Tune in this Monday, September 21 to the Rachael Ray Show when Ruby Gettinger stops by to learn some healthy makeover cooking tips from the country’s beloved cook.

Star of Ruby – The Inspirational Weight Loss Journey, this once 750-pound Southern belle, has opened up her life to the rest of the country as she has lost an astonishing 400 pounds on her self-entitled Style Network’s reality show.

This Monday, Rachael teaches healthy kitchen basics as well as how to cook up a meatless version of one of Ruby’s favorite dishes, Pasta Bolognese using portobello mushrooms as a “meaty” alternative to traditional ground meat. This skinnier recipe promises to save on fat but not on flavor.

Check your local listings for exact show times.

I don’t know about you, but this season went by so quickly! After ten episodes, we’ve fallen even harder for Ruby, and watched her overcome even greater obstacles than her weight. The season opened with the loss of her father, and the last week we saw her lose her beloved dog Lucy. Ruby says these events have left her feeling unmotivated and have caused her to fall off track. However, she didn’t completely lose control. In the past Ruby would have turned to a pot of spaghetti, as friend Georgia explained, but instead she’s using food to her advantage. When she gets those food cravings, she eats Glucerna’s bars and shakes, which are created especially for diabetics.

This was a very emotional week for Ruby, both on the high end and the low end.

We’ve known for a while that her beloved dog Lucy was not well, as her kidneys were failing. Each night Ruby lovingly gave her shots for treatment, and she and friends prepared for the worst. The relationship Ruby has with her dogs is as definitive of man’s best friend as you’ll find. “I don’t think I’ve ever had love like they give me,” Ruby tearfully remarks.

Her roommate and close friend Jeff said that Lucy’s loss would be “like losing a child for her.” In this episode, Lucy does leave Ruby and it’s one of those emotional hurdles that has Ruby questioning if she’ll end up throwing away all of her hard work thus far.

Ruby Gettinger, the star of Style Network’s hit reality show Ruby, will release her own personal diary of her inspiring journey to overcome morbid obesity.

For those of you who love Ruby, she’s releasing Ruby’s Diary September 8, 2009; and it’s a must for any fan! Filled with deeply personal thoughts, fears and insights, many of which were never revealed on camera, this memoir chronicles her journey up to her current weight loss status, about 150 pounds. Ruby’s Diary simply started out as just that: her own private diary. But as her weight loss journey has cascaded into a story of inspiration and commitment, yet also challenge and difficulty, she decided to share her thoughts and emotions with others.

Things were not the typical sunshine and roses for Ruby this week. What started out as a celebration spiraled into a lot of self-doubt, depression and fighting to find the motivation to go on.

She weighed herself for the first time in two weeks, to see that she’d dropped to 323.6 pounds. Jeff pointed out she was losing at a rate of about five pounds per week – which is definitely a healthy rate of weight loss. However, a few days later she went to visit her nutritionist Helen who also weighed her in and found that Ruby had actually gained about 20 pounds, as she weighed in at 355 pounds. She was shocked and just kept saying “no way.”

Her nutritionist, trainers and even roommate Jeff prodded to find out where she fell off. She admitted to not using the OurLife meals, not using her food journal, and not exercising each day. She expressed her anger at the scale, but recognized that the fault was her own.