FITNESS PROFILE
Chef adopts new approach to eating
Advertiser Staff
How does Alan Wong, one of Hawai'i's top chefs, manage to keep fit and trim?
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Wong joined a gym after being warned by a doctor about high blood pressure and cholesterol. He weighed 222 pounds. In four months, with regular workouts and attention to his diet, he weighed 189 pounds, and his body-fat percentage went from 26 percent to 19. His cholesterol, at its highest, was 380. Now it's at 175. His triglycerides were 770. Today they're 70.
Alan Wong, one of the Islands' top chefs, trains at the Honolulu Club with trainer Glynis Ramirez. Wong said his biggest roadblock to fitness was getting started.
Name: Alan Wong
Age: 46
Profession: Chef/owner, Alan Wong's
Height: 5 feet 8
Weight: 189 pounds
Target weight: 175 pounds
My workout habits: Three times a week, I lift weights with my trainer, Glynis Ramirez. Two times a week, spinning class (one hour) or cardio on treadmill (20 to 50 minutes), and weekly, a squash game with the boys.
My good foods/bad foods: I approach eating differently and have a plan for the whole day, versus meal by meal. I learned how to count, by grams, proteins and carbohydrates. At any given time of the day, I know what the count is. My protein intake is close to my weight and always exceeds my carbohydrates in grams. My carb intake is usually less than 100 a day. I rarely add extra salt to my food and I watch my sodium. I don't eat carbs after lunch and I try not to eat after 7 p.m. But be careful when reducing your carbs — you need to keep your minimum requirement of fiber in your diet.
When I eat fruit, I try to eat only fruit and wait a half-hour before eating anything else. When there's protein and vegetables or carbs on the same plate, I eat the protein first. I try to stay away from sugar, as in sweets and desserts.
My biggest motivator: What has really helped me is to weigh myself every morning and I write it on a calendar. Before I go to sleep, I do the same. The measurement and recording gives me incentive to stay on path. And, I'm human — I have fun occasionally, but when you measure like that, you know how far you went off and how much you need to get back on track.
My biggest roadblock to fitness: Getting started is the hard part. When I was a kid, I could play all day, all kinds of sports. I'd get into it and never get tired. The hardest part after all these years of just working and not much exercise was simply to get started, to overcome all the anxieties that come with years of neglect and starting something new.
Advice for those in the same boat: I used to not eat breakfast. I used to eat a big lunch and I used to eat late at night. Now breakfast is the most important meal for me. On spinning days, I don't eat before cardio, but I eat right after that. One of the keys has been going from two big meals a day (sometimes it would only be one) to eating six to eight times a day but eating smaller amounts. When I'm in long meetings, I'll always have a snack in my bag (like a protein bar, protein drink, apple or banana), and I will count that as one meal.
How I save my sanity: Include your partner or family. Eating has become such a social situation. We have been trained to eat certain meals at certain times of the day. I thank Alice (Inouye, Wong's wife) for supporting me in this, keeping me well-stocked with good foods, cooking for me differently and understanding about not going out to eat as often. She even made me a pocket card to list all the foods I eat and drink, along with their protein, carbs, fat, fibers and calories.
You have to choose what you eat carefully. You are what you eat.
