"the biggest loser" news and stories

With his new gig as host of "Top Chef Masters," chef (and KitchenDaily expert) Curtis Stone comes ever closer to becoming the ringmaster of America's reality-show circus. Last spring, he made it to the tenth week of Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice," and this fall he's been a regular presence on "The Biggest Loser." His new project, "America's Next Great Restaurant," pairs him up with Bobby Flay and a panel of restaurant experts to find an idea worthy of a three-city restaurant chain. We caught up with Curtis this weekend as he was prepping dinner with Wolfgang Puck for the 8th Annual G'DAY USA Celebrity Gala, in Los Angeles.

Slashfood: It's been a busy year for you, what with the 'Apprentice' and working on 'The Biggest Loser.'
Curtis Stone: 'The Apprentice' was bizarre. I was sitting there before the first day and Cyndi [Lauper] was sort of singing to herself and I was thinking, 'What am I doing here with all of these freaks?' But you know what? I made a lot of good friends from it. They all turned out to be really cool. When I first met Bret [Michaels] I thought, 'How are we going to get along? You're a weirdo.' But he's a nice bloke! He's a strange cat, you know, but a cool dude. Sharon Osborne and I ended up becoming really good friends. Cyndi is a sweet woman -- crazy, out there, talks to herself, but kind and generous.

Based on watching a few episodes of their cooking shows, people buy tons of cookbooks from celebrity chefs, including those who seem to do awfully little in the way of actual cooking. Is it really that much different, or perhaps even better, to buy a cookbook based on a TV show that actually inspired people to start eating and living healthier? The choice is an individual one, to be sure, and if you are already a gourmet chef you probably don't need a crash course like this, but the The Biggest Loser Cookbook is actually a good tool for people looking to start eating healthier and preparing healthier meals.

The book was written by Devin Alexander, who also authored Fast Food Fix, and seems to be a master at renovating recipes into tasty, but healthy, versions of their former selves. It starts out with some basic facts about eating healthy and how to stick to your plan. Of the 125 recipes in the book, most are easy and all sound better than you would expect from "diet" food. The recipes cover breakfast through dessert, and dishes like Boston Cream Peanut Butter Breakfast Banana Split blur the line. A number of the recipes were contributed by (or at least enjoyed by) individual contestants, like Ryan's Ground Turkey Nachos and Amanda's Cheesy Eggplant Lasagna.

In addition to food, the book also talks about having setting out a general diet plan when trying to lose weight, since a healthy lifestyle involves exercise and takes commitment, not just a healthier dinner once or twice a week.

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