I'm a line cook at a New York City restaurant and that means I am constantly surrounded by food. But not just any food: extremely rich food laced with cream, butter, sugar, and a lot — like, a lot — of salt. ("Yes, but add a little extra for chef," is the best answer I've ever gotten when asking the sous chef if a sauce has enough salt.)

You'd think, then, that I eat a lot. That I might be overweight. And that I'd be on some kind of January Super Diet like everyone else. After all, don't I spend all day around beurre blanc and braised duck?

Yes and no. But mostly no. Eating, like real eating, is something that I don't have time for. Ten hours a day (or, more likely, 13), five days a week (or, more likely, six), I am "cooking," which feels more like running a marathon. I spend so much time worrying about food and preparing food that I never (NEVER) have time to sit down and eat it. That, in a nutshell, is the Line Cook Diet. And it is, I feel sure, extremely unhealthy.

Let me explain.