Chef John Pierce cooks up a guilt-free dining experience

Jan 14 2010 by Hilarie Stelfox, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Chef John Pierce cooks up a guilt-free dining experience

IT’S ONE of life’s ironies, but the very people who ought to be able to cook themselves a healthy meal – chefs – are often the last to have a balanced diet.

John Pierce, newly-appointed 37-year-old head chef at 1535 on the corner of Queen Street South and Firth Street, Huddersfield, would be the first to admit that his profession makes it difficult to live a healthy lifestyle.

He knows only too well the dangers of working long, irregular and unsocial hours.

“You end up eating by yourself late at night. You’re busy working when everyone else is eating,” said John.

“A lot of chefs I know get takeaways and eat junk food,” he added.

Until a year ago John weighed in at more than 19½ stones – weight that had gradually piled on since his early twenties.

“I’ve been a chef since I was 16,” he explained, “and I’ve worked all over the country. I’d do a lot of eating by myself and comfort eating. Burgers were my downfall.”

Today, however, John is a changed man. Quite literally. In less than 12 months he has shed just over six stones and slimmed down from a size XX large to medium. He says he not only looks better and has regained an interest in fashion, but feels so much better.

“I have got a lot more energy now. Before I lost the weight I was feeling tired quite a lot and depressed about the way I looked. My family were also worried about my health,” John added.

Encouraged to join the Honley Slimming World group by his mum, also a successful slimmer, and other members of his family, John, who lives in Newsome, was surprised by some of the nutritional information given to him at classes. “I never realised just how fattening alcohol is, for example,” he said.

“Chefs have always been trained to cook a lot of rich foods although today more are interested in healthy eating and how to balance things,” he said.

For John’s new lifestyle, out went the takeaways, high-fat foods and sweet temptations and in came masses of fresh fruits and vegetables. “There are loads of ‘syn-free’ foods, such as fruits and vegetables, that you can have on the Slimming World diet plans,” he said.

One of the problems faced by people attempting to lose weight is that when they eat in a restaurant they don’t know what has gone into the food they order.

“But there’s nothing to stop people from asking the chef to prepare something for them,” he added. “They can ask for duck without the skin or soup without cream, for instance. Any chef should be able to cook to order if they have the ingredients, but the customer might have to wait a bit longer, that’s all.”

Since starting work at 1535, which has an Italian bias, John has introduced slimming options onto the menu but says that Italian food in general is healthy.

“Chinese food can be very fattening because they use a lot of oil and Indian food from takeaways is not particularly healthy. I make my own low-fat curries now and a king prawn chow mein with lots of vegetables.”

“To get round the problem of wanting to eat after a night out, I will have a healthy curry already prepared at home that I can heat up.”