George Stella - George Stellas Livin Low Carb: Family Recipes Stella Style

I couldnt even button the largest pair of pants I could find at the department store, so I used a safety pin instead and let my shirts hang down in front so no one could see. By then, it didnt really matter anyway. I could hardly walk, so I stayed home in a wheelchair most of the time. I couldnt even make it across the kitchen without stopping for a breather. Only a few years earlier Id been a chef at some of the finest restaurants in FloridaCaf Max, Sausalito Restaurant, Windows on the Green, the list goes on and on. Somehow, though, I lost control of my life.

I began to eat, and then to eat even more, and when it was all over, Id eaten my way out of a life most chefs only dream of. I was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1959. I was kind of a chubby kid, but not what youd really call overweight. When I was eleven years old, my father, a former vaudeville entertainer who had fallen on hard times, decided to move the family to Florida. Times were tough, but the weather sure was an improvement. After a few years of sweating under the hot Florida sun, Id pretty much burned my baby fat off.

It wasnt until I experienced heart problems as a teenager that I had my first real problems with my weight. The treatment I was givenmassive doses of the steroid prednisoneactually ended up causing a lot of my problems, including gaining a lot of weight. Luckily for me, my mother found a doctor who understood what was really going onjust before I was about to undergo heart surgery! With his help, I was able to wean myself off the steroids and bring my weight down again. By then I had already been cooking for years. I got my start early, thanks to a good friend from the neighborhood, Jimi Volpe. At the time he was working as a line cook at the Ranch House Restaurant on Deerfield Beach, right next to the pier.

He was only fifteen and had lied about his age in order to get the job. I was only fourteen, but I was tired of pushing a rusty old lawn mower around to make money. So I followed Jimis advice, told the manager I was sixteen, and before long I had my first job in a restaurantwashing dishes! I didnt wash dishes for long, but I was in the kitchen for good! Jimi kept pestering the manager to let him teach me how to cook the line, and finally the manager gave in. I had found my calling, and from that moment I decided that I wasnt just going to learn how to cookI was going to become a chef! There was just something about cooking that clicked for me right from the beginning. I just loved working in the kitchen. I loved being in the middle of all the action, surrounded by the noise and the smells of the cooking food.

I loved learning from everybody I worked with too. I was hooked on cooking, but I got hooked on some pretty bad eating habits too. Thats where all my problems started. The results of those bad habits wouldnt show up for a while though, and once I got past my heart problems, my luck changed for the better. I met my wife, Rachel, and we got married and had children. With a family to provide for, I really had to concentrate on my career, and it wasnt long before all those hours in a restaurant kitchen, and my terrible eating habits, began to take their toll.