SILVERHILL, Ala. — Theresa Duff loves to cook. That’s a good thing because she’s been a chef since 1979.

“I love to cook,” said Duff, seated at the breakfast bar of her Silverhill home. She added that her first mother-in-law, Angela Fedeli, got her started cooking. Duff eventually became the owner of eight restaurants in California.

“They were called ‘Mamma Theresa’ and they served healthy food, not health food,’ she said.

While living in Florida and running another restaurant, Duff says she “started sugar free cooking.”

Duff, a former member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, moved to Silverhill about 11 years ago with her husband, James Duff.

Her interest in sugar-free cooking is personal. Duff is a diabetic herself, and the reduced-fat, reduced calorie and sugar-free or reduced sugar content dishes she cooks up are a way to enjoy the foods she loves.

“There’s an old proverb,” said Duff, “about if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

After finding store-bought reduced-sugar foodstuffs not to her liking (store-bought sugar-free jam is “runny” she says) she decided to take her own advice and come up with some recipes herself. She’s not a doctor or nutritionist, but she does know what works in the kitchen.

Duff is retired from running restaurants, but she has a well appointed kitchen and a “prep kitchen” in her home. That’s where she works on her recipes, which she shares with students who come to her kitchen for classes and with readers of “Weight Loss Success Lifestyles” magazine. Duff writes abut food preparation in her quarterly columns.

“I do a lot of researching and kitchen-testing of her recipes,” said Duff. She has produced three cookbooks, which she sells her Web site, theresasolution.net.

While Duff believes most people should lose some weight, there’s one thing that simply does not work — crash diets.

“You go on a crash diet, and you’ll just gorge once you are off of it,” said Duff. “It does not work because after all that sacrifice and stress, you are going back to your old eating habits.”

The key to losing weight, Duff says, is to eat sensibly and “never skip a meal.”

And for those who think “diet” means “no sweets,” Duff has a surprise for you, a cookie jar filled with sugar-free chocolate chip cookies. The cookies are delicious. The secret is not just removing or substituting sugar, Duff says.

“You can’t just skip the sugar, you have to add other things to it,” said Duff.

Duff also makes a fine sugar-free cheesecake with low-fat ricotta cheese.

“There are only 60 calories per slice of cheesecake,” said Duff. “The benefit goes for those who want to lose weight and those who are diabetic. I use glucose control.”

Duff added that much of what she uses in her cooking can be found at major supermarkets. She’s also careful to drain anything that might be fried on paper towels.

“No, there’s no special store,” said Duff. “Not at all.” She did add that the brand of sugar-free honey she favors can only be found at one popular store.

“The idea is to eat normal portions,” said Duff. “The way I prepare them has less sugars, fats and calories.”

Duff can be contacted by e-mailing scaledown@gulftel.com

Her Web site is at theresasolution.net.

Duff’s phone number is 945-5643