Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Favorite Product of the Week: Nespresso Essenza

One of my absolute favorite products that my husband and I use on a daily basis is our Nespresso Essenza machine. We registered for this when we got married and were over the moon when it appeared in our kitchen. Our machine (Essenza C100 model) makes single-serve esspresso that has the aroma, taste and crema that rivals any latte I've ever ordered in a restaurant or coffee shop. In fact, I prefer it to the lattes I used to get at the place around the corner from us, which shall remain nameless. It takes up barely any space on our counter and seriously makes the best esspresso ever. The aroma alone brings a smile to my face.

We have a milk frother (also made by Nespresso) as well because we usually drink our espresso in lattes or an occasional cappucino, though this stuff is so good we have, on occasion, sipped it just as it is (i.e., without milk). This machine feels at the same time like an absolute luxury and a total necessity, if that makes any sense at all. The quality is top-notch, so you think it is indeed a luxury, but when you get used to having it in your house, you cannot live without it. Ever. Again.

During the winter months we make lattes on a daily basis, and on hotter days we make iced lattes that I think we could sell on the street for a hefty price. They're that good. In fact, when I was on maternity leave, I got so used to my daily afternoon iced-latte that I wondered how much of I hard time I'd get if I bought a second Nespresso machine to use at the office. I decided against this, but haven't entirely called it out of question in the future.

Anyway, we looooooooooooooooooooove our Nespresso machine and tell everyone about it. That said, we don't love our regular coffee maker and are ready to replace it. The debate I'm having is whether to go with the pod system for drip coffee (we love it so much for esspresso!!) and if so, which one: Keurig? Tassimo? Others? Any/all suggestions welcomed!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Intuitive Eating: Book Review

I've been putting off writing a review of Inuitive Eating because I'm afraid my words won't do justice to it at all. Because this book made such an impact on me, I want this review to be extra special. I was lucky enough to find this book right after finishing Making Peace with Food, and let me tell you, I couldn't put it down.

The first chapter of Intuitive Eating is called Hitting Diet Bottom, and hit it I did. The second chapter looks at what kind of eater you are: the careful eater, the professional dieter, the unconscious eater, an on and on. There are then sub-categories under each of these. If you've ever struggled with eating and cannot find a description of yourself on these pages, you should probably write your own book because I felt so immensely understood by these authors in their picture-perfect descriptions of me and how I chose my food at the time.

The book then takes you through the 10 principles of intuitive eating, starting with Principle 1: Reject the Diet Mentality. This principle was hugely important to me. It lays out in a very clear and compelling way, all the reasons why diets don't work and, frankly, aren't good for you. Here's just one nugget, from page 49 of the second edition:

"A thirty-two-year study of more than 3,000 men and women in the Framingham Heart Study has shown that regardless of initial weight, people whose weight repeatedly goes up and down--known as weight cycling or yo-yo dieting -- have a higher overall death rate and twice the normal risk of dying from heart disease. These results were independent of cardiovascular risk factors, and held true regardless if a person was thin or obeses. The harm from yo-yo dieting may be equal to the risks of staying obese."

Even after I'd finished the book, I often came back to this chapter after overhearing someone in an elevator at work talking about needing to "go on a diet" or "spend an extra hour at the gym" because she ate a, gasp(!), brownie. It was my salvation to come back to this book for reassurance that the non-dieting path I was on was the right one for me.

Another one of my favorite quotes from the book can be found at the beginning of chapter 12. It says:

"Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect realistically to squeeze into a size six, it is equally futile (and uncomfortable) to have a similar expectation about body size. Respect your body so you can feel better about who you are. It's hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical of your body shape."

So rational, and yet so far from the reality of so many people. We're taught that our bodies are a constant project to be poked, prodded, evaluated and dieted down to the "perfect" size and shape, which of course doesn't exist.

Elyse Resch, who I'm lucky enough to know and study under, brings a spiritual approach to the book which I found particularly comforting and inspiring. Evelyn Tribole brings an entirely different energy (and she has lots of it!) that's focused on the facts and motivating her readers to give up dieting and trust their bodies.

The one chapter that was tough for me to swallow while in the midst of healing from my eating disorder, was the one dedicated to Principle 10: Honor Your Health -- Gentle Nutrition. Because I had such a fear of fat during my unhealthiest years, this chapter was difficult for me. I had to put this chapter on the back burner for years because I needed to focus on anything but nutrition. To focus on nutrition at the end of this otherwise life-saving book, felt to me like giving an alcoholic a glass of wine on new year's. So I had to ignore it.

That said, the book is written by two nutritionists, so they had to share their wisdom about nutrition, and their advice is solid. I would just recommend skipping this chapter until you are fully recovered from your issues with food. I also know for myself that when I don't worry about nutrition, I get it. Does that make sense? When I don't worry about nutrition, I'm free to eat a burger and fries, but I'm also free to eat an entire bowl of brocolli. So I'm quite confident that all in all my body is getting a wonderful array of nutritients, vitamins and minerals. I just can't "try to be nutritious" because it screws with my head.

I could go on about this book, but I'll wrap it up here. If you had only one book to read on the subject of recovering from disordered eating, this would be the one book I'd tell you to buy. So, if you haven't already....