Any Personal Chef Recommendations

I've finally done it. I've been abusive enough that the gentle talk from the cardiologist has now turned nasty. Today's message was "nothing says cornary disease like excess".

I excercise 4 days a week. But, as many of you know, i'm simply a fat bastard.

I need to do something with my eating habits. I love to cook--and I'm good at it. But, I just don't have the time to do it right. So I eat badly and do so in abundance.

So, I want to hire a personal chef...someone to cook a couple of meals a day for me 5 days a week (lunch and dinner). I need somone who's willing to cook according to dietary restrictions (low fat, low carb) and still make it taste good.

Any recommendations from you good folks?

Learn to like sushi and seafood, seriously. it takes some work and effort to get yourself to get the good stuff, but it is worth it. You dont need a personal chef. Just dont eat too much of fried foods, beef and saturated fat.

Check out some seafood. Bake it or grill it. Use a lot of lemon. Have some Northern white beans w some olive oil. Open some white wine. Take care of yourself...

Will, having learned from experience, if you know how to cook and are good at it, it won't take long for you to convert your evil ways . I went down the same path and had to change my eating habits for health reasons. You need to find a glycemic index of food and use it as a guideline for what not to eat (hey, isn't that a new TLC show?).

It's not that complicated to throw together a great meal with lower carbs and lower, better fats. Seafood and veggies go a long way, as do legumes. Don't deny yourself foods you "can't" have; just eat a lot less of them (and I do mean a lot!).

YourPalWill wrote:
I excercise 4 days a week. But, as many of you know, i'm simply a fat bastard.

Will,

It takes a big man to admit, whoops, I mean, well, I mean a big man as in, you know, "honest," not, well, gosh, now I'm all flustered and forgot what I was going to say.

Hammond

Will,

Kitchen Chicago is doing a Dining In Thursday with dinner prepared by a personal chef. It's a 4 course prix fixe for $25. I think it would be a great way to test drive the personal chef service that's putting it on.

I have not been, but have heard good things. I am on their email list - the message is pasted below.

Good Luck!

*********************
Greetings!

Our first Dining In Thursday is this week! Join us on August 18th when
Kitchen Chicago teams up with Tina Trimble of Dining In Personal Chef &
Catering Services to bring a casual, fixed-price dinner menu to the cafe
from 6pm - 9:30pm, with live music from 8pm - 10pm. The menu will change
weekly, and this week's looks yummy:

Sweet Pepper & Ricotta Cheese Bruschetta


Chilled Corn Vichyssoise w/ Chive Oil


Roasted Fig & Almond Salad drizzled w/ Raspberry Vinaigrette


~ and choice of ~


Seared Breast of Chicken w/ Herb Polenta & Summer Vegetable Ragu


~ or ~


Garlic Herb Crusted Shrimp w/ Fettuccine & Tomato Pasta tossed in White
Wine Shallot Butter Sauce

"Dining In Thursdays" are BYOB, so stay and dine in our cafe or pick up a
full meal to enjoy at home. We look forward to seeing you there!

Alexis & Jeff Kitchen Chicago 4664 N. Manor Chicago IL 60625
http://www.kitchenchicago.com

Will,

Graham Kerr "The Galloping Gourmet" faced similar dietary problems when his wife had a stroke and heart attack. He started by going to the extremes of brown rice and vegetarian lifestyle. Yet nobody liked it and it was pretty self defeating when his wife was sneaking hamburgers.

He has a series of books on the Max-Min principle: maximum flavor with a mininum of fats/cholesterol etc. This would be very appealing to you because the trade-offs don't seem so awful when it tastes good. For instance, he loves toast with butter and marmalade at breakfast. He may still have it with butter on special occasions. For every day he drains low fat yogurt in cheesecloth to remove the excess fluids to make it a spread. Now he graces his toast with the yogurt spread and plops the marmalade for a daily treat with maximum flavor minimizing the fats.

Buy a freezer. Cook to your heart's delight on the weekend. Portion and freeze reasonable quantities, keep track of what's in the freezer with a running list on the door. Make your home your favorite fast food pick up for dinner.

There is a guy on CH who has lost 100+ pounds twice in his life. He is an avid eater and has learned to balance his eating lifestyle to allow him to do everything he wants. He is very aware of calories and makes trade-offs plus walks 3 miles a day. There is a sad and funny anecdote where he want to In-and-Out and ordered the Jungle. He allowed himself to eat only half, then dumped cigarette ashes on the remainder and threw the sandwich to the extreme rear of the rental car. Still he could smell it, pulled over on the shoulder to eat around the ashes. If and when I find the post, I will link to it.

You gotta wanna.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:There is a guy on CH who has lost 100+ pounds twice in his life.

That would be Joe H., but Joe H. was banned from Chowhound. You can read all about the matter, here.

Cathy2 wrote:There is a sad and funny anecdote where he want to In-and-Out and ordered the Jungle.

"Animal-style," Catherine. I am pretty sure that he ordered the burger "Animal-style."

Cathy2 wrote:If and when I find the post, I will link to it.

I can't find it right now, but here is The 5,000 Mile Hamburger.


E.M.

Erik,

I've had a headache since I awoke this morning. I was struggling to remember his name: Joe H. I went through a bunch of e-mails from you searching for the link. After I found what might be correct, found CH 'not about food' has no boards going into the past at the moment.

So thank you, thank you and thank you for filling in the cracks.

I've always admired Joe H, his job (selling amusement rides) and his struggles with his weight. He once clobbered me over Woodman's, then found stuff there he likes to buy! You know I just leaped on that one!

Regards,

YourPalWill wrote:So, I want to hire a personal chef...someone to cook a couple of meals a day for me 5 days a week (lunch and dinner). I need somone who's willing to cook according to dietary restrictions (low fat, low carb) and still make it taste good.

http://www.hireachef.com

http://www.personalchefsearch.com

http://www.personalchefethics.com/findmain.htm

http://pcnchef.com/us_results?state=IL

http://www.bigcitychefs.com

For special diets, there is also: http://www.seattlesutton.com

Some local caterers also offer personal chef services, and you might also try these local cooking schools: Kendall College, Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, Washburne Culinary Institute, Illinois Institute of Arts Culinary Arts Department.

Let us know how the search goes.

try chef daniel,

www.chefdaniel.com

good guy, have worked for/with him several times, can vouch for him myself.

Erik.

Will,

The quartet of Highland Park churches had their annual rummage sale blow out this weekend. Amongst my newly acquired treasures, I picked up a book you may find of interest: Low Calorie Cajun Cooking written by Paul's youngest sister Enola Prudhomme.

In her book she makes roux by simply browning the flour with no addition of fat. She claims you would achieve the same flavor without the added fat.

For a creamy coleslaw she purees a cup of low fat cottage cheese until smooth then adds 2 tablespoons of reduced fat mayonnaise to the cole slaw. She's working toward taste and mouthfeel by making thoughtful compromises, instead of a cup or more of full strength mayonnaise.

This book is written by someone who enjoys the classic Cajun recipes, who made every effort to maintain flavor while peeling away calories.

You can probably get it used via Amazon or e-Bay, or I can lend you my copy.

Regards,

You might also consider going a few rounds with a nutritionist. I know, I know, we all know so much about healthy food and bad foods that taste good, well I am almost happy to say how wrong I was.

A few things the nutritionist taught me, was that there is often only a few calories difference between lowfat and nonfat items, but a world of taste and texture. One of the tips is to make substitutions where they are not noticed. E.g., I like mayo on my sandwhich, fine, but skip the flavorless, dull cole slaw side and substitute steamed veggies.

The nutritionist I saw was through the Northwestern's Wellness Center. Most of the hospitals and quite a few of the health clubs have them...getting someone that fits your lifestyle is the key.

I posted my morning smoothie way back when in this thread, along with quite a few other tips. After years of losing weight only to put more back on, this has contributed to a two-year loss maintenence.


I believe one of the Wednesday food sections recently reviewed five or six prepared low calorie caterers, you might look for that online.

pd


p.s. After writing this thread, I just couldn't put off another trip to the gym, thanks.

Some more "tricks" to consider. Portion Distortion is a major factor. To combat that problem, buy some quality measuring cups (get rid of the hodge podge $1 store collection, then buy hundreds of snack size ziplocks. Say you buy Jack Links kippered beef nuggets (which I happen to love) they are low fat, mostly protein and at about 70 calories a serving, not bad (although lots of salt, if you need to watch that). However, the bag contains 4 servings and who likes to leave a bag half eaten As soon as the bag gets opened....better yet when packing away groceries and you are not as hungry, break down the bag into the 4 servings. Do the same with nuts, dried fruit, veggies, I keep bowls full of these pre-package snacks and grab a few every time I leave the house. Sometimes that 100 calorie snack is enough to keep you from getting a 750 calorie sandwich to tide you over.