Secret to losing weight is stop dieting, start cooking

Having exceeded the feed limit throughout the holidays, I'm mindful of this verse from an anonymous take on Clement Moore:Every last bit of food that I like must be banished,

Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won't have a cookie, not even a lick,

I want only to chew on a long celery stick.

I won't have hot biscuits, or cornbread or pie,

I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore!

But -- isn't that what January is for?

Yes, it's time to pay the penalty for holiday overindulging, and there are plenty of diets out there, from the 17 Day Diet promulgated by Dr. Phil (the good doctor, however, doesn't appear to be on it) to Gwyneth Paltrow's Seven-Day Elimination Diet.

But I side with David Zinczenko and Matt Goudling of Men's Health magazine who suggest you forget about dieting altogether and start cooking. "If you really, truly want to lose weight," they say, "there is no quicker way to shave pounds off your body -- and dollars off your food bill -- than to cook more at home."

For instance, they calculate that if you order pasta in a restaurant you're typically going to get a serving that's 867 calories. Buy it prepackaged at the supermarket, and it's still likely to be 840 calories. But if you make it yourself, the typical calorie count plummets to 422. And when it comes to fast food, the contrast is even more remarkable. By the authors' calculations, if you fix a burger, fries and a shake at home you could eliminate up to two-thirds of the calories and most of the harmful fats.

Part of the reason for this involves ingredients. As Zinczenko and Goulding note, American restaurants have somehow managed to turn even lettuce into junk food, usually by drowning it in dressing. At one national chain, six of seven salads on the menu weigh in at nearly 1,000 calories. At one prominent chain the field greens salad, though it has no meat or cheese, has more calories than a Wendy's Baconator. You can make a salad yourself for well below 400 calories -- even one topped with warm goat cheese.

Portion size is the other reason. According to the USDA, at restaurants it's ballooned by anywhere from 100 percent to nearly 500 percent. Though, of course, you still must be disciplined, you have more control over portion size in your own kitchen.

You may argue that you don't have time to cook, but Zinczenko and Goulding offer perspective on that, too. If you have time to get in the car and drive to a fast-food restaurant and wait for the crew in paper hats to fry your dinner, if you have time to drive to the supermarket to buy something to pop into the microwave and eat standing over the sink, then you have time to cook, they argue. And to prove the point, they offer more than 100 recipes in their book, "Cook This, Not That," which take no more time than it does to get a pizza delivered.

So the new year is a great time -- not to start dieting, but to start cooking.

Shrimp and Grits

This recipe for the comforting Southern classic, adapted from Zinczenko and Goulding, has about one-third the calories of similar restaurant fare.

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 cup sliced turkey kielbasa

4 scallions

1 clove minced garlic

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 cup quick-cooking grits

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oil until lightly smoking, add kielbasa and cook until lightly browned. Chop the whites of the scallions and add, along with garlic and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are lightly browned, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add shrimp and continue cooking until they are just pink. Stir in broth and cook until liquid has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne. Cook grits according to package directions. When thick and creamy add cheese and season with salt and pepper. Serve shrimp over grits, garnished with chopped scallion greens. Makes 4 servings.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at news@semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702-0699.