For years, we’ve known him as the big man with the husky voice on SuperSport and East Coast Radio. But viewers will have noticed that there is now considerably less of Darren Scott.
Scott has shed 40kg in just a few months and everyone wants to know how he did it.
Sadly, there’s no short cut and while we’d all like to pop a pill and wake up thin, it does not work that way.
Scott says his weight loss formula consists of four mantras: balance, discipline, portion control and discipline – all lacking in his fat life.
He was always a big child – “I used to say I was 112kg at birth” – and his school years were a rollercoaster of kilos lost and regained.
“My dad had worked his way up at Kentucky Fried Chicken from accountant to managing director over the years so you can understand how many nights were KFC nights in our household,” he says in his book No Fries on Us – Cutting Darren Scott Down to Size.
“Colonel Burger was an unofficial third sibling, with Lunch Box, Bucket and Barrel our first cousins.”
Crash dieting knocked off the kilos dramatically but produced a backlash and Scott’s weight headed dangerously downwards – but soon climbed again when he headed off to varsity and the US, “the Holy Grail of Potential Obesity”.
Back in South Africa, years of a “disastrous lifestyle” took their toll, and Scott ballooned from a svelte 95kg at the turn of the millennium to 130kg at the end of 2005.
In 2006, Durban wellness expert Lisa Raleigh came into his life and set him on a path of good health that took serious effort.
Scott’s life turned around. He was put on a detox diet followed by a healthy eating plan, learned to exercise and he and his wife, model and actress Sarah-Kate, committed to long-term healthy eating.
His book is an absorbing, entertaining and informative read, as Scott and Raleigh give the steps to healthy living and weight loss, motivation, menus, shopping tips and recipes.
If you’re trying to avoid creeping kilos, the festive season can be a minefield – here’s some good advice from the book:
When eating out for lunch:
A bowl of soup (no cream) and slice of wholewheat bread with no butter is good.
A salad is good with dressing on the side.
Exchange salad oil for olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Avoid toppings such as bacon, cheese or croutons.
Choose good sources of fat like avocado, raw nuts and roasted seeds, but keep portion sizes moderate.
Avoid pastries such as quiches, pies or phyllo parcels because they are full of butter.
A wrap or pita filled with salad and lean protein is good.
When eating out for dinner:
For starters, choose a soup (no cream) or a French salad.
Avoid bread.
Order two starters instead of a main.
Resolve to eat half of what is on your plate. Eat slowly and savour each bite.
Choose rice or baked potato over chips or mash.
Choose steamed, roasted, grilled, char-grilled, poached or baked.
Instead of dessert have coffee or herbal tea. If you want something sweet, have a sorbet or fresh fruit.
Unless it really is for your dog, don’t take a doggie bag.
Other tips:
Drink a glass of water and eat a piece of fruit before you head out. This will take the edge off your hunger and you will be less inclined to overeat.
Ask for all dressings and condiments on the side and only add what you need.
Tomato sauce is the best choice of sauce as it contains lycopene. It is a great anti-ageing, cancer fighting anti-oxidant.
If ordering pasta, order a tomato-based sauce rather than a cream-based one.
Order a half portion if available – rather fill up on salad or veggies.
At cocktail parties:
Good choices: fruit skewers, crudités veggies, lean proteins such as salmon, sushi or lean mince balls, stuffed eggs, meat kebabs, mini sandwiches, hummus tahini and guacamole dips, pretzels, grilled calamari, mussels.
Avoid: cheese, pastries, crumbed and fried foods, cream cheese dips, savoury biscuits.
Alcohol
Go for “leaner drinks” such as whisky on the rocks to replace drinks with high-calorie mixers. Add ice to your drinks to water them down. Avoid shooters and creamy drinks. Avoid cocktails which are a combination of sugar and alcohol. Stick to a maximum of seven to eight units of alcohol a week.
l No Fries on Us – Cutting Darren Scott Down to Size by Darren Scott, Lisa Raleigh and Dan Nicholl (Penguin, R184) - Sunday Tribube