Wha….  what’s this about?

The Game On Diet is a book written by two co-workers, Krista Vernoff and AZ Ferguson.  Krista is the Executive producer for Grey’s Anatomy and AZ is the Body-For-Life Million Dollar Champion.

The book is set up as a competition.  Through teams, points are earned each day by eating right, avoiding certain foods/beverages, and spending at least 20 minutes a day through exercise.  The teamwork aspect is an additional “kick in the pants” to get you on track and stay on track.  Heckling the other team and encouraging your own is HIGHLY recommended.

What I really like about this book is that when you read it – it is doable.  When you look at the food lists, they are all great food choices and not really restrictive.  There are also yummy healthy recipes in the book that I can’t wait to implement.  What the Game On Diet is doing is teaching you healthy habits that will in turn create – a healthier, slimmer you.

• 20 minutes a day of exercise 6 days a week is not a big commitment.  Take a walk, a bike ride, run stairs…

• 7 hours a sleep a night or lose points?  BEAUTIFUL – I love this!
• Avoid pop…. even diet.
  
• Avoid fried foods and high fat foods
• Avoid white sugar
• limit breads
• You eat five meals a day (WHAT?)  yes – five
• One day off a week (ooh, I like that!)
• Dropping bad habits (this is worth points!)
• Implementing new good habits (also worth points!)
  

While much of this is “back to the basics” stuff, I still read this book and found myself getting excited about actually doing this.  The accountability is huge for me and the goal is one I have been trying to reach on my own for months now and failed – two steps forward…. three steps (and perhaps some ice cream) back).

What Krista and AZ have written here works because it reads like a game.  It is a game…. and with friends, co workers, and in my case, fellow bloggers – you all work together for the same goal.

Ok – confession time.  Here is why I want to play.  A year ago I was a calorie burning machine.  I ate well, portion control, worked out and managed my health well.  Maybe – too well.  I love love LOVE to eat and there really are not too many foods that I do not like.  Over the winter I slowly got away from my healthy habits and I am saddened to say – have lost my “muchness” for staying at the fitness level that I know is right for my body type.

The opportunity here for me is that I tend to over achieve.  I set my mind on something and I will be counting calories down to the blueberry.  I am discouraged if we are invited out to eat with friends because I do not have control over every thing in my food.  This is where I start to fail.  I can maintain my strictness for so long (months!)and then I cave in to cravings…  I know because I have lost the weight time and again and about a year or so later it creeps back.  I go too far.  Again and again.

For those of you who read my blog know I work out frequently and lead an active life.  That part I handle pretty well and thank goodness because man I do like good food!  😀  What I like about what is presented here is that it is not calorie strict, it teaches portion control.  You are encouraged to eat 5 meals a day, keeping them between 2-4 hours apart but never more than four hours.  Training yourself to eat this way will eliminate that need we (and by we, I mean I) have to snack throughout the mid afternoon or late evening (both trigger times for me).

Twelve bloggers have joined together to do this one month program starting August 1.  On August 1, I will step on my scale (*gulp*) for the first time in 2010.  I am going to do this, and I am going to do it right.

My goal?  Getting back into good eating habits, retraining myself to drop the snacking habits I seem to fall into and to get back into my favorite pants without passing out.

Ok… that was awkward. BUT, I think if I post the picture… tell the truth in what I am trying to do to the world, I am more likely to succeed.  *Deep breath*

I will post weekly my progress.  I have to share it with the others and turn in my points weekly to them, so I may as well share it with you as well.  One month.  That’s all it is.  If it is everything I am hoping it will be – I will continue beyond the month.

You can check out the Game On Diet here on-line.  I purchased my copy of the book from Amazon.

*Once I get started I am going to have a widget for the Game On Diet on my upper side bar so you can follow along on my progress if you so choose.  I will use that as an online diary of where I am at.

You can link to my Game On Diet Journal here (this is where I will rant and hopefully rave as I do this diet in August with 12 other bloggers.

I Purchased at Amazon

Nick Schuyler loved hanging out with his friends.  Having known each other since high school, Nick, Will Bleakley, Marquis Cooper, and Corey Smith, liked to get together when they could.

One weekend, the guys decided to do a day fishing trip.  This was supposed to be a day of friendships and fun as the four guys left on Coopers 21 foot boat and anchored 70 miles out.  As the afternoon went on, the weather took a turn for the worse, and the guys decided it was time to pack up and head into shore.

When the anchor seemed to be caught on something, the  boaters thought if they tied the anchor to the back of the boat and then hit the throttle the anchor should work its way free.  Instead, this move caused the boat to capsize.  All four of the men went into the water.

40+ hours only one man came out.

This would make for a sad, emotionally charged, fiction read.  However, this book is not fiction.  Nick Schuyler was the one survivor of this horrifying accident.  What ‘Not Without Hope’ is about, is the retelling of the details of what happened that day, and the hours to follow as the 4 men awaited, and prayed, for rescue.

Of course, this is a hard review to write.  My heart is heavy as I type these words.  I finished this book late last night and knew I had to share this review while the book is still so fresh in my mind.

Nick starts this book with the background of himself and his friends.  Nick was at the time, a twenty-four year old personal trainer.  His friends Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith were both NFL payers and Will Bleakley, Nick’s best friend, once played football for the University of South Florida.

What happened from the time the boat capsized until the time of rescue is the majority of the book.  Nick shares in great detail what he recalls as each of his friend fought against hypothermia in the frigid waters, battling the salt water in their mouths and on the cuts on their bodies from struggling to keep a hold of the overturned boat.

As each of Nick’s friends loses their lives in this battle against the elements, I cry.  I grieve.  I can not even fathom what it had to be like to watch your friends take their last breath, say their last words, and then disappear below the deep waters.

A powerful book that I understand comes with controversy.  Nick himself is all too aware of the rumors that circulated about what happened that day.  From the articles I have read as a followup to this book, the proceeds of this book are going to charities.  Nick’s father is quoted to say that “This year since the accident has left Nick in a state of depression.  Nick has not even talked to his own family about all the details of what happened that day.” Nick’s father believes that the book was a way for Nick to express to everyone all at once what had happened.

A hard book to read, but one I am glad I did.  I pray for peace for the families and all involved.

Links:

NFL players on fishing trip, missing

Families of missing men start their own search

I borrowed this book from my local library

Ansley has it all – the looks, the money… and the guy.  Parish is a catch and a wonderful match for Ansley as they prepare for their wedding day.  As the big day draws closer Parish starts to notice that maybe his bride to be isn’t all that he had hoped.  While Ansley is beautiful on the outside, he starts to see she is not on the inside.  Parish starts to notice how Ansley treats caterers and other workers when she thinks he is not around.  And he starts to notice how she back stabs her friends, smiling to their face and cutting them down as soon as they walk away with comments on their weight, or hair, or inability to keep a man.   Taking all this in, Parish calls the wedding off and tells Ansley that she will be right for someone – but he is not that someone.

Ansley, on her own, devastated and embarrassed decides to move to New York and live with the grandmother she has really never known other than through the pages of the cherished family cook book.

I really enjoyed the baking connecting  to family in this book.  The family cook book referred to in the book was started in 1853.  The ancestor, Marille, who created the book filled it with 200 pages for family to add recipes.  To do this there were rules:

1. The book was to be passed from mother to the daughter who cooked the most.  I f there were no daughters than the granddaughters
2. Three people must agree a recipe is fit to be in the book, usually a grandmother, mother, and daughter were the voting parties.  if the daughter was too young, the cook waited until she was old enough to vote.  If there was no daughter, another female relative could be substituted.
3. Never let anyone borrow the book.

This I really liked as well as the cupcake recipes that sprinkle throughout the pages with names that fit with what was happening in the book.

While Ansley  starts out as this mean and rude character, once she moves you just don’t ever see that side of her again.  In fact, she is extremely nice to everyone.  I found this a bit confusing. The ending left me with many questions.  I don’t want to go into great explanation as I have seen many people have really enjoyed this book, and rightfully so – there is much to like about the book.  For me, the recipes made the book one I will turn to again.  I wished I would have had time to whip up a batch of a couple that really caught my eye, but another time.

If you have read or reviewed this book, please let me know.  I would love to hear your thoughts.

Book Journey’s 2010 map has been updated to include Icing On The Cupcake

When in New York, use this coffee map to find the coffee shops worthy of a stop (they may have cupcakes too!)

Cover Story:  In a word:  delicious.  This is totally a cover that would call me to it.

I received my copy of this book form the author, Jennifer Ross

Accidental Adult (n):  an individual whose age indicates maturity, but who’s approach to life suggests otherwise.

The carefree days of post college life has passed and now money is used for mortgage payments and dance recitals.  The mixed tapes that used to blast out of your two-door coupe went the same way as the car – traded in for a mini van.

If life is supposed to be a trip – author Colin Sokolowski thinks it should be a road trip.

So one may ask how I stumbled on to this book.   Colin Sokolowski (who just happens to be a Minnesota author!) emailed me this message:

Dear Sheila,
Your Gilmore Girls hero Lorelai is an accidental adult, and I’m betting you are too.

Well…. what was that about?  Certainly bike riding, rollerblading, paint ball tournaments, coveting a trip to the Harry Potter World in Universal Studios, and going to a late night showing of Eclipse couldn’t possibly put me in that category….

could it?

After reading up a bit on Colin Sokolowsi and his book I responded with this email:

Hmmm…. Colin you drink decaf so I just don’t know if I can commit….

But – curiosity got the best of me…. what could be in that book? I said yes, and Colin did send me a copy of his book Accidental Adult.

Collin writes a funny look on attempts at adulthood when really all you want to do is put on your foam finger, paint your face and be in the front row of your favorite sporting event.   Mainly from a guy’s perspective…. because ummm…. he is a guy –  Colin shares advice such as:

Spending quality time with your friends family endears you to the spouse.  Remember her?  She is the gatekeeper who determines if your buddy can meet you at Rib Fest again this summer.

And work related advice:

Never walk down a hallway without a bulging overstuffed folder under your arm.  Carrying papers with you at all times tells your colleagues “I’m on my way to an important meeting with my thoughtful analysis and comprehensive response to resolve the crisis.”…

of course, Colin continues this paragraph with “be careful not to bump into coworker coming around the corner.  Your scattered papers now reveal that your aimless walk around the office is actually football stats, draft pics and trade requests from your Fantasy Football League.”

page 37 The Accidental Adult

I found the book to  be humorous.  I enjoyed the “to do” and “not to do” lists that fell under the different headings of Parenting, Entertaining, Home Improvements…

Jury Duty Selection

Judge:  Do you watch television shows like CSI or Law and Order?

Colin’s inner monologue:  Nope, but I watch LOST where the castaways mete out their own warped brand if island justice.  Does that count?

The Accidental Adult is a look from a guy’s perspective of how to be an adult – without fully crossing over into adulthood.  Author Collin Sokolowski gives a humorous look into his own life (married with children) and how he makes it day-to-day in an adult world when he is reluctant to trade in his 80’s band t-shirts (or his KISS the cook apron featuring the group KISS) for a jacket and tie.

I found Colin’s approach to entertaining, parenting, home improvements, and more, quite funny.  This would be a great gift for the guy just out of college or starting his own trek into the world of reluctant adulthood.  I enjoyed this read that made me laugh.

My Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 map to include The Accidental Adult

When in Minnesota, in Colin’s stomping grounds, be sure to stop at Kopplin’s Coffee for your fresh brew and a look at the Minneapolis Tribune

223 pages

Cover Story:  I like it – it’s very “guy like” and I can see that it would be appealing.

** Note this book has some adult language (or maybe I should say, accidental adult language)

I received my copy of this book from author Colin Sokolowski