DIET COLUMN

It’s been one week since I started The Biggest Loser Diet. I’m a bit hungry, but 3.5 lbs lighter. As hungry as I was at times, I was hoping for a little more loss, but I’m satisfied!

Looking back over the week, it wasn’t hard to stick to the plan. As with any meals on a specific plan, there are winners and losers, but I was overall pleased with the food and adding a little sea salt or coarse pepper helped pep up several of the meals. The hardest part for me was making sure I stayed with safe and nutritious snacks. It would be great if The Biggest Loser plan sent along additional information on the best snacks that would work with meals supplied.

During the week, I stayed strictly on the diet, just adding one or two pieces of fruit, a green salad (with a tsp of light dressing) and eating a few almonds if I was really hungry. When we were off the the plan on the weekend I basically stayed low-cal when we went out to eat. Gotta love Applebee’s Weight Watchers menu! I had the Steak & Portobellos, then splurged with Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake for dessert — total calorie count was 550.

Breakfasts
As a rule, the breakfasts were not my favorite meal of the plans. I don’t care for the Honey Oat Waffles or the “cinammon roll”. I did like the Quaker Oats oatmeal that was enhanced with a special sweetener and blueberries (supplied by TBL).

Lunches
Lunch meals were usually the same size and close in calorie counts to the dinners, the exception was the Vegetable Soup that logged in at 140 calories, but it was also my favorite food of the week.

Dinners
As shown in a previous blog post, the dinners and lunch foods all came in separate bags for the veggies and meats, that were combined after being cooked. This helped keep flavors separate and vegetables crisp and colorful. The dinners ranged from okay to pretty good, with the tasteless grilled turkey breast and squash puree at the bottom of my list. I felt generous giving it a four!

Cooking
I didn’t see much difference between boiling the bags of food or microwaving, although one time a boiled bag apparently had not been sealed properly and it made quite a mess. When cooking two meals, I’ll probably continue with boiling in a big pot, but when I’m making a single lunch meal — I’ll stick to the microwave.

Exercise
Along with dieting, I also did a few more sessions of exercise (power walking) than I normally do. Probably not as much as I should do, but that will increase this week if we don’t have too much severe weather.

Customer Service Problems Continue
My customer service problems apparently were not resolved. After being promised delivery WOULD NOT occur on the weekend, you guessed it. Boxes of food did not arrive until Saturday and although the foods were still frozen solid, the dry ice had all evaporated. If I quit using The Biggest Loser and switch to another meal plan, it will because the delivery day problem cannot be resolved.

I also had a friend who called about starting the plan, got cut off while actually setting up her order and had problems getting re-connected, so she decided to wait a few weeks before trying again. Certainly not a good thing.

Today it’s onto Week 2! I’ll keep you in the loop as to how it’s going.

Tulum, Mexico….I’ve never been but I’ve ran across hundreds of brochures and announcements for spa-like retreat vacations. From yoga on the beach to six-days of detoxing amid white sandy beaches and crystal blue water, what could be more divine? Maybe losing some weight as you bask in the sun and snorkel?

We’ve all heard of Bikini Bootcamp, the diet right? What about an actual Bikini Bootcamp getaway where for one week you get in shape, eat great and get a tan. Not bad, huh? I love the idea, especially since the 2008 bikini season is just weeks from kicking into full gear. Flamenco workouts, silent morning walks on the beach, scenic hikes, meditations and of course low-fat, low-cal yummy meals are just some of the daily activities that you keep you busy as you get trim.

You gotta admit, living in such a glorious setting, even if just for one week, serves as such a massive impetus to lose weight and get in shape. It’s tough to muster up the motivation to knock off some pounds when you’re wrapped in wooly sweaters and turtlenecks and your only exposure to the outdoors is when you get in and out of the car to go to work, the gym or the grocery store.

I don’t know about you, but I have waited so long for a cookbook like this. In Lisa Lillien’s “Hungry Girl’s Cookbook“, she takes decadent eats like brownies, pasta-dishes, and sandwiches and shows you how to very simply make them low-fat and very low in calories. Her tricks are numerous: using pureed pumpkin in baked goods in lieu of oil and eggs, adding shirataki noodles (low-cal and low-carb tofu noodles) to make soups, pasta dishes and more, and using light vanilla soy milk in place of cream or milk.

The names of her dishes are just as colorful as the recipes: “rockin & choppin taco salad,” “fancy schmancy oatmeal,” “my big fat greek pita,” and “lord of the onion rings.” Whatever your craving is, the Hungry Girl has got it covered for you.

Also in the book are fun tips on how to snack and eat on the road, in the office, or at the movies without jeopardizing your jean size. The great thing about this book is that Lisa’s recipes are healthy, full of fiber and they are not meager! With a reliance on veggies, lean protein and sneaky replacements, you don’t have to worry that this cookbook will serve you up mouse-sized portions that lead you to raid the fridge when dinner is over.

For $17.95, you can’t beat this book! It’s creative, delicious and so much fun!

It seems like I’ve written a lot of posts before we’ve eaten a single meal, finally we started the plan on Monday morning! It looks like a week heavy on chicken — six out of ten meals.

It’s only two full days on the program, but so far so good. The food doesn’t taste like homemade, but it’s still tasty. I’m a little hungry, but not starving. And for me the best part is not thinking about the food.

When I’ve been on diets that I’ve had to prepare and shop for the foods, I found I “thought” about it all day long. Then by the time I shopped and cooked it, I would think about it even more and get hungry. My portion sizes would vary and soon the “deck of cards” size meat portion would be the size of “two decks of cards”. With this meal plan I love that everything is prepared, in portion-control sizes and all I have to do is make a salad, heat and eat!

The company suggests heating the food pouches in boiling water, but a microwave can also be used. I didn’t see much difference in the taste of the food, but it’s easier to boil the pouches. Since I’m doing two meals at once, I haven’t quite figured out how much longer they need to be cooked. That will come with time.

The main meals of lunch and dinner have consisted of three pouches that are heated and then combined together.

^{Lunch pouches before cooking}

Tip: Be sure to drain the juices out of the veggie pouches and some of the juices out of the meat, otherwise it can turn into a soggy mess.

MONDAY
Breakfast:
Breakfast was called a Chocolate Doughnut, not really how I would describe it, more like a chocolate pastry. Actually I’m not used to eating something this sweet for breakfast, so that took some getting used to and the portion was a bit small (especially compared to other meals). I think it could almost satisfy my chocolate cravings!

• Calorie Count: 90
• My personal score would be a 6 out of 10.

Lunch:

My first lunch was Chicken in a Thai curry sauce over white rice w/vegetables. I thought this was pretty good. It was both filling and tasty, can’t get much better than that.

• Calorie Count: 430
• Personal score 7 out of 10.

^{Chicken in Thai Curry Sauce}

Dinner:

Dinner was a Chicken breast in Marsala sauce over low carb pasta. Since pasta is one of my downfalls, I was very happy to have it for the first day’s dinner. After having two fairly tasty meals, this was the first disappointment. The meal was filling, but the chicken was a little dry and tough.

• Calorie count: 420
• Personal score 5 out of 10

^{Chicken in Marsala Sauce}

Snacks:
One thing that would be a nice to have is a list of snacks or extras that would be a good addition to the day’s plan. On Monday I also ate an apple, 1/2 tangerine, a green salad with diet dressing and a small handful of almonds. The meals were certainly less than I would normally eat, but were satisfying. I was a little hungry, but it was manageable.

TUESDAY

Breakfast:
A Blueberry Protein Waffle didn’t look very appetizing when it came out of the package, but the addition of the sugar-free syrup helped make it yummy.

• Calorie Count: 185
• Personal score 7 out of 10

Lunch:
Chicken in a Bourbon Sauce with mixed vegetables and broccoli was another filling lunch that was tasty. Although this is the third chicken meal in a row, two of them were pretty good with nice sized chunks of tender meat that were identifiable (as opposed to some of the frozen meals tried in the past).

• Calorie Count: 265
• Personal Score: 7 out of 10

Dinner:
Finally no chicken! This meal was a Beef Pot Roast with asparagus and mixed corn. If there is one thing I can do, it’s make a mean pot roast and this didn’t compare to homemade. But it was still good and filling. The veggies were both colorful and tasty.

• Calorie Count: 530
• Personal Score: 8 out of 10

Tuesday’s snacks consisted of another apple, green salad with diet dressing, a few bite-size tomatoes and a handful of almonds.

Looking Forward

Now it’s onto the hump day of the week, I’ll not be able to eat the prepared lunch on Wednesday, but will still try and keep the calorie and nutritional counts about the same. Also, I won’t bore everyone with posting our daily menu, but wanted everyone to get an idea of what the foods are like. I’ll check back in over the weekend with a report on how the entire week went.

Need more? Follow along with all of Barb’s posts, read the Biggest Loser Meal Plan review or order now from Bistro MD.

Ever dream about having a little person over your shoulder to remind you when you need to take your vitamins, eat your veggies, or get to the gym? Well Wellsphere, the online destination site for healthy living, created a new device called the Wellphone which sends wellness tips, reminders, and logs your diet or exercise progress to your phone. You can pre-program your Wellphone so that every three hours it alerts you to get up from your office chair and take a mini-walk around the building.

To check out how to get this free service, you have to sign up to become a member of Wellsphere. If you’re someone who loves playing with their phone and needs motivation to nudge you to make better food choices or to encourage you to exercise, the Wellphone might be just the friend you need.

A new product is about to hit the market in the next couple of months but will only be available through network marketing and will not be found in any of your larger chain retail stores. As a holistic health counselor, I always have my eye out for products that are hitting the market that will benefit my health and the health of my family, friends and clients I work with. As we all know from all the advertising around us (does anyone remember there being at least 3 Superbowl ads for health drinks this past February?), companies are jumping on the bandwagon to break into the market place, even Coca-Cola is advertising coke with vitamins.

As luck would have it a product crossed my path that is changing peoples’ lives and as soon as I heard all the amazing benefits and testimonials from people, I knew this was not just another marketing scheme. It is a health drink called Zrii™, which is a new nutritional drink supplement whose main ingredient – the Amalaki fruit - is regarded as one of the world’s most powerful rejuvenating foods and which has been revered above other foods in traditional ayurvedic medicine. Ayurveda, which means “science of life”, is a 5,000 year old medical system from India, which aims to create balance in all areas of health. It is commonly referred to as the Mother of all Healing Systems.

The Amalaki super food is a fruit no bigger than the size of a golf ball that is found at the base of the Himalayan mountain range in India. Ayurveda describes the fruit as the most important botanical for promoting cellular rejuvenation, enhancing immune function, and increasing vitality. In addition there are six complementary botanicals, all of which when paired together provide more amazing benefits than each ingredient individually. They are as follows:
Ginger: Improves digestion, absorption and assimilation
Turmeric: Improves circulation and digestion; noted anti-inflammatory effects
Tulsi: Improves digestion and intestinal health
Jujube: Calms the nerves
Schizandra: Enhances mental function and memory
Haritaki: Helps nourish tissues

The Chopra Center for Wellbeing wholeheartedly endorses Zrii, The Original Amalaki. For those of you who are not familiar with Deepak Chopra and the Chopra center, Deepak is acknowledged as one of the world’s leaders in the field of medicine, body and mind. He served as the chief of staff at Boston Regional Medical Center and began to incorporate western medicine. In 1996, he founded the Chopra Center for Wellbeing with David Simon, MD, bridging the miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east. The Chopra center promotes the use of Amalaki to support better health.

To learn more about Zrii and to learn more about how you can be not only incorporating Zrii into your everyday life but sharing it with others as well please visit eatlivelaugh.myzrii.com. The testimonials on Zrii are outstanding and I am so happy to be able to share this wonderful product with you.

Don’t miss the DietsInReview.com Zrii Review.

Everyone wants something for free. How about having the opportunity to decide what you’ll get for free? DietsInReview.com wants to know which of the following items you’d like to receive, should you win one of our contests or drawings. Take the poll to make your opinion count.

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Michelle Dochat of Lititz, PA is the winner of the autographed Berndana from Biggest Loser’s Bernie Salazar. Congratulations! She signed up for the DietsInReview.com newsletter, which is packed with the best recipes, blog posts and diet reviews, and was then entered to win. Michele is a true Biggest Loser fan and was kind enough to share her amazing story with all of you. Thank you, Michele, and best of luck on your weight loss journey!

It’s kind of funny how this got started for me. My husband was honestly pretty disgusted with the fact that I had a gym membership I didn’t really use. He’s very thin and fit (although he doesn’t work out), and even though my size has NEVER been an issue for him, he wanted me to be healthier. I had diabetes, and high blood pressure along with all the aches and pains you can imagine a 41 year old obese woman would have. My weight topped the scales at 310lbs last July. It’s funny, everyone always says they can’t believe I was that heavy, but it’s true.

My husband finally asked me one day what it was going to take to get me to commit to going to the gym. I told him I didn’t know and told him to drop it.

He threatened to cancel my membership if I didn’t start going. A couple of days later on the way to work I heard about the contest on the radio.

In September 07 a local radio station (WLAN - FM97) announced that they would be doing their own version of Biggest Loser with a local gym and they were looking for contestants. One of their weekend dj’s was Nicole from BL4, and she would be calling in each week for updates and they would be doing it through a gym I already belonged to. I was like a bad catholic, I was a member, but didn’t really go.

They asked for email entries, and photos. I sent an email to them along with two pictures of myself from my wedding in December 04. I didn’t think they would pick me and I sort of forgot about it. I told one co-worker about it and she wished me luck in getting picked and that was that.

About a week later I received an email from the station that I was one of the 4 contestants that would be competing! The prize was going to be a free year at the gym! I was scared and excited, and realizing that this meant I would actually have to go to the gym now, no backing out.

Well, I told my co-worker first and told her how scary it was but she encouraged me BIG-TIME! It took a couple of days to tell my husband and when I did he was skeptical, and didn’t think I would stick to it. I was determined to prove him wrong!

I went to the gym, got all set up with a fitness plan, and started a 14 day detox diet that was rough! I went to the gym 4 times a week and got through that detox and started to like working out ( A HUGE shock to me). The pounds started to drop and all of the contestants got to know each other and become friends, as well as the two dj’s from the morning show at the station. We all weighed in once a week and loss amounts were announced weekly on the station. It gave everyone a lot of accountability and was fun.

In December we all gathered for a holiday party at the gym and to find out who had won. I didn’t win, and my weight loss total at that point was 25 lbs and 22 1/2 inches. My starting weight at the gym had been 289 (I’d been losing a bit before starting the contest but wasn’t really aware of it).

The wonderful part was that the gym (Tim’s Fitness in Lititz, PA) was generous and gave ALL of us a year long membership, as well as out heart rate monitors to keep! What a wonderful gift. As of my latest weight in last week my weight is at 260. That makes me 50 lbs lighter than I was last summer! I still go at least 4 times per week and watch every bite (almost) that goes into my mouth!

Last Spring, I felt a powerful need to go on a cleanse even though I’m a pretty healthy eater by American standards: Vegetarian, no alcohol, ample amounts of fruits and veggies and I do yoga everyday. I do confess to a slight sugar addiction. I followed a cleanse from a book on Ayurvedic health, the ancient Indian form of health and healing. I realized for my own body type, that a super stringent cleanse like the Master Cleanse would not work for me.

So the first day, I ate fruit for breakfast, a salad of raw vegetables for lunch and some steamed vegetables cooked with some spices like turmeric and coriander for dinner. During the day, I snacked on oranges. The next day, I opted for a total juice fast. Carrot juice was a main staple as were herbal teas. I also diluted organic fruit juice and sipped it throughout the day. I continued this for one additional day. At the end of my three days, I felt that I could go longer, but I chose to stop. I felt superbly clean on the inside and also had a new found trust and faith in my discipline.

You’ve heard of the runner’s high? I think there should be an analogous faster’s high. You just feel bright and very mentally strong. You don’t realize how much of your day and your expectations rotate around meal and snack times. It’s a scary thing to let go of that for the first day, but I kept telling myself that oatmeal and chocolate weren’t going anywhere. They would be there when I broke fast. Relinquishing that dependence on food can be a rush. Even if just temporary.

Even though there is no scientific evidence supporting its usage, it’s a personal decision that I was happy I made. Even though I resumed my morning coffee and other staples, the cleanse had a surprise effect on me. I exhumed my kitchen and office desk drawer of anything processed and artificial and tossed it out. I didn’t want it. Maybe it’s the box of Girl Scout cookies that I’m slowly, but gratifyingly, noshing my way through or maybe it’s the dawn of Spring, but I am subtly feeling my inner self tell me that it’s time once again for another cleanse. I haven’t decided what kind of a cleanse I’ll do. It will probably resemble this one, but maybe I’ll add an extra day or two to it. I don’t know. But I’ll keep you posted.

Whether you’ve done it or just heard about it, doing a cleanse is a hot and popular undertaking these days. Even though cleanses have been around for hundreds of years, a few like The Master Cleanse have enjoyed some time in the spotlight recently. The purpose of a cleanse varies. Some do it to clean out their system of toxins, others do it to lose weight and still others undergo this feat of discipline to improve their energy and sense of well being.

The kind of cleanse varies also. From all-juice fasts to eating just vegetables, most cleanses rely on just a few staple foods to get you through a predetermined amount of time. Typically, cleanses occur at the change of seasons like the shift that we are experiencing now of ushering in spring as we say farewell to winter.

Most Western medical professionals find cleanses unnecessary since they believe the human body has an innate system to rid itself of unwanted sludge. However, many health professionals, usually those with an alternative health focus, promote cleansing as a necessary part of maintaining and improving health. If you’re thinking about doing a cleanse, it’s safe to consult with a health practitioner who helps guide people through a cleanse. He or she can help you choose a cleanse that fits your energy needs and your ultimate goal.

I’ve done one cleanse in my life. It lasted for three days. The first day I ate nothing but fruit and vegetables and the remaining two days, I drank nothing but fruit or vegetable juices. At the end, I felt pretty darn good. So much so that I swore off of sugar and anything remotely processed for about a month afterwards. Not bad for a first time cleanser. I’m thinking about doing it again in the coming weeks to herald in spring. If you have a cleansing experience you would like to share, I’d love to hear from you.