The most dangerous celebrity chefs for your waistline

Fitness and health experts tout cooking at home as one way to reduce your calorie intake. After all, everyone knows that restaurant portions are often ridiculously large, and there’s no way to know how much butter, oil, and cheese went into the mixing bowl.

In theory that might work, but it depends on what’s for dinner. Recipes you cook at home might still contain unhealthy amounts of saturated fat, which is linked to obesity, stroke, and heart disease. Saturated fat also might hit you in the pocketbook, as health insurance companies charge higher premiums to those who are overweight or sometimes deny coverage (an unhealthy height-weight ratio is often indicative of other medical conditions). The “Safeway Amendment,” a provision that increases the incentives insurance companies can pay healthy employees, is now federal law. Based on data from 2009, it could mean paying an extra $6,688 a year for an American family with average health benefits, depending on the outcome of blood tests and weigh-ins.

In other words, your health and your bank account are affected by your weight. The home cook still needs to keep tabs on nutrition content, and unfortunately, your favorite celebrity chef might be a little too liberal with saturated fat. A UK research report, “The Guilty Secret of Celebrity Chefs,” evaluated the cookbooks of 15 celebrity chefs and found that most contained high levels of harmful fat. Single portions of some recipes provided more than 100 percent of a woman’s daily allowance (20 grams) for saturated fat, extremely high considering it’s only one dish at one meal.

The report was published by a group called The Fat Panel, which warned against eating the high-fat meals on a regular basis. The following are several celebrity chefs called to task for their copious use of unhealthy fats, as well as a couple of famous cooks from this side of the pond:

1. Gordon Ramsay

This temperamental chef was noted in the study for recipes like his sticky toffee and chocolate pudding. Sounds delish? One serving comes with 23 grams of saturated fat, exceeding the recommended allowance for women for the entire day.

2. Tana Ramsay

How does this couple stay fit? Wife of Gordon Ramsey, Tana Ramsey must not eat her Irish lamb stew with dumplings very often, as a single portion contains a whopping 25 grams of saturated fat!

3. Jean-Christophe Novelli

French chef and Hell’s Kitchen star Jean-Christophe Novelli easily beats the Ramsays’ saturated fat content with his own honey roast pumpkin soup, which weighs in at a staggering 43.2 grams. Add the suggested cheese garnish, and this “light” starter dish really tips the scales.

3. Nigella Lawson

Oh, Nigella. Queen of comfort food. And would we want her any other way? Of course not. Still, you’d do well by your waistline to exercise moderation when cooking up dishes like her egg and bacon pie, which contains 10 grams of butter and 17 grams of saturated fat per serving.

4. Marco Pierre White

It’s easy to understand where Gordon Ramsay got his penchant for fattening food when you consider that he was trained by Chef Marco Pierre White, the youngest chef ever to have been awarded three Michelin stars and dubbed the “first celebrity chef” by The Sunday Times. He’s got a knack for upping the flavor of vegetables. Unfortunately that means adding gobs of butter. The Fat Panel report adds, “It seems counter-intuitive to make fruit and vegetables less healthy.”

5. Paula Deen

When it comes to butter, cheese and fried food, Paula Deen doesn’t hold back. A list of her top 10 recipes posted on her website says it all: Southern fried chicken, cheese biscuits, Krispy Kreme bread pudding (yes, the donut chain), and gooey butter cakes. Almost every recipe contains ingredients high in harmful fats, such as shortening, butter, sour cream and heavy cream.

6. Rachael Ray

Rachael gets points for articles on her website such as Slimming Down Your Favorite Foods and Lighter Side of Italian, but some of her recipes send a mixed message, such as adding grated cheese to mashed potatoes that already have milk and butter. In another example, her egg pasta frittata calls for 12 eggs, pasta, heavy cream, butter, and cheese. Yum-O indeed, but uh-oh, full of saturated fat.

Obviously these foods aren’t bad in and of themselves. Sian Porter, a registered dietitian involved in the UK report, was quoted in the Guardian article: “We are not being the nutrition police here or killjoys, but there are some things that are pure indulgence and should be left as such, to be enjoyed as an occasional treat in all their fat, sugar and calorie-laden glory.”

So bon appétit, dear foodies, but in moderation. And hit the gym in the morning.