THE COOKING COACH APPROACH
Six Sessions to Eating Smart and Weight Loss
By Kelly e. Keough, Sugar-free/Gluten-free Chef

The following is an excerpt from a Q&A quiz I give all my weight loss coaching clients. Max started out two weeks ago with the following cravings. Since then, he has lost 10 pounds and made over 10 recipes from both of my cookbooks, “The 100 Best Gluten-free Recipes for your Vegan Kitchen” and “Sugar-free Gluten-free Baking and Desserts”.

Here are a few recipes Max has accomplished:
Yogurt with berries, mint, and sprouted dehydrated buckwheat granola for breakfast, and for lunch and dinner, Kale w/Peanut Butter Sauce and Goji w/Tofu.

If you are interested in coaching, email me through my contact page on my web site!

SESSION ONE
Step One – Pantry Make-Over.
Let’s start from the outside in. We are going to go through your cupboards and fridge, remove what’s absolutely not necessary, raise our awareness of how each item is affecting your body, and replace those items with sugar-free/gluten-free alternatives and superfoods. You’ll receive a handout with product health benefits and website info.

Step Two – Q &A w/ MAX
Let’s focus on fixing immediate food changes that can be made. This ½ hour consult will ask you to identify your “EATING CHARACTER” and point us in the direction of the best way to customize an eating practice that’s best for you.

QUESTIONS: Be Specific!

* Do your best to describe the kind of eater you are in 10 verbs, or 10 adjectives, 10 or nouns, and/or 10 adverbs. Same root word can apply like: munching, muncher or grazing, grazer. These observations can come from yourself or from what you’ve heard people say about you. For example, “You’re a picky eater”.
1. Over-eater(not waiting until a full feeling, eating beyond) and then feeling bloated.
2. Quick-eater
3. Over-doing it on a cheat day/ having as much as I can physically eat rather than just a treat.
4. Late-eater: eating after 7pm
5. Sweet-lover
6. Carb-lover
7. Binge-eater
8. Copy-cat eater: eating similarly to the ones around me, irrespective of what I know I should and shouldn’t eat.
9. Fattening food lover: pate, baked goods, all sweets really, pizza, etc…
10. Multiple meals eater: can eat a meal a few hours after the last without any problem.

* What foods do you love eating?
Pizza(especially very good pizza), great pasta carbonara, caviar, great pate, great croissant, moules frites, umami burger, great el pastor tacos, Lebanese food, Indian, thai, moroccan food(tagines, brochettes, etc.), kettle korn, humus, creme brûlée, profiterole, saucisson sec, lots of cheeses, roast chicken, omelets, escargot, roasts (potatoes & chicken). Korean BBQ. Sushi.
* What foods can you absolutely not live without?
Pizza, great burgers, pastries, chocolate.
* What foods do you hate eating?
Mayonnaise, anything that uses tons of mayonnaise, gravy, anything using corn starch (Chinese gelatin looking foods), foods that are too bland. I dig everything else…
* What foods do you fear eating?
Oysters(due to looks), certain shellfish(just seems like too much work)
* What are your biggest food cravings? Are they salty, fat, or sweet or a combo? What foods are they, and at what times of day do you crave them?
Combo! Seems like variants of melted cheese: pizza, croque Madame and monsieur, humus with anything. Crave most after the gym or work outs…
* Do you cook? And if so, which dishes (recipes) do you love making?
I do cook. Omelets, roast potatoes, filet mignon, fried eggplant.
* Which dishes (recipes) do you hate making?
anything asking me to gut a chicken or handling raw meat.
* Which dishes (recipes) do you fear making?
Whole chicken (having to empty the Thing!), a turkey (cause I could fuck it up),
* What has been your biggest accomplishment with food, weight loss and/or cooking?
Master cleanse: lost 22 pounds in 13 days. Never eat fast food, never drink soda, diminishing my coffee intake greatly. Switched to tea…
* What has been your biggest failure with weight loss, food and/or cooking?
At my heaviest I’ve ever been currently. 233lbs this morning. I should not be a pound over 200 and my fighting weight should be 175.
* Do you have any cravings? If so, what are you craving right now?
Going into intelligensia, ordering another tea and a croissant or pain au chocolat to go with it. Why the fuck does Everyone else get to eat one!!
* What meal is the most challenging for you to eat “healthy”?
Eating out! Never seems very possible.
* What time of day do you find yourself eating mindlessly, not counting breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks?
Mid Morning and mid afternoon.
* What do you want to change about yourself, your eating, and your weight?
33 lbs to start, eating only when I absolutely need to, not because a clock tells me it’s time. Decrease my body fat and turn most of it to muscle. Knowing whenI’m hungry would be great.
* Have you ever weighed and measured your food before in an effort to diet and lose weight?
Never weighed my food, ever.
* How much weight do you want to lose?
49lbs. I’d be happy at 185.

* When during the week do you have a 3 hour block of time to devote to food shopping, planning, and preparation?
Whenever, I work for myself. Late afternoons are usually safe most days.