Shrinking Sisters

A 'detox diet' for your electronics

I'm not a big fan of detox diets or cleanses, unless it has to do with clutter. The human body has a very efficient way of ridding itself of toxins all on its own (yeah, that), but on the outside, we humans tend to hold onto old junk a little too long.

I'm a big fan of Peter Walsh, who wrote the book "Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat." In it, he says that a cluttered, messy home can have a negative effect on weight loss.

So what do you do with all your old, out-of-date electronic stuff? You can't throw it in the regular trash.

Live near a Best Buy? You can take all your old e-stuff there for electronics recycling, even stuff you didn't buy there, and no matter how old the items are. (You should have seen the collection of old Palm PDAs we had growing in the spare room!)

I'm always a little wary of bringing old electronics to recycling places because I have no idea what will become of my personal information, but Best Buy makes sure the hard drives are wiped clean and destroyed before they are recycled.

Want to find out more about the recycling program? Check out the video below:

 

Watch live streaming video from thebby at livestream.com

Disclosure: I have been compensated with a Best Buy Gift Card for this post.

We check out the Fitbit Zip

Cute, isn't it?

We're big fans of the Fitbit line of products here at Shrinking Sisters. Carol and I were rocking the Ultra all summer and I recently got the updated Fitbit One, which buzzes me awake every morning.

But if you're looking for something cute and compact to track your activity and want to economize, Fitbit has also introduced the Fitbit Zip, a pebble-sized clip-on activity tracker that comes in a jellybean collection of colors.

The Zip, which tracks steps, distance and calories burned, uploads wirelessly to your computer or your smartphone (Apple and Android). It also works with some fitness apps, including MyFitnessPal, LoseIt, Endomondo, and SparkPeople. (I'm a SparkPeople member and you can rack up major SparkPoints with a Fitbit.)

In addition, I'll make it easier for you to check out a Fitbit Zip with a 20 percent off coupon from Best Buy. There's also a coupon for small appliances, like juicers and blenders, for all your healthy smoothies. Check 'em out below (click on the thumbnails and a large PDF will magically appear for you to print out):

You can join in the fun on Twitter -- use the #MillionSteps and #BestBuy hashtags to commune with other go-getters.

I received a Fitbit Zip from Best Buy to use in this review. All opinions are my own.

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Wheat germ is back, baby! (A giveaway)

Back in October, I had read this "New York Times" article about Kretschmer Wheat Germ and its campaign to introduce its product to a new generation of customers.

Wheat germ and I go way back.

My mom was always reading Prevention magazine, visiting the local health food store and reading Adelle Davis' books. Wheat germ was a frequent ingredient in a lot of Davis' recipes and I remember making wheat germ muffins as a teenager.

I've bought it on and off through the years but that "Times" article made me smile.

Then, I got a PR pitch about Kretschmer Wheat Germ. (Guess I'm part of their social media campaign.)

That was a few months ago and I've frankly been swamped with new products, books, DVDs and all sorts of "New You 2013" pitches.

But I haven't forgotten you, wheat germ!

Here's something that I've been making for years -- I call 'em Nutty Banana Wraps. It's a low-carb tortilla spread with a tablespoon of nut butter into which you place a small banana and sprinkle a tablespoon of wheat germ on top, and perhaps a sprinkle of cinnamon. Then you roll the whole shebang up and eat it, or cut it into little rounds, like I did this morning for breakfast. Depending on your tortilla, the whole thing is 250 calories or less, which makes a light meal or substantial snack.

I also used it in Devin Alexander's recipe for Pumped-Up Pumpkin Pie Bites from her "Biggest Loser Dessert Cookbook" (Rodale, $14.95). She uses crushed Kashi Nuggets cereal, but the wheat germ worked great. (Here's the recipe, which I now make every Thanksgiving.) By the way, Devin is going to be featured on this coming Monday's episode of "The Biggest Loser."

At only 25 calories a tablespoon, it's great sprinkled into yogurt, over fro-yo or ice cream, over applesauce, mixed into burgers or meatloaf instead of bread crumbs, and offers a decent source of folic acid, vitamin E and B vitamins.

So, want a free coupon?

Let me know what your favorite "old school health food" is in the comments by NOON ET, FRIDAY, FEB. 8, 2013, and I'll randomly choose a reader to get that free jar of wheat germ (the Honey Crunch version is super delish).

Help for your summer-singed hair (and a shot at a spa gift)

With age comes the wisdom that you don’t have to spend $20 a bottle on salon hair products when there are some really effective products right at the grocery store for a lot less, especially Dove hair-care products. They’re very well priced, smell great and work just as well as the fancy-pants salon stuff.

BlogHer sent me Dove’s Nourishing Oil Care Conditioner to test on my prodigious mound of shoulder-length fine wavy hair, frizzed by sun, sweat and summer. This time of year, the humidity and heat has my hair growing literally sideways, so I’m in need of moisture.

I was a bit wary of the word Oil on the label, since heavy conditioners can make my hair look flat. But Dove’s Nourishing Oil Care Conditioner uses Weightless Nutri-Oils and don’t have a greasy feel. It also has conditioners that seal cuticles and smooth frizz.

Now that I’ve been using it for a week, my hair feels less frizzy, looks shinier and isn’t so “sideways.”

To find out more about Dove’s line of hair-care products, visit www.dovehair.com.

Can your hair use a little (or a lot) of help after its summer fun?

Here’s a lovely little perk to my review – you can enter to win a $1,000 Spafinder gift certificate.

Enter to win a $1,000 Spafinder gift certificate!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

COMMENTS TO THIS POST ARE NOT SWEEPSTAKES ENTRIES. PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR ENTRY METHODS FOR THIS SWEEPSTAKES.

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c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and then visit this link to provide your email address and the URL to that post.

This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. Winners will have 72 hours to claim the prize, or an alternative winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 9/4/2012 - 9/30/2012

Be sure to visit Dove^®Hair.com to get a coupon for $1.50 off Dove Hair Therapy products.

Random thoughts on a Friday

I’ve been waging a war with Norton 360, making it back up the damn computer. After a week of fits and starts, the backup program finally completed correctly last night. I just can’t work with a big, red ALERT! hanging out on my screen. And that’s why I didn’t have an update on Monday.

But Monday was also the first day of school for the teenager, and with that, I scampered out the door and went for a walk/run while buses and cars clogged the streets around my house. Midweek, I Zumba-ed and yoga-ed at home, and today after I dropped off the kid and his trombone, I drove directly to the gym where I got in some bike, elliptical and weights – first time I’d been back to the gym in months. I'm planning on putting those Monday and Friday workouts on my permanent to-do list.

I’ve also been decluttering like mad. One of the daily activities in the Lighten-Up plan is to spend 10 minutes a day decluttering something. I can’t stop at 10 minutes and have been shredding, tossing and purging like the opposite of one of those people you see on Hoarders.

I was going to write an update yesterday but did a little Meals on Wheels for Carol last night. Someone who shouldn’t be driving anymore T-boned her car, sending it spinning into the scrub on the side of the road.  (Driving in South Florida is an extreme sport.) Carol’s fine, perhaps a little achy, but the car, a once-adorable Kia Soul, is a crumpled mess. She turned down the offer of my freshly made sausage and kale soup and instead wanted fast food. Usually I’d be a Debbie Downer about that, but who’s to deny someone who just had their car smashed in? Got her a Happy Meal, which is probably the best fast-food choice, since it’s a reasonable amount of food.

So while Carol is figuring out what to do with insurance and old ladies and transportation, I’ll probably be blogging solo for awhile. But she’s still using her Fitbit to log miles at work. She works at a huge private school, and this week all the kids are coming back to buy their books and supplies, so she’s getting a lot of steps and weight (books) lifting in.

Imaginary pasta party at my house!

Came home from the gym this morning to find a Priority Mail box stuffed with Miracle Noodles at my front door. It was a LivingSocial deal, and now I am set for weeks with “imaginary” pasta and rice. I prefer Miracle Noodles over other brands – they don’t seem to have that “bottom of the aquarium” smell that other brands have, and they’re made in the USA … ‘murica!

 

Haven’t stepped on the scale all week – we’re still not on speaking terms and I have been absolutely bear-like with PMS (I think) cravings. But I have to STOP using PMS as an excuse to forage through the pick-a-nick baskets at night. But I'm heartened by my fitness activity this week, and the weekend will be a stellar example of craving control, so perhaps we'll visit the scale Monday morning.

Note to self: You are 50, not 15. What’s up with the waking up with a zit in the middle of your nose?

 

 

Being cool is cool: We check out Sleep Number's In Balance products

Are you familiar with the Middle-Aged Lady phenomenon known as “flinging off the covers at 3 a.m. and running to the air conditioner thermostat to turn the setting down to Arctic so you can get a decent night sleep”?

Sleep is really important to weight loss. A bad night’s sleep doesn’t just give you the crankies. It messes with your leptin hormone, which tells you to stop eating. When you are sleep deprived, you have less leptin and are more inclined to troll the kitchen at night.

Sleep Number caught wind of my quest for the perfect night sleep and sent me its In Balance Layer and Pillow Protector, which claim to keep your bed and pillow cool and comfy.

And they do.

After a couple weeks of using them, I’m definitely a cooler sleeper. (And isn’t being cool cool?)

And it’s not just a Middle-Aged Lady problem. If you’re working out like a beast, you tend to run hotter, what with your raging metabolism and all.

What sort of magical properties are in the In Balance products?  It’s called Outlast and was originally developed for NASA spacesuits (cuz I'm guessing those things can be hella hot). It absorbs heat, not moisture, so it’s not a wicking material. Instead, it pulls the heat away from your hot, slumbering body, keeping you cooler.

 

Sleep Number's In Balance Layer.

The cool (ha!) thing is, when I took it out of the packaging and put it on the bed (over the mattress pad and under the fitted sheet, I immediately felt it was cooler than everything else around.

 

The pillow protector just has the Outlast on one side but since that side is cooler, you don’t have to flip your pillow around to find the cool side.

Both the In Balance Layer and the Pillow Protector are machine washable and dryer-friendly.

The In Balance Layer retails for $169.99 (queen size) and the Pillow Protector retails for $39.99, but there's a sale going on through Saturday, July 21, which takes the price of the Layer down to $127.

Sleep Number sent me the In Balance Layer and Pillow Protector to review, and I was not compensated for this post.

Friday finds: Chip maker, green hummus, twitterdiet partying, HealthBuzz

Consider this a big ol' salad bowl of Shrinking Sisters info today.

 

I was watching the Dr. Oz Show last week and saw a cool new product -- the Mastrad TopChips kit, which consists of a mandoline slicer and a silicone tray. You slice your fruits and veggies paper thin, then place them on the tray and microwave, making chips. I ordered one from Amazon and it just arrived this morning, so I grabbed an apple to try it out. They came out a little more like dried apple slices than crispy chips but they were still good and a fun way to stretch an apple. Carrot chips didn't work at all, but I have a high-powered microwave and may have to lower the temp a little to get the right drying effect. Sweet potato crisps will be my next experiment.

While at a Whole Foods Engine 2 Challenge Wednesday night, one of the employees mentioned green garbanzo hummus, as it doesn't have any added oil -- just tahini, garbanzos and spices -- so I gave it a try and was really impressed. More impressive -- it only has 39 calories per ounce, which is about half the calories as regular hummus. The brand I got was Nature's Healthy Gourmet, a Florida company that sells its product at Whole Foods.

 

Last night I had the pleasure of co-hosting a Twitter party. For the most part, I don't do Twitter parties because they're usually sponsored by a company and the conversation keeps getting steered toward how awesome that product is with hashtag spam. But Rebecca Regnier's #twitterdiet parties on Thursdays and Sundays at 8 p.m. are geared toward people talking about weight loss and how we can keep each other accountable. So next time you find your handles twitching for evening Doritos, fire up the laptop and join the party.

 

 And, finally, here's this week's HealthBuzz!

Don't buy crap with coupons (and check your bra straps)

So I was on the 11 p.m. news last night. Don't worry -- an alligator didn't eat my dog nor did I drive my car into an ice cream parlor (typical South Florida news stories).

No, I was talking about my secret skill -- couponing.

I've been doing it since college -- as a journalism major and longtime newspaper employee, Sunday coupon circulars were easy to come by.

But here's where coupon clipping can trip you up with weight loss (tying this into the theme of the blog) -- don't buy something just because you have a coupon. If you're clutching a coupon for chewy chocolate chip granola bars and you don't own a toddler, slip that coupon under the box of bars at the grocery store and make someone's day.

Many coupons are for processed foods, candy, sugary cereal and even dog junk food (you don't need Tuna Helper and your dog does not need Pupperoni).  Resist the urge to clip those and instead clip the ones for non-crappy foods that can help your weight-loss plan, such as coffee, produce, Greek yogurt, eggs, frozen fruit and veggies, and almonds.

I don't blog about couponing because I'm not "extreme" about it. I don't dumpster dive for newspaper circulars, South Florida stores don't double coupons, I don't have a basement to stockpile and I'm not a fan of ramen noodles. (Ever watch Extreme Couponing? For the most part, the families eat crap. "More pizza rolls and orange soda kids? Here, wash it down with a big glass of liquid soap.") My tools are at left: A small coupon organizer, preprinted shopping lists and the weekly ad -- either in printed form or on the web. (Yes, I'm a total Publix fangirl.)

When people say it costs too much to eat healthfully, I say "Ha!" Yeah, you can go through the drive-thru and pick up a cheeseburger for a buck, but you can also pick up a metric ton of fresh green beans for the same price (OK, I exaggerate), rinse them and microwave them for a couple minutes. On Christmas Eve, my two main side dishes for eight people were steamed green beans and sweet potatoes. The green beans were around a dollar and eight sweet potatoes were around $1.50. That's cheap food, folks. And I didn't even need a coupon for those.

Here's the video from last night. (All week the only thing on my mind was "my bra strap was totally hanging out of my shirt," but alas it stayed hidden.)

And here's someone who's much more comfortable on camera than I -- Jamie from Diets in Review, with this week's HealthBuzz:

Motivation Monday: 5 fab fitness must-haves

Looking for an inexpensive little gift for yourself to keep your exercise streak going? Here are a few cheap thrills that I absolutely love:

Old Navy T-shirts: I used to be all about the giant workout T-shirts that looked like a tent and covered me down to my hips. Not flattering at all. After countless episodes of What Not to Wear, it finally sunk into my head that a more fitted T-shirt will make you look thinner. So I've been working out in Old Navy T-shirts. Lighter, slimmer fitting and usually crazy cheap when they're on clearance. I've even downsized from XXL to XL. And no, they don't cover my butt -- deal with it, spectators.

iPod Nano watch band: My fifth-generation iPod video has always been a bit too bulky strapped to my arm, and since I've been using my BodyMedia FIT, there just isn't room on my arm for it. So I gathered up a bunch of Toys R Us gift cards (we have a Toys R Us credit card that awards us with those) and got myself one of the new itty bitty Nanos, which is oh-so-easier to workout with. After clipping it to my waistband for awhile I sprung for one of those watch bands that turns the Nano into a very cool watch. I bought one on Amazon for $17 in a zippy orange. It's a great way to wear your Nano while working out.

Hanes Comfort-Toe Seam socks: I have gigantic feet. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. My sneakers are a women's size 12. So most ordinary socks don't fit me, especially if they're low cut. But I was recently set a trio of new socks from Hanes (I'm a BzzAgent) and these are super stretchy, comfortable and, best of all, inexpensive. The seam across the toes is just about invisible, so there's no rubbing while you run or walk.  

Skullcandy Chops ear buds: I have a problem with ear buds. The ones that you jam in your ears get really uncomfortable, plus I tend to lose those little rubber tips on the earpieces, which makes the ear buds unusable. While on vacation last month, I lost one of the rubber tips (again), so I headed over to Target and discovered these over-the-ear ear buds that don't have any tips to lose. So since they don't jam into your ears, they're way more comfortable for long periods of time, and the ear hooks are super comfy and infinitely adjustable. Also, they're less than $20 and come in lots of colors.

Bondi Bands: Often I'll grab a bandanna from my huge collection that I've had for probably 20 years (they never wear out), and workout "pirate style," but when I want to make a statement, I'll grab my "Suck it Up, Cupcake" Bondi Band instead. What are Bondi Bands? They're awesome wide headbands that wick up sweat like nobody's business. I have a nice little collection of colors and designs, but the "cupcake" one is my fave. I also love that Bondi Band is a small company

My most 'go-to' dinner of them all

We've already checked out my go-to breakfasts and lunches so now it's time for dinner.

I don't really have all that many tricks up my sleeve for dinner because often it's something super simple like a baked salmon fillet or chicken breast, frozen broccoli and a baked potato. (And -- shhhh, don't tell Martha Stewart -- sometimes it's salad and a frozen pizza, but something healthy like Kashi or Amy's.)

But every now and then I like to stir up a batch of chili -- yes, even in summer.

I've been tweaking my go-to recipe for years, subbing out proteins, beans and spices. My latest tweak is because of the BlogHer Knorr Four Recipe Contest. I'm one of 200 bloggers vying to become one of the Knorr Four – a panel of bloggers who will share insights and expertise to provide tips and recipes.

My entree is Confetti Chicken Chili -- "Confetti" because it's really colorful with the variety of peppers, onions and beans. It uses Knorr's new Homestyle Concentrated Chicken Stock, which comes in a four-pack of little tubs, and each tub makes 4 cups of stock.

The recipe makes 6 servings so it's great for a couple nights of dinners. Either enjoy it as is or dish it over brown rice, quinoa or a baked potato. If you're not a fan of black beans, try white ones, or pintos. (The photo below used white kidney beans.)

Confetti Chicken Chili

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (or to taste)
• 1 pound ground chicken breast
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15-oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 15-oz. can no-salt-added tomatoes
• 2-3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
• Cayenne pepper to taste
• 1 tub Knorr Homestyle Concentrated Chicken Stock

Heat olive oil in extra-large skillet or dutch oven. Add onions, peppers and garlic and cook until translucent. Add chicken and cook until browned. Add rest of ingredients, cover and cook on medium-low heat for 45 minutes.

(If making recipe in slow cooker, add all ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours. It'll be a little soupier but it's great over rice.)

Each serving is around 375 calories each with a bountiful 12 grams of fiber per serving.

Fiber One contest deadline today

You only have a couple hours left to enter my Fiber One giveaway, so if you're interested, get crackin' over HERE.