Archive for January, 2012

“Ringing in the New Year often means new eating habits. We know whole grain is important to you, and the Dietary Guidelines recommend choosing products with a whole grain listed as the first ingredient. Now every cereal with the white check has more whole grain than any other single ingredient with the same great taste. You will see “whole grain” as a part of the first ingredient on the ingredient list, indicating that whole grain is the first and most prevalent ingredient”.

According to Dr. Travis Stork, emergency room physician and host of “The Doctors,” identifying whole grain products can be challenging. Shoppers can look for nutritional cues on the front of the box, but they need to read the ingredient list to know if they are getting enough whole grain. Ingredient lists detail ingredients in order of prevalence, and if the words “whole grain” are followed by a grain like wheat or oats, it means the food contains more whole grain than any other single ingredient. Here’s how to determine if your cereals have whole grain as a first ingredient:

With all the health messages facing grocery store shoppers, it can be confusing to translate what appears on food labels into nutritional needs, and hard to determine which foods have a meaningful amount of whole grain. Dr. Stork has some additional recommendations to help you include whole grain easily into your diet. They include:

A beautiful blanket of snow may cover the quaint town of Deep Haven each winter, but it can’t quite hide the wreckage of Noelle and Eli Hueston’s marriage.

After twenty-five years, they’re contemplating divorce . . . just as soon as their youngest son graduates from high school. But then an accident erases part of Noelle’s memory. Though her other injuries are minor, she doesn’t remember Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. What’s more, Noelle is shocked that her life has turned out nothing like she dreamed it would. As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember?

Will their secrets destroy them . . . or has erasing the past given them a chance for a future? Read the story behind the story here.

My Thoughts…
Susan May Warren delivers yet another redeeming story and continues to keep me reading book after book. I’m always looking forward to future stories from her yet to be written.  I’ve had quite a year in 2011 and 2012 was starting out a bit bumpy too with overwhelming amounts of clutter, family issues, surgeries, and never ending strand of colds. The Shadow of Your Smile was the perfect read and exactly what I needed to inspire, inform, and remind me that my God is a God of second chances.

I felt and was drawn into the lives of these characters, each dealing with their own issues revolved around a single event that tragically changed their entire worlds.  Susan beautifully intertwined the lives of five characters in such a way. I loved how descriptive the surroundings were brought to life and felt as if I could see the beauty of Deep Haven as vast and rugged as it is.

This is story filled with tragedy, humor, love, separation, hidden secrets,  and forgiveness. There are scriptural references of which I always love to see in Christian fiction book. The story felt real and I am sure we can all relate in one way or another. There’s a good amount of Book Club discussion questions in the back too!  I like this book a lot and highly recommend it! Now to get my hands on the other Deep Haven Titles!

Read reviews by other readers in the Blog Tour at: http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/text/13448479

 

More about Susan:

Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning author of thirty novels with Tyndale, Barbour, Steeple Hill and Summerside Press. A four-time Christy award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Carol Award.

A seasoned women’s events speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice. You can find her online at: www.susanmaywarren.com.

Sometimes love requires a little forgetting … Come back to Deep Haven and find out what’s been happening in your favorite quaint hamlet. If you’re new to the Deep Haven series – this is the perfect book to start with – each book in the series is a stand alone story.

Susan is celebrating the release of The Shadow of Your Smile by giving away a prize pack worth over $200 from 1/9-1/28.

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A $200 Visa Gift Card (Use that to rekindle a little romance, treat yourself to a spa day, snap up those shoes you’ve been eyeing, or purchase a few great books!)
• The entire set of Deep Haven Books

The winner will be announced on 1/30/12 on Susan’s blog,Scribbles!
Just click one of the icons below to enter and tell your friends about Susan’s giveaway
on FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned book in exchange for my opinion of it. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this book review.

 

“It’s all about Moderation not Deprivation” is the motto from the company that offers  a delightfully colorful collection of Portion Control Snack Bowls and Plates. These  plates and bowls  are perfect for keeping track of how much you eat in hopes to maintain and a healthier lifestyle especially when it seems like all around us is screaming for us to indulge in more than we should!

I was sent one of the four ounce sized  Yum Yum Bowls to share my thoughts upon. This bowl is very eye catching, in fact the entire collection is offering colors  in cherry red, sunshine yellow,pistachio green and bold blue. On the inside of the bowl it reads “Yum Yum time is…and on the bottom of the bowl says “Over.” How cute is that? A reminder that even though we may want to eat more that we should stop at one serving!

The bowl itself also comes with a clear plastic lid for storing. This makes it easy to plan your desired snacks ahead of time!  Each bowl, is ceramic making it safe for the microwave and the dishwasher though it’s recommend to hand-wash. These are high quality and can be bought in sets of four at the price of $24.00.

These bowls are great for serving up snacks like pretzels, yogurt, fruits, nuts, ice cream, and much more! And not just great for moms but for kids too in teaching them about servings and when to stop!  I don’t know about anyone else but I have a son that will eat until he has a stomach ache! Portions are key! And don’t forget, they also have 9 inch dinner plate to help with portion controlled dinners too!

Get Connected:  Check out Yum Yum on Portion control central | Facebook | Twitter |

You can order your Yum Yum dishes at www.yumyumdish.com.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in exchange for my opinion of them. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.