A Round-Up of Deals and Tools: Pilates, Pizza Fit'n Free, Holey Donuts, CurlMart, Hungry Girl's List

Well, I think the cloud is finally easing and I'm feeling as if light is coming through the grey. I had still felt blue last week, so much so that I cancelled all my Pilates sessions. But this week, I went Monday and today, and she worked me hard (I think to make up for lost sessions.) It's fine. It's tough, and sometimes midway I think I'm gonna collapse, but we make it through the hour in the end. :) I'm still amazed I've stuck with this for 1 year and 7 months. Me, the exercise hater. But when I have someone telling me, guiding me, encouraging me, pushing me, I like it. Alone, on my own, I end up stuck in inertia. Hate that about me. If you're a big gal in South Florida and you've wanted to try Pilates, but have been afraid cause of size or embarrassment, try one of the gals at The Pilates Room in North Miami Beach. Look for a welcome 3-session special and class pricing here.

If you're a pizza-lover, and want to try a no-fat, no-sugar, low-cal frozen pizza that gets shipped to your house, well, Pizza Fit'n Free has a special promo going on now (for new orders only). Use coupon code "superbowl" and you'll get 10% off yoru order. See their pizzas here. I'll be totally honest and say that I tried these a couple years ago and though they were...dreadful. Very dry, cardboardy, hard crust and skimpy toppings. But I understand that this is catering to an segment of dieters that really want to keep calories low and have to have a pizza fix. Me, I'd rather make a pita pizza with veggies and part-skim mozza and low-cal pizza sauce at home. Tastes better, imo. BUT...lots of points-watchers use these as a craving-killer that doesn't blast the diet like supermarket or delivery pizzas can. One of these pizzas is only 250 calories and you can top it the way you'd like.

Holey Donuts has added Weight Watchers points to their shopping pages (not all donuts I saw had them listed, but most).  For example, the mini cinnamon buns are 2 points each, four donuts holes  are 3 points, one Oreo Boston creme-filled is 4 points, and one strawberry shortcake is 5 points.

I've tried Crum Creek's soy snacks, and they tasted good, though I stopped ordering due to issues with soy. However, if you like a lower-carb pasta and aren't sensitive to soy, you might want to take advantage of Crum Creek's pasta sale. Get 30% off your order of pasta with the promo code "comfort."

 While hair care is not diet-related, it is mood-related to me. A good hair day makes me happier and a bad hair day lowers my joy level, I can tell you. In an effort to go more natural (not just in foods, but in other products), I've turned off the flat iron and blow-dryer (mostly) in favor of air-drying. (See mini-pics of my hair as it is au naturel, air-dried, at left. I'm still recovering from decades of straightening, but my curls will heal.) I've also switched to products that use either all or mostly natural products--oils, emollients, moisturizers, surfactants, etc. I'm a curly haired gal--quite curly. My hair naturally spirals and coils. Since late November, I haven't straightened it. And I've been using some interesting stuff I've sampled from Whole Foods and from Curlmart.  Shop now through February 1 at Curlmart and SAVE 15%. Use coupon code 5DAY15*. They carry lots of curl-friendly hair lines such as the Deva, Curl Junkie, MyHoneyChild, Mop Top, Kinky Curly, Jessicurl, Curly Hair Solutions, etc. If you have been straightening/blowing/flat-ironing and want to go natural with your waves or curls, I highly recommend the NaturallyCurly.com site, forum (CurlTalk), articles, and CurlMart reviews and products.

Hungry Girl has sent out her handy-dandy shopping list. If you want to take a look to see if you can get hints for your own fatfighting list, check out her pdf format list.


I hope there's lot of joy in your life today, and a little less fat. :) Happy Thursday!

Why Do We Give Kids Foods We Know Are Bad for Our Own Struggling Selves?

With the holiday season in full swing, I've been a bit concerned about how entrenched unhealthful foods are part of the gift-giving tradition. Fatty cakes. Butter-laden cookies. Sugary treats in huge portions in pretty cans and jars and boxes.

As people fighting the fight against fat, we know that cookies, candies, and cakes are things that ought to be RARE treats (or, in the cases of those with bad triggers, banned altogether or modified significantly into less-dangerous versions).

But what do I see, including from women and men as big as I am (or bigger)? People with kids...

They stuff them with candy, cookies and cakes. Not just once week or once a month, but regularly. And moreso in this holiday time.

With childhood obesity a major health concern (some call it an epidemic) in the US (and other nations), we really need to take a look at this. A good hard no-excuses sort of look.

Imagine if we had grown up with our parents more disciplined about what cereal we ate in the morning (no KABOOM or Cap'n Crunch, but whole grain and no sugar--fruit instead?). Imagine if a candy bar or pack of animal crackers was a special weekend treat, and not a regular afterschool yumsy, if the daily treat was apples and oranges and carrots with hummus or celery with Laughing Cow light or a whole grain role with peanut butter. Imagine if our parents stocked the pantry with stuff that was clean, nutritious, no to low-sugar, high fiber, and fresh.

Would we be where we are?

Maybe. :)

But I think we train kids to like what they like. I love fruit because my parents loved fruit and had plenty of it around and made smoothies before smoothies were a commonly enjoyed commodity around town. They used olive oil and vinegar, not bottled dressings. They offered us beans almost daily, so we were all bathroom regular.

But I was the one who grew up from age 2 in this country, so I got the junk cereals that were mostly sugar and refined grains. I got candy bars after school. Sno-cones daily in summer. Pocket money for potato chips and other crap.

Of all my siblings, I am the ONLY one who got superobese (or even obese, for that matter). My brothers and sisters, who grew up in another country, much more physically active and eating more natural foods and much less junk--they didn't develop the crazy food relationship I did. They didn't grow up with junk food commercials on television sending them off into cravings for Milky Ways and pizza and burgers and fries and Starburst and cupcakes and whatnot.

So, when I see someone, especially a parent with weight issues, struggling, on diets, struggling to lose, that same parent buy candy and cupcakes and sugary cereals for their kids, I wonder about the dissonance. Why give them the taste habits and food issues we have? Why not hand them pears and grape tomatoes and mango slices and low-fat string cheese and almonds and raspberries? Why not end the crazy food cycle NOW?

I've begged a particular family member not to inflict our curse on her own kids. She and I are both obese. She has two kids who are currently normal weight. When I see the kids fed crap, it hurts. When I see kids catered to (ie, they don't want to eat the wholesome fair, and just pick at, say, white bread and then rush to eat a handful of candy), I want to cry.

In 20 or 30 years, they'll be where we are. Oversized and health-impaired.

It frightens me, and I don't even have kids.

I, both my nieces and both my nephews are overweight to obese. (Three of us obese, one overweight.) Five out of five of us born in the sixties and seventies in the immediate family--all too big. I don't want the next generation to have this curse. I want them to radiate good health and love good, clean food and be active and be happy and live vibrantly.

If it's not good for us to eat, big as we are, then it's not good for kids to eat, especially in their formative years, when they need the BEST nutrition to build bones and spare teeth from decay and develop the strongest neuromuscular system.

Junk ain't for us. But junk ain't for kids, either.

Why do we not see that?

Maybe it's long past time to tax the hell out of junk foods and treats. How many cupcakes will a kid buy if they're 5 bucks each? How many candy bars if one uses up their whole allowance? I'd rather tax crap that does nothing for one's wellbeing and use that money to subsidize fruit and veggies, so they're more affordable for a family's budget.

I am vowing not to buy junk for the kids in my family anymore. (This will be sooo hard. Habits die hard.) And I'm gonna work hard to break the holiday junk-food giving tradition. I'll find alternatives--sugarless, low-fat, or just plain better treats--like dark chocolate (I've tasted excellent sugar-free varieties) or dried fruit or nuts.

I want the people I love to be healthy and live a long, long time. And I want to be healthy and live longer, too, so I can enjoy their company for years and years.


~

The Princess Reviews Instone Pudding

Instone Pudding is a high-protein pudding snack that seems popular with the low-carbers. I'd seen some bad reviews and some excellent ones, so I decided to try it and judge for myself:

Chocolate flavor. My review: Oh, my, how can anyone eat this crap? It tastes like funky chemicals run amok.

--Because I figure anything is worth a second try, especially when some folks I like actually eat it, I tried a different flavor--

Banana flavor. My review: Egads, people actually finish this horror? Willingly? How do I get this aftertaste out of my mouth. :::sound of me gargling with mouthwash::::

I now understand why Sylvester Stallone often has that pained look on his face. He eats this stuff!

There you have it. My garbage has two partially eaten tins of the stuff waiting to be hauled away, far from me and my abused tongue.

Try it at risk to your taste buds.

The Easy, Anti-Hunger Oatmeal "Cookie"

I was reading the latest NUTRITION magazine, fall 2007, and it had this little (really easy) recipe for Oatmeal Cookies provided by fitness model Maggie Diubaldo.

Well, I tried it today when I got the afternoon noshies. As I mentioned in an earlier post today, I've been feeling really hungry. This recipe included stuff I have on hand (oatmeal, PB, protein powder, cinnamon, Splenda), so I made it. Surprisingly, it was satisfying. I will add more Splenda next time.

Here is how I made it, which is slightly altered from the recipe, cause I don't make the special mixture the model does (something called "Maggie Love" which has cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and stevia, all to taste.) It's ready in 10 minutes, and it makes two cookies.

Ingredients:
1/4 c. oats
1/2 scoop choc protein powder
1 tsp natural peanut butter
Cinnamon and Splenda to taste (my improvisation for Maggie Love mix)
Water, as desired (I used exactly 1/8th of a cup)

Directions:
Mix oats, protein powder, PB, spices (use whatever you wish if you don't like cinnamon), & sweetener with just enough water (about 1/8 c. or less) to make a thick batter.

Pack it into a hamburger shape and cook in a frying pan over medium heat until it is fully cooked and slightly crispy, about 4 mins per side.

Nutrition stats: Calories 85, fat 3g, carb 8g , fiber 1g, protein 9g

On my stove, it got slightly scorched at medium-heat. But stoves differ. I know I need to use a slightly lower heat.

Next time, besides more cinnamon and more Splenda, I'm gonna use vanilla protein powder and see how that tastes.

It kept me full for three hours so far (had it with water and coffee). And it's much safer than having cookies in the house. Plus, hey, fiber and protein and healthy mono fat! (The stats will differ depending what protein blend you use. I used the Melaleuca chocolate one, but I keep Designer Whey in the house and have a few sample packets of Myoplex. Use whichever has the nicest flavor for you.)

If you try it, let me know if you enjoyed it. As a cookie, I'd rate it a 3 out of 5 stars. But as a satisfying mid-afternoon snack with protein, one that killed my hunger pangs without too much caloric damage, one I had to CHEW, rather than just DRINK...I give it a tummy-happy thumbs up. (I might add some raisins next time, or walnuts.)

~

Amy's Kitchen Let Me Down

I recently placed an order with Amy's dot com. YOu know, the organic food company--frozen, canned, jarred. I saw something about them in Hungry Girl's newsletter. I'd never tried their soups or sauces, so I thought, why not. Convenient and organic.

Well, I got it today. Out of six cans of soup, five are dented. Most of those crushed so badly, I'd be afraid to consume the contents. The integrity of the can is surely compromised. I'm not talking about little dents. I'm talking about CRUSHED. Ever step on a can with your shoe to make "heels" when you were kids. Well, some of the cans look like someone tried to do that.

So, I basically wasted about fifteen bucks on food I can't eat now.

I sent Amy's my grievance via their website's contact us email doohickey. Whether they will do right by me (issue a credit for the five cans of soup or replace them), I dunno. But I wanted to warn you. DO NOT ORDER CANS from Amy's without requesting in the comments that they bubble-wrap each one before they put it in with the peanuts. The peanut-foamies alone don't cut it.

Well, that was a downer. And after such a nice morning and a great breakfast.

EDITED TO ADD: One of the usable cans was of the "Cream of Tomato" soup, the lower sodium version. I enjoyed a cup with a bit of brown rice and an orange for my afternoon snack. (3.5 points altogether). It had a nice flavor, not too creamy, and it reminded me of being a kid having hot tomato soup at Catholic School on cold days. Mmmm. I think they could go lower on the sodium, frankly. Even with this lower-sodium version, it tasted on the salty side. But thumbs up on the Amy's "Light in Sodium Cream of Tomato".
~

Snack Sprite: Heavenly Desserts?

I haven't tried these yet, so how heavenly they may be is a mystery to me--for now. I do want to try them, particularly the chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and strawberry mousse. I haven't had mousse in quite a while, and real chocolate mousse is, to me, one of the true delights of being human and having taste buds. Mmmmmmmm.

But, for those of you who have a sweet tooth, it's something you can try:

Mrs. Smith's "Heavenly 100" Dessert Snacks

It joins the ranks of the other snacks out there portioned so that you get 100 calories per serving. I've tried some of the cookies, and I was NOT thrilled. The saltier snacks are okay.

Now, I do not have an enormous sweet tooth. (I have an enormous FAT tooth. Cheese is my first love. Sauces, gravies, oils. I love fat.) I do just fine with fruit for most of the day. A nice bowl of berries or melon or cherries or a cut up orange or some plums. Adore fruit. (Which is why I can't do low-carb. No way I can back on fruit.) BUT...with dinner...I loooooooove something sweet to finish off. It sort of says to me, "You're done for the day. You've eaten well. You've had a treat."

Lately, due to my new eating plan, I just have a small square of dark-dark chocolate (since it's good for one). Twice, I've had the Applebee's chocolate raspberry cake (4 WW points). But, really, when you're watching your points, 4 is a lot to splurge on dessert some days. Two point desserts, like those Skinny Cow sandwiches are okay some days. Those Vitamuffin chocolate tops are not moist enough to feel "cakey", but they'll do some days. Those 10 calorie sugar free Jello cups are great with a spritz of fat-free topping. And the sugar-free Jello puddings are nice, too.

So, I'm eager to try these new ones. A different mouth feel, creamy, moussey, would be welcome.

Anyone have a review of these? A report on them? Are they tasty? Do they have an aftertaste?