Based on the successful British series and popular cookbook, culinary experts Harry Eastwood, Allison Fishman and Candice Kumai show guests how to lose their unwanted inches by replacing extreme dieting with clever cooking. Each half-hour episode follows one guest as she learns simple ways to transform her favorite high-calorie meals into delicious, healthier fare.

The meals are prepared step-by-step, comparing the calorie count of the original recipe to that of the ‘Cook Yourself Thin’ version. The guest is then sent home with the ingredients, tools and tips necessary to make healthy changes in the kitchen. After six weeks of living the ‘Cook Yourself Thin’ lifestyle, each participant is visited at home by the hosts to check on her progress.”

Here are my general notes, observations, rants:

1. It seems this show hopes that by teaching someone how to make her favorite recipes in a less calorie- and fat-dense manner, she will carry these same methods over to everything she cooks and miraculously cook herself thin! No mention of exercise is made.  No mention of how to actually gauge the calorie content of foods is actually made (or how to count calories or whatever). The guest really isn’t armed with long-term, practical advice unless she is going to make the same less-calorie version of her favorite pasta dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of her life (and that’s assuming she doesn’t overeat them since we all know we can still overeat and get fat from the less calories version of our fave foods, right?!)
2. Well aside from giggling at the literal implication of the show’s title (what? It’s the English major in me!), I really wish the chefs would stop saying “and now you can cook yourself thin!” every five seconds.  We get it.  It’s the name of the show.  Brilliant.
3. The show banks on the type of guest who suffers from food ignorance more than food attachment issues.  In other words, if you’re taking someone who simply cooks gratuitously fattening foods because she enjoys the taste and is not really aware that using cream instead of nonfat milk is adding unnecessary calories to her diet, then yea, this show will teach her some great cooking tips.
4. But.  These simple swapping techniques will not help a person with any deeper issue than “I love to cook fettuccini alfredo and only know how to cook it with my grandmother’s recipe who hails butter and shuns the scale.” Your emotional or boredom eating, calorie-phobia or whatever, will not be addressed here.
5. I don’t get why the chefs wouldn’t go one step further to add to the health of the dishes they “recreate.”  Maybe the point is to do it in baby steps?  Sometimes I think the whole “baby steps” thing is lame and a hindrance.  Why cook a less cal version of penne pasta and still use refined, enriched, white flour penne?  I mean, come on!  This show should be more about health than a calorie per calorie play by play, right?  Maybe not…Maybe I’m just too cranky…
6. All crankiness aside, yes, it may generally be a good watch simply because if you like to cook it certainly will give you ideas of dishes you can make yourself and of simple swaps to make.
7. BUT – don’t bother to go check out their recipes on the site because they do not even offer the full nutritional information for the dishes.  That is super annoying, my friends!  Take this pizza dish, for example.  When I scrutinize it, I wonder – why would they list that one use “organic” tomato sauce but not organic bell pepper and basil?  I think people mistakenly assume organic means better (and it is better in some cases for some things) but at least be consistent.  Why not use whole-wheat pizza dough?  Or make the pizza on thin crust? Or make the pizza on whole-wheat tortillas to slash major calories?  Why not use low-fat mozzarella instead of just two measly tbsp of Parmesan to go around?  Lame.  And for 475 calories a slice (how much fat? I don’t know – they don’t list it!), you might as well get a slice of pizza from Pizza Hut for LESS CALORIES.  See here. Oh crap.  Even a slice of the stuffed crust pizza has more than 100 calories less than their “thin” version…

I say Hungry Girl should get her own Lifetime show and put these chefs to shame! Speaking of Hungry Girl, submit a photo of yourself holding up the 200 Under 200 Calories recipe book to media@hungrygirl.com and you might win a shirt.  I submitted my “glamour” shot

Don’t mind the sun burn mixed with pastiness mixed w/ I haven’t slept look…

Coming in tomorrow’s post…When Vegan Cookies Look Like This…

you know you’re no Chocolate Covered Katie and really should be cautious when experimenting…Even Frankenstein couldn’t love this experiment gone awry!

Have you guys watched Cook Yourself Thin? Read the book? What do you think?

*p.s. I hate when people ask “do you want to have your cake and eat it too?”  OF COURSE I WANT TO HAVE AND EAT MY CAKE!  Why would I just want to stare at it?  I would also like a scoop of ice cream on the side and maybe a shake to go with it, but that’s not going to happen, is it?

Let’s hope I’m not so cranky tomorrow.  This makes me happy:

He’s sleeping and dreaming about calorie-free mice while I write this