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(click on Champ/Contender links for more book details)

Vote over there.... on the right.

	VS
Champ	-	Contender

(click on Champ/Contender links for more book details)

One picture is worth 1,000 calories!

Dr. Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight Loss
by Howard M. Shapiro
Grand Central, 2003
Paperback, $14.95
(click on the link if you want to order for pick up at the store)

Did you know that one fat-free, sugar-free muffin (9 oz) is equal to 720 calories?
And you're thinking a corn muffin is the healthier way to go, right?

Instead you could have:
1 2 lb. pineable (240 cal)
1/2 cantaloupe (60 cal)
1/2 kiwi (10 cal)
1/2 papaya (40 cal)
grapes (5 oz) (70 cal)
2 pears (100 cal)
2 whole wheat rolls (2 1/2 oz) (200 cal)

Yes, ALL THAT totals 720 calories!

Does that grab your attention? Then this book is for all of us! Dieters or not. Look at the way we eat!

He shows us the calorie count for a typical holiday meal: 3,710 calories!!!! I know I've done that in the past. Shapiro shows us how to have a wonderful holiday meal under 1,000 calories!

I've owned this book for 8 years. I was impressed by it for the first year then it got covered up by other books. I've dug it out and am pleased to see that some of what I learned has stuck with me. But I still have some bad eating habits. So, as winter approaches and I get it bit more sedentary, I plan to keep this book on the kitchen counter as my reference and reminder about the way I eat, and the way I want to eat.

Merton talks about books.

"Great though books may be, friends though they may be to us, they are no substitute for persons, they are only means of contact with great persons, with those who had more than their own share of humanity, those who were persons for the whole world and not for themselves alone." Thomas Merton Thoughts in Solitude, p. 63

Frequently, when I ride the bus to work I read. Sometimes that reading is a way to isolate myself in a bubble of words and ideas. The same is true of my iPod, even though I listen to podcasts when I walk to the bookstore to catch up on book stories on the radio, it's still a means of isolation. But it's really humanity I want to be truly connected to and not just my headphones or a book. Ultimately I have to confess that I love people more.

I'm in LOVE with Mark Bittman!!!

How to Cook Everything: 2000 Simple Recipes for Great Food
by Mark Bittman
John Wiley & Sons: 2008
Hardcover, $35.00 ($5 mail in rebate!!!)
(click on the title link for picture and more info)

I've been a HUGE fan of Mark Bittman for a long time. I think his quick and easy recipes are the stuff of simple gourmets! And in case you haven't taken the time, you can view his food videos on the New York Times web page.

This book has it all! There are basic recipes, lists of the top 100 fast recipes, tope 100 make-ahead recipes, top 100 vegetarian recipes (and you know we all could be eating more vegetarian! Talk to me about it!) and so much more! The layout of the book is easy to follow with cues to indicate fast recipes, vegetarian* recipes, and more.

No, it's not a vegetarian cookbook, but it's a great all-purpose book for all your cooking needs. Truly! I worship at the altar of Bittman! He makes sense (most of the time). Come in and see me, I'll gush some more.

Eat! Healthy! Have fun! Food is NOT our enemy!

*As for his vegetarian dishes, too many of them rely on dairy products. I'd like to see more vegan, but I know how to adapt most dishes to please my vegan desires. YES! vegans have desires, unless we learn to master them!

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I'm on a Merton roll!

I get a daily Merton quote from a Baptist minister in the South. This is today's quote:

"To unify your life unify your desires. To spiritualize your life, spiritualize your desires. To spiritualize your desires, desire to be without desire." Thoughts in Solitude, page 56

Thoughts in Solitude is one of my favorite Merton books, it's small and full of great quotes. Merton's prayer of abandonment can be found here. But don't pick it up unless you're ready for your world to be rocked!

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Here's a bit of Thomas Merton I stumbled upon tonight. It was written in the 60s but clearly applies to us today:

“It is true, political problems are not solved by love and mercy. But the world of politics is not the only world, and unless political decisions rest on a foundation of something better and higher than politics, they can never do any real good for men. When a country has to be rebuilt after war, the passions and energies of war are no longer enough. There must be a new force, the power of love, the power of understanding and human compassion, the strength of selflessness and cooperation, and the creative dynamism of the will to live and to build, and the will to forgive, the will for reconciliation.” - from Introductions East & West. The Foreign Prefaces of Thomas Merton