I recently attended a fabulous food, nutrition and beauty event at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. I always love getting back to the beautiful weather in California- especially since it is snowing in Kansas City right now! The event was sponsored by The National Honey Board and I was the nutrition spokesperson along with executive chef, Neil Fraser, of Grace Restaurant and celebrity beauty expert Christopher Watt. His clients include Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez. The photo is of myself, Alain Gayot of www.gayot.com, and Christopher Watt.

Chris was doing facials for the media guests while Neal and I were busy mingling and answering questions about ways to use honey in food and the nutritional value of honey.

I was surprised to learn that a recent survey showed that 30-40% of people think that something is added to honey between the beehive and bottle when, in fact, nothing is added to honey. Honey really is a pure sweetener with no artificial ingredients added. My family enjoys eating honey on whole wheat bread with peanut butter as a quick snack or added it to a marinade for fish (this recipe will be in the book that Tony Gonzalez and I are writing- August 2009).

Of course you still have to be mindful of calories- so as with any food, don’t overeat it, but with the sweetness of honey a little bit can go a long way.

I also had the opportunity to taste several delicious dishes made with honey and a honey margarita. It was a fun-filled night meeting several very nice members of the LA media and I did my first Spanish speaking television interview!