Zeno Swijtink
07-16-2008, 07:25 AM
Restaurateur heads wellness efforts
By Theresa Harrington
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched: 07/13/2008 04:18:55 PM PDT
https://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2008/0713/20080713__ecct0714herogershen09~1_Gallery.JPG
Cindy Gershen, right, chef and owner of Sunrise Bistro prepares healthy foods and dishes up roasted vegetables in olive oil for her niece Tanya Pearce on Thursday, April 12, 2007, in Walnut Creek, California. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Contra Costa Times)
https://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2008/0713/20080713__ecct0714herogershen01~1_Gallery.JPG
Hometown Hero Cindy Gershen the owner of Sunrise Bistro in Walnut Creek Calif. launched the non-[profit "Wellness Challenge" in the city, which has partnered with schools and seniors in Rossmoor, encouraging them to walk each day. She also is spear headed the city's Healthy Restaurant Association, which challenge restaurants to eliminate trans fat, reduce high fructose corn syrups and offer healthy food options. Pictured here she cuts up some fruit in the kitchen at the Sunrise Bistro along side Carlos Campos. (Dan Rosenstrauch/Contra Costa Times)
Video
• Learning to eat well (https://medianewsgroup.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/medianewsgroup-bang-insidebayare-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=cctcomcastviral&maven_referralPlaylistId=4ca3358fe6a13b69b30b801a912de6fa4495447d&maven_referralObject=94226d96-beec-47a4-ba29-474f66e2c0b8)
Bio
• NAME: Cindy Gershen
• AGE: 52
• HOMETOWN: Born in Oakland, lives in Walnut Creek
• OCCUPATION: Executive chef and owner of Sunrise Bistro
• COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Spearheaded Walnut Creek Wellness City Challenge and Healthy Restaurant Association.
• QUOTE: "I'm an agent for change."
• INFORMATION: Wellness challenge, 925-943-7862 or www.wellnesscitychallenge.com
WALNUT CREEK — Cindy Gershen is a petite dynamo.
She is sweeping up people in a monumental cause — to transform the way people eat, exercise and think about health and wellness.
"It's very exciting to see it taking off," Gershen said, during a break at the Sunrise Bistro restaurant, which she owns and operates. "I'm an agent for change."
She speaks rapidly, emphatically and from the heart. Her dark brown eyes, determined facial expressions and enthusiastic body language come on strong, yet leave listeners eager to help.
"I'm really inspired by her passion, energy and commitment," said Walnut Creek Transportation Commission Chairman Kish Rajan, who wants to extend Gershen's walking programs for children and seniors to residents throughout the city. "There are really only a few people who step up in communities and are really tireless to find vehicles to make positive change. She's motivated me to reach out to my peers to find a way to do this."
In the past few years, Gershen has had a similar influence on dozens of people. She dreams big and is not afraid to ask people to join her quest to leave the world a healthier place for the children who will inherit it.
"She's dynamic and able to bring so many talents together," said Vinita Ramsay, who is working with Gershen on a pilot nutritional food program in the Acalanes school district, based in Lafayette. "I don't think anybody can argue that she can make things happen. She's just a wonderful asset to the community and I think people take her seriously, because she's been through a lot herself, so people respect where she's coming from."
The vivacious, joyful woman whose zeal spreads through people she meets, was once frustrated, overweight and unhappy.
"I have been struggling with weight my whole life," said Gershen, 52. "I like food and I'm in the food business."
At 5 feet 3 and 115 pounds, she's the picture of fitness. But 17 years ago, she looked and felt much different.
By age 35, she had eaten her way up to 210 pounds.
"I was so miserable," Gershen said. "I just kept eating and eating. I withdrew into the kitchen."
By eating whole foods such as fresh vegetables and eliminating sugars from her diet, she dropped 100 pounds. But then she gained most of it back.
Her husband, pediatrician Dr. Lance Gershen, began observing her.
"It's not that you're not eating the right things," he told his wife. "You're eating too much."
A light bulb went off in Cindy Gershen's head.
"I didn't really know how to eat," she said. "What is a meal? What is a snack?"
She modified her diet and took off the weight, seemingly for good. Then, she began talking to others about her self-awareness journey and preparing the kinds of foods in her restaurant that she could serve to her customers with a clear conscience.
"I never thought that I was making you fat or that I was hurting you," Gershen said. "It was lack of knowledge."
Now, she's on a mission to teach the community what she learned herself. She's accomplishing her goal little by little, by reaching out to individuals in schools, the Rossmoor senior community in Walnut Creek, local government, universities, hospitals and restaurants to build a coalition of people focused on health.
"We're playing off each other," Gershen said. "It makes so much sense. It's all this collaboration."
She's involved in so many projects with so many people, it's dizzying to comprehend. Yet she's pushing for more.
"We get swept along in the current along with her," Ramsay said. "You don't fight it. You just flow with it."
Gershen spearheaded the Walnut Creek Wellness City Challenge a few years ago, encouraging children and seniors in Rossmoor to walk each day. Later, she launched the city's Healthy Restaurant Association, which challenges restaurants to eliminate trans fats, reduce high-fructose corn syrups, offer healthy food options such as fruits and vegetables, and disseminate nutritional information about menu items to customers, by request.
She's currently working to spread these ideas in neighboring communities such as Concord, Martinez and Pittsburg. In addition, Gershen is meeting with school officials and parents such as Ramsay to create a comprehensive nutrition program at Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek that would allow students to take part in growing, cooking and serving food. Simultaneously, Gershen has established a small committee trying to create meal-planning guidelines for parents, schools and restaurants that will help people understand how to read product labels and select healthy food for their families.
"We will then be sending these recommendations to (state Sen.) Tom Torlakson and (Assemblyman) Mark DeSaulnier, and hopefully they will take these to the state," Gershen said. "We've got to educate people on all these things."
She's also tying in recycling and proper solid waste disposal, in an effort to get people thinking about sustainability as an important part of community health. She was so concerned about childhood obesity and the increasing prevalence of diabetes that she recently convinced Dr. Robert Lustig, a UC San Francisco pediatrician, to speak about his research regarding the effects of sugar at Las Lomas High School. This led to a John Muir Obesity Symposium in June.
"I am on the front line," Gershen said. "I am in the trenches. We need a lot of soldiers in this. But it's so doable."
Building on each success, Gershen looks for new opportunities to get her health and wellness messages to the community.
"If everyone's got the same information, in five years you'll see a change in the way we eat, which will impact our health," Gershen says. "My goal isn't to tell you what to eat or where to eat, it's to empower you to make better choices, because that's how I did it for me."
By Theresa Harrington
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched: 07/13/2008 04:18:55 PM PDT
https://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2008/0713/20080713__ecct0714herogershen09~1_Gallery.JPG
Cindy Gershen, right, chef and owner of Sunrise Bistro prepares healthy foods and dishes up roasted vegetables in olive oil for her niece Tanya Pearce on Thursday, April 12, 2007, in Walnut Creek, California. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Contra Costa Times)
https://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2008/0713/20080713__ecct0714herogershen01~1_Gallery.JPG
Hometown Hero Cindy Gershen the owner of Sunrise Bistro in Walnut Creek Calif. launched the non-[profit "Wellness Challenge" in the city, which has partnered with schools and seniors in Rossmoor, encouraging them to walk each day. She also is spear headed the city's Healthy Restaurant Association, which challenge restaurants to eliminate trans fat, reduce high fructose corn syrups and offer healthy food options. Pictured here she cuts up some fruit in the kitchen at the Sunrise Bistro along side Carlos Campos. (Dan Rosenstrauch/Contra Costa Times)
Video
• Learning to eat well (https://medianewsgroup.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/medianewsgroup-bang-insidebayare-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=cctcomcastviral&maven_referralPlaylistId=4ca3358fe6a13b69b30b801a912de6fa4495447d&maven_referralObject=94226d96-beec-47a4-ba29-474f66e2c0b8)
Bio
• NAME: Cindy Gershen
• AGE: 52
• HOMETOWN: Born in Oakland, lives in Walnut Creek
• OCCUPATION: Executive chef and owner of Sunrise Bistro
• COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Spearheaded Walnut Creek Wellness City Challenge and Healthy Restaurant Association.
• QUOTE: "I'm an agent for change."
• INFORMATION: Wellness challenge, 925-943-7862 or www.wellnesscitychallenge.com
WALNUT CREEK — Cindy Gershen is a petite dynamo.
She is sweeping up people in a monumental cause — to transform the way people eat, exercise and think about health and wellness.
"It's very exciting to see it taking off," Gershen said, during a break at the Sunrise Bistro restaurant, which she owns and operates. "I'm an agent for change."
She speaks rapidly, emphatically and from the heart. Her dark brown eyes, determined facial expressions and enthusiastic body language come on strong, yet leave listeners eager to help.
"I'm really inspired by her passion, energy and commitment," said Walnut Creek Transportation Commission Chairman Kish Rajan, who wants to extend Gershen's walking programs for children and seniors to residents throughout the city. "There are really only a few people who step up in communities and are really tireless to find vehicles to make positive change. She's motivated me to reach out to my peers to find a way to do this."
In the past few years, Gershen has had a similar influence on dozens of people. She dreams big and is not afraid to ask people to join her quest to leave the world a healthier place for the children who will inherit it.
"She's dynamic and able to bring so many talents together," said Vinita Ramsay, who is working with Gershen on a pilot nutritional food program in the Acalanes school district, based in Lafayette. "I don't think anybody can argue that she can make things happen. She's just a wonderful asset to the community and I think people take her seriously, because she's been through a lot herself, so people respect where she's coming from."
The vivacious, joyful woman whose zeal spreads through people she meets, was once frustrated, overweight and unhappy.
"I have been struggling with weight my whole life," said Gershen, 52. "I like food and I'm in the food business."
At 5 feet 3 and 115 pounds, she's the picture of fitness. But 17 years ago, she looked and felt much different.
By age 35, she had eaten her way up to 210 pounds.
"I was so miserable," Gershen said. "I just kept eating and eating. I withdrew into the kitchen."
By eating whole foods such as fresh vegetables and eliminating sugars from her diet, she dropped 100 pounds. But then she gained most of it back.
Her husband, pediatrician Dr. Lance Gershen, began observing her.
"It's not that you're not eating the right things," he told his wife. "You're eating too much."
A light bulb went off in Cindy Gershen's head.
"I didn't really know how to eat," she said. "What is a meal? What is a snack?"
She modified her diet and took off the weight, seemingly for good. Then, she began talking to others about her self-awareness journey and preparing the kinds of foods in her restaurant that she could serve to her customers with a clear conscience.
"I never thought that I was making you fat or that I was hurting you," Gershen said. "It was lack of knowledge."
Now, she's on a mission to teach the community what she learned herself. She's accomplishing her goal little by little, by reaching out to individuals in schools, the Rossmoor senior community in Walnut Creek, local government, universities, hospitals and restaurants to build a coalition of people focused on health.
"We're playing off each other," Gershen said. "It makes so much sense. It's all this collaboration."
She's involved in so many projects with so many people, it's dizzying to comprehend. Yet she's pushing for more.
"We get swept along in the current along with her," Ramsay said. "You don't fight it. You just flow with it."
Gershen spearheaded the Walnut Creek Wellness City Challenge a few years ago, encouraging children and seniors in Rossmoor to walk each day. Later, she launched the city's Healthy Restaurant Association, which challenges restaurants to eliminate trans fats, reduce high-fructose corn syrups, offer healthy food options such as fruits and vegetables, and disseminate nutritional information about menu items to customers, by request.
She's currently working to spread these ideas in neighboring communities such as Concord, Martinez and Pittsburg. In addition, Gershen is meeting with school officials and parents such as Ramsay to create a comprehensive nutrition program at Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek that would allow students to take part in growing, cooking and serving food. Simultaneously, Gershen has established a small committee trying to create meal-planning guidelines for parents, schools and restaurants that will help people understand how to read product labels and select healthy food for their families.
"We will then be sending these recommendations to (state Sen.) Tom Torlakson and (Assemblyman) Mark DeSaulnier, and hopefully they will take these to the state," Gershen said. "We've got to educate people on all these things."
She's also tying in recycling and proper solid waste disposal, in an effort to get people thinking about sustainability as an important part of community health. She was so concerned about childhood obesity and the increasing prevalence of diabetes that she recently convinced Dr. Robert Lustig, a UC San Francisco pediatrician, to speak about his research regarding the effects of sugar at Las Lomas High School. This led to a John Muir Obesity Symposium in June.
"I am on the front line," Gershen said. "I am in the trenches. We need a lot of soldiers in this. But it's so doable."
Building on each success, Gershen looks for new opportunities to get her health and wellness messages to the community.
"If everyone's got the same information, in five years you'll see a change in the way we eat, which will impact our health," Gershen says. "My goal isn't to tell you what to eat or where to eat, it's to empower you to make better choices, because that's how I did it for me."