How to dine in Michelin star style no matter where you are

Michelin starred restaurants are undeniably an amazing experience. It’s not only about great food at restaurant of this caliber. It’s about the service, the exploration, the celebration and the whole evening’s worth of entertainment. I have absolutely loved each and every Michelin starred restaurant I have ever had the privilege of eating at. But as much as I wish they were, meals like that aren’t every day occurrences. First, I’d have to quit my job to work out enough to make up for that kind of eating! Second, there simply aren’t that many Michelin starred restaurants, and the choices are especially limited in the United States. Read more

Four Great Reasons to Ditch the Diet

Ditch the diet

1. Following the dictates of a diet rather than your internal cues like hunger and satisfaction require you to ignore natural instincts.

Hunger is a signal from your body’s intelligence center that it wants to eat and is prepared for the proper metabolism of food.  Hunger is healthy; ignoring it is not commendable and may create a hypo-metabolic mode (in other words, a slower metabolism).  This means that the majority of incoming calories are stored as as fat instead of burning them for energy. (From the “Metabolism” chapter of my book, The French Twist, Twelve Secrets of Decadent Dining and Natural Weight Management) Read more

Why You Love Chocolate and He Loves Bacon

Bacon and chocolate
Is our biology, more specifically our gender, responsible for our food cravings? Are women programmed to reach for a chocolate truffle or a candy bar, while men are wired for chicken wings? Scientific research has provided some hypotheses and a few studies, but for now this is what we know for sure: the differences between men and women probably have less to do with physiology and more to do with our early access to various foods. And by early access, I mean early—as in caveman days. According to David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, our modern-day preferences can be explained by evolution. Read more

The Super Sex Diet

chocolate cake in the shape of a heart
Here’s a dilemma: a choice between a big old piece of rich, gooey chocolate cake or rock-your-world sex. Tough call—right? That’s because food and sex are two of the most powerful and closely related human desires. Both the sensual gratifications of a decadent sweet and mind-blowing sex literally turn on the pleasure receptors in the brain. Feed Your Libido Have a rendezvous with food in the kitchen and in the bedroom and double your pleasure. With my Super Sex Diet you won’t have to decide between a great romp and a rich dessert. Here’s how… Read more