DinnerWithDebbie.com

Everyone wants to have a point, make a point, or be part of something with a point, but David Nabinger is the self-made “Pointless Man”. Two years ago, Nabinger moved back to Bowling Green from Akron to help raise his two sons, David and Daniel, and reignite a friendship with former spouse Debbie Walters. Nabinger, who loves to cook and invent his own gourmet dishes, began cooking dinner each night for the family and a special ‘date night’ dinner on the weekend just for Debbie. The food was excellent, but laden with rich and caloric ingredients like butter and cream for sauces and decadent desserts.

Soon the entire family began to pack on the pounds and spend the evenings with television and video games after the extravagant evening meals. (read more below)

About a year ago, Walters decided to join the popular Weight Watchers program and become a local member. She learned about the POINTS system where every food has a POINTS value, which is calculated based on a food’s calories, fat and fiber. POINTS values help you keep track of what you eat, so that you stay within a daily POINTS Target that’s personalized for you, based on your height, weight and other factors, such as gender. Along with your daily POINTS Target, you also get a “Weekly Allowance” to use for a special occasion like a night on the town--so you can still indulge sometimes, without going off track.

Walters insisted that the evening dinners would have to change to fit the Weight Watchers POINTS program. Nabinger resisted the change, but when he discovered that both boys were interested in losing weight and training for school sports, he took up the challenge. He soon discovered that his ability to create delicious, creative meals that had very few points was more fun than he expected. The challenge became, “to reduce the point count to as low as possible without any loss of flavor or variety in our meals,” said Nabinger. “I found that using fresh ingredients and a wide array of seasonings could make each dish every bit as good as using the ‘bad’ stuff.” The proof was evident in every family member’s enjoyment of the finished product, no finicky eaters here!

A total of 7 family members began following the program and testing Nabinger’s creative offerings. Less than a year later, the group has dropped over 300 pounds altogether.

Nabinger and Walters met while attending BGSU and both became involved in numerous productions, both live and filmed. As Nabinger was cooking during one of their weekend date nights, Walters grabbed the video camera and “Dinner with Debbie featuring The Pointless Man” was born. The ‘show’ features Nabinger cooking up a delicious full course meal with a low POINTS value in about 10 minutes. The couple used a song composed by Bruce Lillie for their theme song, filmed an entree for the show and currently has the first 4 episodes on both their website, www.dinnerwithdebbie.com, and on youtube.com. They are currently filming additional episodes and planning a cooking program that will feature DVD’s of the episodes along with recipes and other tips to make your meals ‘pointless’ and delicious.

You can see “The Pointless Man” prepare “Dinner with Debbie”, and a kid-friendly version of the meal, on the Main Stage at the Foodways Expo this Sunday at 4:00 PM. at the Woodland Mall. Bruce Lillie will perform the theme song live and add accompaniment to the creative cooking process. The program will be taped for a new episode of “Dinner with Debbie”. In addition, Nabinger and Walters will have a booth at the show where they will offer a taste of “Pointless Hummus” along with the recipe.