The Healthy Cooking Challenge

The South Beach Diet Healthy Cooking Challenge

What does “home cooking” mean to you? For many busy people it has come to mean a take-out meal from the closest fast-food franchise. But for others, especially those following the South Beach Diet, it means preparing healthy meals at home using nutrient-dense, wholesome foods. And as any good cook knows, home cooking doesn’t have to mean spending all day in the kitchen. If you plan your meals ahead, shop thoughtfully, and organize your pantry and kitchen for quick cooking, you’ll be eating far better than you would if you spent your food dollars in restaurants or on processed foods. And you’ll also save valuable time in the kitchen to spend with family or friends instead.

Whether you’re a cooking novice or a gourmet chef, preparing quick, healthy meals can be simple if you have great recipes and the right tools and ingredients at hand. To help you get started, we’re excited to announce the release of the South Beach Diet Super Quick Cookbook, which will be published May 11. This exciting new addition to the best-selling South Beach Diet library provides 200 quick and delicious recipes (most ready in 30 minutes or much, much less) as well as fast-to-fix solutions for time challenged cooks who want to eat healthy while losing weight.

To coincide with the release of the new cookbook, we’re kicking off our first annual South Beach Diet Healthy Cooking Challenge. Here’s the scoop:

How to participate: For the next 6 weeks, we’ll be asking you to step away from your comfort zone in the kitchen and to challenge yourself with new foods and cooking techniques. Every Monday we’ll give you a mini-challenge to accomplish for the week. Simply post to this folder and tell us about your progress on the weekly assignment. Message Board volunteers and registered dietitians may periodically weigh-in on the assignments to answer any questions you may have. We encourage you to post as often as you can in our weekly challenge threads to be eligible to win. Winners will be chosen based on the quality and quantity of their posts when the Challenge ends on June 13, 2010. Check out the official Healthy Cooking Challenge rules for more information

Three grand-prize winners will be invited to join us in an exclusive, private teleconference with Dr. Arthur Agatston! These winners will also receive a free month on the site, and a library of South Beach Diet books.

Each week, one participant, who we feel best fulfilled the week’s mini-challenge, will win a copy of the new South Beach Diet Super Quick Cookbook.

We look forward to hearing about your exciting new cooking experiences and favorite quick cooking recipes. Bon appétit!