"Here I am wolfing down a piece of birthday cake. A big piece." -Hollye

This isn’t just shameless self promotion of my book. It’s that and much more! This before and after testimonial shows you plain as day what just six months of eating healthy (real!) foods can do to transform your body.

This is Hollye. We met when she took over my position at an interior design firm when my book was released and I had to leave for a book tour. During her brief training, I shared with her my passion for healthy eating and turned her on to my newly-released book. It must have hit a nerve.

In Hollye’s words:

“My friend, Kami Gray, has written a book, The Denim Diet. It’s funny and full of good info. It’s also an easy read. It has changed my life in so many good ways! A great investment.”

Here’s Hollye now…Looking good girl!

"I started following Kami's plan in March 2009 and have as of October 2009, lost more than 25 pounds. The jeans are the same ... they are very loose on me, now. I had a muffin top before and now they don't fit without a belt." -Hollye

Well Hollye! Congratulations! You look fabulous and many years younger. I know from conversations with you that you also feel better than you have in years. Sounds like healthy foods and all those yoga classes were the right medicine! Yay for you!

From www.gopro-lo.com

Along with some roasted Brussels sprouts and stewed white beans, I ate a few slices of the Delicata Squash Rings shown above for lunch yesterday at Gourmet Productions, a darling restaurant and catering business not far from my house. They were ridiculously good and while noshing on them, I noticed a giant sign on the wall behind the cash register that said I could learn how to make them on youtube. Chef Jim shows you how! How cool is that? What’s even more awesome is that these beauties look E-A-S-Y to make! Bring them to your next potluck and wow your friends. All you need are the following ingredients:

• Delicata Squash
• Freshly Ground Pepper
• Sea Salt
• Fresh Thyme
• Ground Shallots
• Olive Oil

Photo courtesy of sheknows.com...click on image to learn how to "Throw an eco-friendly dinner party."

It’s dinner party season. And of course we want to look our best — not too overdressed and definitely not under dressed! Being under dressed is a major fashion crime. I’ll do holiday cocktail parties in my next Eco-Fabulous post. Today, we’re talking dinner parties, potlucks, white elephant exchanges, book club gatherings, and the like. We’ll get really gussied up next time!

Before I show you what to wear, how about some ideas on how not to overdo it while you’re there — talking food and drink here. I touched on some of this in a guest post I did yesterday for fitceleb.com.

I always eat a little something before I go to a dinner party. Since I have literally zero control over what will be served at the party, I supply my body with fuel beforehand so I don’t completely lose it and eat an entire plate of cheese and crackers. The usual appetizers, hors d’oeuvres, and bowls of nuts are extra pounds in the making. Party hosts are apprehensive about serving starters that the average person doesn’t eat or enjoy, so they usually offer fattening crowd-pleasers.

I’ve been guilty of this as well, but I always provide a few tasty, but healthy options like mini–tandoori chicken skewers, which are high in protein. One or two are the perfect pre-dinner snack. If there are no good choices, skip the starters altogether. Just sip on water, wine, or a vodka soda, and wait for the main course. If your hosts are serving a high-calorie, sugary, specialty cocktail and not serving wine until dinner, cheerfully decline and let them know that water is good for now.

For the main course, if it’s something I absolutely don’t eat, like white pasta with cream sauce, I’ve got a bit of a situation. Not a complete train wreck, but I will be relying heavily on the salad or vegetable. Plus, I don’t want to make it blatantly obvious that I have a problem with the host’s carefully planned and executed meal. So I do what four-year-olds do and pick at my food. I go on a mining expedition in search of protein and vegetables and move things around on my plate. And I hide the rest under a large lettuce leaf or two.

I’m not kidding.

If lean meat, beans, or lentils plus a vegetable or salad are being served, I’m over the moon. If I’m allowed to fix my own plate, I load it with two-thirds veggies and one-third protein and have seconds of veggies if I’m still hungry. I want to be completely satiated when dessert arrives so I’m not the least bit tempted.

Dessert can be challenging if your host is putting one in front of each person at a sit-down dinner party. This happened to me once. Crème brûlée. It’s much easier if you’re asked first and you can respectfully decline by saying that dinner was so incredibly delicious that you don’t have a smidgen of room left. A harder sell if you pulled the four-year-old trick and left most of the food on your plate.

To deal with the crème brûlée, I picked at it and ate teeny-tiny bites until I had eaten the equivalent of one large bite, and sipped on decaf coffee. When my hostess asked if I wasn’t a fan of her dessert, I simply said that I was too full, but I would sure love the recipe! (I can’t lie to you. It wasn’t actually crème brûlée, but if I say what the dessert really was, that person will know I’m talking about her [rhymes with hairy beefsteak], which in turn could cause some hurt feelings.)

Obviously, if I know my hosts well and we are friends, they already know what a total pain in the ass I am. Therefore, I come clean and tell them their entire menu was an example of what not to eat and let them know I will be featuring them in my next book in a chapter titled “How to Fatten Up Your Friends in Just One Night!”

Potlucks are a hideous mishmash of food and cookware, but they require very little thought in terms of making good choices because you get to bring something. I always assume there won’t be any other items that meet my criteria for healthy eating, so I make my dish an entire meal, like meat and vegetable lasagna or enchiladas with chicken, quinoa, black beans, black olives, mushrooms, and onions. I bring my own lowfat sour cream to use sparingly on top.

For some potlucks, you may be assigned a certain type of dish. When this happens and I arrive with something entirely different, I just smile and say “oops” and hope everyone else followed the rules. This backfired on me once, and we were stuck eating my chicken enchiladas for dessert. I offered to run out and get some fresh berries, but the hostess wanted to punish and embarrass me instead.

She succeeded.

Watch your portions at potlucks. Just because quite a few items appear to be on the List doesn’t mean you need to try them all. I steer way clear of casseroles unless I made them or I know who made them, as they often include large amounts of cheese, cream, and unidentified ingredients and are best to avoid altogether. - an excerpt from The Denim Diet

Now we’re ready to get dressed!

AngelRox Denim Blazer - Photo courtesy of whiteapricot.com

AngelRox Denim Blazer, $218 ($183.50 for whiteapricot.com newsletter subscribers) – from Nimli.com, “Look trendy while being comfortable in denim with this three pocket snug fit blazer. It has an adjustable waist, bound seams, extended cuffs, and shoulder epaulets. Imported and machine washable. The ANGeLRoX collection is recognized for its dedication to bringing timeless comfort and style with only the best natural fabrics. A versatile line, ANGeLRoX is perfect for any activity, day or night. The collection utilizes local suppliers in the New York area and is adamant about fair labor. Created by Roxi Suger, a professor at Parsons the New School for Design, the collection embodies the philosophy of balancing out what we take from the Earth.”

Spun Cowl Neck Dress - Photo courtesy of Greenloop.com

Spun Cowl Neck Dress, $70 — from greenloop.com, “Spun shows women that organic clothing doesn�t have to be a luxury, it should be a choice. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and sustaining our beautiful planet while allowing you to uphold your own personal style is essential. What started as a mother�s hope, cultivated by family support, is now achievable with Spun. Delightfully cozy-chic, turtleneck inspired without a tight collar. Comfort meets sophistication in the dress version of our cowl neck top. Providing easy styling, the pairings with this dress are endless. Offering 3/4 sleeves and A-line skirt reaching just above the knee. Utterly timeless and distinctively chic.”

Vegan Dress Boot - Thames by Neuaura from Greenloop.com

Vegan Dress Boot, Thames by Neuaura, $175 — from veganchic.com, “Made in the mountains of Brazil, and sourced from Neuaura, a premiere Animal-Friendly footwear manufacturer, this Vegan Boot is notable for it’s fantastic, boutique-style looks, impressive construction and for it’s superb comfort. Constructed from Synthetic Tumbled leather, this vegan boot exudes a classy and casual look, perfect for daily use, walking, work and for the weekend. Made of the highest quality – you certainly be the envy of your veggie and non-veggie friends alike. Sourced, and constructed in the mountains of Brazil using fair labor practices, these great boots hail from Neuaura, who are committed to animal and humanitarian causes – and provide exclusive boutique-style footwear as can be evidenced here.”

Geo-Leaf Cuff from gretchenandgrace.com

Gold Cuff, $58 — from gretchenandgrace.com, “Finally an easy-to-wear cuff bracelet. Hugs your wrist beautifully and will not slow you down. Made of recyled metals with 14k gold overlay. Made in the USA.”

Vintage Earrings From gretchenandgrace.com

Vintage Earrings, $38 – from gretchenandgrace.com, “Pretty vintage fabrics are set in a silver bezel, perserved under resin and dangled from oxidized silver earwires. The diameter of the bezel is about 1/2″, and the length of the earring is about 1″.

Is it really November already? That means the holidays are right around the corner and for some people that also means weight gain. It doesn’t need to be that way if you’re prepared. Today on fitceleb.com, I share my, “Stay Slim Strategies to Survive the Season.”

Check them out so you don’t let baked, buttery goods get in the way of you staying in your favorite pair of jeans come the new year or looking fabulous in your party dress (or suit!) this holiday season.

Photo of Anne Gross, Owner, Convenient Food Mart in Cleveland, Ohio, Courtesy of the NY Times

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think of convenience stores and corner stores as the go-to place for healthy snacks like bananas and other fruit. Convenience stores pushing produce by the register instead of chips, candy, and soda pop and providing parking lot cooking demonstrations for home-made banana bread and offering free cookbooks? Huh?

That’s what’s happening at Convenient Food Mart in Cleveland, Ohio and other mom and pop convenience stores around the country. Cleveland’s Corner Store Program in a joint effort with the public health department, encouraged store owners Anne and Gary Gross to replace less healthy snacks with baskets of fruit near the cash registers. In exchange, the program would display colorful signs on store windows promoting healthy eating and sponsor events like cooking demonstrations and classes in stores and store parking lots.

THE RESULT: According to an article in the NY Times, “a 20 percent increase in fruit sales this last summer. “Bananas are No. 1,” said Mrs. Gross, 65. “After that, cherries have done very well.”

Why can’t people interested in eating more healthfully just shop at natural grocery stores and farmers’ markets? According to the NY Times article, “because [convenience stores] are often the sole source of groceries in areas with no full-size supermarket,” and because of this, “the stores are becoming linchpins in public health campaigns.”

In the article, Kai Siedenburg, of the Community Food Security Coalition (based in my hometown of Portland, Oregon) says, “If you are educating people to make good choices, but those choices aren’t available nearby and they don’t have a car to drive out to the suburbs to the supermarket, or an hour to ride two buses to get there, then it’s really hard for them to make good choices.”

Programs like the one in Cleveland are popping up all over. “The idea of using corner stores in campaigns to improve diets has spread from a few cities over the last decade — among them, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Hartford and Oakland, Calif. — to “probably a hundred or more organizations that are now either starting interventions or that are in the planning stages,” Ms. Siedenburg said.

A program in Newark, New Jersey, is paying for new refrigeration units to be installed near the front of Francisco Baez’s corner grocery store, which will be stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables, “to improve the diets of low-income residents, the NY times reports. In New York, “Healthy Bodegas” initiative has reached out to 1,000 stores in a variety of ways, including helping owners secure zoning permits to allow fruit and vegetable displays on the sidewalk. In Louisville, two small groceries were awarded $20,000 this year to expand their offerings of fresh produce.”

Will these programs and initiatives make a difference?

Anne Gross appears optimistic: “In Cleveland, Mrs. Gross still sells her customers beer, doughnuts, lottery tickets and other essentials. “As a business person, I have to provide to them what they want,” she said. But she said she is willing to try to improve the community’s health, one banana at a time. “Even if it just changes a couple of people’s habits,” she said, “it would be a huge benefit.” To read the complete NY Times article, “Pushing Fresh Produce Instead of Cookies at the Corner Market in the NY Times, click here.

Photo courtesy of www.orientaltrading.com

Blogs like mine that have to do with health, diet, exercise and doing everything in your power to avoid things like high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oil are probably not the most popular on a treat-filled day like today so…I will just say Happy Halloween and whatever damage you do today (if you must indulge), don’t do it for another 364 days! Maybe one of these days our candy won’t contain those nasty, toxic ingredients and our chocolate bars will actually have cocoa in them! BE SAFE!

I’m not on some big rant about no candy on Halloween. Do whatever you want. I let my kids have it the night of Halloween and then put the rest in the freezer where most of it magically disappeared. Contrary to what they accused me of, I never snuck a single piece…that I can recall.

I found a few fun snacks to get the kids in the Halloween mood the days leading up to the big night or they’d also make a perfect pre-tricker treating snack. These both come courtesy of Rifftrax Blog and I think they’re brilliant! Check their blog for a few more creepy, but healthy Halloween snack ideas. No recipes are given, but they look pretty basic. Be creative!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Mummy Dogs

If this fried yam bat sandwich catches on it will do more to end the Halloween tradition than a million razor blade-studded apples ever could. And yet I am confident that it won’t catch on. Why? Because it’s a fried yam sandwich. -Cute Caption taken from blog.rifftrax.com.

I used to be a soccer mom — a really annoying one. The kind that complained about all the sugary halftime and postgame snacks the kids were eating, to the point that I was asked to step down as the volunteer team-parent-slash manager of my son’s kindergarten soccer team. I politely refused. I felt the team needed me. By the time my son played classic soccer in sixth grade, I was having coaches fired.

It was actually just one coach.

He told the boys they were “playing like girls” and that his mom could run faster than they could. Before I wrote an angry letter to the club’s director, I reminded the coach that his girl’s team had just won the state championship and that I would personally like to challenge him to a fifty-yard dash. I am so grateful he declined.

That was the end of Coach “Manly Man” as well as Kami “The Interferer” as a soccer mom, but it served as my training in how to dress one, which proved quite useful later on. My point? I get pretty fired up about kids and sports, particularly all the crap “well-meaning” parents are feeding kids during and after games and practices.

I don’t get it.

The only thing kids need when they’re playing sports is water — and maybe a few orange slices at halftime. I don’t want my child to drink a juice box (with no real juice in it) and eat a chewy chocolate chip granola bar that contains over forty ingredients, including high fructose corn syrup and trans fat, at 10:30 in the morning in the middle of his soccer game.

Or ever.

By 10:30, he’s already had breakfast and doesn’t need the spike in his sugar levels that consequently makes him a lousy second-half player and a cranky, hyper, and insufferable brat on the car ride home. If I don’t allow him to indulge, I’m the mean, strict parent who gets uptight about something as seemingly harmless as a granola bar, or a Krispy Kreme doughnut, or “fruit” shaped like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I see some of these same parents buying expensive, healthy, gourmet dog food for Tiger and then feeding their children a bunch of fake, fattening, processed food.

Don’t even get me started on the end-of-the-season party with pizza, cake, and candy! In my perfectly healthy world, the end of the season would be celebrated with a tasty barbecue of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, fruit salad, and whole wheat strawberry shortcake.

I’ll get off my soapbox, but kids are innocent victims and don’t have much say in what they eat. That’s the beauty.

We parents get to decide.

As we make better decisions for ourselves, let’s let the kids in on it. I’m not saying control everything they put in their mouths. That would be impossible. Just make sure that common sense is exercised most of the time — like when they’re playing sports. On their birthdays, break out the chocolate cupcakes and vanilla ice cream. If you really want to give them a treat, make the cupcakes yourself with real, organic, wholesome ingredients. - an excerpt from The Denim Diet.

Now what’s something eco-fabulous you could wear to your child’s soccer game?

Andira 'Joison' Rain Tee

ANDIRA RAIN TEE “JOISON,” $36 — available on thegreenloop.com. Wear a conversation piece while helping the Amazon rain forest! While you’re standing around mingling with other soccer parents, you can tell them all about the good things your RAIN TEE is doing: “Rain Tees are a 100% organic luxury line of apparel for women and children designed by youth living in endangered rain forests across Central and South America. Andira donated school supplies to the children and asked them to illustrate what they see happening in their world every day. Each Rain Tee features their thoughts illustrations and names. For every Rain tee sold, a child involved in Kids Saving the Rain Forest, Costa Rica will receive a tree they can plant to replace one that has been destroyed.” See the entire collection at raintees.com.

Loomstate "Kharma" Jeans

ORGANIC COTTON JEANS, $156 — available on Loomstate.org. Medium low waist 5-pocket jean with a boot cut leg. The wash is a vintage inspired mid wash blue jean with light sanding and abrasion on the knee, upper thigh and back pockets (98% Organic Cotton/2% Elastane). A little info about the company from the Loomstate website: “Launched in New York City in 2004 by designer Rogan Gregory and Scott Mackinlay Hahn, Loomstate was founded as a casual brand dedicated to creating demand for certified organic cotton using socially and environmentally responsible methods of production.”

Faux-Suede Vegan Boot

VEGAN BOOTS, $50 — available at veganchic.com, which has this to say about these eco-fab boots, “You’ll love these super-soft, lightweight Vegan Boots. Boasting a luxuriant faux fur trim and lining, and accented with a gorgeous beaded detail at the back, these boots offer head-turning good looks. Constructed with a soft faux-suede, these boots have an 11.25 in high shaft, and a 16 inch circumference at the top of the shaft, they look great for the weekend, with jeans or with a cute skirt.”

Elwood Amy Zip Hoodie

GREY HOODIE SWEATSHIRT, $70 — available at Nimli.com, “Lovely ultra comfy zip hoodie made from bamboo cotton. Hoodie features patch pockets and logo embroidery. Available in shadow and moss.”

Tracy Watts Cable Collar

INFINITY CABLE SCARF/COLLAR, $270 — available at Nimli.com. I know, it’s super spendy, but it’s sooooo cute and as Nimli.com says, “Look stylish and feel warm and cozy in this cute cable collar made of hand knit pure Yak from Tibet. It is knit to order in New York City.“

Food labeling is in the news again. The Smart Choices food labeling logo began showing up on packaged food this past summer, but food manufacturers like PepsiCo and Kellogg’s are beginning to phase out the use of the logo as inventory supplies run out. Why so soon?

The objective of the Smart Choices was to give consumers a quick and easy way to determine if a product was healthy, but products like Kellogg’s Froot Loops, Skippy Peanut Butter, and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise made the cut and proudly displayed the green check-mark and seal of approval. In other words, the program’s standards for what constitutes healthy are a tad loose.

The NY Times reports that the FDA has stepped in to clear up the confusion, “By early next year, officials said, the agency will issue proposed standards that companies must follow in creating nutrition labels that go on the front of food packaging.” In short, the Smart Choices program doesn’t have the blessing of the FDA, which I personally think also has incredibly relaxed standards for food labeling.

Here’s how to read food labels — you’re going to love the simplicity! Forget everything you read on the front of the package and flip it over and read the list of ingredients. Follow one simple rule. Every item listed should be food. That’s it. You should recognize every single item on the list and know for complete certainty that each item listed is food. No additives, no preservatives, no fillers, and no artificial colors. Just food. How about a label that says:

“This package contains real food and nothing else.“

I’ve collected a handy list of non-food ingredients I often encounter, but never put in my body because I’m a human being and I eat food; not this stuff:

Calcium silicate, iron ammonium citrate, silicon dioxide, FD&C Blue Nos. 1 and 2, FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red Nos. 3 and 40, FD&C Yellow Nos. 5 and 6, Orange B, Citrus Red No. 2, annatto extract, beta-carotene, caramel color, Ammonium sulfate, azodicarbonamide, L-cysteine, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, egg yolks, polysorbates, sorbitan monostearate, olestra, cellulose gel, carrageenan, polydextrose, modified food starch, microparticulated egg white protein, guar gum, xanthan gum, calcium chloride, calcium lactate, Monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed soy protein, autolyzed yeast extract, disodium guanylate or inosinate, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, glycerin, sorbitol, monocalcium phosphate, lactic acid, citric acid, ammonium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, ascorbic acid, citric acid, sodium benzoate, calcium propionate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite, calcium sorbate, potassium sorbate, BHA, BHT, EDTA, gelatin, pectin, guar gum, carrageenan, xanthan gum, sucrose (sugar), glucose, fructose, sorbitol, mannitol, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium (acesulfame-K), neotame, and partially hydrogenate oils. I’m sure there are more!

Dietitians and nutrition experts may disagree with me on the subject of vitamin-fortified foods. I get my vitamins from the food I eat and steer clear of additives like:

Thiamine hydrochloride, riboflavin (Vitamin B2), niacin, niacinamide, folate or folic acid, beta carotene, potassium iodide, iron or ferrous sulfate, alpha tocopherols, ascorbic acid, amino acids (L-tryptophan, L-lysine, L-leucine, L-methionine).

You’re going to LOVE real food!