If grilling pears seems odd, chef Kevin Palone took it up a notch by grilling lettuce for graduate students at a talk about healthy living yesterday.
Attendees were treated to a cooking demonstration, nutrition workshop and a presentation on how to prevent heart disease at the Graduate Student Center.
Nurse Sally Hammerman shared her knowledge of nutrition with the group. She focused on the importance of healthy snacks.
Hammerman answered a number of questions from the audience, and she instructed attendees to avoid eating too much meat because protein can be found in healthier sources such as peanuts.
Hammerman said some of her favorite healthy snacks include fruits, vegetables and trail mix.
Additionally, chocolate has nutritional value because it is an anti-depressant, and "the darker the chocolate, the healthier." She also noted that oatmeal helps to lower cholesterol.
Hammerman gave everyone a packet that contained recipes for sweet but healthy snack foods, including fruit smoothies and breakfast roll-ups with fruit. .
Palone -- the executive chef at Whole Foods Market -- did a cooking demonstration that included samples for the audience.
The first dish was lightly seasoned romaine lettuce, which he grilled in front of everyone on a George Foreman grill. According to Palone, grilling lettuce gives it a more unique taste.
Next, he prepared a pasta dish garnished with bell peppers and squash. The third and final item on the menu was grilled pears -- which gave the pears a sweeter taste.
Vivek Sailam, a cardiology fellow at the Drexel University College of Medicine, gave a detailed presentation about the leading cause of death in America: heart disease.
Sailam said that while heart disease has a genetic component, there are also preventative measures one can take to prevent it later in life. His formula: "proper diet plus exercise equals the fountain of youth."
Given that most of the audience was in their 20s, one might question the relevance of heart disease. Sailam pointed out that fatty deposits of cholesterol can begin to block coronary arteries in people 15 to 25 years of age, which could eventually lead to a heart attack years later.
He also encouraged people to talk with their doctors before taking any herbal supplements, warning that that herbal supplements -- including protein shakes -- are not always regulated, and could possibly pose a health problem for people.
Besides new knowledge of healthy eating, several attendees won aprons, and a gift certificate to Whole Foods Market was given away.
