Say aloha to a slimmer you: try these Hawaiian-inspired recipes to lose weight and increase your energy - Essential Guide to Summer

Shape, May, 2003 by Monica Gullon

So you love to eat and you want a surfer-girl body too? Learn to eat like a Hawaiian -- an ancient Hawaiian, that is.

In his book The HawaiiDiet (Pocket Books, 2002), author Terry Shintani, M.D., says that due to a diet of mostly fruits, vegetables and other unrefined carbohydrates, moderate amounts of protein and few fats, the ancient Hawaiians did not have the obesity-and diet-related diseases that plague modern islanders (and mainland Americans) today. The traditional diets of native peoples (diets that were followed for centuries prior to idustrialization and the advent of )repackaged and fast foods) were generally healthful and mostly plant-based. When native and island cultures moved away from their ancestral diets, studies have shown they are the same cultures that rapidly develop hypertension, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.

"Ancient Hawaiians consumed large amounts of unrefined carbs -- 75 percent of their diet was carbs -- yet they were slim," Shintani says. "They ate mostly fruits and vegetables and a little bit of flesh foods. Traditionally they did eat some fish every once in a while, but their main staples were taro root [poi] and sweet potatoes."

you can eat more too!

Despite eating larger quantities of food (and carbs!) than today's Hawaiians; the early islanders weighed much less. In fact, the diet patterns of almost any of the ancient hunter-gatherer peoples can result in weight loss, in addition to more energy and improved mental clarity, says Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D., a Salem, Ore.-based nutritionist and author of The Origin Diet (Henry Holt & Co., 2001). "Roots, greens, fruits and vegetables, fish loaded with omega-3 oils -- these are the foods our bodies thrive on," Somer says. " complex-carb diet such as this wards off depression and irritability. It makes you happy."

It also can help you become a lot leaner. Just ask chef Kathleen Daelemans, who lost 60 pounds following a diet based on the one eaten by the ancient Hawaiians. Daelemans, who lives in West Bloomfield, Mich., is the author of Cooking Thin With Chef Kathleen (Houghton Mifflin, 2002) and star of the Food Network show by the same name. When she landed a job at a spa in Hawaii, the then-overweight chef vowed to get slim in order to be an inspiration to her clientele. "I had to lose weight for my job," Daelemans says, "but I wanted food to taste good, so I explored all the flavors of the Pacific Rim."

Daelemans loaded her plate with simply prepared fish and seafood and plenty of complex carbs like whole grains, lentils, chickpeas and black beans. To please her palate, she spiced up her cooking with traditional fat-free Asian ingredients like rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and ginger, and pungent herbs like cilantro, as well as locally grown fruits and vegetables (such as papaya, mango, guava, Maui onions, Chinese cabbage and sweet potatoes). Daelemans says she found it easy to stick to her Hawaiian diet because the food tasted delicious and she did not feel at all deprived.

The 50th state is a melting pot of island and Asian cuisines, so in the three recipes here we've combined a variety of exotic flavors -- from coconut to macadamia nuts, soy sauce to citrus. Enjoy these nutritious, easy-to-make meals all summer, and say goodbye to your excess pounds -- and aloha to a slimmer you!

Asian Peanut Noodle Salad With Veggies, Tofu and Macadamia Nuts

Serves 8

Prep time: 15 minutes

cook time: 15 minutes

Note: coconut milk is one of the few plant products that's high in saturated fat, so use a lite or lowfat version.

For the peanut sauce:

    4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
    4 tablespoons lite coconut milk
    1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
    1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
    1 teaspoon chopped garlic
  2-3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce (to taste)
  1-3 teaspoons Tabasco sauce (to taste)
  1/2 cup hot water

For the noodle salad:

1 1/4 cup extra-firm tofu, diced into 1/2- inch pieces
    2 teaspons toasted sesame oil, divided
    2 cups broccoli florets
    1 cup snow peas, ends trimmed and cut into thirds
    1 cup carrots, cut into matchstick pieces
    1 pound whole-wheat cooked liguine, rinsed in cool water
    2 tablespoons chopped macadamia nuts

To make the peanut sauce, puree ingredients in a blender until smooth. Place in a covered container and refrigerate to thicken while you prepare the salad.

To make the noodle salad, in a large nonstick pan, stir-fry diced tofu in 1 teaspoon of the sesame oil until golden on all sides, about 3-4 minutes. Remove tofu and set aside.

Add the other teaspoon of sesame oil to pan and add broccoli, stir-frying for 3-4 minutes. Then add the snow peas and carrots and stir-fry an additional 3-4 minutes. vegetables should still be crunchy.

In a large bowl, toss cooked linguine, tofu and veggies with peanut sauce until all are well-coated. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with macadamia nuts.

Nutrition Score per serving (11/4 cups): 362 calories, 28% fat (11 g; 2 g saturated), 53% carbs (48 g), 19% protein (17 g), 8 g fiber, 132 mg calcium, 7mg iron, 233mg sodium.