In this interview I talked with Karine Losier, a.k.a. the Lean Kitchen Queen, co-author of the Metabolic Cooking program with her partner, Dave Ruel. In this interview with talk about the challenges people face when trying to lose weight, the joy of cooking, and how the Metabolic Cooking program was created. Enjoy.
Note: You can now download a free report by Karine and Dave here: 7 Free Cooking Tricks to Burn Fat Faster
Question: I have a special guest today, Karine, the Lean Kitchen Queen, and co-author of the Metabolic Cooking program along with Dave Ruel. Karine, how are you these days?
Karine: I’m doing great, thanks for asking! I’m still keeping busy in the kitchen, coming out with new recipes daily and am ultra-excited to launch our latest baby, metabolic cooking. It’s going to be great!
Question: For some of our readers, this will be their first encounter with you. What can you tell us about yourself and how you got into the nutrition and fat loss field?
Karine: Sure. I’ve been involved in fitness for as long as I can remember and have always been especially passionate about the nutrition aspect. While I love my hard workouts, don’t get me wrong, cooking is really where my interests lie.
When I first met Dave, he taught me how to cook healthy and stay lean at the same time, something that I struggled with
in earlier times. While I knew what it meant to eat healthy, eating healthy with great tasting foods is what eluded me. After that, the rest was history. I fell in love with the man and the cooking. Food is not only the way to a man’s heart, but a woman’s as well!
In addition to all this, I’ve also worked hard and attained a Masters degree in psychology, which I feel has really helped me in this field. I’ve had the opportunity to deal with a lot of people with weight problems, so it’s really easy for me to understand the kinds of things they go through. This is partially what led to my large desire to come up with healthy recipes that were easy to prepare, tasted great, and would help people burn fat.
It’s how we came up with the idea for Metabolic Cooking.
Question: How did you get such a cool nickname as the Lean Kitchen Queen?
Karine: That’s a good question! You see Dave always likes to give people nicknames, and that was one he’s given me.
The reason behind it is because I’m VERY girlie and I love taking care of myself and looking pretty, even when I’m in the kitchen. I guess it’s the diva side coming out in me – Dave saw it and the name was born.
Question: Did you and Dave each have your own part of Metabolic Cooking to work on or did you work on everything together?
Karine: Dave and I both really enjoy cooking together, so it’s really been a joint effort. We are huge foodies! While we each came up with our own recipes, bringing them to perfection was something we did together, each offering input to make the recipe as good as it could be.
It helps having two different taste preferences trying things as this ensures that everyone else will like the recipes! I really enjoy Thai food so you’ll definitely see this having an influence in Metabolic cooking, while Dave is an awesome breakfast and red meat man, so his recipes there really shine.
Question: Since you have a Masters in Psychology, what would you say are the biggest mental challenges when it comes to fat loss?
Karine: I’d say most people are faced with two different types of challenges.
First, they have a very hard time picking out good from bad. They go on these diets that are practically ‘mission impossible’ to stick with and then wonder why they can’t carry through. They’re literally starving themselves and using this ultra complicated approach that makes things feel far too overwhelming.
Then the second issue is that they sentence themselves to this bland, tasteless food and then also wonder why they struggle to stick with it. When you can find a diet program that keeps you feeling satisfied and tastes good, that’s when you’re headed to success.
Question: Do women have different challenges than men do?
Karine: I do believe there are a few factors that may make things slightly harder for women, namely the hormonal environment can prove to be challenging and emotions can definitely throw a kink into things. One minute you may feel fine on the diet and the next, you’re battling an emotional turn and have such strong food cravings it can be hard to control.
Women also do tend to have less lean body mass as well, so they have lower calorie expenditures at rest so it may mean calorie intakes need to come down a bit more. That too is a bit more of a challenge.
Question: How does having a program like Metabolic Cooking help deal with these challenges?
Karine: Metabolic cooking addresses these challenges by producing great tasting foods so even if you have cravings, we have plenty of recipes to deal with this.
Plus, the recipes are uncomplicated so won’t lead to feelings of being overwhelmed and will make sticking with the diet easier than ever. We’ve really put a lot of effort and time into making sure they taste great.
Question: How did you two come up with these recipes?
Karine: Lots and lots of cooking! Seriously, much of it was just trial and error until we were satisfied – and believe me when I say we are not two people easily satisfied. We’ve also helped a lot of people out with fat loss related problems so that’s really helped us learn what people need to stick with it.
Question: We live in a society where a lot of people don’t cook at all. They just buy ready-made food. Is there really such an advantage to cooking food yourself? Is it worth the time and effort?
Karine: I firmly believe you derive a number of benefits from the cooking process. First of all, eating junk is really bad for your health and will lower your life expectancy, plus you’ll be much more prone to diseases.
Cooking, once you get used to it, can provide a great way to reduce stress, have fun, and just relax and enjoy life. It might sound a bit over the top, but many people say after they’ve tried our recipes, they’ve really learned to love being in the kitchen again. Plus, you’ll feel really good knowing that you’re doing something good for your body each time you prepare one of these meals.
Question: In Metabolic Cooking you use something called the Metabolic Nutri-Profile . What is the Nutri-Profile and how does it work?
Karine: As you work your way through the cookbooks, you’ll find the recipes based on the particular nutrients included, referred to as proteins (P), carbohydrates (C), fats (F), and vegetables (V). The recipes have been created so you’ll be eating a certain amount of these foods with each recipe, thus promoting the overall metabolic boosting benefits. It’s called the Metabolic Nutri-Profile.
We designed this so our readers wouldn’t get overly boggled down with calculations and trying to figure out confusing nutrient breakdowns. Basically, it’s there to make your life as simple as possible.
Question: How do the recipes in Metabolic Cooking boost your metabolism?
Karine: It’s all in the ingredients. Our ingredients are those that will target the metabolism and actually cause it to speed up, therefore causing you to burn more calories all day long. Since weight loss comes down to how many calories you burn, this really enhances your overall results.
Question: Where does exercise fit in with Metabolic Cooking?
Karine: Staying active with a properly planned workout program is an important part of the equation when it comes to fat loss success.
It’s perfectly possible to lose body fat without exercise simply by watching what you eat. But, if you want to make a complete body transformation – that is you want to be firmer, more toned, and see great muscle definition, then you are going to need to be active and exercise.
With diet AND workout, you can really improve your results. Create a new you that looks fitter and healthier than ever before. By the way, we offer Metabolic Workouts to everyone who invests in Metabolic Cooking.
Question: What is the best tip you can give for people who are struggling to lose weight?
Karine: The best piece of advice I could give you would be stop using those bad cookbooks that teach you complicated cooking techniques and use all the wrong ingredients. And second, don’t succumb to bad tasting food. Seriously!
Once you learn that dieting doesn’t have to mean tasteless food, your life will be changed. Start cooking with our Metabolic Thermo-Charged foods and you’ll burn fat faster and discover that food can taste good again. So many people are completely out of touch with how good healthy food can be when prepared correctly. I really hope this cookbook helps to open their eyes to that.
Finally, don’t be afraid of the kitchen. Even if you aren’t a chef, you can still make great tasting foods if you put in a small amount of time and effort. Remember, the transformation starts in the kitchen, not the gym.
Click Here to Access Metabolic Cooking
I love doing interviews with fitness bloggers and experts. Check out those I did with Tom Venuto, John Romaniello, and Sue Heintze.
