Photo courtesy of Lisa Hechesky
Celebrity chef Alton Brown’s amazing weight loss grabbing fan attention
People who watch The Food Network aren’t usually conscientious of the relationship between diet and health because quite frankly most of the recipes shared by the “stars” on there each and every day are loaded with way too much excessive sugar and carbohydrates that will simply pack on the pounds. The producers have tried in the past to highlight the benefits of eating well on a healthy low-carb nutritional approach when the great George Stella (whose recipes are now being featured on the home shopping channel QVC) was a regular with his “Low-Carb & Lovin’ It” show back in the heyday of livin’ la vida low-carb in the middle of the last decade. But with the low-carb “fad” allegedly passing in 2004 and now that nobody seems to be interested in healthy cooking on The Food Network anymore (although I think they’re missing a golden opportunity to hit an under-served market of viewers!), the producers completely ditched the idea of promoting a health-related cooking show.
But what will they do now that one of their network’s biggest stars has lost a total of 50 pounds by consuming what could easily be described as a low-carb diet? That’s exactly the dilemma they find themselves in with all the Internet buzz surrounding “Iron Chef America” host Alton Brown (see the photos for yourself!). Check out this promo for the new season of that show that aired in October 2009 leaving people’s mouths to drop seeing Alton Brown’s new slimmed-down body for the first time at the end of the clip when he exclaims “Let’s cook!”:
You could REALLY see Alton’s incredible 50-pound weight loss since March 2009 during his appearance on ABC’s The View to promote his new book Good Eats: The Early Years in October 2009:
He looks fantastic and a lot of low-carbers found it rather eye-opening to hear how he did it — “scientific applications of nutritional principles…I ate a lot of sardines instead of cake…and the pounds melt right off!” Hmmmm. Sounds a whole heckuva lot like livin’ la vida low-carb if you ask me. Plus, you gotta love that “zero carbs” pasta alternative he created out of the eggplant for the recipe on The View. Alton says he may even write a book about it which would be quite intriguing. I’m currently working with his people on getting a podcast interview to discuss his amazing weight loss success. Stay tuned!
Some of Brown’s most ardent fans were worried about him wondering if he was sick and rumors have been running wild about whether he was concealing some mysterious illness or even cancer to produce this kind of weight loss. Why do people do that when someone loses weight. I can recall people saying I’d lost “too much” weight because I looked so radically different than my 400+ pound self. Uh, yeah. I’m not supposed to look like that guy anymore! Alton has done a sensational job and I’m sure he’s much healthier now than he was before.
Google Trends for “Alton Brown” have shown a HUGE spike as of late which tells me people are still very keenly interested in healthy eating even if the powers-that-be at The Food Network ditched George Stella proclaiming otherwise. Will there be a new Alton Brown healthy cooking show coming soon? Who knows. I think it’s fantastic how they have let him talk about it on his “Good Eats” program, including letting him share “how eating from 4 basic food groups helped him lose 50 lbs without going on a diet.” Interesting choice of words to describe his diet, don’t ya think? The segment called “Live and Let Diet” will air on The Food Network on January 14, 2010 at 11PM ET and January 15, 2010 at 2AM ET. Set your DVRs to check it out.
So what did Alton Brown do to lose the weight? According to this fan blog, he had a “major change in his diet” where he decided it was best to start “eliminating most carbs and increasing fats,” primarily the omega-3 fats found in fish. Sweet! Another blog noted hearing Brown describe his weight loss method as “eating a low carb, high protein, high fat diet.” Excellent, although I’m sure the protein is more moderate than “high.” This Commercial Appeal blog interview with Brown reveals him saying “I quit eating sweets completely” and “I don’t intend to ever eat them again.” He also limits himself to just one alcoholic beverage weekly and believes that “portion-control, lean protein” is the way to go for him!
I got a list of foods he consumes from this Alton Brown fan blog and there are some peculiar as well as familiar things he’s putting in his mouth:
Daily
- Fruits
- Whole Grains
- Leafy Greens
- Nuts
- Carrots
- Green Tea
3 times a week
- Oily Fish
- Yogurt
- Broccoli
- Sweet Potato
- Avocado
Once a week
- Red meat
- Pasta
- Dessert
- Alcohol
NEVER!
- Fast Food
- Soda
- Processed meals/frozen dinners
- Canned soup
- “Diet” anything
PLUS: Eat breakfast every day, no exceptions.
This isn’t too shabby, although limiting your red meat to just once a week is unnecessary and there’s certainly no need to consume whole grains everyday. And the fruit he consumes should be qualified as the low-sugar ones like berries and melons rather than bananas and oranges which are great big sugar bombs. But I love what he’s set up for himself here. It’s a plan that HE can work with, implement, and do for the rest of his diet. You gotta admire anybody who can write it all out and then do it.
Congratulations Alton Brown! You are looking marvelous these days and I wish you well in your continued sorta low-carb diet journey. KEEP IT UP!
