Geared Toward Weight Control : ‘Kathy’s Kitchen’ Returns for 5th Season

“Kathy’s Kitchen,” the natural-foods cooking show on PBS, has returned for its fifth season on KCET. The series, hosted by Kathy Hoshijo, airs at 11 a.m. on Saturdays and is geared toward helping people to lose and to control their weight without radical dieting.

Some highlights of the series include such programs as “Limiting Dairy Products,” “Sandwiches for Brown Bagging or Fancy Meals,” “Dessert Party,” “Salad Meals” and “Soyfriends.” Other programs will focus on the benefits of Chinese vegetables, caffeine-free foods, naturally sweet goodies, healthy snacks and supplementing the diet with fiber.

Born in Chicago, Hoshijo moved to Hawaii with her parents when she was 2 and was influenced greatly by the Hawaiian culture. She began publishing cooking columns in Hawaii’s newspapers and giving natural-food cooking classes throughout the state. When the classes became so popular that the students could no longer be accommodated, Hoshijo took her classes to television.

“Although called a ‘dieting series,’ it’s not a diet in the way a lot of people think of dieting,” she said. “Most people think of a diet as not eating certain things, or eating some horrible-tasting special foods for as long as it takes to lose weight, bring their cholesterol level down, etc. The problem with this is they invariably go back to their old eating habits and gain all the weight back, or find themselves with the same medical problem.

“This series of shows advocates a change in life style and cooking habits by explaining why these changes are necessary and by supplying enough delicious recipes and ideas to make such a change a pleasure to undergo.”