Posts Tagged ‘cookbook’

Weekly Weigh In – Buffet be Damned!!!

April 10th, 2010

This morning marked my first weekly weigh in since the mind-blowing Easter buffet that left me full for two days after.  I was a little concerned that it might have thrown off my weight loss efforts for the week, but I guess my stepped up training efforts for my 5K saved me, because I had dropped 2.4 pounds!!!  This Saturday, I was down to 251.8 (on my new scales – which weigh about 7.5 pounds heavier than the old ones) for a total loss since I began of 56.2 pounds!  I’m feeling really good about where I am with both nutrition and exercise recently, so things are going really well.

I did go for a session with my trainer this morning, and in a total 180 from my exercise mindset of three months ago, I decided to get up early so I could go for a run/walk in the park before I went to her office for the strength training session.  I was running late, so I only got in a mile and a half, but it felt great to get out this morning and do that.  And I got to test out my new toy, a Nike + SportBand, along with a new pair of Nike + running shoes!  If you’re not familiar with Nike +, it’s a system Nike and Apple have developed that consists of » Read more: Weekly Weigh In – Buffet be Damned!!!

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Reviewing Devin Alexander’s I Can’t Believe It’s Not Fattening!

April 1st, 2010

A few weeks ago, I started a little experiment.  I’ve always loved cookbooks, but some healthy cookbooks leave a little to be desired.  And I also have gotten so out of the habit of cooking at home, even though I love to cook, that I really needed some motivation to get back into cooking on weeknights.  So I decided to choose four healthy cookbooks (above), commit to cook one night a week at home using these books, and then review the books here so you can learn from my experience and decide whether or not to spend your hard-earned clams on any of these books.  So far, I’ve reviewed Rocco Dispirito’s Now Eat This! (miss…) and Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave (hit!).  This week, Devin Alexander’s I Can’t Believe It’s Not Fattening! was my dinner-time project.

I had no idea who Devin Alexander is.  I’m not a fan of The Biggest Loser, but apparently she was a nutritional consultant on that show.  She also lost a lot of weight herself and has maintained her loss for many years.  That’s a good sign, I think.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Fattening! is the type of book you’d expect if Paula Deen wrote » Read more: Reviewing Devin Alexander’s I Can’t Believe It’s Not Fattening!

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Weekly Weigh In: Back in the Groove!

March 27th, 2010

Today was my weekly weigh in, and after last week, there was no pleading with the scale to shave off an extra ounce or two.  Just one step on the scale, and one step off.  (Okay, TWO, but you gotta double-check once, right???)  Since I had to replace my scales, the weights are a little different, so it’s hard to know exactly what I lost this week, but it’s right at 1 pound, I believe.  When my scales broke last Saturday, I had weighed in at 249.5 pounds.  The new scales weigh me about 7.5 pounds heavier than the old ones as best I can figure  (BAHHHHH…).  This morning I was at 256.0 on the new scales, so about 248.5 on the old ones, or one pound down, for a total loss of 52 pounds now!!!  I’m very happy to continue losing, even if I have to readjust to the readings on the new scale.  From here on out, I’ll just report the new scale numbers, along with my total weight lost.

Not only do I have my new scales, but I’m back in the groove with exercise, too.  My pain is gone, and I went for a 2.5 mile walk in the park with a friend this morning.  It was a fairly leisurely walk, but it felt so great to get outside and MOVE on a beautiful spring day after being restricted by the doc for the past week!  This afternoon I’m planning to burn some more serious calories, either on the treadmill or with some Wii Fit boxing.  I’m even contemplating signing up for » Read more: Weekly Weigh In: Back in the Groove!

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Karma: I Hate You…

March 25th, 2010

Soooo…..  I’ve been kind of sick this week.  It’s not something I’ll be blogging about in detail (trust me – I’ll spare you), except to say, remember the post where I wrote about being kicked out of the ER for laughing at my dad’s rather humorous problem?  Well apparently it’s freakin’ genetic.  And painful as hell.  Crap.

I’ve been recovering, and I’m finally feeling almost up to snuff again after a few days laying low, but the doc has me off of exercise, both cardio and strength training, until I’m pain free.  I’m hopeful that will be this weekend, but I just have to wait and see.  Anyhow, right after my two consecutive back injuries greatly reduced my strength training routine, this really isn’t what I wanted to hear.  But I’ve been a good little patient, and I’ve avoided » Read more: Karma: I Hate You…

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Reviewing Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave

March 24th, 2010

A couple of weeks ago, I committed to cook dinner once a week from one of the following cookbooks and then to report back here as to whether the cookbook was any good, in my humble opinion.

After making the low calorie black bean brownies from Rocco Dispirito’s Now Eat This!, I was a little gun shy about jumping into these healthy cookbooks again.  I still can’t believe that one’s on the NY Times bestseller list – to each his/her own, I guess.  But today, my faith in healthy cookbooks was not just restored, but I think I may have found the holy grail of healthy eating cookbooks – Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave.  Ellie also has a new book out (So Easy), but The Food You Crave is now a couple of years old and has received a couple of awards, including a coveted James Beard award.  You may also recognize Ellie Krieger from her Food Network show, Healthy Appetite.  I’ve seen the show a few times, but I’ve never really watched it as much as some of the other shows on the Food Network (which may explain why I’m now on this weight loss journey!).  Anyhow, around the time I was assembling the list of healthy cookbooks I’d review as part of this series, my nutritionist Rachel told me about The Food You Crave, and I added it to the list.

I’m sure glad I did!  I’ve been thumbing through the book for a week or so now, and first, it’s just really well done as a cookbook.  The book is easy to navigate and has beautiful photography, plus a number of good pages that provide tips for healthy eating and quick ideas for things like simple breakfasts, what to have for lunch, etc.  It’s really well-done.  And the food itself is » Read more: Reviewing Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave

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Nutrition Monday: Reviewing Rocco Dispirito’s Now Eat This!

March 15th, 2010

Black beans just don’t belong in brownies.  I knew this intuitively, but I so sincerely wanted to believe that Rocco’s Brownies, with black beans as a main ingredient, would taste like fudgy, gooey, brownie goodness that I suspended my native disbelief, and I truly expected these to taste amazing.  Man was I wrong.

As I continue to blog Nutrition Mondays, in honor of National Nutrition Month®, this week I’ll write the first of my cookbook reviews I announced last Monday.  I saw a few low-cal recipes from Rocco on ABCNews.com one morning as I was doing my early check of the headlines.  Apparently he had been on Good Morning America and prepared some recipes from his new book, Now Eat This!, including the aforementioned black bean brownies and a low-cal mac and cheese.  I seriously love mac and cheese.  So this seemed like a cookbook match made in heaven.  When I looked his book up online, I found that his concept was to makeover comfort foods, with a calorie content of 350 calories or less per serving.  I had to have that book, and » Read more: Nutrition Monday: Reviewing Rocco Dispirito’s Now Eat This!

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Announcing Chad’s Cookbook Reviews

March 8th, 2010

I'm Blogging National Nutrition Month
As I first mentioned last week, March is National Nutrition Month®, and I’ll be devoting a post each Monday to good nutrition.  This week, I’ve decided that I’m going to leave my young urban professional ways behind (at least one night a week), and cook at home instead of eating out.  Here’s the thing: I love to cook, I really do.  Food to me is not just something delicious to eat and fuel my body, but it’s also a rich cultural artifact that says a lot about a family, a people, a region, a way of life, etc.  This is why I’ve always love reading cookbooks.  I rarely cook using a recipe, but I have a huge collection of cookbooks, and I can read a good cookbook like a novel.  They’re not just recipe manuals (at least good ones aren’t), but they’re both histories and current snapshots of how people live and what they value.

I love cookbooks almost as much as I love going out to eat.  Every night.  With few exceptions.  You see, I work.  A lot.  And then I go to the gym most nights (or at least I try to now).  And I try to hang out with friends.  And I write in my spare time – this blog and other things.  So that means I have a life which I really love, but that leaves me good and exhausted at the end of a day.  And I’d be happy to cook to unwind, but cooking brings with it something else that I just can’t stomach at the end of a long day – cleaning the kitchen.

One day, I have a fantasy that I’ll find » Read more: Announcing Chad’s Cookbook Reviews

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