balance."

" I first started cooking to get out of fishing. My father was a crayfisherman and the 3 a.m. starts, coupled with childhood seasickness, sent me searching for some other way to help. Cooking the crayfish too big to sell at the markets became my way of pitching in and, to this day, fresh leg meat in white bread still takes some beating. Sharing the bounty with the neighbourhood gave me my first inkling into just how much everyone loves to be cooked for and, even after 15 years as a professional chef, that's still what gets me going."

Garth Hokianga wrote, styled and photographed his new recipe book The Outdoor Table - great NZ eating for garden, balcony and beach. The book focuses on outdoor dining, using seasonal produce and getting back to the flavours Mother Nature designed to go together. In November 2002, The Outdoor Table won 'Best Entertaining book in the English language' at the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

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