Who doesn’t love a wonderfully prepared meal that’s made with fresh ingredients and full of flavor? It’s for those people who truly enjoy food and healthful eating that Flavor First was written, a new cookbook by Cheryl Forberg, RD. This James Beard award-winning chef, and nutritionist for The Biggest Loser, wants to see us eating healthier foods that we’re making ourselves at home.

Inside Flavor First you’ll find 75 all-natural recipes that use the best ingredients any garden could grow and any well-stocked pantry should have. From fresh herbs and bold spices, to ripe vegetables and tender cuts of meat, each recipe from Flavor First will help you reconnect with the way food is supposed to be enjoyed.

“When you learn to optimize the flavor with each different ingredient there’s just an exponential explosion of flavor in the finished product,” Cheryl told us in an interview about the book.

Don’t be intimidated if you’re not well-versed at cooking, or even just starting your healthy journey, Cheryl wants you to use this book as a guide for conquering the kitchen, and says it can help the home chef increase their confidence. Flavor First is part cookbook and part culinary lesson, carefully teaching you about flavor layers, a way of preparing food and combining ingredients to bring out the best taste from any meal, and she uses simple, accessible ingredients to show you that even the busiest people can prepare meals.

“Bottom line – everybody is busy,” says Cheryl, and she wants us to re-prioritize and make meal planning an important part of our to-do lists.

Learn more in some excerpts from our interview with Cheryl, plus preview some of these delicious recipes.
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Cheryl Forberg, R.D., is a James Beard Award-winning chef, the nutritionist for NBC’s The Biggest Loser and a New York Times best-selling author. Her Pumpkin Polenta recipe is reprinted from Positively Ageless: A 28-Day Plan for a Younger, Slimmer, Sexier You (Rodale, 2008). Follow her on at www.facebook.com/cherylforbergrd or twitter at cherylforbergrd

To maintain a healthy balance in your diet, make sure you eat something orange every day. From the burnt orange richness of carrots, yams and pumpkin to the ocher shades of apricots and nectarines, these colorful foods are packed with nutrients and compounds that our bodies need to function properly and stave off disease.

Orange foods take their hue from beta-carotene, a plant substance converted by the human body into Vitamin A, essential for normal growth and development, immune system function, and skin and vision health. Beta-carotene is also a powerful antioxidant shown to help fight cancer and heart-disease. Most people don’t get enough beta-carotene in their diet so it’s important to add orange to the menu daily.

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You’ve probably heard them all: put your fork down in between bites, snack on fruit when you want something sweet, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Diet tips can start to sound monotonous after a while, and maybe even obvious. But if they were so obvious, wouldn’t we be more apt to follow them? We went in search of some of the best diet tips you’ve never heard before, and a few notable dietitians gave us some great material that we know will help you kick-off your healthy new year’s habits!

Tips for Hunger Pangs

• “At your first hint of feeling full, place your napkin over your plate.” – Mary Hartley, RD, MPH and director of nutrition for Calorie Count

• “Wait for hunger to eat… hunger is the sign the body needs food. If you feel tempted to snack, but aren’t hungry, set a 20 minute timer and distract yourself.” Rebecca Scritchfield, MA, RD, ACSM

Tips for Portioning and Serving Sizes

• “Cut your sandwich into four pieces, it makes it easier to leave the last piece.” – Hartley

• “Use small serving spoons. Even four spoonfuls will still be a little.” – Hartley
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Cheryl Forberg, RD is a James-Beard award-winning chef and the nutritionist for NBC’s The Biggest Loser. She has been with the show from the beginning and co-wrote the Biggest Loser eating plan. For more cooking and nutrition tips, follow her on Facebook and Twitter @CherylForbergRD, or visit her blog at CherylForberg.com.

By now, you’re probably deep into your holiday checklist – and its attendant stress. Presents delivered to the post office? Holiday gifts delivered to the kids’ teachers? Parties scheduled and dinner menus planned? Travel schedules arranged?

With the pressures of money, family and sheer logistics, the holidays can be harried. And if you’re trying to eat wisely, there’s a whole other dimension of anxiety to contend with. From cocktails loaded with empty calories to holiday cookie swaps, the possibilities for unhealthy choices and abandoned good intentions seem endless.

But good nutrition needn’t add stress to the holiday routine. After all, you don’t want to spend precious time with friends and family agonizing over every little calorie and beating yourself up for overindulging.

Instead, realize that healthy eating isn’t an all or nothing proposition. Rather than trying to follow severe restrictions – and giving up for the day when you “blow it” – focus on the more manageable prospect of making each individual food choice wisely – small changes. Opt for healthier foods each time, and the cumulative effect will be to maintain overall good nutrition and steady progress toward your goals – big difference.

To reduce diet stress over the holidays and cut yourself some healthy slack, consider these tips:
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With season nine of The Biggest Loser wrapped up, you may be wondering where you can get your latest Biggest Loser fix. Cheryl Forberg, RD, the show’s dietitian, has a book out – Six Weeks to a Healthier You – which focuses on quality foods that provide a powerhouse of nutrients for the calories.

In this video, Cheryl shares one of her recipes from the book, a Grilled Shrimp Salad with an Avocado Aioli. The avocado aioli has over 20 vitamins and minerals and heart healthy, unsaturated fats. With help from avocados and Greek yogurt, the luscious and creamy quality of the aioli gives you a nutrient dense alternative to the typical bottled creamy dressing high in saturated fat.

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