I was given a copy of Chef Gabrielle Hamilton’s book, Blood, Bones, & Butter, by her publicist months ago. I read it quickly, enjoyed it immensely, and then got too busy to review it. So glad that participating in The Kitchen Reader Book Club gave me a kick in the ol’ blogging pants so I could share it with you. (And thanks to Aileen of Pharma Foodie for choosing the book for June’s selection.)

What struck me about the book was how different every chef’s journey is to the kitchen. Anthony Bourdain just fell into it after experiencing the, dare I say, the glamour of a chef’s life during a summer job working in a restaurant. (If you’ve read his first book, Kitchen Confidential, you’ll know what I mean by “glamour.” If not, read the book. It’s worth it just for that story. You know, the wedding one.)

Julia Child fell in love with cooking during her time in France and wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 as a way to keep herself busy. I doubt she would have ever got into translating French cooking into something American housewives could understand if Julia had ever been a mother. She wouldn’t have had the time or energy.

Grant Achatz, whose book Life, On the Line I’m currently reading, had grown up in the restaurant business. From the time he was a teenager he knew he wanted to cook and own an amazing restaurant – and strived toward that goal every step of the way.

For others like Gabrielle Hamilton, the journey was a not quite as straightforward.

Relationships and the search for family

What struck me about Blood, Bones & Butter is not that it’s so much about food as it is about relationships. Of course, there's Gabrielle’s relationship with food – that’s a given. But there are also the relationships with her parents and siblings, the city of New York, her romantic partners, her colleagues and staff, the written word, her husband, and her children.

Blood, Bones & Butter is also a story of food as home. Gabrielle’s journey is one of searching for stability and family, not surprising since her parents divorce hit her so hard. Still, her journey is a meandering one. While she goes off here and there – to cook for others, to do catering work, to travel, to wash dishes and waitress, to have romances, to go back to school, to be mentored, and to become a mother – her journey always takes her back to food.

Gabrielle’s like a planet with a wobbly trajectory, rotating around a very enticing star. Sometimes her orbit meanders and she almost wanders off into space. Luckily for us, she always returns to home to the preparation of good food. It’s not a surprise that she’s created a wonderful restaurant, Prune, as a home base and surrounded herself with a close knit team and many devoted fans.

I can’t wait to see what Gabrielle Hamilton will do next, because I know her follow up memoir will be even better.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of the book to facilitate my review. My opinions are my own.

Blood, Bones & Butter by Chef Gabrielle Hamilton is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

I’ve been reading the most wonderful book this summer, Second Wind: One Woman's Midlife Quest to Run Seven Marathons on Seven Continents, by Cami Ostman. It’s about her quest to run marathons in all seven continents. While training and running each race, she challenges herself to overcome obstacles – both mental and physical – and learns more about her self in the process.

If you liked Eat Pray Love or Siren's Feast, An Edible Odyssey (which I reviewed here), you’ll love Second Wind as well. This time the metaphor for growth, change and awakening is running not food, but the story’s just as delicious.

Cami has generously offered to do a guest post about “Running through the hard times.” Read more from Cami on her website, 7marathons7continents.com.

Running through the hard times

On the same terrible day the Twin Towers tumbled down in New York City, I was wandering around my house trying to decide what to take and what to leave when I walked away from my marriage (no kids). I had televisions on in two different rooms so that I could hear the news wherever I was. Periodically, I stopped wrapping a dish or folding bedding so that I could cry before placing my carefully chosen object in a box. There was a lot to cry about that day, as there would be for months to come while both the country and I recovered from our collective and respective grief. How we would handle it was still up for grabs.

Leaving my marriage was the right choice for me, but it wasn’t easy. I was the bad guy - the one who broke the promise - and that weighed on me. For six months I buried my gloom and guilt in work, wine and bouts of sobbing. I ate sporadically, and weirdly - whatever sounded good, never mind what was good for me - but food didn’t give me the kind of comfort it had when I was younger and had stuffed down the sadness I felt about my parents’ divorce with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Wonderbread.

Moving forward, one run at a time

Then one day I had met up with an old friend. Bill had been my employer years before, and we’d reconnected via email in the past months as I lived out of cardboard boxes and mourned the loss of my vision of myself as a good wife. The evening Bill and I went out for dinner came at the end of a particularly quiet day during which I’d had several hours to think about this question: How will I move forward?

As we sat together at a Thai restaurant catching up on years of being out of touch, he told me about his own divorce. And he said something I’ll never forget, “You might try running to help you get on your feet. I started running to get me through. I ran until I hurt more on the outside than I did on the inside. It worked.” He spoke with a certain amount of solemnity, as if he were sharing a sacred secret.

The next week, I did take a run, per my old friend’s suggestion. And guess what? It changed my life. Well, it wasn’t that one little three-miler that changed my life, but that was the beginning. It was the first time I’d ever gone for a run with such a sense of purpose and need. I ran not just with my legs but with my heart. I ran with my grief and self-condemnation chasing me. And I breathed in a fresh, free, abandoned way that I hadn’t breathed for months.

Learning through running

It’s been 10 years (and many hundreds of miles) since that dark time. Today running is as much a part of my life as the double-short-one-pump-of-sugar-free-cinnamon-dolce-soy-latte I drink every morning, and far more essential to my well-being (not to mention, cheaper). Since that first Zen run, I’ve completed a marathon on every continent and am working toward finishing one in every US State. I’m slow, what people call a back-of-the-packer, but I don’t care.

I learned something in those early days of running that is seared into my being by now: A girl can sleep/drink/eat/cry/self-destruct her way through grief, or she can run her way through it. Let’s face it, grief is always at our heels, really. Even during the easy times, even during the moments of hilarity, grief is a quiet cousin, waiting in the wings for his onstage cameo.

Most of us, myself included, just find grief (and his brothers, anger and guilt) too heavy to live with in full force. During the worst bouts, we’ll do almost anything to get relief. My friend (now my husband), Bill, was right: you can’t entirely get rid of grief, but you can get ahead of it now and again of you keep running.

Healing through exercise

Nowadays, in my private practice as a psychotherapist, when I work with clients trying to keep their lives together during crisis, I include exercise in my self-care checklist. The kind of movement that takes us forward - running, hiking, biking or walking - is a great metaphor for moving away from one life stage and into the next. (Other kinds of movement have their analogies, too. Dancing brings to mind joy; swimming makes one think of being immersed in hope or truth or change.)

Every sort of activity carries with it not just a way to burn calories but a way to think of life, and I feel this makes for a holistic approach to self- care - especially during tough times, when taking care of ourselves is the hardest.

So here’s to moving forward, to staying healthy, to getting healthy or to just plain managing the grief life brings our way. Sometimes that’s where we have to start.

About Cami’s book, Second Wind

Second Wind is the story of an unlikely athlete and an unlikely heroin: Cami Ostman, a woman edging toward midlife who decides to take on a challenge that stretches her way outside of her comfort zone. That challenge presents itself when an old friend suggests she go for a run to distract her from the grief of her recent divorce. Excited by the clarity of mind and breathing space running offers her, she keeps it up - albeit slowly. Soon the old friend, Bill, now a romantic interest, invites her to Prague to run a marathon. Little does either of them know that this race will ignite a quest to run seven marathons on seven continents.

More about Cami Ostman

Cami is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She currently runs between 20 and 40 miles each week as part of her own commitment to fitness and self-discovery. In her quest to run a marathon on every continent, she has been featured in several publications, including the Mudgee Guardian in Australia, The Bellingham Herald and Adventures Northwest in Washington State, La Prensa in Chile, and O Magazine. She completed her seventh continental marathon by running in Antarctica in March 2010. She lives in Bellingham, Washington.

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Cami’s publisher, Seal Press, sent me a copy of her book to facilitate this review.

Running through the hard times: a guest post from Second Wind author, Cami Ostman is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

This week’s $1.99 ebook special from Adams Media is The Everything Juicing Book. What better time to have a refreshing smoothie or juice drink than in the summer?

This book is packed with 150 recipes to make consuming fruits and veggies fast, delicious, and fun, including:

• Asparagus Squash Medley
• Grape Citrus Apple Juice
• Orange Lemonade Lift-Off
• Broccoli Apple Carrot with Parsley and Lemon Juice
• Strawberry Patch Juice

The Everything Juicing Book also explains why so many people have turned to juicing to help ward off everything from colds and migraines to helping them shed excess weight. Whether you want to eat more veggies and fruit or cleanse your body of toxins, juicing may be the answer.

Available for $1.99 from June 15th to June 17th ONLY

This eBook will be on sale for $1.99 starting TODAY June 15th to Friday June 17th for Amazon Kindle, Sony eReader, or from the Apple iTunes eBookstore.

To view and download the full, discounted copy of The Everything Juicing Book, please visit:

Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.to/jSpQ8Y

Sony eBookstore: http://bit.ly/j78z6F

iTunes/Apple (preview): http://bit.ly/kL9aNb

More offers from Adams Media

Next week’s yummy new offer will be for The Everything Mediterranean Diet Book (June 22-24). I’ll post the ebook download links when I get them!

Get The Everything Juicing Book for only $1.99 is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

This month, Adams Media is offering some of their health and wellness eBook titles for only $1.99! This week’s special is the The Everything Easy Cleanse Book. If you’re interested in doing a cleanse this summer, The Everything Easy Cleanse Book will teach you the ins and outs of healthy cleansing including:

• How cleanses actually work
• Different types of cleanses (it's not all lemon juice and pepper!)
• Which cleanse is right for your lifestyle
• Tips to be safe and realistic about cleanses and your results
• Adjusting to eating after your cleanse
• 75 different cleanse recipes
• Tips on easing into a post-cleanse diet

Summer’s a great time to do a cleanse with all the fresh vegetables and fruits on sale. And for $1.99, what do you have to lose, but some weight!

Available for $1.99 from June 8th to June 10th ONLY

This eBook will be on promotion for $1.99 starting TODAY June 8th to Friday June 10th for Amazon Kindle, B&N NOOK, Sony eReader, or from the Google and Apple iTunes eBookstores.

To view and download the full, discounted copy of The Everything Easy Cleanse Book, please visit:

Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.to/kJ8Ntp

Sony eBookstore: http://bit.ly/k6Rx9j

Barnes & Noble NOOK: http://bit.ly/lBq7Nn

iTunes/Apple (preview): http://bit.ly/lkkcdk

More offers from Adams Media

Next week’s yummy new offer will be for The Everything Juicing Book (June 15-17). The week after will be The Everything Mediterranean Diet Book (June 22-24). I’ll post the links when I get them!

Get The Everything Easy Cleanse Book for only $1.99 is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

I recently had the chance to send several interview questions to nationally-recognized expert on gluten-free living, Danna Korn, about gluten intolerance. Danna is author of Living Gluten-Free for Dummies, Gluten-Free Cooking for Dummies, Gluten-Free Kids, and several other books about being gluten free.

She’s been researching celiac disease since her son, Tyler, was diagnosed with the condition in 1991. That same year, she founded R.O.C.K. (Raising Our Celiac Kids), the largest support group in the country for families of children on a gluten-free diet.

Dana is currently partnering with General Mills on its gluten-free initiative, GlutenFreely.com.

My questions for Danna about celiac disease

1. Is celiac disease an allergy to gluten, a sensitivity to it or something different?
2. Are there varying degrees of celiac disease? Are some people more sensitive to gluten – and have more severe symptoms – than others with it?
3. Do people with celiac disease ever get better or “cured”?

Here are her answers:

Celiac vs gluten sensitivity

I’ve been cooking gluten free for my mother-in-law for over 10 years. Celiac disease affects about 3 million Americans and as many as 1 in 20 Americans have some kind of gluten sensitivity.

Last year I was diagnosed with a gluten sensitivity (and many other food sensitivities) after having an ALCAT test. I knew I didn’t have celiac disease since the biopsy that was performed during my endoscopy came back negative.

According to Danna’s book, Living Gluten-Free for Dummies, I can get away with eating gluten from time to time. However, for people with celiac’s, they must avoid gluten for the rest of their life. If they don’t, they risk damage to their small intestine, which can cause poor absorption of nutrients, as well as a host of other health issues from headaches to infertility.

Symptoms of celiac disease are vast, and include headaches, fatigue, weight loss or gain, gastrointestinal distress, joint pain, and even infertility. Many of the symptoms of gluten sensitivity/intolerance and celiac disease are similar, which is part of the reason why so many people are misdiagnosed. 97% of Americans estimated to have celiac disease are not diagnosed.

Most people who have celiac disease don’t know it. Could you be one of them?

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Disclosure: I received a review copy of Living Gluten-Free for Dummies

My video interview with gluten free living expert, Danna Korn is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

I’m beyond thrilled to have Wade Rouse guest post here at This Mama Cooks! On a Diet today. I first became aware of Wade when I attended the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop in 2010. He taught the Three H's: Humor, heartbreak and honesty workshop, which I enjoyed so much that I immediately reserved his first book, America’s Boy, at the library when I got home. Loved it!

So why have Wade guest post on a healthy recipe and lifestyle blog?  Wade used to be overweight. Well, more like a potential candidate for The Biggest Loser. Hard to believe since he’s so slim and fit these days and can wear tight jeans and t-shirts without offending those folks on What Not to Wear.

I’ll let Wade tell all about you about his weight loss journey and how he found happiness. He’s also included an excerpt from America’s Boy, about getting in shape and losing weight. If you’re going from fat to fit and need some weight loss and fitness inspiration, Wade’s your guy.

If you’d like to learn more about Wade, check out his website, WadeRouse.com and his writer’s workshop WadesWriters.com. He also has a new book out, It's All Relative: Two Families, Three Dogs, 34 Holidays, and 50 Boxes of Wine (A Memoir). You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Audrey Hepburn Wrists

By Wade Rouse

I grew up in a family that had tiny wrists.

Petite wrists. Hand model wrists. Audrey Hepburn wrists.

It was something that didn’t strike me until I hit 30. I was 5’7”, 260 pounds, and was home visiting my family. My mother had made her Ozarks specialty: Fried chicken, French fries, mashed potatoes with chicken-fried gravy.

Notice the key word? Fried.

I was inhaling my third piece of fried chicken – a leg, if I remember correctly – when I saw that my parents, who had always been thin, were finished. Their hands were crossed on the table. I looked at that bony chicken leg. And then I looked at my wrist. It was the only tiny thing on my body. And then I studied my parents’ wrists.

We were not a fat family.

Food had always been my comfort. And my mother just wanted to comfort me.

When I was 13, my older brother was killed, just a month after graduating high school. I made the conscious decision to bury my sexuality along with my brother that summer day, because I could not bear to see my parents experience another day of grief.

Food became my baby blanket, my protection, my everything. Since I felt as if my life – my chance at ever being happy – were over, I buried myself in food. Being heavy isolated me from social activity, from girls, from boys, from the world.

I loved Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries, Count Chocula and Frankenberry, iced Pop Tarts, Hostess fruit pies, Snickers, Cherry Mashes, grape, strawberry and orange Nehi soda, root beer floats, frozen pizzas, chips and French onion dip, Funyons, Little Debbies, Jeno’s Pizza Rolls. I would usually eat one from each category every single day.

Not exactly a replica of the FDA food pyramid.

By the time I went to college and joined a fraternity, I added beer and midnight Domino’s to the mix.

I ballooned.

But I didn’t care.

No one would ever know I was gay.

Yet, everyone knew I was miserable.

I remember – after decades of burying my pain in food, after that fried chicken dinner – my mother turning to me, and grabbing me, as I helped her wash the dishes. “You deserve to be happy, Wade! I’m not happy, if you’re not happy. And we haven’t been for a long, long time.”

I wept my entire drive home to St. Louis, but it marked the first time I didn’t stop to buy a bag of Funyons and a Snickers to eat on the way back.

When I got home that night, I stood in front of my bathroom mirror, studying my body.

Who was I? Where is he in here? This is not Wade. Why didn’t I deserve happiness?

I sat down on my couch, ready to eat a bag of Cheetos out of depression, when a Nordictrac infomercial happened to pop on. For some reason, I looked at the lean, fit body on the TV, and thought: Why can’t that be me? I got up and ordered one immediately.

After one week, I lost a pound. And then another.

But, more importantly, something deeper, more weighty than the scale registered: I realized for once that the physical is intimately intertwined to the spiritual and emotional. To be happy, I had to be healthy, inside and out.

So, I confronted my deepest, darkest demon, and I came out. It was the hardest moment of my life. My whole life I had feared that everyone I loved would reject me simply for being who I was. I believed I would be abandoned and left alone. I let fear rule my life. And that is why I ate.

The journey wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. I learned to live rather than die a little more every day. And I learned my fears weren’t totally reality. Eventually, I was embraced. I was loved. I was open, and whole. I was, for once, mentally, emotionally, spiritually happy.

And the physical followed in short time.

The Nordictrac turned to walking, which turned to running, which turned into a gym membership, which turned into healthy eating. When you work hard to be fit, you don’t sabotage it with bad food. You don’t want to sabotage it with bad food. It’s the same way when you are mentally and spiritually healthy: You don’t sabotage yourself with bad decisions.

I became a different person. I found love (a partner now of 15 years). I followed my passion, quitting my job and becoming a fulltime (and bestselling) author. I have never been happier. As my mother would tell me: “I lost one son, and I lost my other for a very long time. What a blessing it has been to see him finally blossom.”

I urge anyone battling their weight to look at their inside, first and foremost, before their outside. There you will find your answer.

As a bestselling author and occasional trainer, I tell everyone that it’s OK to be scared – of life’s challenges and obstacles, of love, of losing, of heartbreak, of the gym – but it’s not OK to be afraid, to let that fear define you.

My motto has become the following: “What would you do if you could not fail?”

Remember that … and then close your eyes, jump off that bridge, and you will fly toward your own happiness.

I can still remember the moment I finished my first marathon, finishing in 3:28:38.

My mom was waiting for me at the finish line with roses, a kiss and tears in her eyes. “You made it!” she told me.

And that, truly, said it all.

“Go-Going with the Go-Gos”

An excerpt from Rouse’s first memoir, America’s Boy

When you’re as fat as I am, it takes people a very long time to notice and then acknowledge that you’ve lost weight. 20 pounds off my total body weight is a lot like asking people to notice that Tammy Faye is trying out a new eyeliner. People also fear that they will jinx you by saying something too early in the weight-loss process, that, at any moment, they might round the corner at work and find you eating a jelly donut, the pressure just too much to take.

I pedal my ass off on my Nordictrac every night after work, listening to the entire front side of the Go-Gos, which lasts exactly 23 minutes. After a few months, I can tell I am peaking, so I decide to put man over machine. I take to the streets, speed walking rather slowly around my neighborhood. My speed and endurance quickly pick up, and I am jogging two miles, then three, then five. I run at the local park and go an hour. I am good at this, I think. The inner peace I find running alone – finally coming to peace with myself – is inspirational. It will culminate in the completion of a marathon, my running, for once, actually having a finite ending point.

For the first time, the pieces in my life feel connected: the mental and physical, the emotional and the spiritual. Everything clicks. I do not want to eat poorly anymore. I find comfort in exercise and not food. I have in sight the most important goal of my life: to get healthy on the outside and the inside.

Most importantly, I have outed myself to myself. I am amazed that it took three decades, but I don’t care anymore. It’s about tomorrow and the next day and the future. For once, it’s not about the past. Each day is a step closer to my own self. This motivates me to work harder. I go to the doctor, I read books on nutrition and exercise, inhaling them like I used to inhale Cherry Mashes.

Once I have come to terms with myself, I feel an inner spirituality spark in me, an inner light shine that I have never felt before. This sounds like hokem, I know, but I finally feel OK about who I am. And this serves as the driving force to get in shape – I have nothing left to hide. I must become comfortable being “naked,” inside and out.

Wade Rouse guest posts about his Audrey Hepburn Wrists is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Today’s guest post is on food and headaches from someone who’s been there and done that - Jennette Fulda. You may know Jennette as the author of Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir or from her blog, Pasta Queen. She has a new book out called, Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn't Go Away that is wonderful. This is a book for anyone who has chronic pain or an ongoing illness, knows someone who does, or just wants a fun and entertaining read about a never ending headache.

Though she did blog about her headache, Chocolate & Vicodin isn’t a rehash of her blog posts like many other bloggers’ books. Instead, you’ll read about Jennette’s struggles to deal with her headache while trying to maintain a somewhat normal life of work, friends, family and cat ownership.

You’ll sympathize with her as she makes her way through the medical insurance and healthcare systems without going bankrupt – or crazy. You’ll laugh at her insights into the sometimes wacky world of alternative medicine. You’ll also learn how well meaning advice from friends, coworkers, relatives – and even blog readers – can be almost as difficult to manage as the pain.

As I read Chocolate & Vicodin last week from bed as I dealt with my chronic back pain, I thought it would make a terrific movie. Heck, if the Pioneer Woman can have Reese Witherspoon playing her based on her book and blog, then Jennette should have someone as just as fabulous. Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey or Sarah Silverman - but without the potty mouth – come to mind.

What you eat can be a headache

Three years ago I got a tension headache that wouldn't go away. It felt like an invisible tiara of nails wrapped around my skull and none of the over-the-counter pain relievers could remove it. After I tried aspirin, one of the first things I tried was altering my diet because headaches and migraines can be triggered by certain foods.

Here are some of the things I removed from my meal plan:

Foods containing tyramine

Tyramine is a naturally occurring substance in some foods caused by the breakdown of proteins, usually as foods age. That includes things like cheese, red wine, processed meats, yogurt, soy sauce, and chocolate. You can read a full list of foods containing tyramine on Wikipedia.

Alcohol

Red wines were already nixed because of tyramine, but alcohol is off the shelf, too because it can cause increased blood flow to the brain and dilate your blood vessels. Alcohol is also a diuretic which causes dehydration which leads to headaches.

Excessive caffeine

In small amounts caffeine can help relieve a headache, which is why it's an ingredient in some painkillers like Excedrin. However, having more than one or two cups of coffee or tea a day can cause a headache. Be aware that you might also get a rebound headache if you remove caffeine from your diet suddenly.

Artificial sweeteners and preservatives

Artificial sweeteners like aspartame or Splenda cause headaches in some people, as do preservatives and additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG). You can view a more complete list of dietary headache triggers on the National Headache Foundation’s website.

Eliminating foods may – or may not - work for you

But remember, no two people are alike. What triggers a headache in one person might be well-tolerated by another, and it's possible that your headache trigger isn't anything included on the list. If you want to see if a specific food is causing your headache, you can go on an elimination diet. Remove all the possible food triggers from your diet and then add them back in one by one. Yeah, it's not fun and it can lead to several days of bland eating, but it's the best way to

find out if a certain food is your culprit. Keep a food diary as well as a headache diary to find any links.

I wasn't able to find any specific food that was causing my headache, but I did end up eating healthier as a result of my trials. I used to drink two cups of coffee a day, but now I start my day without it and don't miss it like I thought I would. I used to be scared to use real sugar in my foods because of the extra calories, but I lost that fear after I started using it in lieu of artificial sweeteners and didn't gain weight. I've also greatly reduce my soda intake, though I still love a Diet Dr. Pepper.

Jennette Fulda is the author of Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn't Go Away and blogger at PastaQueen. Learn more about her at JennetteFulda.com

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Disclosure: Jennette’s publisher sent me a review copy of her book.

Headaches, chocolate and Vicodin is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

You may know Cynthia Sass, MPh, RD, as the nutritionist behind and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Flat Belly Diet. She’s just come out with a new book, Cinch!: Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds, and Lose Inches. After going through her book a few times, I find that it reminds me a little of the Food Lovers Fat Loss System – combine different types of foods in a certain way, eat every three to five hours, and exercise to rev up your metabolism. Both also include a jump start plan to lose weight and reset metabolism right away.

The five piece puzzle

However, Sass’s approach is unique. Her plan is based on putting together a “five piece puzzle” at every meal – produce (fruit and veggies) whole grain, lean protein, plant-based fat, and SASS (“slimming and satiating seasonings” like spices and vinegar). She shows you what the proper portion and ratios of each puzzle piece should be. Best of all there’s no calorie or POINT counting.

Cynthia also explains how to make smart substitutions and what kind of beverages to include and how much. (She’s very pro water, tea and even allows a cup of coffee a day. However, no diet soda!) Cynthia even works a teeny bit of chocolate into her plan once a day.

The Cinch! plan includes 30 days' worth of quick-fix, satisfying meals and teaches you a simple strategy for creating your own meals, so you know exactly what, how much, and when to eat, whether you're at home, work, eating out or traveling. It also seems flexible enough for vegans or vegetarians or if you have food sensitivities.

I’m considering doing her 5-Day, 5-Food Fast Forward plan. Cinch! that promises that you’ll lose up to seven pounds. While I’m not so sure about that, I find it very appealing to go on a detox diet of raspberries, almonds, organic eggs and yogurt for a few days. (Due to my food sensitivities, I’ll be using coconut yogurt. Otherwise, it’s totally how I love to eat – salads, omelets, and smoothies! I’ve done a detox before and her five day plan seems like it won’t leave you lightheaded or weak. Instead, it looks like it will super charge you to adopt her way of eating – clean and healthy.

Eating better and backing it up

What I especially liked about Cinch! was Cynthia’s emphasis on clean, natural, and organic foods and that she backs up much of her recommendations with scientific findings. For example, she recommends using coconut milk and oil since they contain medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), which is metabolized differently than fats from other oils. According to the book, an eight-week study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that medium-chain fatty acids reduced body weight, body fat, and waist circumference in women with high blood triglycerides. Since I had an advance copy with no index, I wasn’t able to tell if she referenced the actual study or not in an index, which I would have liked to see.

Information overload – too much, too fast.

Cinch! is packed with information. First there’s the overview, then the 5-Day, 5-Food Fast Forward, then an explanation of SASS and the Cinch! Core. She fills in the basic plan with information on the “Chocolate Escape” and the five piece puzzle. Then she tackles emotional eating and walking as well as maintenance and a Q&A section – plus all the call out sections on different types of foods and testimonials. It’s too much!

If I were you, concentrate on the eating plan starting with the jump start, if it’s a good fit for you. Then when you feel confident in how you’re adapting to the new way of eating, read the chapters on emotional eating and walking and incorporate those into your daily lifestyle when you feel ready. There are so many changes going on in the way you eat, shop and prepare food that it’s easy to get frustrated if you pile on too many changes at once. Take it slow, learn a few skills, get into the routine of planning ahead and healthy cooking. Then go on an incorporate a few more Cinch! recommendations while you reading – and rereading. All these changes take time and it’s best to take baby steps, in my experience.

Conclusion

I’ll be going back to Cynthia Sass’s book, Cinch!: Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds, and Lose Inches, time and time again for recipes and inspiration. I’m sure you’ll feel the same way, so check it out!

For more information, go to cinchyourself.com and the Cinch Facebook page. You can also find Cynthia on Twitter and Facebook and at her blog at Shape magazine.

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Disclosure: I was provided with an uncorrected proof of the book by the One2One Network in order to facilitate this review.

Cinch! Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds, and Lose Inches is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

If you’re like me, you’ve read a lot of books on weight loss. In fact, you probably have a few gathering dust on your bookshelf right now. Well, before you think, “Oh no, I’m not going to read about another diet and exercise weight loss plan,” let me introduce you to Marty McGee Bennett and her weight loss book, The Problem with Weight is NOT Losing It.

What’s unique about her approach is that she uses lessons she’s learned from working with animals and applies that to weight loss and maintenance. Her secret is what she calls the Balance Differential.

Marty believes it’s about making small, consistent changes in your diet and exercise routine so you’re at your desired, healthy weight. She also shows you how to maintain that weight as you get older, which is important for us who are starting to experience that middle age spread. The Problem with Weight is NOT Losing It is full of testimonials from “The Balance Bunch,” and features numerous pictures of Marty working with llamas, alpacas, dogs and even a cheetah.

The book's a delight to read, so check it out.

What an animal behaviorist can teach us about balancing our weight

I’ve battled with my weight since age 15. I’ve lost 30 to 40 pounds at least eight times, and five to 10 pounds too many times to remember. But I kept gaining the weight back, each time feeling more frustrated and defeated.

In 2007 - at age 50 - I realized that the answer was right in front of me. I’m a professional animal handler and trainer, specializing in llamas and alpacas. I teach people how to work successfully and without force by using small, almost imperceptible signals to keep animals in balance.

But, while I was helping animals stay in balance, I wasn't paying attention to my own balance. In fact, I was doing JUST the opposite. In the quest to lose weight, I tried every diet I met, and extreme exercise regimes.

In essence, I was purposely putting myself OUT OF BALANCE. Rigorous dieting is the animal handling equivalent of a corrective jerk on the dog collar. Our bodies may respond temporarily but we haven't actually learned how to be in balance. The momentum created by self-denial causes us to CAREEN back the other way and overeat.

Armed with my new revelation, I decided to try a different approach on my own animal - MY body! Inspired by the way I teach people to work with animals, I began making small changes in what I ate, and in my activity level. I also used a simple math equation, which I call the Balance Differential.

The Balance Differential

The Balance Differential equation takes into account your age, height, weight and activity level. After calculating it for your current weight, you make the same calculation again using the weight you'd like to be. The difference between the two is your Balance Differential number.

When I did this for myself, I was shocked to discover that my Balance Differential number was just 103 calories. So, how did I end up 20-30 pounds overweight, over and over again? I was slipping ever so slightly out of balance. One extra cookie, three extra crackers or two extra spoonfuls of dinner a day had been my undoing. That extra 100 calories a day meant at the end of just one year, I would be between 8 and 11 pounds heavier!

Rebalancing as you grow older

Even if you've never had a weight problem, it's important to rebalance as you age. On average, we need nine calories less per day for every year we age. Eat and exercise the same way for the 10 years between ages 30 and 40, and you will weigh an additional 10 pounds when you blow out the candles on

your 40th birthday cake.

As we deal with holiday eating, busy lives, and as we get older, it's easy to get off track. Learning to be in balance is a skill; getting good at it takes practice and intention. Once you learn the skill of weight maintenance, it’s easy to enjoy life and stay in balance.

Win a copy of The Problem with Weight is NOT Losing It

Marty’s giving away TWO of her books! Here’s how to enter:

1. Share your biggest weight loss challenge. Whatever it is, let us know below in the comment section along with your name, email address, and blog URL (if you have one) in the comments below for ONE entry.
2. If you have a blog, feel free to post about this contest on it for ONE entry.
3. Sign up for This Mama Cooks! Review’s RSS feed for ONE entry.
4. Sign up for my enewsletter for ONE entry.
5. Spread the word about this giveaway by submitting a link to this post on Twitter for ONE entry. You must leave your Twitter username in your comment so I can check.
6. If you have done any of these activities you MUST come back here and leave a comment telling me what you did. I will be checking!
7. Maximum amount of entries at This Mama Cooks! is FIVE – leaving a comment here (1), posting about it on your blog (1), signing up for my enewsletter (1), signing up for my RSS feed (1), and using Twitter (1).
8. You have until midnight MT on Monday, November 22, 2010 to enter.
9. TWO winners will be chosen at random.
10. You must be willing to send me your full name and mailing address so I can forward it to Marty’s publicist so she can mail out your book.
11. I will also announce the winner on this blog. I will not share your mailing info with the public, just your name (first name and last initial). If you have a blog, I will link back to it when I announce the winners.

The book is valued at $24.95. This giveaway is only open to legal residents of the United States 18 years of age and older. No purchase required. Up to FIVE entries per person. Two books will be given away – one each to two people. Void where prohibited by law. By submitting your name and email address, you agree to receive relevant promotional emails and contest follow up communications from This Mama Cooks! On a Diet in compliance with my privacy policy and giveaway rules. This giveaway is sponsored by the author.

Giveaway is over. Congrats to our winners Gianna and Rachel at Texas Kitchen.

About Marty McGee Bennett

For over 25 years, Marty McGee Bennett has taught people about animals and animal handling, with a specialty in training and handling llamas and alpacas. She’s appeared on the Oxygen Network (“What's My Line”) and the Today Show.

In 2007, after years of being frustrated with her own weight issues, she started applying her techniques for nurturing balance in animals to help her balance and sustain her own ideal weight. In her book, The Problem with Weight is NOT Losing It, she and her colleagues, The Balance Bunch, share their experiences, including practical tips on how to use a simple equation and make small changes for ongoing weight maintenance. Published by Raccoon Press, The Problem with Weight is NOT Losing It is available online at theproblemwithweightisnotlosingit.com.

A resident of Bend, Oregon, McGee Bennett lives on a 10-acre farm with her husband, Brad, two dogs, two cats, five llamas, 11 alpacas, and super composting red wigglers, number unknown. She has a degree in animal behavior from the University of Georgia. Her animal training experience includes working with dogs, cats, horses, llamas, alpacas and camels. She’s also one of 12 instructors worldwide of Linda Tellington-Jones' T-Touch method.

Check out the The Problem with Weight is NOT Losing It blog and read more about Marty’s book.

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Disclosure: This post was sponsored by the author.

The Problem with Weight is NOT Losing It – book giveaway! is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Mary Lynn Archibald is a freelance editor and copywriter, and the author of two books: Briarhopper: A History, a memoir of one woman’s life from 1913-1945, and Accidental Cowgirl: Six Cows, No Horse and No Clue, a lighthearted personal memoir of a greenhorn’s life on a small cattle ranch. Her forthcoming memoir, due out in early 2011, deals in part with her life as a San Francisco chorus girl. You can find Mary Lynn at Wine Country Writer, at The Red Room and at Aaccidental Cowgirl.

As part of her WOW: Women on Writing blog tour, I’ve asked her to write about her life growing up on a ranch and growing your own food.

Food

I've been thinking a lot about the process of growing food, and of course, cooking it.

At the ranch where we spent 12 years growing our own organic vegetables and herbs, we had some magnificent meals, events that we spoke of often with awe, joy and appetites that wouldn't quit. I guess what they say about fresh air is true; one's appetite improves outdoors, not to mention the fact that we were doing so much physical labor that we were really hungry by the time we got around to eating.

Unfortunately, a lot of that physical labor involved the garden, the orchard, and the preparation of excess produce for canning, drying or freezing.

Most of our experiments in these areas went well, except for the time I had a huge zucchini crop (is there any other kind?) that went bad along with many freezer bags of Italian green beans, crookneck squash, homemade pesto (from our own Italian basil of course), and a small amount of organic beef we'd also grown ourselves.

What happened? You guessed it. We experienced a power outage at the ranch during one of our weeklong absences, and the frozen food, as they say, was history.

Guess who got to clean out the freezer.

Still, I loved planting seeds, waiting eagerly for the seedlings to come up, then carefully watching for the first tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, and other yummy crops.

One year we decided to grow Blue Hubbard squash, since we had lots of room for them to spread out in our nearly half-acre garden—which had apparently been designed to feed most of the 250 inhabitants of our mountain.

We chortled happily as we hauled the nearly 15-pound squashes from the garden up to the house, where we carefully placed them on the rug in one of the spare bedrooms. I think we harvested nearly eight gigantic squashes from two plants.

All was well until we discovered on lifting the last two squashes, late that winter, that they had rotted on their bottoms, and then stuck themselves firmly to the carpet.

I never liked that carpet anyway.

We generally cooked only for ourselves—plus the few friends and relatives willing to brave the long drive and the one-lane mountain roads to visit us. There were no restaurants on our mountain, so we had no choice but to cook.

Of course a lot of the local folks tended to drop in unannounced, as many of them did not own telephones, but most of them were so busy taking care of their own gardens, livestock and families that they didn't tend to have a lot of time to spend drinking coffee with me, nor did I with them.

The trick was, however, to always have some muffins or coffee cake in reserve, just in case. In the country, this means making it yourself. I tried to always make two of any of my standard goodies, and keep one in the freezer for occasional visitors.

My husband and I enjoyed finding ways to use our seasonal produce, attempting to make gourmet meals for each other, often without the appropriate ingredients. It wasn't a matter of going next door to borrow a cup of sugar or running down to the store for rice or fresh ginger or coconut milk.

The result, which I still consider a big but often dubious plus, was that we managed to learn how to be very creative with food.

© 2010 Mary Lynn Archibald

More about Accidental Cowgirl

Accidental Cowgirl: Six Cows, No Horse and No Clue was declared a finalist for three awards: the Next Generation Indie Book Award for Humor, the Next Generation Indie Book Award for Memoir, and the National Best Book Award (NBBA) for Humor.

Read an interview with Mary Lynn Archibald at WOW’s The Muffin.

Food, a guest post from author Mary Lynn Archibald is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!