Food For Thought for December 1, 2011
Blogger lightens up for fitness
Baton Rouge food blogger Jay Ducote is going on a diet and is inviting us all to join him in his public journey over to the healthful eating side.
For the next three months, Ducote will be working out, cooking light and making wiser choices with the dishes and drinks he orders at the local establishments he patronizes; and his endeavors will be chronicled, reality TV-style, on the web.
You gotta love Ducote, whose 2-year-old blog, biteandbooze.com, has earned him appearances on national TV, write-ups in local publications and his own talk radio show. He’s a big teddy bear of a guy with a boyish exuberance and an entrepreneurial spirit, twin characteristics that enable him to shamelessly self-promote in a way that is endearing and even a bit inspirational, without being offensive.
Ducote has said the idea for his blog came about after he looked at his credit-card bills and realized how much he spent on eating, drinking and cooking. He decided to combine his love of those pleasures with his passion for writing, and, hopefully, figure out how to get paid for doing what he enjoys in the process.
In the two years since, Ducote has blogged about the meals he eats, restaurants he likes, beers he brews and the Smoked Boston Butt that has earned him a national award.
Along the way, he has used social media — which is the way anyone under 35 communicates and gets information today — to promote some of the area’s little-known food gems to a younger, enthusiastic generation of foodies, home cooks and aspiring chefs. He’s a great asset to the local food community.
But now, at age 30, Ducote is weighing in at 300 pounds and recognizing that it’s time to make some changes to his lifestyle. He’ll be working with local video producer Tommy Talley to record his 14-week diet and, hopefully, make people in Louisiana aware of the importance of healthful eating.
“It will be kind of like a true, local version of ‘Biggest Loser’ meets ‘Man versus Food,’” he said. “A large part of the series will include nutritionists, dietitians, doctors, trainers, and local chefs in interviews and in action helping me be more healthy.”
It’s a potentially great gig for Ducote. But it’s also a good learning opportunity for a state that has some of the highest rates of diabetes and obesity in the country.
Ducote has a following, a built-in audience who can learn from his lessons and what will no doubt be his colorful experiences.
In frequently emphasizing the importance of healthful eating in my columns and stories, I occasionally hear from those who say it gets old. That’s why I’m particularly glad someone like Ducote is now embracing this way of cooking and eating, and will be promoting it in as high a profile way as he can manage.
“I think this is something people can really rally behind, and it’s something we in south Louisiana need to really be aware of,” he said. “We can enjoy our wonderful culture and still make healthy choices.”
We wish Ducote well and look forward to tracking his progress on Facebook.com/biteandbooze and on Twitter @biteandbooze.