Katie Brown talks to me about throwing great parties, comfort food, portion control, and more
Mar 31, 2010 Weight Loss
I got to interview Katie Brown last week about some new recipes for spring. I’ve been trying to lose weight, and having some success, and I have to say I just haven’t been trying that hard. I try to stick to about 1,500 calories a day and exercise two or three times a week, but I’ve been going easy on myself. If I cheat, I enjoy it and try to get right back on the wagon. As of last week I had lost almost ten pounds in eleven weeks, and I’m not tired of doing this at all. Of course, I am going to have to step up the exercise in order to not die during a charity run on Mother’s Day, but the eating I seem to have under control…more-or-less…most of the time…and that seems to be working for me.
One of the big keys to my success has been eating what I like. If I’m eating something light, or diet, or reduced fat, it’s because I really like the way it tastes. I love 2% cheddar, part-skim mozzarella, and reduced-fat cream cheese. I don’t miss the calories and fat at all (except in string cheese; I don’t know why but those have to be full fat). But fat-free cheese? You won’t catch me eating it. Anything that doesn’t melt should not be called cheese. I also don’t enjoy munching on carrots and celery unless they’re being dipped in something. I actually love all of the baked snacks – Doritos, Ruffles, Lay’s, etc. – and don’t consider eating them a sacrifice at all.
I start just about every day with either Morningstar bacon or sausage (both vegetarian, in case you think I’ve lost my non-meat-eating mind) – a great, low-calorie start before exercising when I really don’t want to eat an entire breakfast and then work out. For me it’s been all about finding foods that I love, that happen to also be a bit lower in calories, so that I can have enough left at the end of the day for a big plate of pasta, or some Kit Kats. It works for me.
Any good recipes I can find that aren’t calorie bombs are a treat. Katie Brown has been working with Splenda on some healthier recipes. I’ve been a fan of Katie’s for a long time, since seeing her on Oprah years ago talking about how to throw a great party. In this interview with me she gives some great advice about eating fresh for spring, treating yourself without overdoing it, and yes, throwing a great party.
I’m also hypoglycemic, so whenever I can successfully use a sugar-substitute, that’s a win. I’ve been using Splenda for years, sprinkling it on strawberries or cereal, but I’ve never baked with it – I have to admit I was a little scared. I haven’t tried any of these Splenda recipes, but if I do I will report back. And I’d love to hear if you try them! There are tons more on their site, these are just a few that I’d like to try.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake Cups
Island-Lover’s Coconut Cream Pie
Strawberries and Cream Cake Roll
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and the NYC Moms Blog.
Tags: Katie Brown, Splenda
Is BMI meaningless, especially for kids?
Mar 4, 2010 Kids, Weight Loss
I was quoted this morning in a piece on ABCNews.com about tracking kids’ health through the use of BMI. An adult’s BMI is calculated using height and weight, and that number puts you in the underweight, normal, overweight, or obese category. It doesn’t take into account muscle mass, cholesterol, blood pressure, sugar levels, activity levels, waist size, or any other indicator of health and fitness.
And when you start talking about BMI for kids, it gets more complicated, because a BMI that’s considered OK for a ten-year-old is obese for a seven-year-old. I don’t think using BMI to track kids’ health is a good idea at all. (However, unlike most of the commenters on the ABC piece, I don’t think trying to improve kids’ health is a commie-liberal-big brother idea either – those commenters get paranoid and nutty pretty fast.) [Please note: the comments link has been working on and off all day; the link is correct, it's a problem with ABCNews.com.] Whether a kid is healthy or not is complicated. My son was in the top 5% on the BMI charts for a seven-year-old when he was seven, which is what triggered the note home. The problem is that the kids’ charts compare kids by age. My son was towering over the other kids in his class, so the comparison was completely out of whack. The charts allow for the fact the older kids are supposed to have a higher BMI, but not for kids who are very tall for their age.
It’s just one of those things where a number or a label without information is useless. I knew the assessment was ridiculous, but had to actually look up the info and explain the BMI-by-age concept to The Ass to talk him down after he saw the letter. He’s not a stupid guy. He’s actually quite smart, smarter than me in many ways. But the government told him his son was obese and he took them at their word. That’s a problem on many levels.
What’s the answer? I have no clue. I’m lucky that I have one kid who chooses to eat like a health nut and another who is active enough that he burns off the huge amount of carbs that he consumes. If one of them had a health problem I would expect my doctor to talk to me about it. He’s got all of my kids’ information right there in front of him, and even more important, he’s got my kids right in front of him. Does he need the government’s guidance talking to me about my kids’ weights? I don’t think so, but if they’re going to tell him anything, I’d rather it be something useful, like whether or not my kids can run and play with their classmates and how they do on fitness tests. What their blood tests should look like. And yes, whether their measurements are in a safe range, based on many factors. Using one number to target kids will include kids who don’t need the intervention and exclude kids who actually need the help.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Win a Your Shape to get yours in shape!
Feb 24, 2010 Product Giveaway, Weight Loss
UPDATE: Congratulations to the winner of the Your Shape game, Christine W.!
The Challenges
So I completely killed the week five challenge for the Your Shape challenge that I’m participating in. The ten participants get weekly challenges, like drink more water (which I did OK at, not great) or walk 10,000 steps a day (which was easy when I was at home, not so much when I was sitting my ass in sessions at the Blissdom conference). But week five I was awesome on. OK, I really didn’t do anything special at all, it’s just that the challenge was to get outside every day, getting some kind of exercise, even if it was only for ten minutes. And it was the week that I was at Disney World. I walked miles and miles around the parks every day. If that challenge had happened last week, though, I would have totally lost. My family was out of town and I didn’t leave my house for four solid days. I would make an awesome hermit. That is, as long as I had access to the internet and could have things delivered to me.
Anyway, the week six challenge was to be innovative with healthy snacking. Each participant was given a Wal-Mart gift certificate to buy food to make the snacks. Only problem was, there’s no Wal-Mart anywhere near me, and they don’t sell food online. So, instead, I tried to stick to the spirit of the challenge, and I bought a few things that would help me to eat at home more. When I go out to eat, I tend to go a little crazy. It’s not that the food I’m eating is necessarily all that terrible, it’s just that I have no way of knowing the calorie content. So, I usually say “screw it” and eat whatever. Therefore, the more I eat at home, the more likely I am to eat less and better. So, I bought three things to help me cook at home more, stuff that I love to get at restaurants. That way, I can control what goes into it and know exactly how many calories I’m eating.
I love getting sandwiches in restaurants, they’re just fancier than what I make. So I bought a cast-iron panini press. I love getting nice, creamy soups in restaurants, and I like to make homemade soup but I hate cleaning my blender, so I bought an immersion blender. And last, my kids – Jake especially – are always dragging me to the coffee shop for Belgian waffles, so I bought a waffle iron. Besides eating better, I’m hoping I’ll save a little money too!
The Giveaway
What I love about the Your Shape Challenge is that it involves more than just the game. Drinking more water, walking more, these things all contribute to healthy living and weight loss. But the heart of the challenge, of course, is the Your Shape game for the Wii. And I get to give one away! (Sorry, Wii not included.)
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment stating what you weight loss or health goal is: lose ten pounds, be able to do a pull-up, walk up stairs without getting winded, etc. For a second entry, you can tweet about this giveaway (don’t forget to leave a separate comment linking to your tweet or it won’t count; instructions on how to link to your tweet can be found here). Just make sure to mention what the prize is and link back to this post, or you can just copy and tweet this:
Win a #YourShape exercise game for Wii from @SelfishMom! http://bit.ly/9se1iF
So, that’s a maximum of two entries per household, please. The comments will close at noon-ish on Friday, February 26th and random.org will draw the winner. Contest open to residents of the U.S., and shipping is available in the continental U.S. only. Entrants must be 18 years or older. For complete rules, please see my Giveaway Rules page.
Good luck!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 1 and 10. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Wii, Your Shape
