You might not have a personal celebrity chef but we can deliver the next best thing.

In fact, unless you’re famous enough to know one or two personally or have the money to afford a chef of your own, the healthy and delicious advice we get from them are mostly secondhand – that is, with the exception of celebrity chefs! Celebrity chefs have not only provided us with awesome recipes to try for ourselves over the years, but they also share a lot of their cooking wisdom with viewers all over the world. 

In today’s article, we’re going to look at a gold mine of useful and healthy cooking tips from big-name chefs around the globe. 

 

Rachael Ray

We’re starting off with some sound advice from famous television host Rachael Ray, who says she’s “a big believer in cooking with olive oil.” No wonder she does: olive oil is, after all, known to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease while keeping the heart healthy. But more than that, the uses of olive oil extend far beyond cooking. “My family used olive oil on their feet, on their hair and in their food.”

She also recommends prepping and chopping fruits and vegetables as soon as they’re in your kitchen. The logic? “If you have colourful foods on hand in the fridge, you’re more apt to cook for yourself more often and, therefore, you’re more apt to lose weight and live a healthier life.” And with how most of us have the tendency – especially kids! – to open the fridge every few hours or so to check if there’s anything new in there, might as well be tempted by something healthy!

 

Curtis Stone

In the time we live in, this tip from Curtis Stone, chef and owner of Maude in Beverly Hills, is especially relevant: stay away from over-processed foods. And why shouldn’t we? Not only are these harmful to our health, we also have more nutritional alternatives. “Inexpensive and unprocessed foods like beans, rice, nuts and grains are far healthier than modern convenience foods, like soda and processed breads and cheeses,” Curtis shares. 

Curtis also suggests preparing food in batches by planning up to a week ahead. This makes perfect sense for a lot of different reasons: you not only get to free up some time for other things in your schedule, but if you already have healthy food prepped, then you’re less likely to resort to instant food, or worse, junk food. 

 

Jacques Torres

It really isn’t too good to be true – chocolate can be healthy food! But there’s a catch: according to Mr. Chocolate himself, Jacques Torres of Jacques Torres Chocolate, healthy means the highest cocoa content. “The higher cocoa content is better for you because it contains lower amounts of sugar and is full of antioxidants (flavanols and polyphenols), which help lower blood pressure.” 

Bonus: want to give your blueberries an even healthier, chocolatey twist? Jacques will coat blueberries in dark chocolate with 60% cocoa for a nutritious treat. Now go get those berries ready and start melting some chocolate! 

 

Anne Burrell 

Host of Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America, Anne Burrell prefers using real sweeteners when baking – so none of the refined, processed sugars that can cause insulin and blood sugar levels to skyrocket and increases the risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. “I don’t like super sweet desserts, so I’m more about natural sugars, like fruit desserts,” she shares.

Sources of healthier, naturally occurring sugars are fruit (fructose) and milk (lactose). So if you can, go for these more natural sugars and keep other sugars like table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup to a minimum. 

 

Geoffrey Zakarian

Sometimes, healthy eating is also about portion size. So in this case, size definitely matters! “Portion size is very important — our potions of indulgent foods are way too large,” says Geoffrey Zakarian, culinary director of the Palm Court at The Plaza. He recommends using small amounts of full-fat yogurt and butter with this logic: “You might as well use the real thing and just have less of it,” he explains. 

 

Depending on your age, lifestyle, and gender, make sure that the portion size fits all of your daily nutritional needs. The saying less is more holds true for as long as you take particular care in selecting the right amount of food from each food group. 

More than just fun to watch and take inspiration from, celebrity chefs have a lot to teach us when it comes to healthy, nutritious food. The next time you end up in the kitchen wondering what delicious food to whip up, we hope you remember not only the amazing recipes that these celebrity chefs have put together to make cooking easier for you – don’t forget these healthy cooking tips too! 

 

Looking to make living healthier a little easier? Start with our Hearty Health ready-meals. Call 1300 728 764 or email hello@heartyhealth.com.au.