Book Review: Foodist

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Cammy Chapel

Disclosure

I was sent a copy of this book for review purposes with the expectation and understanding that this review would reflect my authentic opinion and it does.

(Any links are to my Amazon affiliate account, where you can also read other reviews.)

Foodist: Using Real Food and Real Science to Lose Weight Without Dieting
by Darya Pino Rose, Ph.D.

About the Author

Darya Pino Rose blogs at Summer Tomato, where she writes about food, health, and science, and using all three to build an awesome life. In addition to her blog, you’ll find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Overview

The overall premise of Foodist, straight from the book flap:

Foodist is an approach that actually celebrates food while taking you through the nutrition and psychology involved in eating well to help you move beyond the daily obstacles and bad habits that keep the tasteless, empty, and unsatisfying food-like products on your plate. Losing weight no longer has to be about sacrifice, deprivation, and willpower, and food will turn from something you fight into something you can actually love again. As Darya writes, “You don’t need a diet. You need an upgrade.”

The book is broken into three parts:

In Part I, the author introduces her concept of healthstyle–focusing on increasing energy and improving health over “dieting.” (Around here we call that The Tippy Toe Diet. )
Part II is the Getting Started section and covers shopping, cooking, mindful eating, and exercise.
Part III discusses daily life situations and how to incorporate your healthier food choices.

My Take

Don’t let the word “science” distract you. This book is written in a contemporary, often humorous style that doesn’t feel geeky at all. It’s a quick and enjoyable read and would most benefit people who are looking to overhaul their way of living–to “upgrade”, as suggested by the author–but have no idea where to start. Since I’ve been at this a few years now, I can’t say I learned anything new or profound, but I did take a couple of points as gentle reminders. (Namely, eat more slowly! But more about that another day.)

Where Foodist really shines for me is the section on habit changing, primarily because the author uses examples from Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath, which is one of my favorite books EVER on change management. (I recommended it back in 2010 if you’re curious.) Figuring out how to motivate yourself and convert bad habits to better ones is more than half the battle. Or it was for me. Your mileage might vary. Anyway, the author draws out the healthier living angle to a greater degree than the Heath Brothers did, and I found myself nodding as I read along. I love when that happens.

If this is to be an honest review, I do need to mention one general sticking point I had while reading. I’m uneasy with the book’s emphasis on organic, grass-fed, pastured, pure everything, including a specific recommendation to shop at Whole Foods. I have nothing against good quality food (who would?) or the Whole Foods grocery chain (I shop there a teensy bit myself), but a large portion of the US population doesn’t have access to and/or the financial resources for either. Also, many national grocery chains offer organic produce and quality oils, vinegars, spices, etc. on their shelves. I think the book would have been more inclusive and served a wider audience had there been more discussion on upgrading to the best of one’s ability with guidance on making “better” choices when shopping more common grocery stores. (But then again, if it had, I might not have had an idea for a series of ‘good, better, best’ posts for the future.)

But that’s my personal quibble. We all have them. Overall, I really, really appreciate the theme that food is to be appreciated and celebrated, and that eating good food is more satisfying and energizing and leads to a better life.

Final Score

Despite my quibble, Foodist contains useful information presented in a lively and fun manner. I give it two thumbs up, only with one thumb listing to the side just a hair.

Discussion

What “upgrades” have you made to the way you live? What do you still have planned?

Book Review: New Rules of Lifting for Life

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Cammy Chapel

Other than a few short breaks, I’ve been strength training since June 14, 2007. My routines and abilities have changed over time, and I’m always on the lookout for new challenges to keep me interested. When I saw earlier this year that Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove had a new book out in their New Rules for Lifting series, I knew I’d have to try it out. Their (with Cassandra Forsythe) New Rules of Lifting for Women*is one of my favorite exercise books, and I hoped the new book, The New Rules of Lifting for Life: An All-New Muscle-Building, Fat-Blasting Plan for Men and Women Who Want to Ace Their Midlife Exams*, would provide a course-shift for my mid-winter blobbiness and workout blahness.

Unfortunately, some bozo had the book checked out of the library and kept it for two months! I was beginning to think I was going to have to put an ad in the local paper asking for it to be returned, but I finally got my hands on it a couple of weeks ago. Joy!

I’m just barely into the workouts at this point, but although they’re not hugely different from what I was doing before with respect to the types of exercises, the order and the reps of phase one are a definite departure for me. They’re also a departure from some of the previous New Rules programs.

Lifting for Life (LfL) is targeted to a middle-aged audience (folks waaaay older than me) and people in injury recovery. The focus is core, core, core, but there’s not a crunch or back extension in sight. It’s all about building muscle in the core (trunk) in order to strengthen and protect the spine, using total-body exercises that emphasize strength, balance, and flexibility. Since I have no intentions of entering the amateur or professional body-building arenas, this is right up my alley!

The program is split into three phases: Transform, Develop, and Maximize, designed to cover six months in total. So far, I’m just working in the Transform phase. I’ll worry about the next phase when I get there.

Each phase has two workouts, A and B, which are performed on different days. These are both full-body workouts, but A targets more upper body and B takes care of the lower body. Exercises are divided into categories: push, pull, squat, lunge, hinge, and single-leg stance. You can choose your own exercises, based on level of ability, as long as you stay true to the category. If, for example, someone has the audacity to be using my spot when I’m ready for some push-ups, I can move over to a bench for chest presses instead since both are “push” exercises.

Here’s what my current schedule looks like:

Workout A
Category/exercise	Sets/reps	My choice
Core
- Stability	2 x 30 seconds	Plank (2 x 60 seconds)
- Dynamic Stability	2 x 10	Stability Ball Mountain Climbers
Power (lower body)	2 x 5	Dumbbell swings
Strength
- 1a) Squat	1 or 2 x15	squat to row
- 1b) Pull	1 or 2 x15	Combo: squat to row
- 2a) Single-leg stance	1 or 2 x15	Single leg deadlift
- 2b) Push	1 or 2 x 15	Chest presses
Metabolic	5-10 min.	Bicycle/treadmill/elliptical

Workout B
Category/exercise	Sets/reps	My choice
Core
- Stability	2 x 30 seconds	Plank (2 x 60 seconds)
- Dynamic Stability	2 x 10	Kneeling cable half-chop
Power (upper body)	2 x 5	Push-up/release off the low bar
Strength
- 1a) Hinge	1 or 2 x15	Bridges with stability ball
- 1b) Push	1 or 2 x15	Single arm shoulder presses
- 2a) Lunge	1 or 2 x15	Combo: face pulls/rear lunge
- 2b) Pull	1 or 2 x 15	Combo: face pull/rear lunge
Metabolic	5-10 min.	Bicycle/treadmill/elliptical

As you can see, I save a bit of time by doing one combo move in each workout: squat to rows in Workout A and tacking a rear lunge onto the face pull in Workout B. I could do those individually, but I figure if I’ve got the cable, why not put it to good use. LOL The only downside is that in order to get 15 lunges on each leg, I end up doing 30 face pulls in each set.

Not a hard-core program, but my muscles are twitching at the end of it. I even had to take Ibuprofen the day after I first tried the single-leg deadlifts. I’d never done those before, and my thighs and hammies let me know it.

I should also mention that there’s a warm-up group of exercises that are common across all workout, but I don’t do those because they require lunging and jumping around the gym. Not possible in my small and congested gym, so I do my regular warm-up.

I’ll also mention that there’s a section on nutrition and eating, but to be honest, I skipped all that. I’m mostly happy with the way I eat.

I am loving this program so far! I’m even enjoying the planks, now that they’re at the front of the workout. I had to acknowledge today that the fact that I’m at 60-second planks and not minding them is a sign that I need to move up a plank, so to speak. I’ll stick the ball under my feet on Friday, and see how that works out, or maybe I’ll start working on my side planks again. They’re rather pitiful.

As for results, I’m already feeling a difference in my arms and legs, and I’m noticing a slight tightening of the squish belly. I also noticed that pants that were starting to feel a bit snug button easily. Beyond that, I have no idea. I figured out a long time ago that I’m not the best person to evaluate my reflection in the mirror. If I feel good, that’s good enough for me!

One other note: If you are just starting out with exercise and try this program, you may have to/want to spend a few extra weeks in the Transform stage. When I first started exercising, I couldn’t have done 15 reps of anything. Heck, thanks to the pickleball knee, I still can’t do 15 front or static lunges! DO NOT feel bad if you have to work up to the full rotation. (And if you’re able to jump right in and do it all from the beginning, please don’t tell me! )

So this one is a two-thumbs-up from me! There are so many exercises and variations that I expect to play around with different combinations for quite some time!

Got a new favorite exercise or program to share? Questions about this one?

Disclaimer: The two links marked with an asterisk above are to my Amazon affiliate account, for which I receive a small commission. While that would be nice, I do encourage supporting your local library and your local bookstores first! This explains my bank balance, but so be it.

You Got Fiber in My Chocolate (Review/Giveaway)

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Cammy Chapel

This giveaway is closed, but the opinions are still the same.

Fiber One‘s PR group reached out to me a few weeks ago, asking if I’d like to review their new Fiber One 80-Calorie Chocolate Cereal. Not wanting to seem over-eager, I fixed a hangnail, checked the mailbox, and started a load of laundry before zipping off a YES! (Despite that, I must have sounded needy or desperate, because they FedEx’d the boxes to me. I had them on my porch the next day!)

This was a bit of a happy coincidence, since just TWO DAYS before I had been holding a box of said cereal in my chocolate-loving hands, wondering if I’d like it as much as I did the Honey Squares. And also wondering if I would be able to enjoy this one with the same moderation. After much deliberation, I put the cereal back on the shelf and opted for a Fiber One Protein Bar instead. (I was on a work assignment and early reconnaissance had shown absolutely NO healthy(ish) restaurants where I might enjoy a healthy(ish) lunch nearby.)

When I mentioned all this to the PR rep, she immediately asked if I’d like to review the protein bars as well, and of course I said YES! (FTC? Here’s your disclosure) Bars and cereal were supplied without charge, with both the understanding and expectation that the review would express my authentic opinion.

Fiber One 80-Calorie Chocolate Cereal

Click the image to visit the product page for full nutritional information. Here are the highlights:
♥ 35% RDA of fiber
♥ 9g fiber per serving
♥ 5g sugar per serving (more fiber than sugar)
♥ 80 calories per 3/4-cup serving
♥ It’s chocolate

Taste Test Results
I like the Chocolate Cereal even MORE than the Honey Squares. Is it the same as biting into a decadent piece of Neuhaus? Hardly, but it scratches the chocolate itch, it’s filling, and it doesn’t decimate my calorie budget. Plus, it has fiber, and as delicious as Neuhaus is, it doesn’t contribute much to my digestive health. Or my financial health, for that matter.

Here are some photos of the taste drives from the past week:

First I had it au natural. I poured out a 3/4-cup serving and grazed on it throughout the day. It’s chocolate-y enough that a few pieces (3-5) are satisfying. Since I work in the back of the house and the cereal is in the kitchen, I figure I burned the 80 calories going back and forth.

This is my #1 favorite way to have cereal–as a snack. I got to thinking, though, that it might be nice to taste drive it like a normal person who likes cereal with milk. But I had two problems: 1) I’m not normal, and 2) I didn’t have any milk. Oh well…

And then I remembered that I did have milk!

Oh yes I did! One half cup of Silk Dark Chocolate Almond Milk with 1/2 cup of Fiber One 80-Calorie Chocolate Cereal and a sprinkle of sliced strawberries, a.k.a. Double Chocolate Breakfast for Dessert. As you might expect, it’s delicious! Even better, it’s a very filling 125 (or so) calories.

Today I crushed a few pieces (about 5?) on top of some yogurt to add a nice little chocolate crunch to a post-workout snack.

Final Word
One of my goals is to avoid eating any processed food in abundance, but this is definitely a cereal I’ll buy in the future for those times when I’m feeling particularly chocolate-y. Despite it’s tastiness, it’s one of those foods that hits my satiety button in small (and delicious) portions.

Fiber One Protein Bars

As before, click on the images for the full nutritional info. In a nutshell, these bars have 20% RDA of fiber, 130-140 calories, and 6-7 grams of protein.

Taste Test Results
I liked both bars, with a preference for the Coconut Almond. With the chocolate coating, my first thought was Oooh, a candy bar!, and the first bite almost tastes like one, but then it becomes apparent that it’s a fiber bar. It doesn’t taste bad–far from it–but the fibery texture does change the candy bar illusion. Which, now that I think about it, might not be such a bad thing.

Final Word
As I said, I like the Fiber One Protein Bars. Being relatively lighter in calories and protein than the types of protein bars I usually eat, they don’t work well as a meal replacement. To be fair, I don’t think that’s their intended purpose. For me, they’re more likely to be a candy bar replacement and will be a nice treat on a road trip. A treat with a nice bit of protein and fiber.

Super Duper Fiber One Prize Pack Giveaway

The kind folks at Fiber One have offered to send THREE lucky U.S. readers a Fiber One Prize Pack just like the Uncompensated Evaluation Pack I received, that is:
♥ One box Fiber One 80 Calorie Chocolate Cereal
♥ One box Fiber One Caramel Nut Protein Bars
♥ One box Fiber One Coconut Almond Protein Bars

And YOU don’t even have to write a post about it!

If you are a US resident and would like to be entered in a random drawing to occur this Saturday (02/16) at noon (Memphis time), just let me know in the comments!

And that’s it! No hopping hither and yon liking and tweeting (unless you want to), although you are certainly welcome to like FiberOne and The Tippy Toe Diet on Facebook! (They have coupons; I have…product reviews! LOL)

Product Review: I’m Cooking with Barilla Pasta (Plus a Giveaway)

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Cammy Chapel

This giveaway has ended. Congrats to Bonnie and Judy, who won Barilla Pasta Gift Packs!

You can still read the post and the comments for some yummy healthy pasta recipes!

When I started counting calories, I mostly gave up the joy of pasta because it didn’t seem to be a good bang for my caloric buck. When Barilla came out with their Pasta Plus, I began keeping it on hand, mostly for last minute meals. I like the taste of it, and it’s a good source of protein, fiber, and Omega 3′s (via flaxseed). Again, though, I haven’t had it too often due to those pesky calories. More on that in a minute.

Earlier this month, Barilla PR contacted me asking if I would review a few of their products and–get ready for it–”create a unique, healthy pasta recipe”. Since I had tried and liked the Pasta Plus, I agreed to the project. It had absolutely nothing to do with being asked to create a recipe. (I might not be much of a cook, but I seem to be getting quite a few requests for recipes. Just sayin’.)

Oh.My.Word. Who knew there were so many types of pasta? I had no idea which one to use to create my unique recipe! (Later I found a quiz on Barilla’s website to help narrow it down.)

Me being me, I flipped the boxes to compare calorie/protein counts. One thing lead to another and I eventually figured out an embarrassing misconception I’d been operating under, namely: Am I the only person on the planet who didn’t realize that the calorie counts on the package were for uncooked pasta? No wonder I didn’t feel satisfied after eating pasta–I’ve been eating half portions for the past five years! LOL I happily stand corrected and will be enjoying pasta more frequently in the future!

On to the cooking. As a warm up, I tried the Whole Grain with my Lentil Pasta Sauce. That worked out well. The Barilla Whole Grain Spaghetti has 7g of protein and 6g of fiber, which meant that the pasta and sauce combined for 20g of protein and 13g of fiber. Decent nutritionals and quite tasty. I didn’t really pick up on the “wheatiness” (which I like) of whole wheat pasta, because this variety only has a little over 50% whole wheat flour. That could be a good thing for parents whose kids are resistant to the 100% whole wheat pasta.

That’s all fine and good, but I was supposed to be creating something “unique” for this review. Not being much of a cook, this caused a bit of a brain strain until I remembered an idea I’d had while eating a muffaletta salad one day and wishing it was a muffaletta sandwich on sesame bread.

You see where this is going, don’t you? Okay, without further ado, I give you….

A traditional muffaletta has ham, salami, provolone, mozzarella (or swiss), and olive salad and is served on sesame bread. I don’t like salami, and I usually skip one of the cheeses, but for this recipe, I wanted to go more for the original. So I improvised a little.

For the pasta, I chose the Barilla Veggie Penne made with Pureed Carrots and Tomatoes. According to the PR, this pasta is made up of 25% pureed vegetables and each 3.5-oz. serving equals one serving of vegetables. This leads to my one and only quibble: 3.5 oz. of penne pasta is A LOT of freaking pasta. Most of us are going to go with the 2-oz. serving (or, in my case, even smaller), so the “one serving of vegetables” doesn’t work out. But so be it. That’s why we read labels.

Pastaletta Recipe

Recipe is for one Cammy-sized serving

1-1/2 oz.-2 oz. Barilla Veggie Penne Pasta
2 tbsp. olive salad (I used Delallo Olive Bruschetta*)
2 oz. cubed ham
1.2 oz. pepperoni
3/4 oz. Provolone cheese
1 tsp. Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cook pasta according to pkg. directions (al dente in about 10 minutes. I took it off the heat and let it sit for another minute or so.)
3. Drain pasta well before tossing it into a small casserole dish with the olive mix. Stir, stir, stir.
4. Layer on the ham and pepperoni, followed by the Provolone.
5. Sprinkle the Parmesan and sesame seeds on top.
6. Bake until cheese gets all melty, about 10 minutes or so.

Note: I was so sure I had come up with a unique and original concept, but a quick Google just now says otherwise. There’s even a restaurant in Bowling Green, KY that serves Pastaletta.

But it’s not my Pastaletta. This one’s unique to me!

Pasta Verdict

Even at 2/3 or 3/5 or whatever serving of vegetables it is, the veggie pasta is delicious! I could really taste the tomatoes, and it worked really well with the olives and the cheese. This is a product I will definitely continue to use!

For this recipe, in the future I’ll just skip the pepperoni. Considering how little I used, it didn’t really add much flavor. But the ham, cheese, olive, sesame mix worked really, really well with the Veggie Penne. I might try it with capicola, or spiced ham, instead of leftover Christmas ham from the freezer.

As for the other pastas, I haven’t had time to try those yet. Moderation, you know. And my dad has appropriated the Rotini with Zucchini and Spinach pasta to use in his homemade tomato soup. That sounds pretty good, actually, and I’m not even a spinach fan.

Giveaway

The point of all this is that pasta, in proper portions and with nutritious ingredients, can be a healthy addition to any eating plan. To celebrate that, Barilla is giving two lucky U.S. readers a pasta pack of their very own AND a Barilla apron.

All you have to do for an entry is share your favorite healthy, pasta recipe in the comments. Give us details, describe it in general, link to a post on your blog or another website–whatever. International readers: If you want to play along, you’ll win our gratitude!

I’ll pick a winner on Saturday noon (Central US Time), so you have until then to share your healthy pasta recipe. C’mon, I showed you mine! (Hint for my fellow non-cooks: pasta + veggies = healthy pasta recipe.)

Note: If you’re curious about my muffaletta salad recipe, just replace the pasta with lettuce.

Disclosure: Barilla provided the pasta for my review and is providing the prize packs to two readers. Opinions and quibbles (and pastaletta recipe) are my own.

Sidenote:

I have finally gotten around to publishing a Tippy Toe Diet page on Facebook! I’ve been receiving requests for it for a while now, from people who prefer to get new post updates and such in their FB news feeds, and I’d played around with it a bit, but I’d been lazy about finishing. Now it’s done, and you’re welcome to Like the page for updates, or you can just hang around here.

Of course, you’re also welcome to follow ME on Facebook, but I don’t really update much given the mixing of business & personal contacts in my friends list.

Product Review: Hooray for Hoo-rags!

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Cammy Chapel

Every now and then a product review opportunity comes along that sounds like it’d be just plain fun. Such was the case with Hoo-rag.

What’s a Hoo-rag, you ask? Here’s the PR description:

Our bandanas are a seamless cotton-polyester blended micro-fiber that is lightweight, moisture-wicking, and fun to wear. People use them as a traditional bandana, a beanie, neck gaiter, and more.

Think of it as a tubular, or sleeve-like bandana. Like this:

hoorag hootensil

Obviously, my culinary prowess is gaining attention as they sent me the “hoo-tensil” pattern to ~~play with~~ evaluate and review. (I’ll bet none of the Iron Chefs have a hoo-tensil Hoo-rag! Hah!)

Getting serious, but only for a second: the Hoo-rag measures 18″ long and about 10″ across. The poly/cotton blend makes it nice and stretchy for getting over a person’s big head. And that’s where the fun begins.

I took a moment this morning as I was prepping for the gym (explains the no-makeup, unstyled hair look) to capture a few potential uses:

Cammy hoorag montage

1) The Face Mask – Good for protecting the face when one has to go to the gym in the middle of an ice storm, or given the culinary theme for this pattern, to don when dicing onions or cleaning the fridge
2) The Balaclava – More protection from the elements, or a good look if you have to take some chickens to sell in the local village market
3) The Headband – Perfect for wicking away head sweat at the gym!
4) The Neck Warmer – Workout over? Slide the headband down around your neck for the 40-yard trek to the car through the ice storm.

I wanted to do the Pony Tail, but I have more pony than tail, so I couldn’t make it work.

Those are just a few of the ways to use the Hoo-rag. For more, check out the video below or you can see them on the Hoo-rag website.

Before I watched the video, I hadn’t thought of the Hoo-rag as sun protection, too! It’s lightweight and moisture-wicking, so why not?

My verdict on the Hoo-rag: What’s not to like? It’s versatility makes the $14.95 price tag seem reasonable, and the wide variety of available patterns would seem to ensure there’s something for everyone! (Plus, they make custom Hoo-rags, so if I win the lottery, we’re going to get some sort of fitness bandana for ALL of us!)

Do you wear bandanas? How would YOU wear the Hoo-rag?

And if I DO win the lottery, what should our fitness bandana say?

FTC Disclosure: Hoo-rag provided a sample of this product for me to review. Opinions and fun were all my own.