Pounds Off Profile: Iron Chef Morimoto

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As you read on Wednesday, I have joined the "Throwdown! with Rae and Katie" challenge. It's inspired by their mutual admiration of Bobby Flay, which caused me to inquire as to whether any Food Network personalities would qualify for a Pounds Off Profile.

Enter Iron Chef Morimoto.  My wife and I had a brief phase of watching Iron Chef on a regular basis.  It was fun and irreverent and a great premise: two chefs compete in a one-hour contest using a single ingredient as the focus.  A contestant, usually an up and coming chef, takes on one of three "Iron Chefs". There's great drama as they try to beat the clock and their foe, all while trying to figure out how to make a dessert out of mushrooms or duck or whatever the secret ingredient turns out to be.

I've always wondered how those in the food industry deal with the temptations of delicious food all around them.  I mean, nobody's going to tell Morimoto that he has to pay for those scallops he downed while making a sorbet or something.  It must be a challenge, and indeed the Iron Chef got to the point that he felt he needed to lose weight.  Amazingly, he lost 40 pounds in three months.

A common theme of these Pounds Off Profile posts is that many celebrities lose weight the old fashioned way - consuming less and moving more - and that their methods are available to all of us.  An article on the Food Network's web site shares the lessons of Morimoto's weight loss:

1. Cut calories
2. Take a walk
3. Sweat it out
4. Alcohol only in moderation
5. Cook at home

You can RTWA for the details.  And if you're into healthy recipes, here are a few from Morimoto and other chefs who have lost weight.

It works folks.  The jury has voted, and the winner again is the Iron Chef!