I’m so excited to be able to bring something new to A Whole New Me.  I’m going to be working with CSN Stores to bring you reviews of a selection of the many products that they carry in their online stores  If you’re not familiar with them, CSN Stores is an amazing site that has 200+ online stores and over 1 million products. The merchandise on their site ranges from complete bedrooms including platform beds, to every item you can imagine for the kitchen. I’ve ordered from them in the past and found it incredibly easy to navigate through their site where I was thrilled with the great prices, products and service. Keep watching for some reviews of products that I’ll be receiving from them!

Co-Author of The Serotonin Power Diet: Eat Carbs — Nature’s Own Appetite Suppressant — to Stop Emotional Overeating and Halt Antidepressant-Associated Weight Gain

Read my review of this great book here.

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Rodale Books; 1 edition (December 22, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594869723
ISBN-13: 978-1594869723

I know it does no good to shout at a TV screen but I do it anyway. Watching advertisements for upcoming specials on “obesity in America” or “best diet tips” or “the best way to fight weight gain” provokes my on-going one-sided argument.

When I see doctors such as Dr. Oz or Dr. Gupta talk about weight-loss interventions and offer their support to individuals on their long journey to weight loss, I keep hoping they will at least occasionally focus on those individuals who gained weight from their medications. They never do. That is a real problem. For the 25% of the population whose use of antidepressants is causing them to gain weight, the doctors’ wise and supportive words are irrelevant. Even the Queen of Weight-Loss Discussions, Oprah, has not addressed this serious issue and the silence from other media such as women’s magazines is overwhelming. Yet it has been years since the SSRI’s have been identified with weight gain and at least 40 years since drugs like lithium and the early group of antidepressants were known to be associated with obesity.

Discussions about antidepressants and weight gain are all over the Internet, from scholarly articles listing the many drugs that cause weight gain to blogs by those who are experiencing obesity from their use. Typical is one I came across on the website All Experts asking about the use of an amphetamine-like drug, phentermine, for weight loss. The female writer said she took phentermine and lost weight but stopped the drug because she needed to go on an antidepressant. She took Lexapro and gained 35 pounds, stopped that, started Prozac and gained another l0 pounds. Her desperation at gaining so much weight caused her to quit the antidepressants to go back on the amphetamine-like drug. She said her family is begging her to go back on her antidepressants and she wants to know if she can take phentermine along with her serotonin reuptake blocker, Prozac. According to the pharmacist-expert, she can’t. The FDA prohibits combining an amphetamine-like drug such as phentermine with an SSRI because it might lead to serious illness or even death. The writer is clearly upset by the answer and it is possible she will still take the phentermine because losing weight is more critical than a possible lethal side effect. Her problem, which is so typical of many on similar drugs, is greeted by silence from media experts on obesity.

What is equally upsetting about our national discussions on obesity is the finger pointing at someone who is 100 or more pounds heavier than he or she should because of treatment with mood stabilizers or atypical antipsychotics. We see someone morbidly obese and immediately assume that the individual is obese because of bad food choices, eating too much and lack of exercise. We don’t understand that the individual may have been thin before going on the medication, and may have always eaten healthily and exercised. Unless we are on similar medications ourselves, we would not know how it feels to have an antidepressant or mood stabilizer take away our control over eating and leave us so tired we cannot bring ourselves to exercise. Medication-generated weight gain is almost never acknowledged in the seemingly endless national discussions about the obesity epidemic, in the monthly magazine diets or the seasonal focus on weight-loss by television’s medical experts.

The lack of attention paid to this problem in the media has led some, like the overweight blogger, to seek out solutions such as taking drugs that are potentially dangerous. Others may despair at following the diet advice given on television and in magazines because much of it doesn’t work for people on antidepressants. And some, of course, will give up their medications because the emotional pain of being obese is worse than the emotional pain of depression.

Yet the solution to losing weight while on antidepressants is easy and simple. It simply requires knowing that brain serotonin does more than regulate mood. It also regulates appetite.

When enough serotonin is made, eating stops. Drugs such as the SSRI’s may promote the activity of mood-enhancing serotonin but for reasons we do not understand the same drugs may prevent the activity of the class of serotonin that enhances satiety. Giving more drugs to shut off the appetite is not possible because there are no drugs right now that are safe and effective.

Decades ago, MIT researchers showed that consuming carbohydrates without protein triggers the production of serotonin. When this happens food intake slows down or stops. The solution to losing weight on antidepressants is to eat snacks or meals based on non-fruit carbohydrate like pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, cereal, and cornmeal. These foods, by eliciting normal insulin secretion, increase the amount of tryptophan in the brain. Tryptophan is an amino acid that goes into the production of serotonin. Once made, serotonin increases satiety and turns off the urge to eat anymore. We utilized this approach in a hospital-based weight-loss center whose patients had gained weight on antidepressants, mood stabilizers and atypical antipsychotic medication. (This is described in our book, The Serotonin Power Diet.) Unlike phentermine or other drugs that may cause serious side effects, the only side effect from using carbohydrate as an appetite suppressant is weight loss.

© 2010 Judith J. Wurtman, PhD, co-author of The Serotonin Power Diet: Eat Carbs — Nature’s Own Appetite Suppressant — to Stop Emotional Overeating and Halt Antidepressant-Associated Weight Gain

Author Bio
Judith J. Wurtman, PhD, co-author of The Serotonin Power Diet: Eat Carbs — Nature’s Own Appetite Suppressant — to Stop Emotional Overeating and Halt Antidepressant-Associated Weight Gain, has discovered the connection between carbohydrate craving, serotonin, and emotional well-being in her MIT clinical studies. She received her PhD from George Washington University, is the founder of a Harvard University hospital weight-loss facility and counsels private weight management clients. She has written five books, including The Serotonin Solution, and more than 40 peer-reviewed articles for professional publications. She lives in Miami Beach, Florida.

For more information, please visit www.SerotoninPowerDiet.com.

The Seratonin Power Diet: Eat Carbs–Nature’s Own Appetite Suppressant–to Stop Emotional Overeating and Halt Antidepressant-Associated Weight Gain

by Judith Wurtman PhD , Nina T. Frusztajer MD

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Rodale Books; 1 edition (December 22, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594869723
ISBN-13: 978-1594869723

Book Description (Author Website)

Boost Serotonin to switch off your appetite and turn on a good mood.

Eat carbs—nature’s own appetite suppressant—to stop emotional overeating and halt antidepressant-associated weight gain. This research-based diet helps you lose weight and improve your mood.

Serotonin is the brain’s natural “feel good” chemical and appetite suppressant. Through decades of medical research at MIT, Judy’s husband Richard J. Wurtman, MD, discovered that your brain makes serotonin when you eat foods such as pretzels, pasta, rice, and potatoes—in the right amounts, at the right times of the day, and without protein. Judy discovered that serotonin curbs your appetite, restores mental energy, and soothes emotional stress.

The easiest way to lose weight is to use your brain.

Here’s why: The brain contains the switch that turns your appetite on and off.

Serotonin, called the satiety or satisfaction chemical, is the brain chemical that turns off your eating. To lose weight you have to know how to activate the “off button’” before you either overeat or chose foods that are not on your diet. Our book will show you how to boost serotonin to stop overeating, to quiet food cravings, and to experience feelings of satisfaction and comfort.

You don’t need to take medication or herbs or special supplements to boost serotonin. All you need to do is follow the simple meal and snack plan in The Serotonin Power Diet and your brain will produce more serotonin. And within hours of following the food plan, you will find yourself feeling full, even after eating diet-size portions of meals. Your cravings will disappear. And for an added bonus, your mood will be better. You’ll get this extra benefit because serotonin is also the “good mood” brain chemical.

Nature gave us a simple way to control our eating and balance our mood just by eating the right foods. During our years of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, we discovered the connection between eating, emotions and serotonin. By using your brain’s natural chemistry, you can:

• Turn off appetite by triggering more serotonin before meals
• Stop the universal carbohydrate craving in the late afternoon by triggering more serotonin before the cravings begin
• Prevent emotional overeating by triggering serotonin during those stressful times
• End the overeating that comes with the use of antidepressants by making the brain produce more serotonin

You will find out all about this in our book, The Serotonin Power Diet.

Read An Excerpt

About The Authors (Author Website)

Judith J. Wurtman, Ph.D was the former director of the Research Program in Women’s Health at the MIT Clinical Research Center and founder of TRIAD, a Harvard Hospital weight loss center. Along with Dr Frusztajer, she ran a private weight loss practice in the Boston area specializing in obesity caused by anti-depressants and emotional overeating.

Dr Wurtman received her Ph.D in cell biology from The George Washington University and took additional training in nutritional biochemistry and obesity as an National Institute of Health postdoctoral fellow. Her research career focused on the relationship between carbohydrates, brain serotonin and disturbances in emotional status and eating and became a recognized authority on the topic of how food can affect mood.

Her discoveries include the phenomenon of ‘carbohydrate-craving’ in which sweet or starchy carbohydrates are consumed to relieve depression, anxiety or anger (by raising brain serotonin). Dr Wurtman also showed that carbohydrate-rich foods can be used to decrease appetite and increase satiety especially among people treated with anti-depressants and other drugs used to treat emotional disorders. In addition Dr Wurtman along with her husband Dr Richard Wurtman showed that serotonin is involved in the eating and mood disturbances of premenstrual syndrome, seasonal depression and smoking withdrawal.

Dr Wurtman has written 5 books, including Eating Your Way through Life, The Serotonin Solution, and Managing your Mind and Mood Through Food. She and her husband edited a series of books on Nutrition and the Brain and she has written over 40 peer-reviewed publications.

Visit Judy on Facebook | Listen to Judy on NPR affiliate WHDD-FM

Nina T. Frusztajer, MD is a practicing physician with expertise in wellness and, with Dr. Wurtman, the co-founder of a Boston-based private weight loss center. Dr. Frusztajer studied the epidemiology of hypertension and received her Masters degree in Nutrition from Columbia University where she conducted peer-reviewed published studies on the relationship between nutrient intake and stress. She further specialized in the impact of nutrition and lifestyle on the onset of disease and overall well being by receiving her medical degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine followed by postgraduate training and medical practice in internal medicine and pathology.

In addition to her clinical expertise, Dr. Frusztajer is a certified professional life coach with years of experience in wellness and stress reduction. Through speaking engagements to the medical community and the general public, the media (print and radio), and individual consulting, Dr. Frusztajer helps people become more efficient and focused, relax more, and live a healthier (and happier!) lifestyle. Dr. Frusztajer has been practicing yoga since 1985 and teaching yoga since 2000.

Visit Nina on Facebook

Review

When I read the description of this book, I jumped on the possibility of receiving a review copy.  This book spoke to me on so many levels.  I think that this probably will answer a lot of questions for many people.  For years I have struggled with my weight.  As much as people told me to just control my eating, I knew there was something more at work.  This book really enlightened me as to what some of the possibilities could be.

For those of you who struggle and nothing seems to work, this might be an important book for you to read.  Honestly, I think this is an important book for everyone to read.  For both the people who struggle with losing weight and those who don’t.  It will give some real insight into the science of weight and how many times it isn’t as simple as having will power or eating right.

I think this is a fantastic book that has helped me understand much more clearly the connection between the brain and weight loss.

Author of Substitute Yourself Skinny: Cut the Calories, Keep the Flavor with Hundreds of Simple Substitutions!

Bikini season is just around the corner! There’s still time to get in top bikini shape and what tastier way than with these easy, simple, and delicious substitutions. Great tasting food doesn’t have to be bland, boring, and flavorless. As the Bikini Chef, my food philosophy is fresh, fresh, fresh. Fresh citrus, fresh herbs, fresh natural ingredients that wake up your taste buds, are pleasing to your palette, and give you the satisfying flavors your body craves. In fact, most people love the lower calorie, lower fat substitutions once they’ve tried them and have gotten past their fear of trying what they perceive will be tasteless food.

The best part to these substitutions, besides achieving your bikini goal, is that they are simple substitutions you can make every day. Easy, affordable, and flavorful, these simple tips will help you stay in bikini shape all year long.

10 Simple Food Substitutions To Get Bikini Ready

1. Using ½ wheat flour and ½ plain flour will make your scones more bikini but adding fresh wild raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries will also liven up the flavor, wake up the color, and give a fresh, flavorful twist to an otherwise boring biscuit.
2. Cream sauces and creamy soups get most of their creaminess from fat and calorie laden heavy whipping cream. Use ½ nonfat milk and ½ nonfat sour cream instead for the same creamy texture without the unwanted creamy fat that will sabotage your bikini body.
3. Eggs vs egg whites. Some people go the extreme and swear off eggs forever using only egg whites. However, using only egg whites can get expensive and eggs are necessary as a binding agent for many recipes. For breakfast, use 2 egg whites for every one egg for a leaner, lighter breakfast and when baking or making dishes such as burgers, use ½ whole eggs and ½ egg whites to keep the texture but save on calories, fat, and cholesterol. As a side note, the majority of protein in eggs comes from the egg whites, not the yolk, making them a deliciously healthy option all around.
4. Cut back on the beef. If you crave a hamburger, make your own lighter, leaner version by using ½ lean ground beef and ½ lean ground turkey. You’ll find you sacrifice nothing on flavor or texture but save yourself plenty on fat and calories. Enjoy these leaner burgers as smaller sliders for lunch, dinner, or for tasty bites at summer pool parties.
5. Nonfat vanilla yogurt is a delicious substitution for mayonnaise. Use as a healthy substitution in chicken salad, tuna salad, and dipping sauces such as aioli. It is very flavorful and naturally creamy so you don’t need to use a lot of it.
6. Cut the cheese. Skip the cheese altogether but if you must have cheese, go for lower fat versions such as reduced fat cream cheese, reduced fat Monterey jack, reduced fat feta. If you must have your full fat versions, opt for freshly grated parmesan or parmiggiano reggiano and cut back on the amount you use. Fresh, good quality cheese such as this has great flavor so a little goes a long way.
7. Add a little citrus. The rind, or zest, of lemons, oranges, and limes is edible and adds a refreshing flavor to steamed or grilled vegetables, sauces, meat dishes, practically everything. Cut back on salt which causes bloating and add a little fine grate citrus zest for tons of flavor with no fat or calories.
8. Most people love crispy bacon but it adds loads of fat and calories that are often an afterthought for many dishes. If you must have crisp bacon crumbles on your salads or even for breakfast, use leaner turkey bacon instead. It has great flavor and crisps nicely like traditional full fat bacon. Or, better yet, skip the bacon all together. If you are having a luscious salad, add fresh, crisp asparagus tips or diced fresh zucchini. For breakfast, substitute crispy no-sugar added bran cereal or fresh berries. Pass on the bacon, it’s just not worth it.
9. Watch out for sugary pasta sauces and dipping sauces. Sugar has empty calories that add up quickly. Instead, use freshly diced tomatoes with a little freshly chopped basil leaves or cilantro leaves. Add a hint of lemon zest, drizzle of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil (½ tablespoon each) and finish with a small pinch of sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Toss with pasta such as penne or fettuccini or serve with baked wonton crisps.
10. Wonton wrappers are perfect as crispy crackers instead of crostini and tortilla chips. Buy the squares and cut into triangles. Brush lightly with olive oil and bake in a 225º oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until crisp and golden. Top with salsa, serve with chicken salad or other dips as you would crostini and chips. As a bonus, they are inexpensive and unused wonton wrappers keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

© 2010 Chef Susan Irby, author of Substitute Yourself Skinny: Cut the Calories, Keep the Flavor with Hundreds of Simple Substitutions!

Author Bio
Chef Susan Irby has worked with multiple Master Chefs including George McNeill, Todd English, and Ming Tsai. Known as the Bikini Chef, specializing in “figure-flattering flavors,” Chef Susan is host of The Bikini Lifestyle with Susan Irby The Bikini Chef on KFWB News Talk 980 in Los Angeles and author of The $7 a Meal Quick & Easy Cookbook, The $7 a Meal Healthy Cookbook, and Cooking with Susan. She has cooked for several celebrities including Patrick Swayze, David Spade, Kate Sagal, and Bill Handel, and appeared on The Patti Gribow Show and KLAC Los Angeles and numerous other media outlets. She lives in Orange County, CA.

For more information, please visit www.susanirby.com.
Become a fan of the Bikini Chef on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Adams Media; 1 edition (May 18, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1440503974
ISBN-13: 978-1440503979

This is something new that I stumbled across on Simply Stacie’s blog and it sounded like a good way to make some new bloggie friends so I thought I’d jump in   The idea originated on Smart and Trendy Mom’s site and looks like it’s going to be fun!

It’s always fun to network with new blogs and to meet new people.  Especially fun when you go a little outside of the usual blogs that you read or know.  Here’s to a fun new way to make friends!

A Comprehensive Resource for Healthy Eating
Rebecca Wood – Author
Paul Pitchford – Foreword by
Peggy Markel – Illustrator

Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (April 27, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143117432
ISBN-13: 978-0143117438

Description (Press Release)

In the introduction to THE NEW WHOLE FOODS ENCYCLOPEDIA, Rebecca lays out a comprehensive description of nutritional healing. We’ve all been hearing so much about the benefits of whole foods lately and the unhealthy consequences of processed goods—the ones that can live on our shelves for years—but what should we do with this information? How do we take it from our televisions and radios to our kitchen tables?

THE NEW WHOLE FOODS ENCYCLOPEDIA is an invaluable resource to all the wonderful fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats available and what they can do for us and what we can do with them.

Whether someone is a health nut or starting out on a journey to improve their quality of life, they will want THE NEW WHOLE FOODS ENCYCLOPEDIA with them in their kitchen and in the grocery aisle.

About THE NEW WHOLE FOODS ENCYCLOPEDIA

The complete and authoritative resource for healthy eating—from Acorn to Zucchini, Aduki beans to the tropical Zapote fruit by Rebecca Wood shows you how to select, prepare, store and use medicinally over 1,200 familiar and unusual foods.

As Americans are becoming increasingly aware that food quality determines our health, they are in need of easy-to-understand, reliable information. THE NEW WHOLE FOODS ENCYCLOPEDIA serves as a perfect personal resource for those who are interested in changing their diets for the better.

Fully revised and updated from its 1998 edition, with over 200 new entries and a new index featuring home remedies, THE NEW WHOLE FOODS ENCYCLOPEDIA is a must-have for every 21st century kitchen.

Rebecca Wood, a nationally known whole foods authority, is just the person to bring this wealth of knowledge together in one volume. Since 1970, she has been teaching whole foods cookery to thousands across North America and Europe. An educational consultant to the natural foods industry for over 20 years, she also co-founded the East-West Center in Boulder, Colorado, and runs the Be Nourished Cooking School.  Her book The Splendid Grain won both a James Beard Award and a Julia Child/IACP Award.

About the Author

REBECCA WOOD has taught and written about healing with a sustainable diet since 1970. Her book, The Splendid Grain, won both a James Beard Award and a Julia Child/IACP Award. Her most recent book, The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia, was a One Spirit Book Club (Quality Paperback Book division) main selection. An Educational Consultant to numerous organizations in the Natural Foods Industry, she has also established two cooking schools. Rebecca’s articles appear in various publications including Ladies’ Home Journal, Yoga Journal, Veggie Life, Men’s Fitness, American Health and Utne Reader. Rebecca resides near Boulder, Colorado. To read more from Rebecca Wood please visit, http://www.rwood.com/.

Review

I have to say that this book has proved, over a short amount of time, to be a much-relied upon reference.  If you want to know more about the foods that you cook, this is the book you need.  The book covers foods including grains, vegetables, fruits, etc., as well as including scientific knowledge about the proteins, carbs, vitamins and minerals in the foods.  The author also includes medicinal purposes of the foods both from the Western and Eastern perspective to give you a wealth of information on each food.

While you will probably buy this book as a wonderful reference tool, I’ve also found that this book is just fascinating to browse through and learn new and interesting facts about the foods we eat. You’ll also find great recipes and anecdotes throughout the book.

Thanks to Penguin Group for providing me with a copy of this book to review.

Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 1 edition (December 29, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 014311638X
ISBN-13: 978-0143116387

Description (Publisher Website)

• What Should I Eat?
• What Kind of Food Should I Eat?
• How Should I Eat?

Each of these sections are broken down into 1-2 page chapters with titles like “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food” and “Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not”.  While these titles may seem somewhat silly and simplistic, there is a wealth of information that anyone who is looking to improve their diet would be wise to heed.

I heartily recommend you add this handy little book to your arsenal of books helping you to live a more healthy lifestyle.

Thanks to Penguin Group for providing me a copy to review

Ok so I woke up today in quite a bit of pain.  The incisions from my breast reduction surgery weren’t liking me too much and were actually quite painful ;(  I consulted with the nurse and was told to take a pain pill and kick back for the day.

I’ve possibly jumped into this intense work out stuff a little fast, so I think I’m going to back it down for a week or so just so I know I’m letting the healing continue.

It’s given me some time to evaluate how I want to go about this.  I want something that I can sustain over the long haul and I’m not sure this extreme low cal, high intensity workout is the best idea…at least while I’m still healing.

So I won’t be posting much this weekend probably, but I still went for a short walk and am just trying to rest and heal up!