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July 26, 2006

Fitday Diet and Fitness Journal

Reviewed by Ben of Eat Smart, Stay Fit

FitDay is a simple, straightforward program that enables one to track calories consumed, calories burned, nutritional balance, and exercise. The program recaps the data you enter to chart weight and nutritional goals. It comes with a base inventory of foods but you can add your own foods by entering nutrional information. It can be time-consuming to enter all of your foods into the database, but once they're all in there you don't have to worry about it again.

The online version of the Fitday diet and weight loss journal is free. You can track the food you eat, what exercise you get each day, and get reports on your weight losses or gains. You can set goals and track whether you have met them or not. It allows you to view your caloric intake and consumption as well as your nutritional intake. It also projects trends of weight loss or gain so you can see where you are headed.

For $29.95 you can download a copy of the program and customize it to your specific needs. The added benefits of the downloaded version are: more reports, easier to use, no need to be online to use, advanced weight loss goals and tracking, enter custom foods faster.

FitDay does not champion a specific diet or healthy eating program. You choose how you want to eat and it provides the feedback to enable you to understand what you are doing, target what you want to accomplish, and then monitor your progress and project short term results by analyzing trends. FitDay is a dietary information system. It provides immediate feedback on calories eaten, calories burned and nutritional balance. It also provides histories of daily nutritional and caloric intake, physical activity and even mood swings if you choose to use the entire program. Or you can focus on individual aspects. In my case, I focused on caloric intake, physical exercise, calories burned and nutritional balance.

After using FitDay for about a month I found that I could estimate meals easily and enjoy dining out without feeling restricted to a certain diet. I had learned about portion size and what foods were simply laden with calories. I could choose to either avoid the morning muffin at the breakfast bar or compensate for it. But I knew what impact my food choices would have on my daily calorie intake. I had become aware of the relationship between what I weighed, what I did (activity) and what I ate.

After using it for a year I can say that it really has worked for me. I have achieved my weight goal and maintained it almost effortlessly for the last six months. I control the calories by selecting what to eat and when. With the help of Fitday, making these choices has become a habit and I do not find it restrictive.

FitDay.com

Posted by Staff at 2:45 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

July 18, 2006

French Women Don't Get Fat

French Women Don't Get Fat is not a diet book. It's a book that teaches you how to throw away your diet books and a bunch of extra pounds, too. Author Mureille Guiliano is CEO and director of the Veuve Clicquot Champagne company. She eats dinner out about three hundred times per year and still manages to stay slim. We've known about the French Paradox for years: French people seem to consume gobs of fat and yet have low rates of heart disease.

So why doesn't all that butter and cheese make them fat? How do they eat three-course meals and still manage to remain slim? It's that whole everything-in-moderation thing that we Americans have such a hard time with. In the land of Big Macs, Biggie Fries, Big Gulps, Macho Nachos, Double Double Cheeseburgers, and Stuffed Crust Pizzas, there is little room for moderation. Indeed, after consuming one of these super sized feasts, there's little room in one's body for anything but one's stomach which stretches larger with each massive meal. Have we as Americans become all stomach and no heart?

I'm afraid it's true. While the French (and Italians, for that matter) savor their meals with leisurely joy, we suck ours down as if we haven't eaten in weeks. We sit in front of the television and don't even look at the food as it goes into our mouths. The French savor every element - the color, the texture, the aroma. They pause between bites to have an actual conversaton or to take a sip of wine. There's a reason it takes them two hours to eat lunch. When was the last time you took two hours for lunch? Wouldn't you like to? In Italy, shops close for three hours in the middle of the day, allowing everyone to have a long lunch and a nap afterwards. Sadly, our culture simply doesn't permit such "indulgences." In America, the lunch hour is not a time to savor and enjoy, but a time to suck down some food and do a day's worth of errands.

It's not your fault. It's our culture's fault. That doesn't mean you can't become a counterculture rebel. You can become the only family on your block to spend two hours over dinner. People will talk about you as if you're a threat to National Security. "What on earth could they be doing in there for two WHOLE hours? They must be plotting something!" When your kids beg you for fast food, tell them: "I'm sorry kids, but we're now part of the resistance!"

Buy some real food and make a real dinner. Have your family help you chop garlic, wash vegetables, dice tomatoes. Set the table, bring out a bottle of wine for the adults, and banish the television for two whole hours. Have a first course and savor it. Talk about life, about politics. Have a little bit of bread. Have a second course. A third course. Have a little bit of dessert. That's the secret of French women, see? They have just a little bit of dessert. You can have your cake and eat it, too, as long as it isn't the whole cake with a quart of ice cream on the side.

The book is full of great recipes that include ingredients like bacon, eggs, cheese, butter, ham, and sausage. Don't worry, this isn't the Atkins Diet. The recipes also include bread, potatoes, pasta, and other carbs. Perhaps most importantly, along with all of these foods, the recipes also call for plenty of fruit and vegetables, preferably organic. Oh, and chocolate. The French adore chocolate - dark chocolate in particular. Their consumption of pretty much any food they want hasn't seemed to harm their arteries or their waistlines. It's a matter of quantity. The author says you can eat all of these things as long as you "pay attention to the portions."

And what would a French diet book be without champagne? One recipe, "Halibut En Papillote," calls for halibut to be drizzled with 1/2 cup of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut Champagne. Blatant advertisement for the author's company aside (And why not? It's her book!), the recipe looks divine.

This book isn't about anyone telling you what to eat. Instead of treating you like a child as many diet books do, it attempts to inspire you into taking your weight into your own hands. It takes a lot of willpower to keep one's portions reasonable, to have just a little bit of cake. French or not, it is possible to say yes to good food and no to extra pounds at the same time. French Women Don't Get Fat might just show you how.

Reviewed by Tracy

Posted by Tracy at 2:30 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

July 11, 2006

Cuddle Ewe Underquilt

I began using a Cuddle Ewe Underquilt back in January. According to their site, a Cuddle Ewe Underquilt is "layer of thick natural wool batting sewn within a soft and breathable cotton cover." The Cuddle Ewe is about four inches thick and is placed on top of your mattress. It is made of all natural materials.

The first night I spent sleeping on the Cuddle Ewe, I couldn't believe how comfortable it was. Because the quilt distributes your weight evenly, it gives the sensation of floating on a cloud. Their website claims the quilt can reduce morning stiffness, aches and pains, and reduce fatigue. I sometime get pain at night in an ankle that I fractured a few years ago and I can say it feels better when I sleep on the Cuddle Ewe. I've read about a lot of people with fibromyalgia having good results with it. In fact, Cuddle Ewe is a sponsor of the National Fibromyalgia Association.

After a couple months I got used to sleeping with the "Ewe" and didn't realize what a difference it was making until I went on vacation and slept on an Ewe-less bed. It really does make a difference and I can only imagine how it might make a huge difference to people with chronic pain disorders such as fibromyalgia.

The Ewe comes in six sizes, including Long Twin and California King. There are accessories available to make your sleeping experience even more dreamy: sheets, comforters, pillows, blankets and comforters. There's even a Travel Ewe for those who just can't leave home without it.

The Cuddle Ewe is fairly expensive. Starting at $201.00 for the Twin Size and going up to $383 for the California King, it is definitely an extra investment above and beyond regular bedding. For those with chronic pain issues or who need that extra bit of comfort to get a good night's rest, then it's probably worth the price.

Cuddle Ewe
National Fibromyalgia Association

Reviewed by Tracy

Posted by Tracy at 2:40 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

July 10, 2006

Healthy Products

We've started this blog in our search for the best health products on the market. We'll be reviewing food, housewares, books, websites, magazines, and much more. We'll also be posting news on healthy products and products that claim to be healthy.

If you know of any healthy things we should review or want to submit your own review, drop us a line at healthythings AT healthdiaries.com.

Posted by Tracy at 1:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack