I love to watch Food Network, but one show I rarely watch is Kathleen Daelemans’ “Cooking Thin.” As she explains in the opening credits, Daelemans is a chef who gained a lot of weight — but then got a job working for a spa and had to find ways to cook healthier food and eat less of it. On her TV show, she visits an individual or family in their home, observes how and what they eat, and then works with them to find new recipes and meal plans.

It’s not that Daelemans’ show is bad — it’s just that I get a strong negative reaction whenever I watch her. The harder she tries not to be condescending to the people she counsels, the more condescending she seems. You poor thing … I’m going to fix you and make you better.

Recently, Food Network added two more shows about weight loss. One of those relates to the “low-carb” fad, and I haven’t watched it all the way through yet. The other one, “Calorie Commando” starring Juan Carlos Cruz, is about low-calorie, low-fat cooking, much like the kind espoused by Daelemans. But I really enjoy watching “Calorie Commando.” Cruz has an infectious enthusiasm about his cooking. The premise of his show is that a viewer brings him a favorite recipe and then Cruz develops a lower-calorie, lower-fat version. He explains, with great gusto, why he’s using this ingredient or that one. For example, when making macaroni and cheese he noted that he wasn’t too impressed by the lower-fat cheeses available in the store. So he used real cheese — but very-flavorful varieties of cheese in slighly smaller quantities. That required him to adjust some of the other ingredients to make sure the final product would still be creamy and have the same texture.

Cruz does not necessarily give as full a picture of weight loss and healthy living as Daelemans. She discusses portion control and exercise and other topics which Cruz does not cover. But, as I said, I can’t watch Daelemans. She gives me the willies. Cruz, on the other hand, is fun to watch and really makes you want to try what he’s cooking.

I think there’s a message there we can take to heart as Christians. The best evangelism is our own attitude. How do we feel about our “product”? Do we communicate that joy to others around us? Or are we just scolding people?