FIRST ON FOX: Eating healthy doesn’t have to be complicated, according to celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the restaurateur and owner of New York City’s new Bar Rocco – whose philosophy and cookbooks are rooted in health-conscious dieting – shared a few misconceptions about healthy eating, especially when the end goal is weight loss.

“There is no one fix, there’s no one cure for everyone,” he said. “Everyone has different needs and their weight-loss journey is going to be different. So, you really have to figure out what your problem is.”

WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS ARE CHANGING DINING AS CUSTOMERS EAT HALF THEIR MEALS, TAKE REST HOME, CELEBRITY CHEF SAYS

This could be a body composition imbalance, a lack of exercise or a generally poor diet, DiSpirito mentioned. “Figure out what will help you address those issues most quickly,” he advised.

“Even if you’re working out, unless you’re LeBron James and burning 8,000 calories a game, there’s no way to out-train a bad diet, so at some point in our lives, we have to come to a reckoning with what we consume.”

DiSpirito says it’s “always a good idea” to start with the basics, including consuming less sugar, less alcohol, fewer processed foods and fewer processed carbs, as well as eating more protein.

DOCTOR REVEALS SECRETS TO LASTING WEIGHT LOSS WITHOUT COUNTING CALORIES

The chef revealed that the No. 1 issue he’s witnessed is that people have “no idea how many calories they’re consuming.”

“We’re all consuming two to three times more than we realize,” he noted. “And even when we count and use the apps, there’s a lot of fuzzy math going on.”

“So, getting a handle on how much you’re consuming, even the little picking that you do while you’re cooking and cleaning, all that counts and adds up quickly.”

SIMPLE WEIGHT-LOSS QUIZ MAY PINPOINT WHY SOME DIETS FAIL — AND HOW TO BOOST SUCCESS

As the healthy eating movement gains traction, DiSpirito called it “very important” for most of the U.S., as the country faces an “obesity issue.”

“Restaurants are definitely thinking about it as well,” he said. “[But] I wouldn’t say restaurants are making it their [top] priority.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES

“We still have a lot of work to do just getting people in and seated and fed and their checks to them when they want. But there are some restaurants that are focused on it.”

Privately, DiSpirito said he has focused on providing healthy meal plans for clients.

“But for restaurants to approach healthy eating is a little difficult, because it’s a whole different kind of cooking and a [different] kind of energy,” he said.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER

“Healthy eating isn’t fun – so to bring that into a fun atmosphere is kind of difficult. It’s difficult to mix the two.”

This crossroads between indulgence and health may be a tricky mix, especially among the food supply in America, DiSpirito acknowledged – but the two align more easily in other countries where the food is not tampered with, he added.

“If you go to Italy, for example, and just eat everything they eat, it feels indulgent … and it’s also very healthy,” he said. “And the key is the food supply is still natural. It’s still organic.”

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

“There aren’t lots of sprayed food [or] sprayed vegetables in Italy,” DiSpirito went on. “They don’t allow a lot of messing around with food that we allow in the United States, the GMO-ing, the modifying.”

“So healthy and indulgent are not mutually exclusive, but in [our] food supply system … it’s very difficult.”

Use left and right arrow keys to navigate between menu items.

Use escape to exit the menu.

If you’re trying to quit smoking, try a brisk walk or bike ride to curb your craving for a cigarette.

Researchers found that just one workout can reduce the urge to light up. But the type of exercise you do and how you do it makes a big difference.

High-intensity, aerobic exercise is most effective at reducing people’s cigarette cravings, a review of 59 randomized controlled trials involving more than 9,000 adults found.

FITNESS EXPERT REVEALS SIMPLE RULE TO GET IN SHAPE WITHOUT DREADING THE GYM: ‘JUST MOVE’

“Single-bout exercise reduced acute cravings immediately and up to 30 minutes post-exercise, but not longer-term cravings,” the authors of the study, published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science, reported.

The research team highlighted other key findings from their study of “exercise-based interventions for smoking cessation.”

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

Exercise training made people between 15% and 21% more likely to abstain from smoking than those who didn’t exercise, the authors found.

Regular exercise also caused smokers to cut back by an average of two cigarettes per day.

In addition to being a free and accessible method for reducing smoking, exercise is also effective at reducing anxiety and stress, which drive many people to smoke.  

CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIES

The authors suggest that because exercise boosts feel-good hormones, such as dopamine, and reduces the stress hormone cortisol, smokers who work out feel less inclined to use nicotine as a brain reward.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Exercise should be integrated into other smoking cessation programs to enhance quit success, the authors concluded.

They also noted that none of the trials addressed vaping and recommended that future research target the use of electronic cigarettes.