DECATUR — Wellness Secrets in Decatur is launching a new program under the direction of an innovative new chef.

Wellness Secrets was established in Decatur in 2004 and offers a restaurant, health food store and a number of programs that promote healthy eating and lifestyle. Chef GW Chew, who came to the center in September, specializes in making gourmet “plant-based food.”

Chew moved to Arkansas from Maryland, where he owned a healthy fast-food restaurant called Eating to Live in a converted former McDonald’s building, as well as a business which manufactured plant-based meat and sold it to local health food stores.

Chew said he became a vegan 11 years ago for spiritual and health reasons. He learned his love of cooking from his father, who was a great cook of traditional recipes. Chew has converted some of his father’s specialties, like fried chicken, into plant-based recipes.

Chew said the slogan for his fried chicken is “It looks like chicken, tastes like chicken, feels like chicken, but it’s not chicken - crispy on the outside and white on the inside.”

Chew said he prefers to refer to his meat products as plant-based rather than veggie or vegan. Following a plant-based diet is part of a movement that is occurring across the country as people look to live healthier lifestyles, according to Chew. He pointed to the many celebrities and public figures that have made the decision to follow a plant-based diet.

An example is former president Bill Clinton, who used a plant-based diet to get ready for his daughter Chelsea’s wedding and has decided to continue it because of the health benefits he’s experienced, Chew said.

Dr. Oz has also given his viewers a challenge to follow a plant-based diet for a month, and first lady Michelle Obama is working with Walmart to promote healthier eating and fight childhood obesity, he said.

Plant-based diets are extremely successful at helping patients deal with diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure, according to Sherry Trueblood.

Many participants in the Wellness Secrets program have been able to drastically reduce the medicine they take for diabetes and high blood pressure and some have even been able to reverse their adult onset diabetes, she said.

“We love to get diabeticsBy Janelle Jessen [email protected]because they do so well ... We want people to know there are solutions and there is help,” Trueblood said.

Wellness Secrets is working with Chew to launch a new 21-day meal program, which will provide participants with pre-prepared healthy foods that will help people lose weight, reduce their cholesterol and feel better.

The new program is a “solution to your New Year’s resolution,” according to Chew.

The staff has found many people want to adopt a healthy diet but find it difficult to adjust to cooking and preparing healthier food.

“They can have a personal chef for 21 days and in the process be learning simple recipes they can incorporate at home to carry on,” Trueblood said.

Chew hopes the program will be similar to Dr. Oz’s challenge. It will include weekly classes that cover topics such as cooking healthy recipes, lifestyle, preventing and reversing diabetes and major diseases.

The program will begin Feb. 20. Participants will pick up meals twice a week and classes will be held on Sunday afternoons. The menu will be made of entirely fresh foods such as wraps, soups, salads, sandwiches, entrees like spaghetti and meatballs with gravy, and breakfast items such as waffles, Chew said.

News, Pages 2 on 02/09/2011