Customer Reviews

Cooking Thin With Chef Kathleen: 200 Easy Recipes for Healthy Weight Loss

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This book is a must-have for Americans who want to loose weight while still enjoying food, one of this country's most misunderstood pleasures. The author is well-informed, intelligent and practical in her approach. It is worth pointing out that her overall philosophy towards weight loss mirrors certain European nations, where better quality of food promotes thin bodies. I had the wonderful opportunity to live in Switzerland for several months, where I lost several pounds. When I returned to the US, the weight just returned. Kathleen helped bring me back to the lesson I had forgotton. Like Kathleen, the Swiss never counted calories or obsessed over food; they just made better choices when eating while not sacraficing taste and even quantity (Kathleen reminded me how a large and interesting salad with a smaller portion of one's usual pasta dish works wonders). Kathleen's book mirrors the truth I learned while living abroad: If we eat better qauilty foods (no more fat-free things and quick-fix diet foods), we will have better bodies. Her book helps outline a true way of life. I agree with the PHD/MD guests she has on her show when they say: Diets make you fat, and a good lifestyle of eating is the answer. Kathleen has truly found it!

I have been reading this cookbook like a novel. Kathleen is a great story teller and has realistic advice for the everyday person. If you are looking to lose 100 pounds in 2 days or build up to run a marathon this is not the right place. If instead you just want to eat healthier without remodeling your kitchen or your lifestyle I think you will find this book a good place for inspiration.
I have tried a number of the recipes already and they are very easy to put together - no impossible ingredients or specialty appliances. Oh yeah, and they taste good too! Now I have to start on the desert chapter. That's a real test!

I bought this book because I have to keep a close watch on my food intake because of my low (hypothyroid) metabolism. I was hoping for great, low-fat or nonfat recipes. The ones that are in here are good, but too many of them say they're "special-occasion calories" or desserts to be eaten only occasionally. I can get special occasion calories in any good cookbook and I didn't need them here. Also, the book is heavy on desserts, whereas there are not enough vegetable and fish recipes (not one spinach recipe!).

The author also doesn't give a nutritional breakdown (including calorie count and serving size) of her recipes, which is frustrating, because her whole philosophy revolves around splurging calories here and watching calories there and controlling portions. What kind of a book on losing weight and eating healthy does not even provide information on nutrition? For someone who really doesn't have the vaguest notion of how to start eating healthy and exercising, this book may be a good start. But it doesn't have enough information and doesn't have enough healthy recipes. The narrative is sometimes funny, sometimes just obnoxious.

I really like this book. True, Ms. Daelemans has left out nutritional information but as she explains in her book, moderation is the key to successful weight loss. I did not have a problem with the lack of nutritional information but could see that being a problem for people that need to crunch the numbers. The recipes I tried were delicious (the chicken patties were fantastic as was the homemade granola) and very easy to make. My only complaint is that many recipes call for only sweet onions and say that if you cannot find sweet onions, you should pass on the recipe until you can. That was unfortunate because where I live, they are hard to find. The book also comes with some great tips to make easy lifestyle changes to help the weight come off. All in all a very nice book but I've given it 4 stars due to the requirement of some very specific ingredients for the recipes.

This is an excellent book for someone who wants to take control over his or her nutritional and dietary life. The advice is heartfelt and realistic. The recipes are diverse in their ingredients and easy to prepare. My extremely finicky husband has even enjoyed the dishes that we have tried!

After my first read-through I was disappointed by the lack of nutritional information with the recipes but I realized that this book is not intended to do the work for me - but to motivate me do take the steps necessary to gaining control over my nutrition and part of doing this is READING LABELS on the foods I buy. It is easy to blame a book or diet program for a lack of or slow progress if that cookbook/program is laying out every detail of your diet - from ingredients to caloric counts. But,you have only yourself to blame if you don't take the few minutes it takes to read the labels at the grocery store. As I said before, this book is about taking control and that does take some work.

I have been completely inspired not only by the book, but by Kathleen herself, and I hope other readers will get the same from this great book!

I am giving this book 5 stars for one simple reason: I have lost weight since I started cooking regularly from this book. Gripe all you want about the author's writing style, the layout, the lack of nutritional information, but at least give the recipes and advice a chance.

Some key takeaways: always include lots of veggie sides in your meals (lots of good calories to take up space on the plate), try a light meal once a week (soup or salad), keep dinner simple so you don't feel overwhelmed and order take-out. Pretty easy ideas that have really delivered results (about 20 pounds in 4 months - not fast but really painless) and that I can apply when cooking from other books too.

The recipes I have tried are, for the most part, pretty tasty, though maybe not mind blowing. Good, easy to prepare fare for a weeknight. A couple things have been great, a couple not so successful. She does have a couple "special occasion" recipes, but even these are greatly reduced in calories from the original versions. I think she makes these comments so the reader will understand that you can't lose weight eating chocolate frosting all the time, even if it is the low-fat kind, and if you just need to have it, then here is a healthier version. But for those folks who gripe about the inclusion of "special occasion" recipes, the vast majority of recipes are for everyday foods. Try them, especially the veggie sides chapter, and you will be healthier for it.

This is a great book for anyone who wants to lose weight and eat healthier. Kathleen's advice is funny and down-to-earth. She pulls no punches because she has done the hard work of losing weight herself and knows it can be done. She knows it's not easy, but she doesn't leave room for excuses, either. The tips will seem familiar to those who watch her terrific show, "Cooking Thin," on the Food Network, but fans of the show will find plenty of new things here, too.

The recipes are really great. They are easy enough for even a beginning cook, and they taste wonderful. The fat and calories are reduced in most of the recipes, but you won't miss them because all the food is still packed with flavor. This is spa food without spa prices or impossible-to-find spa ingredients. There are lots of practical asides on how to use the leftovers from one dish to create another meal the next night. Best of all, this book will inspire you to expand your horizons and try new things, making cooking and shopping fun again.

I knew if only I could eat more vegetables I'd be healthier--probably thinner, too. But what do you do to make green beans interesting? What on earth do you do with fennel? This book has the best vegetable recipes I've ever tasted: green beans with lemon and parmesan; broiled fennel; baked asparagus; napa cabbage slaw; roasted beets with balsamic vinegar, to name a few. If you come home from the farmer's market or grocery store with a bag full of "interesting" produce and no clear idea how you will cook it, this book is for you. Every recipe I've tried is smashing (homemade granola, apple streusel muffins, herbed ricotta cheese spread), high on flavor, quick, and good for you. Yes, you do have to practice moderation with some of the recipes (like polenta with blue cheese...) but that's what most of us who need to loose weight need to work on anyway!

This is the first cookbook that I plan to make a lot of food out of. Very practical--especially the tips and short cuts. Now dinner doesn't seem that overwhelming AND... I could eat healthy too without all that silly fuss.

I did calculate points for some of the recipes I plan to make. The calculations may be flawed, but I wanted people to see what a great and healthy book it is even if it doesn't have the calories or fiber listed!

easy pizza dough
servings | 2
POINTS per serving | 16

microwave tomato sauce
servings | 8
POINTS per serving | 0

jack's bbq sauce
servings | 2
POINTS per serving | 4

pizza with tomato sauce, basil, and cheese
servings | 4
POINTS per serving | 6

italian sausage pizza
servings | 4
POINTS per serving | 11

bbq chicken pizza
servings | 4
POINTS per serving | 9

baby back ribs
servings | 4
POINTS per serving | 9

super pot roast
servings | 8
POINTS per serving | 8

meat loaf
servings | 8
POINTS per serving | 6

buttery mashed potatoes
servings | 6
POINTS per serving | 3

lazy man's lasagne
servings | 12
POINTS per serving | 4

I'm a big fan of Kathleen's show, not only for the great recipes, but because she has a wonderful philosophy (and a terrific sense of humor) about losing weight. It all translates to this book. It has lots of PRACTICAL tips and recipes that will be a big help to anyone trying to eat healthier. I think an important key to losing weight is to always be on the lookout for a new recipe, or a new way to cook an old favorite to keep yourself from getting bored and Kathleen's book is anything but boring!