'Biggest Loser' nutritionist coming to town

Cheryl Forberg left the land of hockey pucks to become a chef for Wolfgang Puck. Now Forberg -- who grew up by the State Fairgrounds, where deep-fried curiosities on a stick are considered delicacies -- is the consulting dietitian for NBC's "The Biggest Loser."

"I definitely did go to the State Fair," said Forberg, whose specialties are far cries from the cheese curds or lefse she became acquainted with in St. Paul. "I developed a cherry chili. I guess that's a little out of the ordinary."

Forberg, now a California-based anti-aging nutrition expert who lectures and gives cooking demonstrations across the country, has had a career that's been anything but ordinary. A presence on the set of the most popular weight-loss show on TV, Forberg returns to Minnesota Friday to talk about her latest book, "Positively Ageless," at a dinner at the Edinburgh USA Golf Course in Brooklyn Park.

From grade school near Como Park to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, Forberg says she's always been interested in food. Her dad baked bread on weekends and her mom was a great cook, but Forberg never intended to make a career of it.

Before culinary school, she was an international flight attendant.

"I was from Minnesota and I'd never been anywhere," she said. "I enjoyed the travel, but I got tired of saying, 'Chicken or beef?'"

But after culinary school, she didn't want to just prepare meals -- which she did for restaurants, private clients and for Puck.

"There weren't a lot of chefs who knew about nutrition," said Forberg.

She earned a nutritional degree at the University of California, Berkeley, then got a real education working with menopausal women who had breast cancer.

Forberg learned about the aging process, was introduced to "The Biggest Loser" and co-wrote the eating plan for the show.

"Two seasons ago, 225,000 people auditioned for the show," Forberg said. "I don't know if they were all morbidly obese. That's the state of affairs today, which is sorry. But it was nice to know that so many people wanted to get their lives on track."

After a final cut, the winners who hope to be Biggest Losers are flown to Los Angeles for a "very comprehensive" physical, Forberg said. When tests are completed, a "cast" is selected.

From there, what you see on TV is hardly the whole picture. Off camera, there are medics on the set, monitoring contestants who go through a rigorous exercise program. And there is Forberg, the hidden cast member who became so popular that she started a "Biggest Loser"-related blog, www. cherylforberg.com/blog, to share information with viewers.

Many of the morsels of wisdom Forberg offers TV contestants can be found in "Positively Ageless: A 28-Day Plan for a Younger, Slimmer, Sexier You."

"There are common denominators with people with weight problems," she said. "They eat lots of fast foods, skip meals and have no idea how many calories their body needs. They eat in the car. Or standing up. And some of them know that their days are numbered if they continue what they're doing."

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419