{"id":180,"date":"2016-02-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/?p=180"},"modified":"2023-05-27T04:38:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T04:38:36","slug":"rocco-dispirito-eating-his-way-to-fitness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/rocco-dispirito-eating-his-way-to-fitness\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocco Dispirito eating his way to fitness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just in time for New Year\u2019s resolution season, Rocco Dispirito is here to tell us all exactly what we want to hear: that we can eat as much as we want and lose weight while doing it.<\/p>\n

The James Beard award winning chef and former restaurateur known for his mama\u2019s meatballs and fat and drama driven menus, Dispirito hosted his own reality TV show about his experience opening his very popular NYC restaurant Union Pacific and now has a new mission: to end obesity.<\/p>\n

\"rocco-full\"<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s generation is really struggling against what they are seeing happening to their parents,\u201d Rocco explains. \u201cSo many are suffering from obesity and diabetes, things we didn\u2019t see in the 1960\u2019s. Today we are so much more aware.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocco\u2019s own mother suffered from a lifestyle-induced disease and was part of Rocco\u2019s transformation from a fat-equals-flavor chef\u2014with \u00a0a penchant for heavy late night eating and drinking\u2014to a man on a mission to end obesity and bring wellness and health to the masses.<\/p>\n

Rocco\u2019s journey from excess to health has been a decade in the works. In 2006, at the age of 39, Rocco was diagnosed with high blood pressure and cholesterol. A routine checkup turned into a wake up call, and faced with the choice of medication or a lifestyle change, Rocco chose to make some changes. Those changes included diet and exercise and three months later he finished his first sprint marathon. One year later and thirty pounds lighter, he completed his first Ironman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to be fifty this year,\u201d Rocco said, \u201cAnd I\u2019ve never felt as good as I do now, I\u2019ve never been in better shape, I\u2019ve never felt like I can do what I can do now.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did he do it? Although Rocco admits in the beginning of his dietary transformation he relied on artificial sweeteners, instant pudding mixes and other tricks to simulate the taste of traditional comfort foods, today he embraces whole foods, especially the negative calorie ones.<\/p>\n

His latest book, The Negative Calorie Diet: Lose Up to 10 Pounds in 10 Days with 10 All You Can Eat Foods<\/a><\/em>, highlights his take on what it means to be healthy and lose weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to focus on what you can eat, not what you can\u2019t eat,\u201d Rocco explains. \u201cThere are so many good things that you can have, and really, just a few that you should avoid. My negative calorie diet works because it relies on foods that take more energy to digest than to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those foods include cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, berries and, most especially, water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater is the ultimate negative calorie winner,\u201d says Rocco. \u201cIt takes one calorie to digest every ounce of water we drink. So it also makes sense that the more water dense your foods are, the more negative calorie they will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Rocco highly recommends drinking lots of water, what he doesn\u2019t recommend is drinking alcohol or coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth alcohol and coffee create a really acidic condition in your body, and it is impossible to create wellness with an acidic gut.\u201d<\/p>\n

For caffeine lovers, Rocco does give the very Italian option of espresso, which he states is 80 percent less acidic than coffee.<\/p>\n

His book offers a 10 day cleanse followed by a 20 day diet plan as well as grocery lists and 75 flavor packed recipes: including dessert.<\/p>\n

While he promotes a basically alkaline diet, which he follows fairly seriously, eating a diet of whole foods, eschewing alcohol and eating out, Rocco\u2019s basic philosophy is start where you are and do what you can; that every bit helps.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, if you don\u2019t want to do the cleanse, don\u2019t do the cleanse, if you don\u2019t want to give up your wine, don\u2019t,\u201d Rocco said. \u201cEven if you just start incorporating more negative calorie foods into your diet, you will feel a change. A positive change. It\u2019s going to help and it will build on itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even when it comes to exercise, Rocco promotes doing what feels good.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really don\u2019t have to go to the gym every day, you really don\u2019t have to be crazy about exercise to lose weight and feel good. Just live an active lifestyle and it is going to be enough,\u201d Rocco states.<\/p>\n

The future of health and wellness, Rocco believes, is in finding what feels good and works for each of us individually, and working towards our own best selves.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday more and more people are curating their own path to health and fitness. Everyday I work with multiple clients helping them find what works for them in their life. Ultimately success is finding what works for each of us individually and living that life. I\u2019m just here to help along way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eat to Shed: Rocco\u2019s Top Ten Negative Calorie Foods<\/strong><\/p>\n