Growing up around professional kitchens, I was trained early in classical French technique, which was later expanded through experience in Swedish and Italian kitchens. I worked my way up to the level of sous chef, gaining experience ranging from haute cuisine bistros to a Michelin-starred restaurant before eventually changing career paths. Throughout my life, cooking has remained a passion and a source of stress relief.
GLP-1 medications changed the lives of people I care about. I watched friends and family lose weight, feel better, and reclaim something they had spent years fighting for. I also watched the weight come back when the medication stopped. I watched them question whether they would be on a prescription for the rest of their lives, and whether that was even possible. I watched them struggle with what to eat, not because good food was unavailable, but because nobody had built a kitchen resource that took both the medication and the cooking seriously at the same time.
I kept thinking that the recipes circulating in GLP-1 communities felt like survival food. Bland, safe, joyless. Treating the medication as a medical event to be managed rather than a window to build genuinely better eating habits. I think that framing is wrong, and too often it misses the mark when it comes to delivering nutrients that aren’t just healthy, but can help keep the weight off once the medication stops. The worst part is that soulless food leads people toward the exact outcome they are trying to avoid. Food that feels like punishment, habits that don’t hold, weight that returns.
I built GLPKitchen because good food is not inherently unhealthy. Smaller portions might feel like a limitation until you realise that packing maximum flavour and maximum nutrition into a small plate is exactly what classical French cuisine has always done. It is the whole joke and the whole point. One pea on a plate is a caricature. A perfectly constructed plate that leaves you satisfied on half the calories is technique. That was the whole idea behind the project.
I start with the concept that any change has to be sustainable. I focus heavily on protein per 100 calories, that number is important to protect your muscle and keep your metabolism up. But there is more to food than a single number. Some dishes will hold fiber first, some will be reasonable sides that makes the main protein worth eating. And there are some that are there just because sometimes, you need a reward. A reasonable treat that will put a smile on your face is worth its weight in gold for staying the course.
Eating food you like, with the nutrients you need. That is the thing almost nobody explains clearly, and what makes the difference between GLP-1 as a temporary fix and GLP-1 as the start of something permanent.
The food should be good. Not diet-food good. Actually good. That is the only standard that matters here.
One more thing. You will notice there are no life stories here before the recipes. No emotional journey explaining my connection to steamed rice.
You came for the food, it will be the first thing you see. I’ll leave rage scrolling for the other guys.
— John Anderson
A note on affiliate links
Some recipes on this site link to tools and ingredients I actually use. If you buy through those links I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. It does not affect which products I recommend — I only link to things that earn a place in the recipe.