Changing Hawaii
SAM Choy is Hawaii's biggest chef, all right. He is undoubtedly the most successful -- with eight restaurants worldwide, a weekly TV cooking show, contract to provide in-flight meal service for United Airlines, and authorship of several cookbooks, including two debuting later this month. Dieting tips from
state’s ‘biggest’ chefBut Choy is also the biggest when it comes to girth.
At his heftiest, the 5-foot-7 Big Island resident weighed 430 pounds, wore size 6X aloha shirts and donned pants with a 64-inch waistline. His blood pressure was a worrisome 180/105, leading to interminable nagging from his doctors to literally lighten up.
Sam tried. He'd embraced every weight-loss program, fad or diet under the Hawaiian sun -- from Weight Watchers to Nutrisystem to the pungent cabbage soup regimen -- only to retreat to the comfort of overindulgence. "I call it the Monday morning diet, 'cause you start on Monday but by Thursday, you're back in the pot (of) stew," says Choy, 47.
It's especially challenging when you're a famous chef who travels a lot but whose home is food paradise. Besides constant exposure to exquisite cuisine, and a hellish schedule full of restaurant visits, TV tapings and book signings precluding regular meals, the whole premise of island sociability centers on grinds. "What's the most embarrassing thing that can happen if you're entertaining guests?" Choy asks rhetorically. "If you run out of food."
Sam was discouraged and felt out of control -- until he curtailed his carbohydrate intake and then joined the Challenge program at The Club in Kona, owned and operated by the husband-and-wife team of Jeff and Marlina Lee.
According to Marlina, the key words to losing and keeping off weight are "balance," "moderation" and "long term." Meals should consist of 30 percent protein, 40 percent low-glycemic and fiber-rich carbohydrates, and 30 percent lean fats.
Regular exercise, lots of water, two between-meal snacks of BioZone bars, and weekly weigh-ins and support group meetings are also encouraged.
Choy is the health club's most famous client, and its most avid booster. He's proof the lifestyle change works: In the past seven months, he has lost 50 pounds, gone down two shirt sizes, lowered his blood pressure from 180/105 to 160/80, and no longer craves saimin, rice (he used to eat five cups a day) and his famous kapakahi mashed potatoes.
"I'm putting the energy of a madman into this program," says Choy, who walks six miles daily for exercise, usually beginning at 4:30 a.m.
HIS short-term goal is to drop 20 more pounds in three months, which would get him down to 350; long term, he wants to reach his "ideal" of 273, for a total weight loss of about 150 pounds.
"Fat people are no different than drug addicts or alcoholics, in that they have a problem to overcome," says Choy. "To recover, drug addicts must give up drugs and alcoholics can't drink alcohol. But fat people can't totally stop eating."
They simply must be more selective in what they consume, especially cutting w-a-a-y back on the carbs in starch-happy Hawaii, where the unofficial state food is the plate lunch with two scoops rice, garlic bread and macaroni salad on the side.
Ask the jovial guy whose trademark motto is "Never Trust A Skinny Chef." Teases Marlina, "We keep telling Sam he's going to have to change it to "Never Trust A Skinny Chef -- Until Now."
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.