Dear Chef Kathleen,

My Mom died of a stroke, and I'm at risk also if I don't lose a lot of weight. I'm a size 28, and I want to be a size 10 again. I know I have to exercise more, so I've started walking. I love to cook, but it seems I'm eating all the wrong foods. Please help me figure out a plan. Every time I go on a strict diet, all I do is think about going off of it so I can have my favorite foods . Please don't tell me I need to go on one.

Becca


Dear Becca,

Passion drives attitude. Attitude drives change. Change inspires more change. Plan to succeed and you will. Fail to plan and you won't.

Remove all temptations from your home and stock your kitchen for health. Every time you're in the mood to splurge or skip your workout, ask yourself if you're making a size-10 decision or a size 28-decision.

The American Heart Association recommends building meal plans with the following in mind:

• Consume a variety of fruits and vegetables, five or more servings per day.
  
• Consume a variety of grain products, including whole grains, six or more servings per day.
• Choose fat-free and low-fat milk products, fish, legumes (beans), skinless poultry and lean meats.
• Choose fats and oils with 2 grams or less saturated fat per tablespoon, such as liquid and tub margarines, canola oil and olive oil.
• Limit intake of high-calorie, low-nutrition foods such as soda, candy, pastries and junk food.
• Limit foods high in saturated fat, trans-fat and/or cholesterol, such as full-fat milk products, fatty meats, tropical oils, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and egg yolks.

Think about what you can have and all the new foods you "get" to eat instead of focusing on foods you need to consume less frequently. Work in healthy foods first and you'll have less room for the "wrong" foods. Without a meal plan, you're more likely to stray.

Homework assignment: Plan a week's worth of healthy meals. Get out a pad of paper and a pencil. Make a column for each day of the week and break each day (column) into five sections: breakfast, midmorning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner. On a separate piece of paper, make a list of healthy foods you love now. Using a pencil (so you can erase, mix and match) list the healthy foods you can easily work into meals and plug them in.

For instance, oatmeal is a no-brainer for breakfast. Oranges, grapefruits, clementines, apples and bananas are perfect self-contained snacks that travel well. Plug one of each into the snack boxes and you've got a week's worth of healthy snacks planned out.

Once you've plugged in your favorite foods, go through each day and come up with easy meals you can make incorporating the foods listed.

For instance, salmon is easy to broil for dinner. Spinach can be the basis of a great spinach and chicken salad for lunch. Create an outrageous salad by adding sliced strawberries, a few sections of clementine and leftover diced grilled chicken to the spinach and a low-calorie balsamic dressing and your lunch will be the envy of the entire office. Keep things simple. Dinners need not be any more complicated than tossing a salad, broiling a piece of fish or chicken and baking off a cookie sheet's worth of vegetables (such as asparagus or broccoli).

kd@chefkathleen.com