"weightloss" news and stories

Svelte Gourmand Launches - A Q&A with Camille Noe Pagán

by Pervaiz Shallwani, Posted Aug 19th 2009 @ 4:00PM

Sara Reistad-Long and Camille Noe Pagán. Photo: JP Pagán

Ask a woman about healthy eating, and the words "slab of steak" are not typically the first out of her mouth.

But that's exactly the sort of mindset being peddled at newly launched Svelte Gourmand, which promotes portion control over fat-free obsessiveness. "I'd rather eat less of a full-fat dessert than more of a low-fat one" are among the words penned on the site, which is written by seasoned health and lifestyle writers Sara Reistad-Long and Camille Noe Pagán.

The two friends started the site -- a mix of health and food news along with featured columnists like Slashfood's own wine pro Gretchen Roberts -- this month in the hopes of helping people live healthfully while enjoying the foods they love. "I think it's really difficult," Pagán says. "People often blame willpower, but ours is a culture that does not encourage people to do things in moderation. It was really important to us to not be like a Weight Watchers or Cooking Light. We wanted to be like nothing that is out there."

We caught up with Pagán to chat about her dislike of food "fanaticism," the evils of high-fructose corn syrup and how she not only has her steak, but eats it too.

Who is the site geared toward?
People who like food. We are speaking to a more general audience, male and female. People who read Gourmet, but might read Fitness, too. People who are really interested in food and their health.

Filed under: The Skinny Chef, Ingredients

Tip of the Day: Start a spreadsheet as part of your new diet

COMMENTS 0

by Shayna Glick, Posted Jul 22nd 2008 @ 6:00AM

Are you starting a weight loss plan? Start a spreadsheet to go along with it.

Filed under: Tip of the Day

LATimes diet quiz

COMMENTS 0

by Shayna Glick, Posted Jun 4th 2008 @ 1:01PM

If you love food like I love food, then chances are you, er, have a few extra pounds. Even though I try to be really careful about what I eat, I simply can't resist all the fabulous cookies and cakes and bread that surround me all day (I work in a pastry kitchen).

I actually have lost a lot of weight in last couple of years, even though I do still have just a little nibble of lots of different things. I started reading about how to lose weight safely, and followed a lot of the tips I found. That's why I did pretty well on this LATImes diet quiz. I think I've mentioned before that I'm also a sucker for quizes, so I couldn't pass it up.

It's not a quiz in which you answer the question and then it tells you if you're correct. All the questions and answers follow each other on the same page, but it's still fun. See how well you stack up: I'd love to hear about it.

Filed under: Newspapers, Lists, Health & Medical

Whatever the Def Jam Diet is, Beyonce isn't doing it

COMMENTS 0

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted May 15th 2008 @ 3:30PM

Remember all the hype surrounding Beyonce and her occasional detox diet?

It's now officially being referred to as the Def Jam Diet. For some reason, everyone associated with the record label is drastically dropping pounds. However, now that Beyonce's (supposedly) pregnant, she can't do drop the pounds with the extreme dieting. (Well, duh, Beyonce, you're gaining weight because you're pregnant.)

There's been question about what exactly the Def Jam Diet is (because it seems to be working for the likes of Jay-Z, LA Reid, and Mariah Carey. Now everyone can breathe easily because the Def Jam Diet "is just the hip rapper way to say Master Cleanse."

Oh. Yeah, anything is more hip than saying you drink nothing but some strange concoction of lemonade, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.

[via Huffington Post, via NY Post]

Filed under: Health & Medical, Celebrities

Imagine if no one in the US were overweight

COMMENTS 6

by Stefani Pollack, Posted May 2nd 2008 @ 6:00PM

Scale MSN money asks use to to take a moment and imagine if no one in the US were overweight. I lose. I can't do it! I know so few people, myself included, who aren't overweight (they consider overweight to be 20 or more pounds too heavy). However, I'll humor them by suspending disbelief, and attempting to imagine.

MSN says, "add the savings up on health, food, clothing and efficiencies, and you could buy a professional home gym for every U.S. household -- or hand each $4,270 in cash." There would be a total of $487 billion dollars in national savings. Read the article for details on how they came up with that number.

What would you do with your extra $4,270 dollars? I'd definitely go out for lots of fancy dinners with no skimping on the dessert course. Hmm.. that would defeat the point though, wouldn't it?

Filed under: Health & Medical, Food News