Maria Dolores Beatriz - Latina Lite Cooking: 200 Delicious Lowfat Recipes from All Over the Americas--With Special Selections on Nutrition and Weight Loss

Neither this diet nor any other diet program should be followed without first consulting a health care professional. If you have any special conditions requiring attention, you should consult with your health care professional regularly regarding possible modification of the program contained in this book.

Copyright 1998 by Maria Dolores Beatriz

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroup.com

First eBook Edition: September 2009

ISBN: 978-0-446-56488-5

S! At last there's a cookbook with all your favorite Latin recipes, revamped for today's health-conscious America. Maria Dolores Beatriz has helped over 50,000 Hispanic women shed big pounds with a huge smile. Now she shares her secrets for achieving health and fitness without giving up treasured traditional foods. This is the first book of its kind in English or Spanish. Anybody who loves Mexican, Cuban, and Latin foods from all over the world will love these mouthwatering, healthy recipes. Part lowfat Hispanic cookbook, part diet plan, LATINA LITE COOKING gives modern lovers of Latino cuisine everything they need to stay sleek, svelte, and sensacional.

Now you can have your flan and eat it too! Beatriz provides lowfat alternatives and recipe makeovers for many of your favorite Latin disheswithout sacrificing authentic Latin flavor.

LAURA MILERA, food editor, Latina Magazine, author, The Flavor of Cuba

Move over, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchersnow there's a weight-loss program for Latinos!

Profiles

LATINA LITE COOKING gives Americans of all origins tasty ideas for sensible, nutritious eating from around Latin America.

FAYE LEVY, author, 30 Low-Fat Vegetarian Meals in 30 Minutes and Faye Levy's International Vegetable Cookbook

To Jim White, the light of my life, who promised methe sun would shine on cloudy days.

Latina Lite Cooking is my dream come true. But I can only accept partial credit since many special people contributed to this book.

First, I want to thank all of the gente maravillosawonderful folks who have lost weight with Esbeltez during the last thirty years. I appreciate the affection and trust we share.

Next, I would like to brindarlesoffer a special low-calorie toast to the personnel of Esbeltez who have tolerated me while I was writing this book. Immersed in computer limbo, I had scant time to acknowledge their support and encouragement.

A special thank you is sincerely directed to Madeleine Morel and Barbara Lowenstein of Lowenstein-Morel Associates, my agents. In our initial telephone conversation Madeleine's enthusiasm convinced me to begin this project. Her unfaltering confidence guided me through the tough times. In her gentle, firm way she forced me to explore my mind and systematically organize my thoughts. Barbara, a crystal geyser of energy, exudes success. Whenever I became scared and worried her image motivated me to be better than I am. Thanks, Madeleine and Barbara.

Without some special people this book could not have become a reality. Carolyn Fireside, my first editor, is an extraordinarily warm human being and an extremely competent professional. Carla Fine, my succeeding editor, painstakingly listened to my thoughts and ideas and through her logical expertise the contents of this book were pulidopolished. Diane Stockwell, my editor at Warner Books, and I share a love for todo Latino. She has contributed knowledge, guidance, understanding, and direction to bring this project to fruition.

Muchas gracias, tambin to Felipe Baron, M.D., Herman Froeb, M.D., Helen Froeb, and Alan Schoengold, M.D., all of whom have a passion to help Latinos avoid endangering their health by obesity. I would also like to thank West Publishing Company for facilitating the analysis of the recipes and menus by providing the Direct Analysis Plus program.

My gratitude also extends to my children, Susana and Esteban, my stepdaughter, Summer, and my nuera, Marcia, and yerno, Wayne. So many times when they wanted their mom available I was busy writing.

I could not have done this without the helping hands of Susana and Maria Rocha, the experimental kitchen team. We have chopped, blended, and stirred our way through hundreds of bubbling recipes rejecting, modifying, and upgrading.

More than anyone, Jim has been at my side. He has helped me live through every computer glitch; held my hand and consoled me when we lost eight hours' work on a bad disk; discussed every word in every chapter with me; sacrificed our beloved ski trips; and, in general, has demonstrated exceptional love, friendship, dedication, and loyalty.

In summing up, I reflect upon my good fortune in having Jim and a loving family at my side plus a host of other people who through their generosity have afforded me the privilege of knowing and caring for them.

MARIA DOLORES BEATRIZ, 1998

I remember the afternoons I spent as a little girl visiting my abuelita. My grandmother's kitchen was so cozywarm, homey, and wonderful. She would give me chocolate to drink, tell romantic stories about her native Mexico, stroke my cheek, and offer tacos, carnitas, or sweet desserts that she was preparing. Try this, gordita linda, she would say. With every bite I felt infused with love and comforting calories.

It was not until my teens and early twenties that being overweight began to interfere with my life. I looked in the mirror and hated what I sawfolds, flaps, and bulges. In my pain, I turned to the familiar comforts of food. With every bite, I heard my abuelita's soothing voice: Eat, mi gordita, eat. And with every bite, I got fatter.

I struggled with my weight for many years, going through one vicious cycle after another. Initially I lost pounds by denying myself normal eating, only to reach a point of unbearable stress each time. Invariably I gained every lost pound back plus a few more in a matter of months. I became convinced that I could never sacrifice my beloved foods and would always be fat.

After one of these fasting episodes, slimmer but feeling particularly apprehensive, I looked for comfort in a big bowl of guacamole, urgently dipping one tostada chip after another. I ate breathlessly, desperately. I had never experienced such desperation before, and it frightened me. I stopped in midbite; for the first time, I wanted to understand why I was gorging myself. I became aware that my gluttony was really a desire to satisfy the void created by my need for love and comfort. Now, with the nearly empty bag of chips and scraped-clean bowl of guacamole in front of me, I realized that all my life I had equated the beloved foods from my childhood with love and security. That was why dieting had always been such tortureit felt like I was depriving myself of love and affection. I realized I had to change my way of thinking but also find a way to prepare my adored security-oozing platillosdishesin healthier, nonfattening ways. I named the voice inside my head that told me that food is love my mente gorda, fat mindset. I knew that daydreaming about the familiar foods of my childhood gave me warm and fuzzy feelings, while visions of nothing more in my future than dull salads, wilted vegetables, and tasteless boiled chicken or fish depressed me.

To lose weight, to look and feel the way I wanted, I was forced to develop a mente delgada, a lean mind-set, to guide me through weak moments. Through much hard work and discipline, I taught myself that food is nourishment for the body and love is nourishment for the soul, and they can be combined! I experimented enthusiastically in my kitchen, redesigning the heritage of familiar foods that had been handed down to me. I successfully modified the old recipes. I no longer felt deprived when I substituted lean skinless chicken for fatty meats, because I cooked and seasoned the chicken in the same way that my mother and grandmother had. Best of all, as I slowly lost weight and kept it off, my sense of accomplishment and pride and my growing confidence nourished my soul, making it easier for me to control my