1. CSPI’S Nutrition Action Healthletter
2. Family Meal Times Make the Difference!
3. “My Trainer” by Jessica Tyrrell, 2010 “Most Inspirational” Gold’s Gym Challenge Winner

Have you ever had that really nice friend of yours come up to you with something so delicious that it makes your mouth water and then they say “Just have one bite. It isn’t going to kill you” and they KNOW you’re on a diet!  Or even the battle within yourself of telling yourself that you can have one bite and it isn’t going to hurt you.  The thing you need to really ask yourself is; are you really just going to have ONE bite? For me the answer is very simple, no. If you give me a cookie and I take a bite I’m pretty sure I’m going to demolish the rest of that cookie and then tell myself that if I ate one cookie I already blew my diet for the day and I’m going to eat another. It goes the same with any type of food you eat. Just one bite of pasta. Just one bite of pizza. Just one bite of…. You get the point!
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1. “Misconceptions” by Jessica Tyrrell, Gold’s Gym Member
2. “Keeping Your Motivation” by Jessica Tyrrell, Gold’s Gym member and the 2010 Most Inspirational Challenge Winner
3. “My Trainer” by Jessica Tyrrell, 2010 “Most Inspirational” Gold’s Gym Challenge Winner

Summer is just around the corner. Try this “Apple Barbecue Sauce” for your next grilling venture.
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1. “Greek-Style Pasta” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant
2. A Return to Common Sense
3. SALADS!!!!

Want to lose weight and keep it off?  When researchers studied the habits of individuals who have lost 30 or more pounds and have successfully kept the weight off, here are the tried-and-true strategies and habits they uncovered.
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1. Body Weight Workout
2. The 29 Most Healthy Foods!!- This is a must read article!!
3. Calories vs. Cardio

Most ingredients fit into the chop chop salads, but conserve on your calories by lessening your dressing and adding flavorful vegies and spices!
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1. “Greek-Style Pasta” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant
2. Apple Barbecue Sauce
3. “Recipes” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant

Who else watches the Biggest Loser? I love to watch that show. I call it my “motivation”. It makes me want to head to the gym in the morning. It’s so amazing to watch the transformations. I wish I could drop 10-15 pounds a week like they do! I’d be done already! But if you think about it, those of us on the challenge are doing our own “real life” Biggest Loser minus the giant scales. (Thank goodness!) I recently got the Biggest Loser Simple Swaps book and it has a lot of good ideas and recipes. Here’s one I tried and liked. I’d love to see what everyone else is eating, so feel free to share your favorite recipes in the comments.
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1. “Recipes” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant
2. “Eating Out” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant
3. “Super Bowl” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant

Congratulations to all the New Orleans Saints’ fans! I admit I’m not the football fan that my husband is. The Super Bowl for me is more about commercials, socializing and eating. It’s always fun to get together with friends and eat yummy food while watching the big game. In the past, the food usually consisted of pizza and wings or some other high fat appetizers. Of course, this year I knew I couldn’t do that and, of course, my husband NEEDED to watch the game so we came up with a solution. A “healthy snacks” Super Bowl party! We got together with friends and everyone brought a healthy snack to share. We had soup, hummus, light cheeses, edamame, chicken meatballs, fruit and lots of veggies. My new favorite recipe was a faux ranch dip. Just mix a ranch seasoning packet with plain Greek yogurt and YUM! I LOVE ranch dip/dressing so to find a healthy alternative was awesome. Thank you Kari for giving me another yummy, healthy recipe! I was excited that we had a wonderful time without the junk food. So many social events seem to pivot around food and I realize that healthy living just means choosing the right foods.
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1. “Greek-Style Pasta” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant
2. “Discipline” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant
3. “Birthday” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant

I’m always looking for new, healthy recipes. I’m probably one of the pickiest eaters on the planet, so when I find something I actually like I’m really excited about it. If anyone has a recipe to share, I’d love to see it. I tried the Lentil & Chicken Sausage soup recipe from the Challenge playbook and thought it was great. I decided to try and make a favorite soup recipe a little healthier. So, I took Paula Deen’s Taco Soup recipe (you know, the southern gal from the Food Network) and changed a few things. It’s great because you can dump everything in a crockpot and at the end of the day you’ve got dinner. So here it is:
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1. “Greek-Style Pasta” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant
2. “Discipline” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant
3. “Eating Out” by Melissa Schwab, Gold’s Gym Challenge Participant