Welcome to my website, my name is Greg Fleischaker, maybe you’ve seen me on TV recently? No? Didn’t think so. I’m not famous, I’ve never been to culinary school and I don’t have a team of extras to run around prepping food for me, or even do my grocery shopping.
I’m just a regular guy from the mid-west who likes to cook. I’m married with two children, and in my house, I am the one largely responsible for stocking the fridge and getting food on the table every night. And if, as I sit down with my wife and children, I can provide a fairly nutritious meal and avoid most of the dietary pitfalls so common in our society, then that is just the icing on the cake, so to speak!
Which is what has lead me to read so much about what ails our society, the fact that many of us are literally filling our mouths day in and day out with food-like products that are making us sick. This compelled me to be a bit more thoughtful about my cooking. Am I doing the very best I can for my family? Am I helping them be the healthiest and happiest people they could be? Or am I contributing to their eventual poor health by not taking the time to research our grocery list and cooking whatever popped into my head an hour before I wanted to eat?
And that brings me to this site… born largely as a challenge from my wife and kids, to serve two purposes. First, my children wanted a digital collection of the meals they grew up with, to help them as they eventually transition into college and life beyond.
And second, I wanted a space for myself to experiment and discover my evolving food philosophies. Am I willing to give up gluten, and do I know why I would even try? What about sugar, or carbs, or fats or whatever the newest potential evil ingredient is that I “must” avoid in order to be a healthy functional adult in today’s society?
But why stop with just food? Once I started reading about modern society’s food choices and farming practices, it’s a small step to learning about overall health, and how exercise, air and light quality and other lifestyle choices affect our bodies and our everyday experiences.
On this website, I post a few of my favorite and newest recipes, including pictures and instructions, and occasionally even a video. Each recipe includes an attempt at being a more conscious eater, aware of what I am buying and why, and thinking about what I am feeding my wife and children. My goal here is to pretty well document a somewhat fail-proof recipe while using what I think are the best ingredients to fulfill the purpose of that particular recipe.
Sometimes that may mean finding a way to introduce as many vegetables and healthy fats into a meal as possible, in order to provide my body the essential building blocks for a well functioning and disease free body. And other times, it might very well be a special treat, some sweet sugar and flour concoction that may not be especially healthy, but might just hit the spot after an especially stressful week or nice reward for a job well done.
It would be nice to think that after a full day working that we all had time to put together one of those awesome looking gourmet recipes from a fancy cookbook, but alas, it is not to be. At least for me. With kids, sports, musical lessons, chess games, dance classes, homework, my work, wife’s work… I am lucky to get everyone to the table at the same time for dinner, much less prepare a five course dinner made with 10 pans and 20 ingredients!
That’s why I search for, and save, those recipes and techniques that just flat work, that allow me to cook something that my family appreciates, is flavorful and actually has some nutritional benefits still attached. These may not be gourmet dishes, but they are good, solid meals that I am proud to serve my friends and family.
So that was the thought process for the first few years of this website, tracking my dietary evolution. But I found that the more I learned about what I put into my body, the more interested I become in what I might expect from my body, and how to push my boundaries a little bit.
I’m not interested in becoming at body builder, certainly not at my age! But I am interested in learning how to grow older with youthfulness, energy and vitality. So in much the same way as I’ve documented a few of my culinary go-to dishes, I also use this platform to document my most successful exercises for physical growth. And mental health as well. What’s the point of taking care of my body, if I allow my mind to slip?
So follow along if you wish, and do me the favor of sharing some of your favorite recipes and exercises that promote the healthy lifestyle we all desire!
Thanks for visiting,
Greg Fleischaker