ALAN: My name is Alan Stacy and uh I've been performing in theater since I was 8 years old. And it is my avocation, its what I enjoy the most to do in my free time.

Uh, for this show the rehearsal schedule is running 7 days a week. 5 nights and two afternoons.

I choose not to eat a meal before the rehearsal and so I'm eating late at night, which is not always the best thing to do.

Typically I'll have a TV dinner, uh pop it into the microwave or the oven and uh with a simple salad that comes out of the bag and uh a glass of water, something that comes out along those lines. Its quick and easy and it fills me up.

I am pre-diabetic, meaning that my uh blood sugar level has gotten to the point where its above normal but not at the diabetic level and I do need to lose weight that will be the quickest way of getting the blood sugar where it should be. (:15)

CAROLYN: Excuse me Alan, I'm Carolyn O'Neil, a fan, what a great rehearsal. I'm also a registered dietician and I heard that you eat late at night after these rehearsals and you want some help to make those late night dinners a little more healthy.

ALAN: Yes, that would be great.

CAROLYN: So, I'll meet you back in your kitchen and hopefully the meal we prepare will play a starring role in your new health goals.

A lot of people think that the foods that they eat late at night are the ones that are going to make them overweight. What really matters is the total number of calories that you consume in a 24 hour period.

So to meet your health goals, which is to be fit, to be trim for your performance and maybe for a whole new realm of roles we're going to cook a delicious meal tonight that hopefully you'll like and we'll make some improvements.

ALAN: Well great. Thank you very much.

I am a meat and potatoes kind of a guy, nothing too fancy. Uh something that is quick and filling and I pretty much stick to the basics

CAROLYN:
Do you know the difference between pork chops and pork tenderloin?

ALAN: Well I think I do. Doesn't pork tenderloin have less calories or less fat?

CAROLYN: It does, but you know what's amazing is how much less.

The recipe that I chose for Alan is called pork au poivre, which means pepper. And that's the main seasoning rather than salt. Its fresh ground pepper that adds a lot of flavor to the pork tenderloin. You sear it in a pan on both sides, you put it into the oven to have it throughly cooked

One thing I like is vegetables and I tend to buy the bag of frozen types of vegetables. And they're quick and easy to make one of my favorites is lima beans.

CAROLYN: I think its great that you like vegetables, you like salads. But I'm here to say that you might need to add a little more variety to your vegetable life and that's b/c not all vegetables are created equal. For instance some are starchier than others. They have more calories. Here's a great example. Lima beans that you enjoy. This 10 ounce package has about 327 calories, that's pretty significant. A healthy choice but higher in calories than the broccoli spears. This 10 ounce package, only 70 calories.

Alan's freezer is well stocked with frozen vegetables and that's a good thing because frozen vegetables are just as nutritious. But again I want to add more variety.

This is actual fresh broccoli, which we're going to steam. I've brought you a little steamer, so why don't you chop it up and you know steaming is a great way to prepare vegetables b/c its really hot, it cooks quickly and it helps to preserve a lot of the vitamins

ALAN: now how am I chopping Carolyn?

CAROLYN: you're doing a good job. I want to teach Alan about portion sizes and portion control and a potato is a really good example. You don't want to pick the biggest one in the pile.

This is a baked potato, and this is a baked potato. Obviously this one is really big. This is the size, its about 8 ounces that you really should be enjoying with a meal as a meat and potatoes guy and you know what, this one's wrapped up. You know talk about convenience. You can just do this in a microwave.

ALAN: I really liked the dish that Carolyn and I prepared and the reason is again, simplicity and ease of making but also it tasted really good. And that's the truth.

I am typically a soda drinker during the day. If I'm eating late at night and having a wonderful meal like this, what would you recommend for, for a beverage?

CAROLYN: Well I think obviously you know for late night eating you are probably going to go to sleep not too long from now. You don't want to have something with caffeine in it.

So a tall cool glass of water really is one of the best beverages you can have with a late night meal because you may not realize how dehydrated you are after a long night at the theater.

ALAN: I'm very excited to try some of these things out. I'm looking forward to it.