78: Rocco Dispirito – How to Integrate Healthy Eating Into Your Lifestyle

"We’re basically consuming the worst kind of fuel that we can consume without replenishing any nutrients." - Rocco DiSpirito  Hey guys, welcome back to ONKEN RADIO, the podcast where we explore the body, mind, and soul of the creative entrepreneur. It’s my goal to help you take your creativity, business, and life to the next level. I’m so glad you’re joining me on this journey! Recently when I was traveling, I watched a documentary called That Sugar Film on a plane. The film was all about how sugar affects our bodies. We all know that eating lots of sugar and over-processed foods is bad for us, but I didn’t realize how bad until I saw the film. The new knowledge I acquired set me up perfectly for my guest today. He’s a world-renowned chef, number-one New York Times bestselling author, TV personality, and health and nutrition expert. I’m so pleased to have Rocco DiSpirito on the show because he has some fantastic tips we can all use to eat healthier without totally disrupting our everyday lives. The amazing thing about Rocco is that he’s an enormously popular chef with a unique perspective on food. He thinks of the flavors in a meal as if they have a story arc — they have a beginning, build up to the middle, and wind down in the end. He’s been combining and recombining flavors ever since he got his first job working in a pizzeria at 11 years old. And the best part is, he wants to teach you how to cook his delicious dishes. Rocco has recently released a new book, The Negative Calorie Diet. We talk about a lot of the information in the book in this interview, but I know you’re going to want to read this one cover-to-cover anyway. And you’re in luck because I’m going to be giving away two signed copies of the book. Just find a picture of the book online, post it to Instagram, and tag Rocco, @roccodispirito, and me, @nickonken. The first two people to enter the contest will win signed copies of The Negative Calorie Diet, so get posting! With that, let’s get started. Rocco and I talk about a lot of great stuff today — I hope this episode inspires you to start experimenting in the kitchen! Who Is Rocco DiSpirito? Rocco DiSpirito is a celebrity chef and author of more than 12 books. He’s been on the New York food scene for years — and I can tell you all from experience that New York cuisine is some of the finest in the world. But Rocco’s career, as I mentioned earlier, started when he was just 11 years old. At the time, he simply wanted to buy a KISS album. His mother flatly stated that she would not buy it for him, but he was welcome to get a job, earn money, and pay for it himself if he liked. So Rocco got a job at a local pizzeria near his home in Queens, New York City. He eventually bought the KISS album, but more importantly, he found his passion for food. Rocco grew up to be the chef at a popular New York City eatery known as The Restaurant and the host of the NBC reality show of the same name. His passion for food and his genius-level understanding of the flavor combinations have driven him to create some of the most delicious dishes ever. And Rocco hasn’t failed to adapt to the ever-changing tide of the discussion of nutrition, particularly here in the United States. In recent years, his passion has become teaching people to eat healthy food and lose weight without feeling deprived. He runs a very successful nutrition coaching business and sells his own line of healthy foods, including delicious shakes and protein bars. Rocco’s most recent book, The Negative Calorie Diet, is a fantastic testament to his years of creating beautiful dishes that help his clients lose weight. We’ll dive into more detail in the interview, but the basic idea is this: There are some foods that actually cause your body to metabolize more calories than they’re worth, so you can actually lose weight by eating a diet filled with those foods. And for those of you who hate veggies or don’t know how to cook,