Still trying to fulfill that New Year’s resolution about eating healthier or losing weight?

Executive chef Mike Riggs, registered dietitian Nikki Anderson and personal trainer Melinda Haney might have the answers you need. They have put together what they’re calling a Clean Eating and Living Seminar, scheduled for Feb. 20 at the SoKY Marketplace Culinary Center in downtown Bowling Green.

Just don’t expect a quick and easy fix.

“Clean eating is more of a change in lifestyle,” said Riggs, the longtime culinary arts instructor at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College and now founder of the Mise En Place culinary consulting company. “It’s not just a fad diet. With clean eating, you try to eliminate refined sugars, fats and processed chemicals. The health benefits are tremendous when you eat the food as close to its natural state as you can.”

Riggs will team with Anderson to teach and demonstrate how to achieve clean eating during the seminar, which costs $35 and will last from 6 to 8 p.m.

“I’m more of the lecture part of it,” Anderson said. “Mike and I have known each other a long time, and we started talking about it (the seminar) a year ago. My focus is to get people back to an old-school type of diet with lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains.”

Anderson, who works for Arizona-based Crandall & Associates Consulting Dietitians, plans to use her portion of the seminar educating participants about shopping for foods that fit with the clean eating lifestyle.

“People eat out a lot,” Anderson said. “They can eat healthier at home and have more control.”

While Anderson talks about the ingredients and portions needed for clean eating, Riggs will demonstrate how to prepare appealing meals using those ingredients.

“As a chef, I’m always looking at recipes and trying to find ways to cook as healthy as I can,” Riggs said. “Clean eating is really a return to eating the way our parents and grandparents taught us – lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and not a lot of processed foods.

“You can use fruit instead of sugar. Fresh fruits have great flavor already. It’s healthier to cook that way and, from a chef’s perspective, it tastes good.”

Riggs hopes the seminar will help participants get started on a long-term commitment to eating and living healthier.

“A lot of people start diets and gym memberships in January and then fizzle out,” he said. “It’s better to find something that’s a gradual process. You have to make a focused effort to eat healthy.”

To build on the clean eating demonstration, Riggs said veteran personal trainer Haney will present some simple exercises and lifestyle changes that lead to healthier living.

In addition, Sue Ann Allen, a wellness advocate for Doterra Essential Oils, will be on hand to talk about the benefits of natural oils.

“These are techniques that people have done forever,” Riggs said. “We want to show people that it’s not that hard to achieve clean eating and living. It’s not changing how you cook; it’s just changing ingredients and raising awareness.”

Riggs is hoping for 30 or so participants at the seminar, saying: “We want it to be an environment where people can ask questions.”