Meet Mr Greenand his recipe rehab regime - The Jewish Chronicle

As January rolls around, how many of us resolve to lose the surplus pounds we gained over Chanucah? And how many of us are again shedding weight we took off this time last year?

Someone who knows plenty about losing weight, but also as much about keeping it off, is TV chef and host, Daniel Green, who grew up in Radlett, Herts, but is now based in Minneapolis.

He doesn't diet because, for him, healthy eating became a way of life when he shed four and a half stones in his late teens and early twenties.

"I got fat in my teens. I had always been keen on food. My mum was a good cook and there was fresh food every day, but from 13 to 14 I ate lots of junk. I was also pretty inactive as I wasn't keen on school so stayed away more than I should have done," confesses the former model, now in his forties, who makes his living as a chef and host on American Network channel ShopHQ.

When he was 18, he could no longer shop in mainstream clothes shops but instead had to go to outsize stores, and decided enough was enough.

Tips for changing the way you eat

● Oil the food and not the pan — it reduces the oil you need to use. Better still cook in wine or a sprizz of water instead of oil.
● Cut out all animal fats, including cheese, butter and cream. Even if you follow that one rule you will get results.
● Never deep fry.
● Reduce or eliminate white carbohydrates.
● Don’t waste calories by eating bad food — you will be cross with yourself for wasting calories on a greasy burger or nasty sandwich.
● You will be more able to stick to a new way of eating if you give yourself some time off — aim for 80 per cent on and 20 per cent off.

His mother took him to Weightwatchers, but it was not for him, so he decided to do it alone.

"I got into cooking and learned all about the low fat diet fad that was in at the time."

Over a period of three years he totally changed his eating habits, cutting out junk food as well as fats like butter and cream, and introduced a range of new flavours.

"The most dramatic weight loss was in the first 12 months. I actually felt good about myself again."

But he wasn't confident he would remain svelte.

"Part of me was worried I'd blow up again, so I wanted to document what I looked like."

He took up modelling. After a few years working for brands like Gucci and British Airways and jetting around the world, he decided to change his career direction and entered a competition looking for the next television chef.

"I realised modelling was not a career I could rely on forever plus I wanted to share my passion for healthy eating.

"Good Food magazine was searching for 'the next Jamie Oliver'. They were asking for men to send in a tape of themselves cooking. I didn't have anything, so I sent recipes I had developed while I was losing weight. And I won," he smiles.

The magazine arranged for him to make a show reel - a film of him cooking.

"It was awful - I can't even look at it without cringing - but I sent it to a number of television production companies and stations and eventually Carlton Food asked me to come on one of their shows."

He loved it and in 2000 his television-cooking career was born, despite his having no formal culinary training.

"Why would I want to learn how to make profiteroles and fatty Hollandaise sauces when I had already taught myself all the techniques I need to cook with low or no fat?"

He has since demonstrated his healthy way of cooking on GMTV, BBC 2's Saturday Kitchen, UK Food and various USA channels, including ABC, and in 2004 became the resident chef and a permanent presenter at ShopHQ (formerly ShopNBC) where he has now been for 10 years. Most recently he was a judge on US Food Network culinary competition, Kitchen Inferno

"I love living in the US but miss everything about the food in the UK. Supermarkets here just don't have the same quality of food as UK supermarkets like Waitrose and Marks and Spencer."

Some of the programmes he has appeared on have shown him revising recipes to be healthier.

"Two years ago, I did Recipe Rehab on ABC which takes 'grandma's recipes' and turns them into a healthy version. I make a healthier chopped liver, cutting out most of the fat."

He has published 10 books on healthy eating. His first - Green's Cuisine - concentrated on low fat Thai flavours. "When I was 21, I visited Thailand with Jane - my now wife. I was wowed by the food I tasted there. Such aromatic and amazing flavours in simple dishes with no need for fat."

His most recent book has been his collection of recipes following the principles of the Paleo diet.

"My publishers asked me to write my version. When I read the principles, I realised that it was pretty well what I eat. Delicious, fresh, healthy food that nourishes your body and doesn't sacrifice taste or flavour."

Green also recommends an 80:20 regime, which is one the Paleo regime follows. "So long as you follow the rules 80 per cent of the time, that should be enough."

It has worked for him for 23 years without him setting foot in a gym, so there might be hope that the rest of us will not be searching for diet advice this time next year.

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