Blog

Top 3 Cooking Tips From 12 Seasons At The Ranch

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:37:10 +0000

In my 12 seasons as nutritionist on The Biggest Loser, interviewing and coaching each and every contestant, I learned a great deal about the most common mistakes people make around the kitchen that can lead to weight gain. I also spent a great deal of time working with the contestants and developed simple and easy-to-follow guidelines.

When the Food Network's Healthy Eats blog asked me about some of my top cooking tips for weight loss, recently these are the three I thought of immediately:

Put Flavor First! Steamed broccoli and grilled chicken may help you drop pounds but it’s not a sustainable eating plan -- too boring! You have to put FLAVOR FIRST. Having the right condiments, dressings and sauces on hand can turn a ho-hum meal into an extraordinary culinary experience. My favorite store bought items to keep on hand include, salsa, capers, no-sugar fruit spreads, guacamole, horseradish, mustards galore, low-sodium soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and I’m the Queen of homemade dressings, sauces, dips and “mayos.”
Make extras or big batches: Whenever you cook, freeze half in individual containers. When hunger strikes you’ll always have a cup of soup, a pasta dish or a scrumptious leftover to reheat in minutes or take with you. No excuses for visiting the drive thru!
Always have a bowl of fresh fruit in sight: Keep containers in the fridge of freshly cut veggies to graze on or to quickly heat or sauté. Most of us eat mindlessly much more often than we realize. If you’re going to graze anyway, feel good about it!

Read the full interview on The Food Network's Healthy Eats Blog. And learn more about putting Flavor First at FlavorFirst.com.

Biggest Loser Diet Tops U.S. News and World Report Best Diet Rankings

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:45:02 +0000

Diet co-authored by Cheryl Forberg, RD ranked No. 2 for weight loss, and No.1 for diabetics

U.S. News and World Report ranked The Biggest Loser Diet among the top diets for weight loss on its annual list of The Best Diets. The Biggest Loser Diet ranked No. 2 among all tested diets for weight loss, and was named the No. 1 diet for fighting and managing diabetes by the prestigious magazine.

Cheryl Forberg — a Registered Dietitian, James Beard award-winning chef, New York Times best-selling author, and Nutritionist for The Biggest Loser for 12 seasons, co-authored the diet and since the show’s debut in 2004 to season 12 2011, she individually counseled each of The Biggest Loser’s 250 contestants on how to transform their eating and cooking habits — consequently helping to change their lives.

Forberg has long touted The Biggest Loser Diet’s benefits to diabetics. In fact, one-in-four contestants have diabetes when they report The Ranch: But they all leave without it.

Conversion Table For Measuring Portion Sizes

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:55:21 +0000

Measuring portions is an essential element of my eating plan, and the one I've taught the Biggest Loser contestants for the past 12 seasons.

It's important to be precise about amounts when food journaling. Serving size recommendations don't always come in the measures with which we are most familiar, and if you don't spend much time in the kitchen, you might be completely lost. Please use the table below for reference whenever and wherever you are:

Teaspoon	Tablespoon	Cups	Pints/quarts gallons	Fluid ounce	Milliliter
1/4 teaspoon					1 ml
1/2 teaspoon					2 ml
1 teaspoon	1/3 tablespoon				5 ml
3 teaspoons	1 tablespoon	1/16 cup		1/2 oz	15 ml
6 teaspoons	2 tablespoons	1/8 cup		1 oz	30 ml
12 teaspoons	4 tablespoons	1/4 cup		2 oz	60 ml
16 teaspoons	5 1/3 tablespoons	1/3 cup		2 1/2 oz	75 ml
24 teaspoons	8 tablespoons	1/2 cup		4 oz	125 ml
32 teaspoons	10 2/3 tablespoons	2/3 cup		5 oz	150 ml
36 teaspoons	12 tablespoons	3/4 cup		6 oz	175 ml
48 teaspoons	16 tablespoons	1 cup	½ pint	8 oz	237 ml
		2 cups	1 pint	16 oz	473 ml
		3 cups		24 oz	710 ml
		4 cups	1 quart	32 oz	946 ml

Foods of Rosh Hashanah and Breaking the Yom Kippur Fast the Healthy Way

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:20:49 +0000

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is a holiday of celebration, yet it also is the beginning of a process of self-examination and internal reflection and contemplation, which ends ten days later with Yom Kippur.

The traditional foods that are eaten on Rosh Hashanah hold a great deal of symbolism (and, if you are not careful, many calories). Apples and honey are perhaps the most well known traditional new year’s foods; they represent a sweet new year ahead. It is also a tradition for Jews to eat a slow-cooked stew, which may be made from the head of an animal, like fish heads, or cooked cows’ tongue. This symbolizes the “head,” or start, of the year.

Pomegranates are eaten during this holiday because of their many seeds, which symbolize fruitfulness. Not only do pomegranates symbolize good things, they are full of goodness. They are high in vitamin A and potassium, and a good source of fiber. They are also rich in polyphenols, a potent class of anti-aging and heart-healthy antioxidants.

Challah, a typical Jewish bread, is baked in a round shape on Rosh Hashanah. This is then dipped in honey. The roundness symbolizes wholeness and continuity, and again, the honey represents wishes for a sweet year ahead. It’s particularly important to keep challah and honey to symbolic portions — enough to respect your tradition, but not so much as to upset the balance of your diet.

Ten days after Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown on Wednesday, September 28, comes Yom Kippur. This is the holiest day of the year in the Jewish faith. It is otherwise known as “the Day of Atonement.” Jews will fast for a period of 25 hours (from sundown to sundown) on Yom Kippur. This is thought to help one focus on well being, asking forgiveness, and praying for a better year ahead.

Traditional foods eaten to break the fast on Yom Kippur are eggs, cheese and bread. Many times, a family will prepare the break-fast meal a day ahead, so they don’t have to deal with any food the actual day of fasting. Other families will only break the fast with cold foods, such as boiled eggs, cheese, bread, and cold meats. Again, the traditional foods might not exactly be up to your usual low-fat and low-carb standards. Boiled eggs, in moderation, are, of course, a wholesome food (you may even want to prepare my “deviled” eggs, where the yolk is scooped and replaced with hummus, a day in advance). Try to eat whole wheat bread and or bread made with other whole grains instead of their white-flour counterparts.

Keeping healthy foods on hand is important, as the urge to over-indulge and make the wrong food choices is always a danger when you are very hungry (as you might be at the end of a fast).

Find the recipe for my “deviled” eggs and five other quick, prepare-ahead snacks that would be ideal for breaking your fast here.

Cheryl Chats With Biggest Loser Trainer Dolvett Quince

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:00:19 +0000

The charismatic trainer Dolvett Quince joins The Biggest Loser this season, bringing years of expertise in, in his words, "body sculpting." He keeps his clientele in shape and works with some to transform their bodies (one client lost 325 pounds) as founder of Atlanta, GA-based Body Sculptor fitness studios. In preparation for this season of BL, I had the chance to chat with Dolvett about fitness, training Atlanta's celebs (Justin Beiber even brought him on tour), and his advice for the rest of us.

Cheryl: What is the number one mistake people make when starting a training program?
Dolvett: Getting started without stretching.

Cheryl: What do you say to someone who thinks they are too out of shape to start exercising?
Dolvett: How much more out of shape are you gonna get before you get started?

Cheryl: You own your own successful fitness studios and have trained everyone from Justin Beiber to Janet Jackson. Of your accomplishments as a trainer, which are you most proud of?
Dolvett: I'd have to say making it here on Biggest Loser, I can affect more people, and help change lives.

Cheryl: Any of your celeb training clients ever give you a hard time about working out?
Dolvett: Always. No one really loves working out until the compliments come in, so the hard work pays off.

Cheryl: Do you ever get starstruck?
Dolvett: Sure, Im a fan like anyone else, I admire anyone who is great at what they do...it motivates me.

Cheryl: What do you love to eat following an intense workout?
Dolvett: Chicken and spinach salad! Mmmmmmm yum!

Cheryl: What's your food weakness or favorite indulgence?
Dolvett: I love, love sweets … lemon cake!

Cheryl: Is there anything that most people (even your friends!) don't know about you?
Dolvett: I don't take myself too seriously, so I've always had a dream of doing standup comedy, or singing the national anthem before a game!!