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" Being a celebrity chef means having your own TV show, and winning over the audience with your star-powered personality and dishes. Off the set, you globe-trot to sample other cooks&amp;#039; creations. But being a top chef does have its downside. You are constantly around food. Your life is food. When in your own kitchen, you taste everything that passes through the swinging doors. And we mean everything: sauces, soups, stocks, pastries, petits fours. With a grueling schedule to boot \u2014 14-hour days and ne&amp;#039;er a day off \u2014 the life of a chef leaves little time for keeping fit and preparing healthful meals for yourself when not on the clock. Chef and cookbook author Rocco DiSpirito graduated from the renowned Culinary Institute of America in 1986 and, after receiving a business degree from Boston University in 1990, embraced his chef&amp;#039;s life with gusto. Over the next decade, DiSpirito helped launch New York&amp;#039;s famed Lespinasse restaurant, opened his own award-winning restaurant, Union Pacific (which earned a coveted three stars from the New York Times), and was deemed Gourmet magazine&amp;#039;s Most Exciting Young Chef in 2000. And who can forget that bump to superstardom, his reality-TV stint on The Restaurant? But that rise to star chef status came with a price: DiSpirito tipped the scales at 216 pounds, a huge weight gain since his senior year at B.U. In 2006, unhappy with his appearance and feeling the health repercussions, DiSpirito decided it was time to get in shape. &amp;quot;I started doing triathlons, which made me look at diet in a different way,&amp;quot; says DiSpirito. The heartthrob chef admits he began changing his eating habits with a strict Atkins regimen. Now 30 pounds lighter, DiSpirito has taken his superstar-chef talent (and personal weight-loss story) to the TV screen, coaching the contestants on The Biggest Loser. How did he win his own weight-loss competition? &amp;quot;I did it incrementally,&amp;quot; explains DiSpirito. What was the first to go from the diet? &amp;quot;Sugar was a big deal. Little by little, I reduced sugar and limited my drinking,&amp;quot; recalls DiSpirito. &amp;quot;It was revelatory. The difference I felt in my system was incredible. [The effects] take a toll both emotionally and physically. It&amp;#039;s unhealthy.&amp;quot; Gasp! No cookies? No cake? No ice cream? Not exactly. &amp;quot;On my new show, Rocco Gets Real, I had to convince an 8-year-old that she would like vegetables and fruit.&amp;quot; DiSpirito confides that the girl had been struggling with her weight. With his cute smile and superchef skills, DiSpirito won her over with his creamy yogurt pops created from fruit and, in place of sugar, Splenda. &amp;quot;I made [the pops] with 5 percent fat instead of 30 percent,&amp;quot; says DiSpirito with excitement. &amp;quot;They had richness, but only two to three grams of fat each.&amp;quot; One of DiSpirito&amp;#039;s biggest culinary feats was figuring out how to add flavor without extra fat. &amp;quot;Fat does two things,&amp;quot; says DiSpirito. &amp;quot;It gives a mouthfeel that is rich, and it carries flavor.&amp;quot; DiSpirito utilizes alternative ingredients like vegetable puree, onion puree, garlic puree, evaporated milk, cornstarch, chicken stock, and nonfat yogurt to provide the same thickness and creaminess that we associate with foods like cream and butter. The Biggest Loser chef&amp;#039;s biggest trick? Spicy food. &amp;quot;[Spices] irritate the nerves so they swell up and make you think you&amp;#039;re eating something rich,&amp;quot; explains DiSpirito. Not only that, but hot foods can also temporarily rev up your metabolism. Time to stock the cupboard with jalape\u00F1os, cayenne, and a shaker of red pepper flakes. Still, DiSpirito, just like many of us, admits that at times he has an overwhelming craving for some of the fattiest foods, like bacon. &amp;quot;I learned from the Biggest Loser that turkey bacon is a good alternative,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not full of chemicals, and it is a fairly natural product.&amp;quot; But despite this second-place substitution, DiSpirito laments this particular loss. &amp;quot;Bacon is ... wow. I really crave bacon.&amp;quot; Though it was somewhat easy for a well-trained chef like Rocco DiSpirito to alter his recipes for his own dietary needs, he knows the contestants are limited once left to their own devices. &amp;quot;My focus is to get them to eat beautifully flavored foods that fit into their parameters,&amp;quot; explains DiSpirito. Those parameters: no sugar, all-natural, low sodium, and no white flour. Though the restrictions sound impossible, DiSpirito reinvented recipes like mom Nicolina&amp;#039;s Pepper Steak, which he boasts tastes &amp;quot;just as good without the fat or the salt.&amp;quot; Says DiSpirito, &amp;quot;In the world of weight loss, &amp;#039;diet food&amp;#039; can be really wonderful.&amp;quot; Confident he can make flavorful, healthful food for the masses, DiSpirito exclaims, &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m dying to get in a lab with Harold McGee and $50 million in research money!&amp;quot; (In case you didn&amp;#039;t know, Harold McGee is the authority on food science who wrote On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, required reading for an aspiring chef or science geek.) Besides wanting to bring his streamlined skills to supermarkets around the country, DiSpirito is actually quite awestruck by the impact he has had on the Biggest Loser contestants. &amp;quot;It really stirs me deeply as a chef,&amp;quot; he humbly confesses. &amp;quot;Cooking is about nurturing people, and when you succeed, the gratification is so profound and so intoxicating.&amp;quot; Rocco DiSpirito is still in training, but this time it&amp;#039;s on the dance floor. Catch the svelte chef&amp;#039;s dancing debut on ABC&amp;#039;s Dancing with the Stars, and, of course, on NBC&amp;#039;s The Biggest Loser. Try out two of Rocco&amp;#039;s revised favorites: Pepper Steak Mint Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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