NEWSRed Carpet Confidential: 'Top Chef Masters' Host Eats, But Doesn’t Gain Weight
Aug. 18 2009, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
Top Chef Masters host Kelly Choi has a passion for desserts. She’s known to dip into a bakery alone, and buy a half-dozen confections.
“I’ll pretend like I’m getting it to go,” she confesses. “I have a little bit of it all.”
Portion control is key to Kelly’s svelte physique.
“I truly believe that being a food lover has nothing to do with weight,” she tells me. “Loving food doesn’t mean you’re going to be fat.”
Kelly highly recommends the book The End of Overeating and documentary Food, Inc.
“Feeling good about yourself when you eat means eating real food,” she says. “Forget the packages. It’s all filler, it doesn’t have any nutrition, it’s not recognized by your body, it doesn’t do anything good for you. The second thing is to really enjoy it, whether it’s real food or if it’s a candy bar. Don’t eat when you’re distracted or when you’re stressed out. Love and relish what you’re eating. If you do, it’s going to be different in your body, and it’s going to react in a different way.”
The New Yorker, who works out with a trainer off-and-on, indulges when the urge strikes.
“Don’t ever say that any food is forbidden, because the moment you do that, you want it,” she says. “You may not give into it right then and there, but that forbidden fruit mentality will totally make you lose it and go for it. Nothing’s off limits.”
To curb cravings for junk food, Kelly’s go-to snack is carrots.
“I love carrots and Korean hot sauce,” she says. “It’s so good because it’s spicy and sweet. I love the crunch of it.”
Kelly Choi’s Culture Vulture interview appears in the OK! on newsstands now. The cover line is Britney Spears/“I Love My New Body.” And, tune into the season finale of Top Chef Masters tomorrow at 10:15 p.m. on Bravo.
