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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Habits of Healthy Eaters: Cook at Home
I didn't take home ec and never took a formal cooking class. I didn't buy a cookbook until I got to college, but I've been cooking for as long as I can remember.
Baking blueberry buckle, picking cherries and making applesauce with my Gramma Willie and watching Papa Jim make ground beef stew, roast beef and macaroni and cheese are among my earliest memories. They, along with my mother, invited me into the kitchen, gave me an apron and put me to work from the time I could walk.
I don't remember going out to eat unless we had gone to the mall (also a rarity for this small-town kid). Instead, I remember home-cooked meals for special occasions, with vegetables from my granddad's garden.
Growing up, my mom cooked dinner from scratch every night (She had a 101 ways to cook chicken cookbook, and I think she tried them all!), and we had family dinner at my grandparents house every weekend (roast beef or ham, mashed potatoes, a salad and a big plate of raw vegetables).
Today, we eat a home-cooked, nutritious meal at least six nights a week. People like me--and maybe you--have become an anomaly.
As obesity rates have risen, Westerners have become kitchen illiterate at alarming rates. Reacquainting ourselves with the kitchen--meaning the stove and oven, not just the microwave and refrigerator--is an important part of a healthy lifestyle.
Forget becoming the next Top Chef. Can you cook to save your life?
Posted 2/11/2009 4:21:43 PM By: : 202 comments 24,794 views
NEW: Search for Recalled Peanut Butter Products
With the peanut butter recall spreading every day, the Food and Drug Administration has made it easier to determine which products have been affected.
They've created a widget that allows you to search for tainted and recalled products. I know I've mentioned this recall and the affected products before, but it's better to be safe than sorry!
Posted 2/7/2009 6:32:00 AM By: : 65 comments 7,734 views
Habits of Healthy Eaters: Measure Portions
My boyfriend recently started measuring what he eats and tracking it on SparkPeople. As it turns out, the oversized bowls that he uses for pasta hold more than 2 cups of noodles. A serving size is half a cup, so he was often eating four times what he should have been! That's an extra 250 calories.
He also discovered that the "splash" of half-and-half he used in his coffee was more like 3 tablespoons--60 calories and 6 grams of fat. Multiply that times two cups of coffee seven days a week and that's an extra 840 calories and 84 grams of fat.
Measuring portions helps keep you on track, and it keeps you from convincing yourself you only had "a few" chips when you know the bag was full when you opened it. (No one else does that? Just me? OK…) Find out how to recover from portion distortion.
Posted 2/6/2009 2:05:14 PM By: : 202 comments 24,636 views
Quell That 3 p.m. Sweet Tooth
It's 3 p.m. You're craving something sweet. There's a box of doughnuts in the office kitchen, and a bag of cookies in the pantry. What do you do? How can you satisfy your sweet tooth without going overboard on fat and calories? Try one of these dozen sweet treats!
Posted 2/5/2009 2:00:00 PM By: : 193 comments 32,874 views
You Told Us: How Real People Save Big and Stay Healthy
Thanks for sharing all of your tips with us, dailySpark readers. These days, we can all benefit from advice on saving money at the grocery store. I've collected some of the best tips from readers and compiled them here. This is the first in a series of how you save money and stay healthy! (Some tips have been edited for space and clarity.)
CLUIZ.UCI
My fiancé and I are kind of impulsive when it comes to what we eat, so we purchase staple items like whole wheat breads and tortillas, bulk packages of meat, and a few of our favorite fruits and veggies. Then we add in a few extras like some fancy cheese or a spaghetti sauce to give individual meals some flair. It allows us the flexibility we like, but we also save a bundle and know we're eating well.
CUTIEME
I order groceries online. I just go to the store and pick them up. I never have to be tempted to buy extras, and I also don't have to spend 45-60 minutes in a grocery store with a screaming 4-year-old begging for something. It is worth the $5 I spend for the convenience. They will even take coupons and adjust the bill.
When I don't do this I spend $30 more at the grocery store and have less food. All you need is a master list with the basics.
Posted 2/3/2009 12:44:49 PM By: : 56 comments 11,583 views
Ch-ch-changes (for the Better) at the dailySpark!
Notice anything different about the dailySpark today?
We gave Your Healthy Lifestyle Blog a quick makeover. Now it's easier to find popular posts, and you can quickly get to common topics even faster. We also expanded our "About Us" section so it's easier for you to share story ideas with us. Everything else--including all the great health, fitness, and nutrition content--remains the same!
Take a look at what's changed:
Posted 2/2/2009 6:00:07 PM By: : 35 comments 4,072 views
Pasta is Returning to the Center of the Plate
Pass the penne.
Serve up some spaghetti.
Fetch some fettuccini.
Pasta is back in style.
Low-carbohydrate fads were trumped last year by rising food prices, as more consumers turned to pasta to stretch their food buck. Sales of the pantry staple rose 5 percent, according to American Italian Pasta Co., the biggest U.S. manufacturer of dry pasta. Part of that increase is linked to the rising costs of commodities, including wheat, which manufacturers passed on to consumers.
Consumption of pasta rose 0.4 percent by volume nationwide. An Associated Press story that ran in the International Herald Tribune said those numbers exclude pasta sales at Wal-Mart, where consumption rates rose higher.
Whole-wheat, multi-grain and other "better for you" pastas are continuing to sell well, according to industry experts.
Pasta is cheap, filling and easy to make, but be careful to not overload on it, even when you're watching your bottom line.
Posted 2/2/2009 2:08:09 PM By: : 115 comments 13,421 views
This Week's Best Links
We've rounded up some interesting and informative links from around the web.
Find coupons on some of your favorite brands, at EatBetterAmerica.com
Do you have a favorite coupon site?
Advocacy group sues Coca-Cola over Vitamin Water, from the WashingtonPost.com
Do you drink Vitamin Water for the "health benefits"?
Posted 2/1/2009 8:00:00 AM By: : 42 comments 10,794 views
9 Ways to Eat the Mediterranean Way
Maybe it's the olive oil, maybe it's the varied and healthful foods in their diet, or maybe it's the spectacular views of the ocean, but the Mediterranean region is known for good health and longevity.
Harvard Women's Health Watch shared these ideas with us.
Posted 1/28/2009 6:00:00 AM By: : 92 comments 20,751 views
Save $$ on Your Super Bowl Party
When you're entertaining, you always want to make sure you have enough food on hand. But no one wants to waste food either. How can you determine how much food to buy for a party?
We'll show you exactly how much food you'll need for your Super Bowl party.
Posted 1/27/2009 3:40:28 PM By: : 27 comments 14,778 views
Watch Video of Dietgirl on the 'Early Show'
Dietgirl, aka Shauna Reid, made her U.S. television debut on the CBS Early Show this morning. If you missed Shauna's amazing story, read about it here.
Shauna is a fan of SparkPeople, and she mentioned us in CBS' online version of her story. Watch the video:
Posted 1/26/2009 5:22:17 PM By: : 53 comments 7,863 views
Find Out Which Peanut Products are SAFE to Eat
Have you been throwing away all products containing peanut butter over fears of Salmonella?
Good news! The American Peanut Council has released a list of food products NOT affected by the widespread recall.
From Girl Scout Cookies to Reese's Cups, plenty of popular brands are excluded from the recall.
Read on for the entire list.
Posted 1/25/2009 5:42:35 PM By: : 90 comments 18,564 views
Namaste! Happy Yoga Day USA
Namaste! Today is Yoga Day USA--a great time to try out a yoga class.
I started practicing yoga in college, when a friend and I signed up for a weekly 90-minute hatha yoga class at our university rec center. With plenty of stretching, basic poses and a slow pace, this was a great introductory class. Over the next few years I took classes at my gym and did DVDs at home, but I really didn't consider yoga much more than a nice stretching workout that helped tone my muscles a bit.
Almost two years ago, a good friend of mine started training as a yoga teacher. She came to visit and took me to an Ashtanga (sometimes called power) yoga class. I'm naturally flexible but not very strong, so the class was a great combination of comfort and challenges.
By the time we left Savasana (corpse pose) and chanted a closing "Om," I was hooked. I felt so centered, so relaxed, so healthy. I now make time for almost daily yoga practice. Sometimes I take classes, sometimes I do a DVD, but most of the time I practice on my own. On busy days, I just do stretching poses for 10 minutes or so, but usually I find time for 30 or more minutes.
In addition to the fitness benefits (flexibility, balance, coordination and strength), yoga offers relaxation and spiritual benefits for many people.
Posted 1/24/2009 8:00:12 AM By: : 106 comments 15,554 views
The Inauguration Luncheon, Slimmed Down
While most of us watched the Inauguration while munching on brown bag lunches or last night's leftovers, the new president and other dignitaries enjoyed a much more lavish feast yesterday.
After the oath, the speech and the parade, all the bigwigs at the Inauguration headed to a fancy multicourse luncheon. While the Obamas are reputed to be fairly healthful eaters, yesterday's meal was certainly a special-occasion meal.
According to the New York Examiner, "The nutritional toll per person for the three-course meal: 3,048 calories and 142 grams of fat – not including the wine and champagne that will accompany each course."
We took a look at the recipes from the luncheon and tried to find some approximate yet healthier versions. See what you think!
Posted 1/21/2009 5:00:34 AM By: : 79 comments 9,817 views
Keep Your Stomach--and Your Wallet--Full with These Meals
Times are tough. We're all tightening our belts, some of us proverbially and some us literally. (Did you know that one can beget the other? It's true!)
We've got plenty of ways to keep your stomach and your wallet filled.
Posted 1/20/2009 10:19:41 AM By: : 42 comments 9,896 views
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