Patti LaBelle - Patti Labelles Lite Cuisine

Table of Contents

This book is the result of the efforts of numerous people who gave generously of their time and talent to make its publication possible. I would like to acknowledge them here for their many contributions.

Thanks to David Joachim, recipe developer and tester extraordinaire, whose talent, troubleshooting, and truly spectacular cooking skills made these recipes sing.

Thanks to the talented team at the American Dietetic AssociationJeannette F. Jordan, Registered Dietitian (RD), Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE); Jane Stephenson, RD, CED; Alison B. Evert, RD, CDEfor their informative insights and impeccable nutritional analysis. Just one question: Does the Diabetes Care and Education Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association know how lucky they are to have you three as members?

Thanks to American Dietetic Association Publisher Diana Faulhaber, who contacted, coordinated, and coolly coaxed the many comments of the ADA contributors with remarkable poise and professionalism and uncanny skill and style.

Thanks to Lori Ferme, American Dietetic Association Media Relations Manager, whose enthusiasm and excitement for this book was immediate, inspiring, and infectious.

Thanks to Rick Rodgers for just the right recommendation at just the right time.

Thanks to William R. Frederick, MD, who helped in so many ways that only he knows.

Thanks to Al Lowman for his enlightening guidance and advice.

Thanks to Carl Gullette for his heirloom photographsand for all his help with research and remembrance.

Thanks to Patti Webster for her special and spectacular public relations skillsand her spiritual support.

Thanks to Armstead Edwards for managing the many and complex details that transform a book you have in your head into a book you can hold in your hand.

Thanks to William Shinker and the Gotham Books family for believing in this book from the start.

Thanks to Ronny B. Lancaster for opening his home, his heartand his kitchen!to me. But most of all for loving and supporting my sister-friend and coauthor through every phase of this book. Im talking start to finish. Intro to ending. Deal to deadline.

And last, but by no means least, a very special and heartfelt thanks to Laura Randolph Lancaster, my coauthor and sister-friend, whose patience, professionalism, and profound gifts and talent made this book possible from concept to creation.

A few years ago, I was preparing an invited lecture for a group of physicians on the topic of new directions in medical nutrition therapy. I had reviewed a number of recent studies that focused on comparing the effect of reduced-calorie diets with and without exercise on weight loss in obese persons. The review of these studies was not especially illuminating except for a revelation that was crystallized for me during the process: in the course of medical training, very little serious attention was paid to the appropriate use of diet therapy and exercise in the treatment of several of the worst diseases of our timecoronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetesthe list goes on and on.

And yet well over 100 million Americans are affected by these diseases, and in each case, the treatment approach begins with diet therapy and exercise. Not medication. Not surgery. Diet and exercise. This approach makes good sense because the proper use of lower-calorie diets coupled with regular programs of moderate exercise indeed results in weight loss and improvement in all of these conditions. Thus, the first line of therapy for those conditions that constitute the major epidemics of our time relates to one simple factor: how we eat.

The importance of a more sensible approach to our eating habits has never been more apparent in our society. We are witnessing a rise in the number of overweight and obese adults to levels of 50 percent or more. Levels of obesity in children and adolescents are also rising sharply. These statistics are particularly disturbing when you consider the long list of serious, potentially lethal, illnesses directly linked to obesityheart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke, to name a few. Then there is diabetes. As a result of the sharply rising obesity levels, there is an explosive epidemic of type 2 diabetes. Thats the bad news. The good news is that it has now been proven with an important federally funded clinical trial that even those persons who are obese and at a high risk for type 2 diabetes can prevent the development of the disease by the use of two techniques: diet therapy and exercise. Consequently, our ability to manage and to prevent some of the most damaging diseases in our society, for all people, depends heavily on our society taking a more balanced and sensible approach to our food choices and eating habits.

Given the short amount of time we now spend in both the preparation and consumption of meals, it is apparent that we are a society that worships at the throne of convenience. So-called fast foods have begun to dominate our eating habits, and because these foods tend to be high in saturated fat and in simple sugar content, when they are eaten regularly and in the portion sizes in which they are usually served, the stage is set for weight gain. Why are they so popular? Partly because they are so convenient, but also because they taste good. In fact, one of the biggest barriers to healthier eating is that most people believe that healthy eating must involve consumption of food that is unexciting or worsethey think it must not taste good. Enter Patti LaBelle and her cookbook Lite Cuisine. One of the many contributions Patti has made is to succeed in destroying such misguided perceptions. Patti understands how important healthier eating is for all of uspeople with disorders like hypertension, diabetes, and atherosclerosis, people who are at risk for these problems, and people who are not at especially high risk but who simply want to pursue good health habits. But more importantly in this book, Patti LaBelle, again teaming up with Laura Randolph Lancaster, provides ample evidence that it is possibleand not very difficultfor us to enjoy healthier eating with food that is good for us and tastes good to us.

To quote one of Pattis signature songs, this is the kind of approach to eating that can lead to a new attitude about what it means to eat healthy. In fact, this book really highlights the notion that the presence of a disease like diabetes should not be required to force attention on healthier eating, but only the necessity for each of us to pursue better overall health. The person with diabetes and the person without any serious health issues have a similar need to pursue healthier eating. The person with diabetes or another disorder just may have a greater urgency to do so. Perhaps more important is the fact that it is not necessary to take on the frustrating challenge of fad diets to achieve the goal of healthier nutrition.