Editor’s Note: Every week, Breaking Bronx features a health-related story, event or tidbit as part of an online expansion of our Be Healthy! column.

In an effort to help curb the Bronx’s staggering obesity problems, Tom Valenti, the renowned chef, restaurant owner and best-selling cookbook author, showed off his skills at Montefiore Medical Center Monday evening to highlight healthy cooking and nutrition.

In association with Dr. Peter Selwyn, who also stood in as sous chef, Valenti discussed the growing diabetes and obesity problems in our country, with the Bronx in particular being an area of concern. An estimated 70 percent of Bronxites are over weight. Valenti, a big-time food lover, has suffered from type-2 diabetes for the past 17 years.

It was clear he was eager to prove that one can still continue a love affair with food, but in a healthier way. The chef has even published a best-selling cookbook titled, “You Don’t Have to Be Diabetic to Love This Cookbook,” which includes diabetic-friendly options.

The first thing Valenti and Selwyn prepared for the large audience was a root vegetable stew, with ingredients like turnips and parsnips that are available throughout the year.

They followed the stew up with a chicken, prepared with olive oil and vermouth, and enhanced with onions, potatoes, and herbs. Valenti also demonstrated how to properly butcher a chicken and how to utilize the whole bird.

The whole chicken offers buyers more options, and is ultimately a better financial decision as a whole chicken tends to be the same price as the skinless/boneless cuts available at the store. Selwyn even got the chance to provide the recipe for a healthy homemade vinaigrette salad dressing with oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and shallots.

Both Valenti and Selwyn emphasized their hope to instill the importance of healthy eating habits in children, as studies are showing that the nation’s new generation of children may be the first ever to have a shorter life span than their parents.

Valenti is currently the executive chef and co-owner of Ouest Restaurant on the Upper West Side.