Product Reviews

By: Kait Fortunato

Ever find yourself lost in dreams and goals? Wishing for something but unable to realistically attain in? Sometimes we all just need a little motivation, not a long winded speech or paragraphs about creating your goals, rather a special reminder that is important to you and your specific dreams. Mental Blox is a community of people just like you, striving to stay motivated and dream big.  Mentalblox.com is a great resource for inspirational blogs, motivational tools, and people just like you. Whether you want to “Get Hired”, “Get Fit”, “Get out of Debt”, “Get Clean”,  Get Thinner”,  “Get Rich”, “Get Well”, “Get God”, “Get Cool”, “Get Bully Free”, there is a place for you at MentalBlox. The best part is the actual “Blox” that you can order with inspirational words associated with your goal. Just looking at it each day makes me feel empowered to achieve both smaller tasks and reach for bigger dreams. Words like empowered, inspired, gratified, clean, confident, reach out to me and make me realize all the great success and all the things I hope to accomplish.

By Elizabeth Haaser

If you are someone who believes they are constantly failing at dieting, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch would most likely ask you this; “Is it you, or really the diet that is not successful?” For 2012 and a new year, why not try a genuinely new approach to weight loss? Their book, Intuitive Eating, offers a non-diet plan for losing weight and, more importantly, to freeing oneself from food’s control. This liberating (and very popular!) method stresses the importance of listening to your body, its hunger cues, and learning the difference between physical hunger and everything else. By first identifying what type of eater you are and then following their 10 Principles, this program can help you to get to your body’s natural weight- one that is neither bloated from the abuse of too much food, nor starving from the lack of proper nutrients.

The Three Types of Eaters

Tribole and Resch categorize eaters into three personalities: The Careful Eater, The Professional Dieter, and The Unconscious Eater. They give a description of each and explain the problems that come from all three. I personally can think of several people who might fall in one of these categories, and I think their diagnoses are spot-on. Food problems are not as unique as we all might think- there are patterns, cycles, and forever-failing diets. Luckily, there is also intuitive eating.

The Ten Principles

Chapters are broken up by principles, all of which speak right to the root of the problem and guide you to mending these, rather than blindly offering quick-fixes like most diet programs do. Some of the principles include Reject the Diet Mentality, Make Peace with Food, and Respect Your Body. For anyone who is fed up with dieting and just wants to have a normal relationship with food, I would strongly suggest picking this up. Here at RBA, this book and this method are frequently used with patients.

Also, look for their new book coming out, and check out their awesome website!

If you are looking to practice this way of eating, schedule a visit with our Mindful Eating Specialist, Bobbi Boteler, who works with helping clients learn to recognize and trust their intuitive eating. Working with a person face to face will help make these concepts easier to implement, especially if you are a chronic dieter, it may take awhile for you to get comfortable with this new way of thinking. Read more about Bobbi on our website.

By: Kathy Kendall, RD

If you are a baby boomer and you are seeking answers to questions about health and diet, look no further than this book! It is jam-packed with practical research-based info on all things healthy from how to pick a good dietary supplement to how to eat healthy for your disease state if you have one.  If you don’t currently have a diagnosis, Piergeorge explains how to stave off that diagnosis!

As a baby boomer myself, I’ve found myself seeking answers to many questions—what about supplements:  Which ones should I be taking?  How do I know how to pick a good one?  Also:  What about my arthritic knee from that old injury?  What can I do to lessen the pain?  What are the best resources on the internet for health, diet and exercise?  This book covered them all and then some.  It is brimming with links to excellent resources for improving your eating, exercise and overall health.

Piergeorge has written an entire section discussing the various types of medicine and those who practice it.  She clarifies the difference between Naturopaths, Chiropractors, Registered Dietitians and other health professionls and what types of training they have. The book also contains dozens of wonderful recipes.

You will find no hype or quick fixes in this book just the latest and the best of what you are seeking culled from the latest research on all things healthy for the baby boomers that we are!  The author is careful not to attempt to treat any health condition, but does encourage the reader to seek medical help when their concerns or needs go beyond the scope of this book.

I especially appreciated the discussion in the chapter on making changes.  The author has an infectious enthusiasm and supportive cheerleader voice that leaves the reader convinced that you really can make lifestyle changes and stick with them!

I also enjoyed the friendly but professional tone of the book.  Piergeorge has a knack for reaching you where you are and drawing you forward to where you can be.

The book can be used as a reference book or can be a good read from start to finish.  Either way, you are bound to find valuable information based on the latest scientific research that will help you find your way to better health. Visit Susan Piergeorge’s website.

By: Elizabeth Haaser

Here’s a Christmas miracle for you: pasta that can be eaten by people diagnosed with diabetes! Appropriately called Dreamfields Pasta, this product has been receiving a lot of attention, and was even featured on the Rachel Ray show. What’s all the buzz about?

Dreamfields Pasta has a low GI of just 13 (65% lower than regular pastas), has twice the fiber of normal pasta, and is low in digestible carbohydrates. There are several versions of pasta, including spaghetti, elbow, angel hair, and rotini, and each is a healthy option for those with diabetes. But Dreamfields Pasta isn’t just for diabetics; their products are a good choice for anyone’s meal! (I’ve made it twice for dinner so far, and absolutely love the texture.)

Visit their website at www.dreamfieldsfoods.com for recipes and a $1.00 coupon!

Many frozen fruit bars are full of sugar and actually contain very little fruit. Power of Fruit is a company dedicated to making bars with whole fruit and nothing else; no corn syrup, no additives, and no preservatives. In original, banana berry, and tropical, these bars make great snacks for children or adults and are an easy way to increase fruit consumption without added sugar. They blend whole fruits like strawberries, cranberries, blueberries, mangoes, pineapples and bananas together with just a little all-natural juice concentrate and water.  Visit their website for a $1 off coupon and snacks on something you can feel good about!

“Food that’s good for you should taste good too.”  This is the philosophy of Bakery on Main, which started after listening to Celiac customers of a local market complain about the food options available to them.

Their granola is free of trans fats and cholesterol, and are gluten free! The company was nice enough to send us products to review including their granola and granola bars. My favorite granola was the “nutty cranberry maple granola” which is rich in flavor and free of gluten and dairy. One package of granola (43g) has 240 calories, 4 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber, and only 40 mg of sodium which is rare for granola! Other flavors include cinnamon raisin, apple raisin walnut, triple berry, and extreme fruit and nut. Their granola bars are also very chewy and filling and I love their short ingredient list. I really enjoyed the peanut butter chocolate granola bar and two other included cranberry maple nut and extreme trail mix. Even if you don’t need to follow a gluten free diet, this is the lowest-calorie granola I’ve seen that actually tastes good. Enjoy it as an afternoon snack or mix it with fruit and yogurt for breakfast.

This holiday season they are offering a gift set including a reusable tote bag, 1.5 oz gluten free granola snack packs of Apple Raisin Walnut, Nutty Cranberry Maple, and Extreme Fruit & Nut flavors, 2 oz Fiber Power gluten free granola snack packs of Triple Berry and Cinnamon Raisin flavors, and 1.2 oz gluten free granola bars in Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Maple Nut, and Extreme Trail Mix, plus a $0.50 off coupon. This package is only $14.99 and would make a healthy, unique gift for family or friends!

By: Elizabeth Haaser

“It’s nice to be nice.” It can also be downright unhealthy.

America was born on the virtues of independence and self-sufficiency. So why is it that so many women nowadays think of selfishness as a dirty word? Sure, being generous and giving are wonderful qualities, but author Karen Koenig suggests that you should also include limit setting and assertiveness to your collection of characteristics.

How often have you been asked about your well-being only to respond with “I’m fine,” which could not have been further from the truth? Koenig, in her novel Nice Girls Finish Fat, explores what you may have learned and internalized early on in life about being silent or passive about your issues. Maybe things around you were already out of control, and so you were hesitant to “rock the boat.” While this may have seemed like a nice (and there’s that word again!) solution, the problem is that this creates more of a mess for yourself. You begin to treat food as your best friend, and she lives right in your refrigerator. Food is always near-by, food isn’t too busy to be with you, food doesn’t have problems of its own to compete with yours. But food (in excess) will also cause you to gain weight. Some friend, huh?

Koenig encourages her readers to use their mouths for speaking up rather than shoveling down their feelings with excess food. Ask for help, be honest when someone asks how you are doing, and don’t be afraid to be emotionally uncomfortable! As I was reading a particular chapter that discussed this idea, of being comfortable in the uncomfortable, I was reminded of my mother around Christmas time. My mother and I love to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas video each year, and she really relates to Charlie’s anguish of not feeling “as he should” around the holiday season. But who is to say how you should feel? Your emotions are independent, impatient, and sometimes untimely, but they are there, and ignoring them with food doesn’t do your body a bit of good.

If you fit the profile of a typical “nice” girl (the kind who offers to babysit her sister’s three kids even though she hasn’t slept in days, or the kind who has her family’s meals planned to perfection but hasn’t given a thought to her own diet), then I really encourage you to pick up this book. Learn to put yourself first and drop those pounds! Karen’s message might be a bit bold for some ears, but give it a chance, and you’ll realize- the woman has got a point!

By Chelsea Davidson

As a junior in college I am all too familiar with the struggles of eating healthy away at school. The stress of schoolwork and lack of time to prepare meals is a combination that can quickly send any student, even a dietetic student like myself, down the road of unhealthy food choices. Luckily with cookbooks like “The Everything Healthy College Cookbook” by Nicole Cormier, RD  cooking healthy meals is no longer as hard as I once thought it was.

The reason I love this cookbook is because it has a vast range of recipes, from easy snacks to delicious entrees to meals you can quickly nuke in the microwave. The recipes are organized in categories like “High Energy Breakfasts on the Go” (something every college student needs to start off those long days of classes), “Soups and Salads You Can Make in Your Dorm,” “Vegetarian and Vegan Delights,” and my personal favorite “Pass the Nachos: College Grub Made Healthy” (for those of us who just can’t completely give up junk food)! Each recipe is tagged with words like vegetarian, high-fiber, low-calorie, low-fat, gluten-free, lactose-free, and low-carb so this cookbook is perfect for anyone trying to reduce or include any certain nutrient in their diet. Some of my favorite recipes include Hummus Tomato Pita Pizza, Tuna Burgers, and the Protein and Berry Pita which is full of ricotta cheese and berries. With over 300 delicious healthy recipes from Nicole, college students can now steer clear of the same old diner food and have no reason to eat unhealthy.

Click here for more information on Nicole Cormier, RD, LDN.

By: Chelsea Davidson

Have you ever heard of Boomi Bars? How about Prana Bars? Well now they’ve got a different name: Rise Bars. And let me tell you, they are delicious. When Rise Bar graciously sent Rebecca Bitzer and Associates a box of their Energy+ Bars, Protein+ Bars, and Breakfast Bars we were all excited to try them out. With flavors like Coconut Acai, Cherry Almond, Crunchy Cranberry Apple and Raspberry Pomegranate, I was eager to try something exotic. I chose the Apricot Goji Energy+ Bar because I am slightly obsessed with anything apricot flavored and/or scented.

One of my favorite things about this Rise Bar is that each of the only 10 ingredients, including real apricots, cashews, and dates, is natural and certified organic. Their bars are also gluten free, 100% vegetarian or vegan, Kosher, contain no GMO’s or preservatives, and are sweetened naturally with ingredients like honey, brown rice syrup, and tapioca syrup. These bars are manufactured  in a facility free of wheat, cane sugar, GMO’s, eggs, soy, and peanuts so patients with allergies need not worry about enjoying these bars for breakfast, before a workout, or as a snack to tide them over until dinner time. They pack tons of nutrients and antioxidants too so I know I’m getting the things my body needs to stay healthy.

Not only does Rise Bar create these amazing bars, they give back to the community through their “Rise to the Occasion” program that gives Rise Bars to soldiers, firefighters, peacekeepers, and volunteers. Rise Bar was also so kind as to send us a ton of informational packets with coupons inside. We set them out in our waiting room for our clients and within the week they were gone. For more information visit www.risebar.com.

Most of us have no problem getting the necessary amount of grains and protein daily. However, most Americans struggle with getting the right amount of servings of fruits and vegetables. Cooking vegetables can get repetitive and most of us think of them as something we have to eat, not want to eat. The Vegetarian Slow Cooker, by Judith Finlayson, provides us with a unique way to meet our vegetable needs, with delicious, easy to prepare recipes. Even if you are not a vegetarian these dishes would be great as sides or for when you are trying to cut back on your meat consumption. Some of the recipes include braised tomato bruschetta, butter bean and barley risotto, caramelized onion quiche, and broccoli and cheddar cheesecake. Now do you believe me?

These meals are not only healthy and delicious, but they are all designed for your slow cooker, allowing for a hot meal when you walk in the door. The step by step directions make these recipes fool-proof and each recipe comes with tips on saving time and things you can prepare in advance. Judith also provides a description of each meal, how it is best served and the nutrition benefits behind it. I encourage you to take steps towards a overall healthier lifestyle, by increasing your vegetable intake with these creative, feel-good recipes.