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Cheryl Dishes on Season Nine Premiere and Nutrition Tips

I am just as excited as our viewers to watch the show each week. Tonight was no exception. Though I spend a lot of time with the contestants, most of my work is off-camera.

I do visit the Ranch a lot at the beginning of the season to teach nutrition and cooking classes. The contestants know a great deal about nutrition when they leave the Ranch at the end of the season. But in the beginning, the learning curve is vertical. In the beginning, the guidelines I share with them are really basic.

Dr. Huizenga and I had the opportunity to provide a Boot Camp for O'Neal, Sunshine, Cherita and Victoria before they left the Ranch tonight for 30 days. Here is some of the advice we shared with them.

While following The Biggest Loser diet, you'll eat four to six planned meals each day, including three main meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and one to three snacks. There is enormous wisdom in doing so. Frequent eating:

Helps regulate your appetite and tames carb and sugar cravings.
Keeps you from feeling deprived.
Helps control blood sugar and insulin levels (insulin is a fat-forming hormone)
Leads to lower body fat.
Keeps you energized for exercise and activity.
Reduces stress hormones in the body that can contribute to fat accumulation.
Establishes a regular pattern of eating that helps counter impulse eating. It also helps to relearn your body's natural hunger cues. Too much time in between meals or snacks leads to over hunger. If you're super hungry, it's easier to eat too much, too fast, and choose the wrong things.

The biggest change for most contestants is eating every three hours. Most have never done that before. Learning that they can eat a lot of food and that they shouldn't skip meals is a big surprise to most. But the quality of the calories is a big change too.

In the first couple seasons, I was surprised to learn how many contestants previously ate only two (and sometimes only one!) gigantic meal(s) a day. Additionally the foods they ate were mostly unhealthy. Now they have a sensible breakfast, a snack before lunch (which always includes protein), lean protein and a big salad for lunch, and then another snack in the afternoon. For dinner, more lean protein and lots of veggies. No simple carbs or white stuff -- just whole grains whether at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Next time I'll share more specifics about the BL eating plan and the importance of food journaling.

To read Cheryl's latest blog entry, click here.