Healthy Cooking 101: In their words
Class session number six, Homemade Tomato Soup with Grilled Paninis at Chuck’s Produce & Street Market was another success. There were 23 eager class participants in the crowd with half of them being repeat visitors. I’m so very excited that folks are excited. Seems to me people may be looking to cook at home again. Maybe, just maybe, I’ve lit their fire.
Here’s an email I received from two of the ladies who are repeat participants:
*Today we attended our third Healthy Cooking 101 class. We weren’t sure what to expect at the Southwest Chicken Soup class in early October, which was our first class. By the time it was over, we had been inspired and entertained by Chrisetta. These classes are so much more than just a cooking class. She talks passionately about her personal journey of weight loss and learning how to eat healthy. She shares what she has learned about nutrition and healthy eating. It is obvious that she cares about what she’s doing and wants to change people’s lives. And she does it all while cooking very good food that we get to sample.
You know how you visit a good friend for dinner and sit at her kitchen bar chatting with her while she cooks? Her classes are like that but with more friends!
Why do we drive from Milwaukie to Vancouver for Chrisetta’s classes? She is inspirational, passionate, knowledgeable, and so easy to relate to. Oh, and she cooks like nobody’s business!*
~Nena and Tami Williams
Chrisetta Mosley
I am a product – and now a survivor – of childhood obesity. As a child, my family always told me that my extra weight was merely baby fat and I’d eventually grow out of it. I never did. Instead, my childhood is filled with memories of not being able to ride a bike, flattening its training wheels from being over the recommended weight, and avoiding P.E. classes by any means necessary. For years, I wore my fatness like a wounded soldier wears a Purple Heart - with pride. I owned the look. I dressed it up. I worked the room. There wasn't a skinny girl who intimidated me. I made sure my hair was laid just right. Nails polished. Outfits coordinated to the tee. Accessories to compliment every outfit. But everyone has a breaking point, and mine came in the spring of 2004 when I tipped the scale at nearly 400 pounds 388 to be exact. I was MISERABLE trapped inside of that body. I no longer wore my Purple Heart with pride. Rather, I was ashamed and frightened. Ashamed that I had allowed food to become my everything – frightened I would die because of it. Drastic times called for drastic measures... Today, I’m bound and determined to live a better, healthier, active lifestyle. I realize I’m no longer a passenger in my life, I’m the driver. I’m overcoming my inhibitions and I’m slowly but surely saying farewell to my old childhood nemesis, obesity. For once and for all, Farewell Fatso!