Chefs are surrounded by delicious food all day and they must taste the food before they send it out to customers. So how do they lose weight when they need to? Time magazine has a very interesting article on this subject.
Alton Brown lost 50 pound by simply banning certain foods, such as french fries. Rocco DiSpirito (who has a new diet cookbook coming out called Now Eat This: Fried Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Brownies and 147 Other Favorite Dishes You Thought You Could Never Eat--All Under 350 Calories) went on Dancing With the Stars, did a heavy exercise program and cut out all sugar. Tyler Florence and Michael Lomonaco have a different method, as does chocolatier Jacques Torres.
Tyler Florence is among the chefs who told me they had massively cut down on their meat intake. Even Michael Lomonaco, the chef of the Manhattan steak joint Porter House New York who recently knocked off 10 lb., eats a lot of simply cooked proteins surrounded by vegetables. "I do a slow-roasted salmon--there's no oil, no added fats--roasted on cedarwood in an oven. It's served with big white beans, fresh tomatoes and tarragon," he says. "What a great steak house this is: the chef is telling us to eat salmon."
But Jacques Torres, the New York City--based chocolatier, still eats his chocolate. Through Weight Watchers, he knocked off 20 lb. and then another 12 lb. in September in a charity competition for chefs that was sponsored by the weight-loss program. He stocks up on 70%-cocoa chocolate bars, with the goal of always having a low-sugar option on hand. Because when a craving hits, not even a Weight Watchers--trained, insanely talented pastry chef with a refined dessert palate can get in its way. "Last Sunday I was craving so much for sweets, I went to buy a cheesecake." Even worse, he confesses, "I bought it at the supermarket. I was in Jersey."
You can see diet recipes from eight chefs who managed to lose weight despite being surrounded by temptation every day here.
