My fir t professional cooking job was as a chef in a low-fat beallh spa，<br >where the only oil in the kitchen was the inedib e type used on the knife<br >sharpening stone. The food there li~d up to health claims， and afeer a<br >month of dieting and exercise， the customers ，vent home with healthier<br >blood tests and filter hodieh.<br > The food met other expectations as well. No one expected it to taste<br >as good as the food in the outside world， and， with few exceptions， it didn t.<br >This experience c~used me to question whether it was really necessary to<br >choose between being a martyr for health or living the shortened life of<br >an unhealthy hedonist. I wanted to find out when a healthful diet ceases<br >to make sense and becomes unnecessary extremtsm I wanted to find out<br >why some low-fat recipes taste wonderful while others are failures.<br > I turned to the chemistry of food fur answers. I learned which foods<br >enhance flavors and which ones mellow them. I learned how foods interact<br >with one another， and what happens when they hit the taste buds. I discovered<br >what happens when food cooks and bow temperature affects the changes.<br > I ~ook a close look at oils and fats to learn when they are interchangeable.<br >when they can be reduced， and when they are nor needed at all.<br > I studied nutrition and learned which diet trends are based on fact<br >and which have dis~orted the results of minor scientific studies. I examined<br >some diets that addressed one heaffh issue while ignoring others， and I<br >researched diets based exclusively on philosophy instead of scientific fact.<br > During my investigation， I taught low-tat cooking classes and learned<br >from my students， who impressed upon me their need tot a relaxed， corn<br >monsense approach to a heahbful diet. They wanted to understand enough<br > about nutrition to make the right choices and not be misled by erroneous<br > claims and fads; they wanted to learn an approach that was consistent but<br > not tedious. They wanted tim， creative， fime-savmg recipes that were also<br > good as leftovers<br > Consequently， my cooking style and food philosophy began to develop<br > along those lines， resulting in recipes that fit within the generally accepted<br > guidelines for a low-fat， high-fiber， complex-carbohydrate diet. I impose<br > certain restrictions， but all are nutritionally sound and none are hard on<br > the theft For example， I do not believe in using artificial ingredients or<br > imitation foods for they never satisfy as the originals do. I do not try to<br > copy cream sauces or use synthetic sugars or fake cheeses. There are<br > plenty of fresh， minimally processed foods that can be eaten with far<br > more gratiffing results，<br > I want foods to he visually attractive， with clear flavors and appealing<br > textures. I prefer creative recipes， not exotic ones. Precious foods aren t<br > my s~yh， and although extravagant ingrediems can be fun at times， they<br > are not my daily fare.<br > I love to cook， but I don t like fussy recipes， I llke to cut and chop<br > and watch the fuod simmer in a pan， hut 1 don t want to worry over a<br > difficult sauce， or t~kae hours to prepare a meal that serves only two and<br > d~n t lea~e hftowrs<br >