Here's What We Learned About Chefs' Diets This Month

In honor of Food Republic's annual Healthy Living Month, we reached out to chefs about their diet and fitness routines and featured interviews — 13 of them, to be exact — throughout January. While we confirmed our far-fetched hypothesis that it's difficult for those spending the vast majority of their days in a kitchen to stay in shape, we were surprised at the wide range of avenues that chefs took to achieve their goals. From consuming fried chicken and chocolate babka on a regular basis to dedicating one's entire life to plant-based eating, here are some of the things we learned about healthy living via chefs' diets. Just click on the links below to read the full stories.

Matthew Kenney May Be The Healthiest Chef In America

"I maintain a raw, plant-based diet.... I have been about the same weight for 35 years now."

"When I see pictures of myself a few years ago, I get pretty pissed at myself. I thought I was working out enough, but I wasn't, and my eating habits stunk. Life changes after 40!"

"I am a total grazer (as most chefs are), which makes it hard to lose/maintain weight. When I am at work, which is most of the time, I try to incorporate a lot of vegetables into my diet to fill up on."

"I joined the most amazing health practice last year on the recommendation of my friend Seamus Mullen. It's called Parsley Health, and it's medical and health coaching from an integrative medical perspective — very gut-health-focused."

"If round is a shape, I'm in prime condition.... I've ranged from having a six-pack to being very overweight."

"I always eat breakfast at some point between 6 and 9 a.m., but lunches and dinners are more sporadic. The consistent exercise helps."

"Due to unrealistic expectations set by the media, studies show that 50 percent of girls think they are fat by age 6, and most girls start to lose their self-confidence by age 9."

"While I brush my teeth, I do squats and calf raises. When I rinse with mouthwash, I do push-ups against my bathroom sink."

"I often find myself battling the classic five to 10 pounds. It's depressing sometimes. A chef has to taste, taste, taste."

"Fad diets don't work. Period. Cleanses are good for a temporary fix, but the best answer for me is an ongoing commitment to complete lifestyle change — smaller portions, plant-based and practicing mindful eating."

"I have the normal amount of self-consciousness, like anyone else. Let's just say I'm still working on my Ryan Gosling abs!"

"When I lived in New York, I was consistently underweight. I thought I was eating 'healthy,' but I really wasn't nourishing my body enough to compensate for the intense lifestyle of constantly walking, along with the cardio exercise I did at the time."

"What I discovered is that denying yourself the foods your body craves is the worst thing you can do.... Everything in moderation!"