Whoever coined the phrase “never trust a skinny chef” clearly hasn’t met Melissa Kelly.

The diminutive dynamo behind Rockland’s celebrated Primo restaurant has a figure that belies her love for food. But she’s the embodiment of the lifestyle she extols in her new cookbook-memoir, “Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too: Eating to Be Sexy, Fit and Fabulous!” ($21.95, HarperCollins).

At first, Kelly wasn’t wild about the title her publisher chose – a riff on the best-seller “French Women Don’t Get Fat.” But she so embraced the idea of a healthy, holistic approach to eating, living and exercise that she couldn’t resist the offer.

“People always ask me what the concept is for Primo,” Kelly said before Thursday’s dinner rush, relaxing on the front porch of the restaurant. “I don’t look at this as a concept, I look at it as a lifestyle. What you eat, how you cook, how you live – it’s not just the diet, it’s the whole lifestyle.”

In “Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too,” Kelly explores the pleasures of eating fresh, whole, locally grown and raised food. She teaches readers how to turn each meal into an event to be savored rather than a grab-and-go.

For Kelly, it’s second nature. Growing up, her family had a garden in their yard in Long Island and they “went fishing and crabbing all the time.” Her dad baked. Her grandmother taught her how to make pasta. Her Italian grandfather, Primo, was a central figure in her life, and she has fond memories of long Sunday dinners with family, spiced with conversation.

“When you go to Europe, you live that life for a week or a month or however long, and you get it,” Kelly said. “We can’t afford to live that way here all the time, with food being the center of the day and big, long lunches. Here, it’s go, go, go, work, work, work. Here, everything’s ‘What can I get quick?'”

Kelly’s workaday life is no less hectic than your average CEO’s. Primo keeps her running from late morning to midnight, and she usually doesn’t get to bed until the wee hours of the morning. In addition to the Rockland restaurant she founded in 2000 with her pastry chef partner, Price Kushner, she also oversees two satellite restaurants run by Maine-trained chefs in Tucson, Ariz., and Orlando, Fla. She travels to these properties once a month on average.

Though she generally eats well, she admits to skipping meals because she’s been too busy to eat. A recent meeting with a nutritionist taught her the importance of balance, both in food and in life. It also showed her the science behind the art of cooking. This added a richness to her book and gave her an awareness of how eating habits can affect the body.

“I live like this on my days off,” Kelly said, breaking into a broad smile and describing the simple, wholesome meals she and Kushner share at home. “I don’t eat junk and I try to think about what I eat and how if affects me. If you think about what you eat, you eat healthy.”

Like most college students, Kelly went through a period of not thinking about what she ate in her early 20s. She was a student at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and though the kitchen was the center of her academic world, it wasn’t the center of her dorm room. During her externship in St. Thomas, Kelly gained 25 pounds.

“I think it was probably due to fried food and pina coladas,” she said of the weight gain. “It was easy to put on and hard to take off.”

She didn’t turn to a fad diet. She simply reverted to the way she ate as a girl. These days, weight isn’t a problem for Kelly, despite the many culinary temptations she faces during the day. She stands 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs between 105 and 110 pounds, due to a regular schedule of Pilates and cardio work. At 40, she looks as young and vibrant as most 25-year-olds, with her glossy hair, freckled cheeks and brilliant pale-blue eyes.

On a recent visit, she strolled through Primo’s expansive organic garden, filled with baby lettuces, tiny radishes, leafy herbs and edible flowers. In a bed near the kitchen, purple asparagus poke up from the ground like pencils and five varieties of thyme cover a rocky patch in a fragrant carpet. Kelly stops to snag an angelica stalk and offers a taste to a visitor.

The garden is central to Primo, and it is reflected in the words she chose to use to sign copies of her book: “Eat organic, buy local.” To her, that’s the epitome of health – the Mediterranean way.

“These two things will help you live your cycle of life more fully,” Kelly said. “You’re supporting your community; you’re making an investment in your place. When you eat seasonally, you’re getting the best of the best.”

Melissa Kelly will sign copies of her book, “Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too,” at 2 p.m. Saturday in the gardens at Primo. For information or directions, call Primo at 596-0770 or visit www.primorestaurant.com.