Can you eat local-style and not overeat or consume too much fat, salt or sugar?

She says it in her new cookbook, "Global Light Cuisine" (paper, spiral bound, $17.95), in Island stores now, in which recipes from around the world are reinterpreted for those of us who are trying to eat well and graciously and not pack pounds on our figures. She says it every other week in her column here, too.

A former food science teacher (what they used to call home economics), Devenot is a local girl in every sense: born here, raised in a multicultural household, a lifelong practitioner of hula, a mom who loves to cook for her son and grandchildren, a longtime associate of Island nutritional expert Dr. Terry Shintani, for whom she has developed many recipes.

A student of healthful eating, Devenot scours local health-food stores to find products that help pare away fat, salt and sugar and infuse recipes with nutrients, fiber, flavor and other good things.

Her cookbook, which compiles her Advertiser columns over the years, roams the globe from Apia to Africa. Paging through it, I was trying to figure out which of the recipes was my favorite. I concluded that was a lost cause: I like too many of the recipes. But here's one that characterizes her style: healthy, quick to make, appealing to local tastes. The chief ingredient is the Chinese long bean, also favored by Filipinos, a crispy-crunchy yard-long green bean, often very reasonably priced.

This is a base recipe which can be made with ground chicken, turkey or pork instead of shrimp, or with Devenot's favorite tofu crumbles (homemade or commercial). Serve this with brown rice and a vegetable or salad.

SITAW (FILIPINO-STYLE LONG BEANS)