There are also some good tips at the Smart-Chefs blogWorking Around Kitchen Obstacles
You think you have a hard time slimming down? Pity the chefs, constantly surrounded by beckoning aromas and conversations about food.
“I would say they have some pitfalls that the average person does not necessarily have,†said Allison Adato, the author of the recent book “Smart Chefs Stay Slim.†Ms. Adato interviewed scores of kitchen stars, who offered weight-management strategies.
ENJOY WHAT YOU LOVE. Chefs like Rick Bayless and Eric Ripert don’t try to supplant chicken-liver crostini with droopy steamed vegetables. They relish what’s excellent, skip what’s mediocre and stop when they are sated.
COOK AT HOME OFTEN, BUT KEEP IT SIMPLE. “Chefs do not cook at home the way they cook at work,†Ms. Adato said. “Every meal does not need to be a giant event.†For lunch, even an exalted gastronome like Thomas Keller might stick to a swirl of hummus and quinoa with some braised vegetables.
FOCUS ON FLAVOR. Chefs like Nancy Silverton, Sang Yoon and Michael Psilakis know that the complex flavors of spices, herbs, salt, lemon juice or vinegar can amp up the pleasure and mitigate the need for mindless nibbling. “It does make you feel more satisfied,†Ms. Adato said. “You feel like you ate something. You had an experience.â€
Each chapter of the book has a lesson and most have a chef example of the lesson in practice. The lesson in the first chapter of the book is "Smart chefs surround themselves with real food they love."
"There is a big difference between eating only what you love and eating whatever you like. Eating what you love means limiting yourself to only the foods you really, truly enjoy and not wasting time (or calories or fat grams or net carbs or whatever it makes you feel good to count) eating what you do not absolutely adore. Eating this way relies on the notion that if you get exactly what you want, you don't need a lot of it."
Based on the little bit I've read, I think there is information in this book that will help with building the No-S habit.Rick Bayless says, "When you eat good food, it satisfies you and you don't have to be gluttonous about it. I'd rather have one bite of a great dish than fifty bites of a mediocre dish."
If that seems an obvious point -- who wouldn't rather have great food than mediocre? -- consider how often we settle for less than spectacular. For instance, what did you have for lunch yesterday? Think of all the times when you eat something so-so because it was more convenient, or cheaper, or faster.
The solution is to replace the so-so with the great. But for you to do that, great food needs to be available. That means keeping the great food you love on hand in your kitchen, choosing restaurants that serve it, and even sometimes packing your own lunch in order to avoid the sad food often consumed at a desk.
