Alain Braux is a classically trained French Chef as well as a Macrobiotic Chef and a Nutritherapist (whatever that means). More to the point, he makes sense and that’s all you have to know. America does so many great things, but our food culture is somewhat in shambles. We enjoy some of the best medical care in the world, but we might be the unhealthiest nation on the planet. Fast Foods are no longer fast enough and we are so busy being busy that we don’t take the time to enjoy life’s simple (and most important) pleasures. His book includes simple recipes that combine real food that is both healthy and delicious. Chef Braux resides and works in Austin, Texas.
BB: The Book is called “How to Lower your Cholesterol with French Gourmet Food”. The title has us thinking about the infamous Atkins Diet where one loses weight by eating steak and fried foods.
Chef: I do believe that one should avoid fried foods, but red meat is another issue. The word here is moderation - and I strongly suggest you select grass-fed beef or free-range bison and enjoy meat maybe once per week.
BB: That answer is going to upset a lot of people who love meat. Once a week is not going to cut it.
Chef: It is very important to understand what my book is really about. Our society is burdened with the predicted fallout from not eating properly - heartburn, digestive problems, hypoglycemia, type-2 diabetes, weight gain, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart problems, strokes and cancer, to name a few. We feed our body junk and as wonderful a living machine as it was created, it starts breaking down due to the abuse we subject it to. If you fill your car with regular gasoline when it’s supposed to run on premium, eventually your engine will start to malfunction and will eventually break down. It amazes me that the vast majority of people in this country maintain their cars but not their bodies. And they wonder why they get sick!
BB: Are you actually suggesting that French gourmet food is the answer?
Chef: When American people think of French cooking, they tend to think about rich food loaded with butter and cream, the way the old-fashioned “grande cuisine” used to be. Although there are still a few French restaurants of that type out there,
one major trend and one regional way of eating has moved modern French cuisine away from that stereotype. For more than thirty years, the major trend in French cooking has been the Nouvelle Cuisine created by a group of young and revolutionary chefs in the 1970’s - Chef Fernand Point and his pupils and followers, a group that includes Michel Guerard, Roger Verge, Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel and the pâtissier Gaston Lenotre. They believe that good food should not be loaded with dairy products or heavy sauces. Good food (lightly cooked) should stand on its own by the quality and the utmost freshness of its ingredients.
BB: When you talk about “quality” and the “utmost freshness,” you are also talking about expensive.
Chef: Let’s talk about what’s really expensive. We have been trained to believe that the only way to stay healthy is to trust the modern medicine way of healing through chemical medication and physical surgery. I believe that it is the wrong way to look at it. If we feed our body’s healthy food to begin with, we are less likely to need these harsh treatments. I prefer to spend a little more money now while enjoying good-tasting healthy food than spend all my money later in expensive supplements, health insurance premiums, doctor’s treatments or hospital bills. Why not enjoy life
and the good health provided to us by nature, and prevent disease in the process?
BB: Your book is very personal because you admit to spending years making serious nutritional mistakes.
Chef: I was a pastry chef for thirty years and I literally overdosed on sugar. Not surprisingly, I developed a problem with my cholesterol. My job was damaging my health and I knew it was time to make some radical changes and develop a new way of living. My book is about my journey and what worked and continues to work for me.
PP: You mentioned an overdose on sugar. Isn’t America basically a country totally hooked on sugar?
Chef: The average American consumes some 150 pounds of assorted sweeteners per year. An American child consumes twice as much, mostly in the form of soft drinks. Sugar is an addictive substance and can increase cholesterol and it can even cause atherosclerosis.
PP: What about America’s unrelenting love for fast foods?
Chef: My advice is as follows - Never, Never, NEVER eat at fast food establishments - (notice, I did not use the term restaurant) as their food is almost always fried and very unhealthy for you. If you’re curious to know more, watch the documentary “Supersize Me” by Morgan Spurlock. This movie will open your eyes to the dangers of fast (fried) food.
BB: You prefer butter over margerine.
Chef: For decades, nutritionists, physicians, and health publications have sold the public on the idea that margarine is “heart smart”. Margarine is a product of
hydrogenation and is far more dangerous to your health than butter. The fats it contains are not compatible with human body chemistry. They have a higher
melting point than body temperature, which means they will not melt inside your body, so they circulate in your bloodstream as a solid fat.
BB: Is it time to throw away the microwave?
Chef: The short answer to that question is yes. Our fast-paced lifestyle forces us to eat on the run, swallow fast food and reheat convenience industrialized
meals loaded with chemicals and artificial flavorings, colorings and preservatives. Let’s be honest about it: many commercially-prepared foods are woefully low in nutrients. Heating these foods in microwave ovens can further reduce what little nutritional value they began with. We are eating nutritionally-dead food and we wonder why we are hungry two hours after eating a meal.
BB: What is it that differentiates the French approach to food?
Chef: For French people, food is appreciated for its own goodness and the pleasure it can bring. Unlike Americans, the French typically do not care so much about nutrition. They don’t count calories and they don’t analyze every single molecule in their food to find out if it’s good for them. If it’s fresh, well prepared and tastes good, that’s all that counts. We should not have to obsess about our food; healthy food can and should be one of life’s pleasures
BB: You suggest that people eat less meat and even avoid fast foods, but that’s not about to happen. Smoking can kill you, but millions still smoke. Can your book make any difference?
Chef: Healthy dining is up to the individual. You give them the information and they make their own choices. As a chef, I have a responsibility to share information that I believe will help people live better lives. I can’t force my views on anybody, and my words probably won’t change the food culture in America. Having said that, I intend to keep preaching about what works for me and what I believe is right.
www.alainbraux.com - (his book can also be ordered on Amazon.com)
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