“Food has been the love of my life for 30 years,” says Jack Monaco, the chef for www.IHMonline.com and the HMR at Home® Club.  In a black chef coat and a full white beard, Jack looks very much the part of a gourmet chef.  The only ingredient missing is a towering toque on his head!

Jack developed his love of food and cooking growing up around his grandparents’ Italian restaurant in Philadelphia. “They tell me that I used to make gnocchi and cookies when I was three,” Chef Jack says. “I was fascinated by the love and care my grandmother put into the food.” In high school he worked as a sous chef in a hotel kitchen and later, in college art school, Jack cooked in a diner all night and took art classes all day.  And so it went for Jack… cooking won over art, although now he has essentially combined them.  “How the food looks brings as much pleasure to the palette as the taste.”

A hands-on chef, Jack is known in San Diego for his part in many well-known restaurants and food projects including work for the Piret's restaurant chain and The Perfect Pan School of Cooking, and as Executive Chef for the Rusty Pelican national restaurant chain. Chef Jack is a corporate consultant developing “secret sauces” and signature soups and salads for famous fast-food burger and salad bar chains and consulting with dozens of San Diego's outstanding restaurants.

It's no surprise that weight management was a challenge in his line of work. Chef Jack says, "I participate in the HMR weight management program to lose weight, and also to learn the skills I need to maintain a healthy life. That doesn't mean I can't eat. It means I need to be more aware, and get in the habit of making smarter choices."

Jack has put the HMR program to the test, and since January 2007, he has lost 116 pounds. Now he has focused his creative spirit on his HMR meal replacements, and has developed gourmet dinners and recipes from the HMR entrees and shakes.

"If you're dining with your family or with friends, it doesn't have to be their food and your "diet" food. You can all enjoy delicious meals while staying with the Healthy Solutions Diet and using the HMR entrees and shakes. Some of us really enjoy the hands-on process of cooking and working with good quality ingredients," says Chef Jack. "Cooking is the alchemy that combines the gift of love with a dash of soul to provide nourishment for your self, your friends and your family. I think you, your family and friends will enjoy our recipes."