Stepfanie Romine is a writer, recipe developer, published author and certified yoga teacher who has lived--and cooked--on three continents. She currently calls Asheville, North Carolina home. 
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Weekly News Roundup: Great Snacks and Dueling Down Dogs!
The web has been abuzz with some interesting stories in the past week or so. From fried chicken to sugar, yoga wars to neti pots, there's plenty of interesting news. Here are some of the stories that caught our attention.
United to charge obese passengers for two seats
United Airlines will begin charging obese passengers for a second seat when flights are full and other passengers complain about being squashed. Travelers must be able to put the arm rest between seats down to its normal position and buckle a seat belt with one extension belt. In Canada, obese passengers are entitled to two seats at no extra charge.
KFC unveils grilled chicken
KFC changed its name from Kentucky Fried Chicken years ago, but will new, lower-calorie grilled chicken mean another name change? On April 27, KFC will offer customers a free piece of grilled chicken. Will you try it?
Will they now be KGC?
Posted 4/23/2009 6:00:00 AM By: : 96 comments 7,167 views
What Hot Workout Gave Jenny McCarthy Her Hot Bod?
Would you ever believe that Jenny McCarthy weighed 200 pounds? She did, after the birth of her son. She used portion control and exercise to lose the weight, but last year she decided she needed to get rid of a little jiggle.
She started practicing Bikram yoga, which is a series of 26 poses done in a 105 degree room. McCarthy, 36, does the routine regularly in addition to watching what she eats, she tells Shape in the May 2009 issue.
What's the best part of her hot yoga routine? She does it at home, using little to no equipment.
Posted 4/22/2009 1:02:54 PM By: : 115 comments 23,433 views
This is Why You're Fat--and Why You're Thin
Have you seen these two websites?
This is Why You're Fat: Where dreams become heart attacks came first. It's a collection of the most over-the-top foods imaginable. The site is food porn, for sure!
From deep-fried Cadbury eggs and to White Castle casserole, this site is page after page of over-the-top, gut-busting, fat-laden foods. These foods make the bacon roll look like a healthy food. The photos are mostly of meat and dough concoctions held together by cheese or gravy. Vegetables appear only when they're deep-fried or serving as garnish. Some of these photos are so over the top that you can't imagine a human being actually eating these foods. They cross the line from appetizing to revolting.
Then along came This is Why You're Thin: Inspiring images of the things that make and keep us healthy. The antithesis of "This is Why You're Fat," this site is a collection of plant-based foods. There's no bacon in sight, and the photos are more colorful, thanks to the bounty of vegetables. These dishes look more like what we might eat every day.
The sites are entertaining, but they're also interesting social experiments.
Let's take a deeper look at This is Why You're Thin and Fat.
Posted 4/21/2009 10:04:19 AM By: : 212 comments 18,412 views
8 Stars Willingly Grace Magazine Cover--with No Makeup--in the Name of True Beauty
The cover of French ELLE reads:
"Stars without makeup.
Without makeup.
Without retouching.
8 women dare true beauty."
European actresses Eva Herzigova, Monica Bellucci, Sophie Marceau, and Charlotte Rampling are among the eight whose beautiful and makeup-free faces grace the cover of the latest issue of French ELLE.
It's about time we see a magazine that showcases natural beauty instead of mocking stars caught without makeup. I'd like to see this become a regular feature, wouldn't you?
I really liked this quote from Yahoo! Shine, which also has photos of the covers: In the U.S., when you come across a "stars without makeup" story, there's always a GOTCHA! element, a message that says "Our gift to you: Derive pleasure from how ugly this person looks without cover-up for her zits!
Bravo!
"Stars san Fards" reads the cover. "Fards" means rouge/blush, but in French to be "sans fards" refers to an openness. "Parler sans fards" means to speak openly.
Let's turn this magazine feature into an opportunity to speak openly about the pressure to be "beautiful" in our society.
Posted 4/17/2009 3:02:05 PM By: : 312 comments 45,577 views
Life Can Do a 180 in 365 Days--Mine Did
Happy Spark-versary to me! Today marks not only the anniversary of my employment here at SparkPeople but also my Spark-versary.
Last March, my boyfriend was laid off. Late one Sunday night, we were watching TV and cruising online job sites. I stumbled across an ad for an assistant editor/writer position here at SparkPeople. I was working as a business reporter and columnist at a large daily newspaper but wasn't truly happy. Business writing wasn't my passion. Writing was, along with healthy living--particularly healthy cooking. I was stressed, restless and anxious.
Just two weeks before, I'd had a conversation with my editor about my future in business, a department where I'd been transferred just six months before. My boss, an ambitious and talented journalist about a decade my senior, saw talent in me, praised my stories and wanted me to love business writing as much as she did.
I had been writing a careers column called life@work, about people who found passion in their work. I wrote about brothers who left corporate life to found a nonprofit that helped Guatemalan schoolchildren, a woman who started a vegetarian frozen foods company with her family, a couple who invented bathtub bumpers to protect their two young sons. Each week, I listened to interesting, heart-felt stories, and I felt twinges of envy. I was passionate about sharing their stories in the most honest and engaging manner possible, but I wanted to have a story worth telling. I wanted my own passion.
"I have passion for writing but not for business," I told her. "I want a job where I wake up every morning excited to go to work, like the people in my columns."
"Good luck," she replied. "Jobs like that don't exist."
Posted 4/14/2009 6:18:30 AM By: : 129 comments 15,669 views
Drinking a 20 Ounce Beverage Daily=26 Extra Pounds a Year
Want to know the easiest way to drop a few pounds? Stop drinking sugary beverages, according to a recent study.
In a study of 810 adults from across the States, researchers found that liquid calories are a bigger problem than food when it comes to weight gain and weight loss.
Think that one can of cola, vanilla venti latte or fruit punch sports drink everyday isn't going to affect your waistline? Think again, the study found.
Posted 4/13/2009 3:00:00 PM By: : 193 comments 41,471 views
Excellent Examples for Expending Extra Easter Eggs!
I know. My headline was a slightly cheesy (eggy?).
Still, are you up to your eyeballs with extra eggs? Does your egg cup runneth over?
If you've a dozen dolled-up eggs in the fridge, do you know what you're going to do with them? Egg salad and deviled eggs are tasty but mundane.
I've compiled an egg-cellent (sorry, last lame pun, I promise!) list of egg resources, with everything from recipes to egg carton decoders and even how to tell if you're eggs have gone bad.
Posted 4/12/2009 11:00:00 AM By: : 58 comments 12,517 views
How Many Calories are in Your Easter Basket?
Next to Halloween, Easter is the second-largest candy-giving holiday, according to the National Confectioners Association. With overflowing baskets of the sweet stuff lurking in your household, you should know what kind of caloric damage you're in for. Check out the nutrition info for some of the more popular Easter candies--before you dig into your basket.
Posted 4/11/2009 1:21:46 PM By: : 168 comments 26,122 views
Meat-Free Fridays: A Medley of Meatless
Each Friday during Lent, the dailySpark will feature a different meat-free main dish. Whether you observe Lent or not, we can all benefit from learning about alternate, affordable proteins. This is the final blog in the Meat-Free Friday series. View the rest of the series here.
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the adage applies to food. When you know you can't or shouldn't have a food, do you crave it all that much more? Since Lent started, have you had any Friday cravings for meat?
Sure, I've offered plenty of meat-free alternatives, but what are you to do when a craving for a hot dog, chicken nuggets or a turkey sandwich hits? Must you hold off until Saturday?
Nope. You can indulge your cravings for all your favorites--pepperoni pizza, BLTs and even sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches--even when you're on a meatless diet.
Welcome to the wonderful world of… meat analogs.
Posted 4/10/2009 6:00:00 PM By: : 145 comments 25,598 views
Special Deal: 15% Off Gnu Bars for dailySpark Readers
Last month we reviewed Gnu Bars, the snack bars with 50% of your daily fiber.
The folks at Gnu read our review--and your comments--and they decided to extend a special offer to dailySpark readers!
Posted 4/9/2009 2:22:29 PM By: : 53 comments 11,341 views
Speedy Suppers: Pizza Gets a South-of-the-Border Makeover
I love Spinning class. For me, it's a great workout--and 45-60 minutes of letting someone else tell me what to do. Compared with my other favorite form of fitness--yoga--Spinning requires less immediate focus and allows more time for contemplation. Through rolling hills, sprints and grueling jumps, I focus on the finish line--and quite often the delicious dinner I'll make once I get home.
I have been inspired to make plenty of new recipes while on a bike--both on the trail and in the Spinning studio. Sometimes they turn out so-so (a strange lasagna using root vegetables and collard greens in a vegan cream sauce--what?) and other times they rock my world!
The idea for this Mexican pizza came to me just a week ago, and my boyfriend is already asking when we'll be having it again.
When I was a kid, my parents were big fans of Chi-Chi's--the only thing resembling Mexican food we could get in southeastern Ohio. My palate wasn't quite as adventurous back then, so I'd always order the kids' Mexican pizza--ground beef and cheese baked on a tortilla and served with salsa. My tastes have changed--and so has my Mexican pizza.
I wanted a real pizza crust, something whole-grain and substantial enough to hold the plethora of produce I wanted to throw on top. Pizza crust is often dusted with cornmeal, so why not make a cornmeal crust?
I often struggle with dough. Too sticky, too dry, too chewy, too crispy--it's hard to achieve the proper balance. I hit gold with a variation of my mom's whole-wheat pizza dough. It's sturdy and chewy without being too doughy. It crisped up nicely, especially when I parbaked it in my cast-iron skillet. (The secret, I think, is plenty of fork holes to allow steam to escape the 3/4" crust.)
The crust, I realized, would make two pizzas. There would be food for tonight, tomorrow's lunch and snacks over the weekend!
The crusts rolled out and set to bake for a few minutes, I moved on to toppings. What would crown my Mexican masterpieces?
Posted 4/8/2009 12:26:18 PM By: : 104 comments 11,345 views
What You Can Learn from America's Top Sports Nutrition Expert
Dave Ellis has an encyclopedic knowledge of nutrition and possesses an uncanny ability to distill complicated scientific information into succinct, sound advice for the rest of us. For 27 years, Ellis, a registered dietitian and Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, has worked with collegiate and professional teams across the country. He created his three-step Fueling Tactics system years before the government unveiled the food pyramid. His plan focuses on keeping athletes' immune systems up with plenty of produce and healthy oils, selecting fiber-rich starches and reducing fast-digesting sugars when inactive to provide more energy for training, and diversifying protein sources to promote quicker recoveries.
Ellis has worked with every sport imaginable, from collegiate and professional football and baseball to NASCAR, yachting, weightlifting and even ice skating. Ellis regularly authors columns for multiple publications, including Training & Conditioning and USA Hockey Magazine, and is also a Master Level V USA Hockey Certified Coach. He is often described as a “nutrition coach” because of his ability to motivate athletes to eat well.
Ellis recently spent an hour sharing his expertise with the dailySpark. From his Super Bowl victory, three National Championships and dozen Bowl victories and his time spent with legendary coaches--including his mentor, former Nebraska head football coach Tom Osborne--Ellis has amassed endless interesting stories and anecdotes.
He shared a bit about his background, told some stories about his current projects, and related his work with pro and college athletes to the struggles we go through each day: eating enough vegetables, getting family members on board with a healthy lifestyle and knowing whom to believe when it comes to health and nutrition.
Note from SparkGuy: "Dave is an amazing coach and person, we're fortunate to have him sharing his expertise and stories with SparkPeople members. I've met with Dave several times and his passion for helping people really shines through."
Posted 4/7/2009 10:38:51 AM By: : 53 comments 23,347 views
Meet the Guy Behind All Those Cool Videos on SparkPeople
A few weeks back, we shared a peek inside the SparkPeople offices. Paul had just returned from paternity leave and his co-workers welcomed him with a new office!
You said you'd love to know more about SparkPeople, so we've decided to launch a new series: Meet the SparkPeople Team. Over the coming weeks and months, we'll be interviewing various SparkPeople employees. The behind-the-scenes folks here are really excited to tell you a little about what they do at SparkPeople!
Paul was the one who inspired this series, so we thought it only fitting to let him kick off "Meet the SparkPeople Team."
Posted 4/6/2009 11:07:38 AM By: : 104 comments 13,889 views
Meat-Free Fridays: Time to Try Tempeh
Each Friday during Lent, the dailySpark will feature a different meat-free main dish. Whether you observe Lent or not, we can all benefit from learning about alternate, affordable proteins. Read the rest of the series here.
So I converted some of you to tofu lovers likers a couple of weeks back. Are you ready for your next assignment?
This week, I’m going to introduce you to tempeh.
What is tempeh (pronounced tem-pay)?
Tempeh is a fermented product made from soybeans that's especially popular on the Indonesian island of Java. Before you wrinkle your nose, know it's not pungent like sauerkraut, kimchi, or natto.
But before we talk about how it's made, let's look at how we eat it. Trust me, it's tasty!
Posted 4/3/2009 11:00:00 AM By: : 115 comments 23,454 views
Could Water Be a Miracle Cleaning Fluid or a Cure-All?
Most of you already know that we are keen on water here at SparkPeople. So when SparkGuy sent some info about water as a miracle cleaning solution in addition to being a miracle beverage, I had to learn more!
I already knew that even plain old tap water (my beverage of choice) could hydrate, aid digestion, lower blood pressure, reduce constipation, reduce stress, and even regulate body temperature.
What I didn't know was that a certain kind of water could clean bathrooms, degrease a kitchen and even treat athlete's foot.
It's called electrolyzed water.
Posted 4/1/2009 6:17:36 AM By: : 67 comments 9,156 views
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