How to Lose Weight Like a Top Chef

During the holiday season do you spend more time casting longing glances at the dessert buffets and high-calories cocktails than you spend enjoying the company of your loved ones?

If so, you are not alone. A “Prospective Study of Holiday Weight Gain” published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2000 suggests that Americans gain an average of about one pound during the holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

Who could possibly be more susceptible to this weight gain than high-end chefs and food personalities? They live and breath gourmet treats all day, every day as they prepare celebratory dinners, desserts and cocktails for the imbibing, indulging, gourmet-minded masses.

For famous chefs like Jeff Tunks and Michael Psilakis, spending too much time in the kitchen started to add on the pounds. Like many of their comrades, these two chefs have to work to find new ways to beat the bulge while they are cooking, eating and snacking.

So who better to give advice on how to lose weight? Vow to watch your waistline this holiday season and well into the new year as some well-known chefs share their best weight loss tips for you to enjoy!

Take Control

Satiate your cravings before you head out to big events and meals. Take control of what you eat by fixing a low-fat, high-fiber snack before you head out for the evening.

Jeff Tunks, co-owner and executive chef at DC Coast and Ceiba in Washington, D.C., has learned over the course of a remarkable 85-pound weight loss that he needs to eat before he goes to work if he wants to manage the late-night snack attack that can overtake a chef at the end of a long dinner shift.

Step 2Keep Control

Stay in command of your diet by making conscious choices about food throughout the day. Here are some fun, engaging ways to get started:

Organize your kitchen with small plates, dishes, forks and spoons to regulate your portion size.
Eat slowly and chew often. Aim to chew each bite of food 20 times before you swallow.
Dine with chopsticks instead of flatware; the unfamiliar utensils will certainly reduce your eating speed.
Write down what you eat each day in a food journal. It will help you get a handle on exactly how many calories you consume each day.

Step 3No Excuses

Set your weight loss goal, identify possible obstacles, and work out ahead of time how to overcome them. Don’t hide behind excuses and rhetoric. For a long time there was a saying in the restaurant industry: “You can’t trust a skinny chef”. Professionals from Mario Batali and Paula Deen to Michael Psilakis (Bon Appetit’s 2008 Chef of the Year) used the adage to overindulge and disassociate from their health.

Recently the gourmet world has realized that if you don’t want to pack on the pounds, a skinny chef make be the only kind you can trust. The excuse for excess weight was eliminated and now chefs are making a wide-ranging effort to lose weight and cut fat from their dishes so their customers can lose weight as well.

Lay Off the Sugar

Rocco DiSpirito recently told Time Magazine, “If everyone reading your article gave up sugar, they would lose 10 lbs. in a month. It’s nasty, nasty stuff.” Trust the professionals. Sugar is metabolized into fat in your body and over-consumption leads to energy spikes, mood swings and dehydration. It can also be a contributing factor in more serious medical conditions such as diabetes.

Cut down your sugar intake by limiting processed sweets such as pastries, cookies and cakes and by cutting back on alcohol consumption.

Eat Less Meat

Eat leaner cuts of meat and more meat substitute products. Lee Anne Wong, a contestant on the first season of Top Chef, contributes her weight loss after leaving the show to cutting down on red meat and eating more soy products.

Even steak house chefs such as Michael Lomonaco of Porter House New York are beginning to prepare more fish dishes in their restaurants. If you really want to chow on cow, pick the lean cuts: chuck, loin, sirloin and round are usually good bets.

Quick Tips for Dinner Time

Relax while you are getting ready for dinner, knowing that you have these great tools at your disposal to help keep calories to a minimum during your meal:

Start your meal with a vegetable soup - it will help you fill up before the main course. If the soup looks oily, fill a plastic bag with ice and drag the bag across the surface of the soup. The fat and oil will cling to the cold plastic. Genius!

Serve seconds only of vegetable dishes when you are eating a family-style meal. The fiber will fill you up without adding a lot of calories.

Order a coffee, tea or fresh fruit during dessert when you are out to dinner. It lets you feel that you are indulging without ruining your diet.

Easy Swaps

Recognize the calories in everyday foods and start to make conscious decisions to reduce the amount of fat, salt and sugar you ingest. Some easy swaps and substitutions recommended by top chefs:

Nonfat yogurt for sour cream. Ellie Krieger, host of the Food Network’s Healthy Appetite, says this simple switch cuts 4 grams of fat per serving. Mix it into sauces or use it to top off a baked potato. Strain the yogurt through a paper towel for a thicker, creamier texture. And don’t just stop at substituting it for sour cream. Jeremy Emmerson, a private chef based out of New York City, says that he eat nonfat Greek yogurt with fruit and nuts for a healthy, high energy breakfast.

Butter for canola oil. Switch out half or one-quarter of the butter in a dessert for canola oil, high in monosaturated fat and better for your heart. Improve the health benefits even further by cutting out the butter completely and cooking with a mix of canola oil and applesauce, substituting them at a 50/50 split and in the equivalent amount of butter in the recipe.

Skip salt as flavor. Use lemon, vinegar, mint, rosemary, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, curry powders and spice blends when you are cooking instead of loading up dishes with salt and butter. Added bonus: many spices have medicinal benefits.
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